Change is a funny thing. One moment you're calm and safe the next your whole life is turned upside down.
"Ella," a boy says, jolting me out of my thoughts. As I turn around, I see a happy blonde boy.
"Hey Charlie," I say "How are you?"
"I'm doing good," he says. "Are you ready for our first day?" he asks.
"No, not at all," I say.
A few weeks earlier my hockey team and I were given a full-ride scholarship to Eden Hall. I mean, it's amazing that I get to go to this large fancy school and play JV hockey with my best friends, but it's also terrifying. I'm not a fan of new schools or change.
The school held a small ceremony, and let's just say we met the Varsity team. Rick Riley, in particular, is a cruel, asshole who cares only about himself.
"Oh come on Ella, you're going to be fine, we all are going to be fine"
"Thanks, Charlie; what are your classes?" I ask, knowing that I will not be in any of his classes. I take all advanced classes despite my dislike for them; yet, my mom insists that I do so.
"I have English first, math second, lunch, science third, and gym fourth. You?"
"First math, second science, lunch, third English and last art."
"So we have no classes together?" Charlie asks disappointed.
"Except for lunch, we both knew I wasn't going to be in any of your classes."
"I know, I know," says Charlie, "but there are moments when I wish you wouldn't take those ridiculous classes."
"Same, but my mom is so strict with them; I wish I didn't have to take them"
"Oh shut up Ella, being smart is a great thing."I roll my eyes at his remark.
As we approach a large brick school with gold letters spelling out Eden Hall, I notice that the majority of the team is already waiting outside. Dean is also here; he initially refused to come, but we persuaded him that it would be the best time of his life.
"Hey guys," Charlie says as we approach the group.
"We should all be heading to class since we don't want to be late," I add as I look at my watch. Everyone finds friends to walk to class with.
"Ella, if you like, I can walk you to class," Dean says as he approaches me.
"Oh I'll be okay on my own, Dean," I say.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," I say, giving him a small smile.
To be honest, I don't want to find my class by myself; I'd prefer to have a friend, but I need to learn how to do things on my own. Before heading to my classes, I find Julie and Connie, to say hello, and catch up a little.
"I have to go, but I'll see you guys at lunch," I say as I walk away.
I open the large red doors, which lead to corridors and lockers crowded with students racing to class. I look at my schedule and see that 223 is my math class. I spend a few minutes pushing my way through students to a stairwell that leads to the second floor. I go upstairs in search of 223. As I am trying to find my class I run across the one and only Rick Riley.
"Fuck sorry," I say.
"Watch where you're going"
"I said I was sorry geez"
"Keep your head up next time kid" Rick replies.
I contemplate whether to ask for directions or just forget about it. I probably should just forget about it.
"Can you tell me where 223 is?" I blurt out stupidly.
"If you go straight and take two rights you will find the math hallway"
"Thanks, I guess," I say as I roll my eyes and follow his stupid instructions. I continue straight and then turn right twice, only to discover that he lied to me and that I am now in the science hallway. I don't know whether to ask for help again or try and find it myself.
"Excuse me," I say as I halt a brunette female. "Could you please show me how to get to the math hallway?"
"Oh yes, of course, come with me," she says graciously. "What class are you in?"
"223, you?"
"Oh, same! Do you take honours classes as well?"
I was fortunate in that I was able to stop someone who happened to be in my class.
"Yeah, you?"
"Yes! I'm Linda by the way," the brunette says.
"Ella," I say as we shake hands.
We arrive at the math class I've been searching for for a long time. When we walk in, there are two empty seats in the back. As the bell rings, the teacher greets the class,
"Good morning class. My name is Mr.Robert or Mr.R, and I shall be your math teacher," and just like that the period is over. I've only had one lesson and already have five pages of homework.
We have both figured out that we have all the same classes except for the fourth period, where she has gym and I have art. We leave math class to go to our second-period Science. Science is one of my favourite subjects, I always do well in this class.
"So, where are you from?" Linda says, starting the conversation.
"Chicago" I reply.
"Wow, that's quite a distance; what are you doing here?"
"My hockey team and I received scholarships."
"Oh so you guys the the ones who won the Junior Goodwill games and took up the JV slots, Rick must love that," She jokes. Rick had resented me and the ducks ever since he discovered we had taken his brother's JV spot.
"He loves us," I sarcastically reply, "so do you live around here?"
"Yeah, I've spent my entire life in this area."
