Chapter 1 – New Beginnings
“Jacey! Come on you’re going to be late for your first day of school!” Mum yelled from the kitchen
Looking around my room, I couldn’t help but wish I could just stay here for the rest of my life. At least I wouldn’t have to have people stare at me. I walked over to my mirror to one last check of my uniform, I didn’t want to stand out on my first day considering it’s halfway through semester and everyone would have made friends by now. Looking into the mirror I saw my light brown long hair curling around my face reaching my lower back. I studied my uniform, my navy blue skirt resting just above my knees, which were practically shaking. I had to admit, compared to some other uniforms I’ve had to wear this one was okay, the white blouse was comfy and the long navy blue sock were surprisingly comfier than they looked. My eyes finally found their way back to my face where two brown eyes were looking back at me. Brown eyes; usually means nerves. Yep, I sure felt nervous. As you can probably tell already brown eyes mean nerves, blue eyes are sadness; green eyes are happiness, purple are embarrassment, gold eyes I get when I'm angry and silver eyes I get when I'm scared or worried. A lot to take in and the amount of times I’ve had to explain it, well let’s just say I’ve lost count. Sighing I realised that I couldn’t put this off any longer. Time to go to school and face a heap of new people. Great.
“Coming mum, I’ll be right down!” I yelled back grabbing my school bag
Taking the stairs two at a time I reached the kitchen in about 30 seconds, with earned me a weird smile from mum. I put on a fake smile and but I could tell my eyes betrayed me.
“Oh my; sweetie, you look so cute in that uniform! And come on get to the car we don’t want to be late for your first day at your new school do you?” My mum said smiling in delight
I couldn’t help but smile back; she always could lighten the mood.
The car ride to school was pretty quick. Mum thought it would be a good idea to live close to school so I could walk there and back while she had to work. Driving into the car park I started to get nervous again.
“Jace, you’re going to be fine. I’m sorry I can’t walk you in, but I have to get to my new job. I hope you have a good day and make heaps for friends”
“Thanks mum, have a good day at work” I replied leaning in and hugging her
Taking a big breath as if it would keep my alive for the rest of my life, I exhaled getting out of the car into the morning sun. With a quick wave mum drove off. Taking another big breath I trudged on in the direction of the office. Boy was I glad that this school had signs, because without those I would have been lost in this massive school. Finally arriving at the office, I was greeted by a cheerful receptionist.
“Hey there darlin’, what can I do for you?”
Smiling slightly I answered her awkwardly: “Um, hey. My name is Jacey Smithing and I’m new here”
“Oh! Of course, of course” she suddenly said madly typing away at her computer until the printer buzzed to life. Handing the paper to me she began again: “here’s your schedule and your home room is the third door down on the right, your teacher is Mrs Alistair. Just give her this, have a nice day”
Taking the other piece of paper from the receptionist and nodding curtly I walked from the room, nervous as ever. I guess it was time to meet my new class.
I wasn’t sure whether I should knock or not I figured it would be better to be polite. After a couple of quiet knocks I stepped inside the room. The class was much smaller than I expected, about 25 to 30 students all looked up to see what was going on then went back to their conversations, all but a few. One boy in particular eyes stayed for a moment longer, I smiled sweetly at him and he grinned back. His brown hair fell in front of his crystal blue eyes for a moment until he brushed it away sheepishly. Breaking eye contact with the boy, a girl sat a couple of seats behind eyeing me. Wow, If looks could kill…
Coughing nervously I walked to the teacher’s desk to find a kind looking woman reading through the class list. She obviously heard my little cough and stood up extending her hand.
“Hi! You must be Jacey. I'm Mrs Alistair” Mrs Alistair said gripping my extended hand shaking it wildly with an excited grin written across her face.
Again I answered with a nervous smile. She took this opportunity to turn to the class and clear her throat loudly to get everyone’s attention. “Thank you, now guys this is Jacey Smithing and she’s new this semester. So please say hi and well, just be nice okay?”
I gave the class an awkward half wave and went and sat down the first available desk.
“Hey! I’m Samantha, but you can call me Sammy. Everyone does anyway… But it’s nice to meet you!” Said a cheerful looking girls next to me, her blonde hair framed her heart shaped face adding to the effect of her warm brown eyes.
I smiled warmly at her and felt my mood lighten a bit. “Hey Sammy, I’m Jacey as you probably already know” I replied with a laugh, she laughed with me. Flew, that was relief. I was dreading the meeting with the class, I felt like I was going to mess it up somehow. But at least Sammy was nice to me. I couldn’t help but smile, this was the first time in a while that someone had laughed with me instead of at me. Hold that thought. I was happy. Oh no, she was going to see my eyes. By the time I realised it was too late. Her head leant to the right a bit with a questioning look plastered all across her face. Before she could ask I held up my hand for her to stop.
