Grip on Reality

Chapter 1: First Impression

"Hey! You're in my class!" I said as I saw my best friend, Eliza, walked into the class we would be sharing for sixth grade homeroom. Then my other two friends: Janet and Olivia walked in. I was so happy at that moment, I could barely stand it.

It's amazing how early drama starts nowadays. As soon as we walked through the doors of the middle school for sixth grade orientation that summer, we knew life would be different. Instead of being with the same teacher every day, we would switch between the different classes we would be taking, and the different teachers. But that wasn't the only change already in motion. I remember that very day. I remember everything about it.

We sat down and instantly started chattering. "I can't believe we're actually starting middle school all in the same class! this is going to be so much fun!" I blurted.

"Definitely! I wonder who's all in our class? Do you know what the teacher's like? What are the other teachers like? Will be in the same class with the other classes?" Janet blurted out faster and faster as she spoke.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. C. I'm your homeroom teacher."

Instantly our moods fell. Our teacher was very monotone. As in she talked like a robot. Just one sentence, and I was already falling asleep. But we managed.

We had to go through the normal routine, you know, like tell us how the school days would work now, and what our curriculum would be...that sort of thing. Of course, there were name introductions. We had to introduce our names, first and last, and one thing about ourselves. We went up and down the rows, and my friends introduced themselves, along with my other classmates. Most of the people I knew, but there were a few new faces, such as Samantha.

The people stood up as they introduced themselves, and as they finished, they sat down. When the person behind me sat down, I knew it was my turn. I stood up, feeling everyone's eyes on me. "Hi, I'm Maria Blackwater. Ummm....I... Like to write."

I sat back down, quickly turning to my friends to start talking again. then the guy in front of my stood up. "Hey, I'm Raiden Kane. I love sports." He turned to look around the room at the many people in the class.

I'd never seen him before. My friends later told me that apparently he'd been in our grade for two years now, but I really had never seen him before. He was a dirty blonde, tall, and hadn't hit puberty yet, because his voice was still fairly high. I guess he could have been cute, but at the time, I didn't think so. At the time...

I hated his guts.

Instantly.

After homeroom introductions were done, i wandered around with Janet, Olivia and Eliza. The entirety of sixth grade was stuck in one hallway, so we didn't have to go very far. Right after Reading and Language, our entire class moved to Math with Mr. P. He seemed pretty cool, but it was too early to make any assumtions. Then there was science with Mr. V. and break, then Health with Mr. W. and choir, and then, finally, Social Studies with Mrs. N.

We went from class to class, talking, chittering, it was all very exhausting, really. We probably stayed a lot later than we needed to, but it was fun.

Eventually we had to go home, though. I told my friends that I'd see them in a few weeks, and I left with my mom. As we got in the car, my mom asked, "So, do you like your new school?"

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, it's not a new school, just another level of it. But, yeah, I guess it's okay. I don't know a lot of my classmates, though. And this whole switching between classes thing is really weird."

My mom reached over and ruffled my hair. "You'll get used to it."