That Was Unexpected! (Unexpected, #1)

Chapter 06

CHAPTER 6

The next five days passed - maybe just a bit too quickly. Suddenly, I was staring Monday in the eye - my first day of my new school.

On Thursday, Becky had taken me down to Geelong North Secondary College to buy some school uniform. I came back with black pants, white shirts, green v-neck jumpers, and white dresses that had green stitching.

I was looking into the bathroom mirror at the new me. My uniform was neat and tidy and I'd left my blonde hair out. I was planning to get the hairdresser to colour it something close to my natural chestnut colour so that I wouldn't have to continue dying it.

I'd also left my face free from any make-up. I was aiming for a new and responsible me; someone who would be capable of being a mother. The word 'mother' was still hard for me to comprehend.

I took one last glance into the mirror before heading downstairs. Dad and Becky were in the kitchen eating breakfast already. I took a seat at the table and grabbed two slices of toast which I covered in Vegemite.

At 7.45am, Dad told me, "I'll drive you to the bus stop on my way to work and then I'll pick you up at about quarter-to-four this afternoon."

And at that, Dad got up, kissed Becky goodbye, and led me out the front door.

It took us only a few minutes to get to my bus stop at the main street. Once I was out of the car, I insisted for Dad to continue on to work.

There were a few other people at the bus stop, dressed in the same uniform that I was. I sat down on one of the seats and waited for the bus. I could feel the gaze of many eyes on me, but I never met them.

When the bus arrived, I got my bus pass out and waited until it was my turn to board the bus. I showed the driver - an old man with and extremely long white beard - my pass and went in search for a seat. I ended up sitting on my own seat behind a girl who had boarded the bus when I had. She sat alone also.

The bus drove on towards school, collecting other students at various stops. After only about five minutes, the girl in front of me turned around and looked at me. She had naturally blonde hair with hazel coloured eyes and a friendly smile on her face.

"You're that new girl, right?" she asked.

"That would be me," I replied.

"Hi, I'm Courtney, and I think you're in most of my classes. Is your name Nasatya or something?" she asked.

I let out a light sigh - I now knew what I would have to repeat many times today - the pronunciation of my stupid name.

"Close," I said, "but it's pronounced 'NAH-SET-YA'. My mother came up with stupid names for all her kids." I smiled.

"No, no. I like your name. It sounds really pretty," she smiled sweetly at me.

That was unexpected - I'd never thought of my name as pretty.

Courtney came and sat next to me whilst the bus was stopped at an intersection. "I can show you around today if you like," she offered.

"Please," I said. She smiled.

"So, where've you come from anyway?" she asked.

"Oh, um, I moved from the Hawthorn area to come and live with my dad. Things were a little tense between me and my mum," I answered. I hoped that that would be enough for her for now. I wasn't sure whether I could trust her with the real reason yet.

"Oh, okay," she said, "So what, you must be a pretty big Hawks fan then?" She grinned at me. The Hawks - formally the Hawthorn Hawks - were the Australian Rules football team that I had always been a huge supporter of. I couldn't believe that she was into footy as well.