“You’re probably wondering about my eyes aren’t you?” I asked her looking down at the ground waiting for her to run away screaming, but she just stayed there and nodded. Not the reaction I expected.
“You see, my eyes change colour when my mood changes. Brown eyes are nerves. Green eyes are happiness, blue eyes are sadness; purple are embarrassment, gold eyes I get when I'm angry and silver eyes I get when I'm scared or worried” I said all in one breath with a sheepish smile on my mouth waiting for her reaction again
Suddenly she grinned; I mean really grinned, Cheshire cat style. “That awesome!” she suddenly said
“You’re not freaked out?” I asked feeling my eyes turn silver
“No way, that’s amazing! Friends?” She asked extending her hand with an impossibly huge grin on her face. I could help but grin and smile back as I took her hand and shook it.
“Deal” By now I could tell my eyes were bright green and for once I didn’t care if people saw my eye colour change. That is until I saw that death stare girl again who was still glaring at the back of my head, I'm surprised I hadn’t burst into flames yet.
“Hey Sammy, who’s the girl giving me the death stare?” I asked nodding my head in her direction
“Ah, queen bee of the school. Hazel Hunting, she’s deadly. Mess with her and goodbye social life. Oh I see why she’s giving you ‘the stare’” She said adding emphasis on the last words
“What is it?” I asked genuinely interested, I didn’t want to end up as social road kill
Between little giggles, she finally answered “You see that guy over there?” pointing to the guy that smiled at me when I walked in “That’s Noah Renafor, everyone knows that Hazel has a thing for him but he’s not interested. And to be honest Noah hasn’t smiled like he smiled at you to anyone in a while. I’m guessing that’s what has you on the hate list”
“U-huh, just where I wanted to be” I stated sarcastically, I started laughing a little with Sammy joining in
Suddenly the bell rang to signal home room was over and time to go to class. I hadn’t even looked at my schedule yet, hurriedly pulling it from my pocket I looked to see that I had English first.
“Hey Sammy where about is this room?” I asked handing her my schedule
She smiled and handed the sheet back to me “We have all the same classes, I’ll show you around at lunch but for now… To English!” she exclaimed linking her arm with mine walking out of the classroom. I couldn’t help but laugh when people gave us odd looks; I guess Sammy was used to it or something. I really liked her she was nice, funny and one of the first people ever to not freak out about my eyes. Finally a friend in the world of high school!
***
After English and then Maths class it was lunch Sammy took me on a tour of the school, and wow. Just wow, the school was massive compared to what I was used to. Luckily I had Sammy with me because if not I would have been a gonna for sure.
Next up was art class, my favourite subject at school. I guess I'm pretty good at art, but I’ve seen people way better than me. We walked into the room to find easels spread around the room with paper and pencils setup. Sammy grabbed my hand and led me over to where two easels sat next to each other. I smiled; It was nice to have a person actually want to sit with you. We sat down and the teacher spotted me and came over.
“You must me Jacey, I’m Miss Cyprus. Yes like the type of wood” She stated with a smile
Sammy giggled next to me and I smiled back at Miss Cyprus. “Nice to meet you Miss Cyprus, are we doing still life drawings?” I asked pointing to the fruit and vases set up on a table surrounded by easels
“Yes my dear, very observant. Oh and its written on the whiteboard but still” She replied smiling warmly at me “Okay class today we’ll be drawing these objects on the table here for our still life artworks” she said to the class winking at me, I had a feeling I was going to like this class
After talking with Sammy for about five minutes Miss Cyprus said it was time to get to work and start our drawings. I began to draw and Sammy gasped beside me. I looked at her questioningly and but she was looking at my paper.
“What’s wrong Sammy?” I asked getting a little worried
“You didn’t tell me you were an artist!” She said grinning at my artwork
“Oh” I paused for second and laughed “I guess I'm good at art, I just find it relaxing and it seems it come naturally” I said shrugging
She laughed and said “I wish I was as good as you” turning her easel to show me her cartoon looking fruit and vases
“You could always go abstract, people are into that stuff these days” I said smiling and we both burst out laughing until I heard and sneaker shuffle behind me. It was Noah. Wait he was in my art class as well? Cool I guess. Then he did the unthinkable, he spoke to me.
“Wow Jacey, that’s really great” He complimented, his voice melting my insides
I felt heat rise slightly to my cheeks. Oh no my eyes! Way to go Jacey, freak a guy out with purple eyes. Smooth…
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I do not own the image used for the cover so I take no ownership over it, but enjoy the story!
The original image can be found here: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l0HeZ5fLdC0/UfcCfMayAyI/AAAAAAAADdQ/k9dAeRZUidY/s1600/garota.jpg