I Spy // m.c.

The 15th First Day

he was like a chameleon, constantly changing his color to blend in with the background. but then she showed up, with her colorful language and vibrant personality, exposing him for who he truly was.

//

Most people would be scared to death on their first day at a new school. But I definitely wasn't. My life consisted of move after move after move, I never had a sturdy home where we stayed for too long. Due to my dad's job I have been moving across the country since I was 5. I've moved about 15 times since then.

But I have to admit, this move was a little different. Because instead of moving across America, our new home, for the time being, was located in Australia.

//

As I walked into the school the smell of the linoleum, lockers, and stress passed over me. I headed to the school office to pick up my schedule and make sure the principal actually knew that I was going to be here....there have been some mishaps in the past with enrolling into a school.

My body was already confused by the temperatures here compared to America. It was mid November on my first day at my new school so most people were already into the routine of school and they were all friends. I might be used to being the new kid at school but do always get the first day jitters.

I'm usually pretty good at making friends because of my loud personality. But the thing with moving so much is that every school is different, so you can be different at schools too. I've been popular, preppy, nerdy, a band geek, a jock, a punk rocker, and much more. The best way to make people think that you're a certain person is by dressing to the stereotype and walking a certain way. If you want to be a popular you have to walk into school with pure confidence. A preppy girl walks in with sass in you can practically see the drama and obnoxiousness radiating off of her. Someone who is nerdy walks with their head held low and tries to not be noticed. A punk rocker will walk in as if they don't give a fuck. The rest are pretty self explanatory.

In all honesty I would probably be a punk rocker/social outcast if I went by my actual attitude. But today I felt like trying to be with the popular crowd. So as I walked into the school I walked as if no one could bring me down and smiled at people in large groups of crowds.

//

Once I met the principal and got my schedule I used the school map that he gave me to direct myself to my first class of the day. But by the time I got out of his office the bell for first hour had already rang so I was walking around in empty hallways and I knew that when I walked into my class all eyes would be on me so it was time for me to make my popularity start to form.

I walked into my first hour which happened to be English.

"Hi! You must be our new student, Alyssa." The teacher who was standing at the front of the room said.

"Yep," I replied, giving her a small smile and a head nod.

"Well welcome to English. Oh, you moved here all the way from America, right?" She asked me.

"Yeah," I replied and headed to the seat in the middle of the classroom that she gestured to.

"Well then, welcome to Australia too," She said with a bright smile.

Once I got settled in my seat and the teacher continued to talk to the class about whatever book they were reading, I took a glance around the classroom at all of the other students.

I could partially recognize the groups of people. There were two or three jocks in the room with the Letterman jackets on. There were the preppy, teacher's pet girls who kept all eyes on the teacher and would raise their hands at every questions. The outcasts were all placed at the back of the class, some would pay attention and the others would just fiddle around with the pens on their desks. The nerds were to my left and they had full attention on the teacher and everything that was going on at the whiteboard. There were the popular girls who would constantly be chatting to each other during the hour, with the popular guys to their left.

I truly despised all popular girls with their snotty attitudes, but I thought of my whole identity changing as an experiment in a way, maybe I could write a book about it one day.

The last group that I could recognize in the classroom was the wannabe populars. The people who clung to the populars sides' and would do whatever they would say. Some were shy and quiet and others would be their loud and obnoxious selves.

There was one person in the room that really caught my attention, mainly by his hair color. He sat next to the populars and I assumed he was one of the shy wannabe populars. His hair was dyed a mixture of black and red and he was quite attractive. After I realized I had been staring at him for too long I shot my head back up to the board and tried to look like I was paying attention.

//

After sometime had passed the bell rang, directing us to go to our next class of the day. Right before I walked out the door I was called to the teacher desk where she instructed me that the class was in the midst of reading To Kill A Mockingbird. Lucky for me I had already read that book but she handed me a copy and told be to just do the assigned reading anyway.

I headed out of the classroom and reviewed the groups of people I identified. The best place to actually identify the groups was lunch because everyone sat with their type.

The rest of the day seemed to slip by and suddenly I was walking into the lunch room with a popular at my side that I befriended in 3rd hour. Her name was Payton and she basically insured my place as a popular.

I was off to a good start.