"Oh wow that's cool"
"Have you gotten settled in your dorm yet?" Linda asks.
I forgot about that; I just arrived this morning instead of a few days ago. My dorm is crammed with boxes of belongings that I have yet to unpack. The boxes arrived at my dorm a week ago, I should of too.
"No," I say, laughing. "I will, though,"
"Please let me know if you want any help. I'd be delighted to lend a helping hand "Her thoughtful gesture makes me smile. I like Linda especially because she isn't the snobbish rich person I expected these people to be.
When we get to science class, 207, there are large desks with two seats. Linda and I take seats in the front row of the class. The remainder of the kids, as well as our teacher, begin to crowd in.
"Hello, class. My name is Mrs. Gomez, and I will be your science professor. Your lab partner for the remainder of the semester will be the person you sit next to "
I smile as I turn to my left, realizing that Linda, not some random stranger, will be my lab partner this semester. We started an introduction to our first topic, chemistry. One of my personal favourites.
"Can I meet you after lunch, Linda? I am going to see my friends." I ask as we exit the class and enter the crowded hallways.
"Yeah meet me in the front hall after lunch" She replies.
I nod and begin walking to the lunch hall, which was the only location I knew how to get to. As I walk into the hall, I notice some ducks seated at a table. I walk up to them.
"Hey guys," I say as I take a seat.
"Are you not going to grab something to eat?" Goldberg asks.
"I'll get something, just give me a second," I say, lowering my head down the table. The school was fine, but it was exhausting and it's only my first day here. "Can someone come get food with me?" I ask as I lift my head from the table.
"I'll come," Dean says as he approaches me from behind. I rise with a smile. Dean has always had feelings for me, but I've never felt the same, plus we're better off as friends anyway.
We proceeded to the cafe line, which was packed with hungry students. I take out my student card and prepare to pay. A student ID and a student card are issued at Eden Hall. If your student card is linked to a credit card, you can use it to pay for food. Fortunately, my student card is linked to the credit card that my parents gave me.
I take a dark red tray and place it down. I continue down the line in search of something appealing. I ended up with half a turkey sandwich and some mixed fruit that included strawberries and watermelon. We settle our bill and return to our lunch table. I take a seat in front of Julie and Connie to resume our pre-school talk.
"Hey Ella," Connie says.
"Hey, El," Julie says. El was the best she could come up with when she wanted to give me a nickname a while back.
"How are your classes going?" I ask, and just as they are about to speak, Rick Riley interrupts them. This guy has to get a life.
"Hello, ladies,"
"Rick, get out of here, no one wants to talk to you," I say, annoyed. I don't want anything to do with this guy, his presence annoys me.
"Aw come on, I'm just trying to have a polite conversation," he replies.
"There's nothing polite about you." I say, He stands a little taller adjusting his red varsity jacket, which has a large "C" on it that stands for captain, but nothing about him screams captain.
With his friends following him, he moves over to where Charlie is seated.
"I'll take that," he replies as he reaches down to grab Charlie's lunch. Charlie, like the majority of the ducks, lives near Eden Hall. They all live at home, and to be honest I'm jealous at times, I miss my mom so much.
"Hey, give it back," Charlie says as he rises to his feet and reaches for his food.
"I think I'll keep it," Rick replies as he returns to the table where all of the Varsity players and cheerleaders are seated.
If my memory serves me correctly Cole, Scott also known as Scooter, and Darrow are his friends, I'm sure those varsity players will get it at some point, but I'm not sure when. "Here Charlie," I say sliding my lunch tray over, "You can have the rest, I'm not that hungry anyways", he smiles in return.
Lunch was finally finished. We all stood up and threw our garbage away. After saying my goodbyes, I made my way to the front hall to meet Linda.
"Hey, Linda," I say as I approach her.
"Are you ready, Ella?"
"Yeah, let's go"
We begin our walk to third period, English, another of my favourite classes. I enjoy reading and writing. It was considerably faster to walk to English than it was to walk to the rest of my classes. Linda and I, like the rest of my classes, found two seats in the back. Mr. Penny, our English teacher, entered the room.
Apart from his unusual name, he is a genuinely kind person. He delivered a lengthy speech about what we will be learning this semester. We are mostly focused on works such as Romeo and Juliet and other literature. We'll also be studying poetry, something I'm looking forward to. My English class, like the rest of my classes, flew by fast. I have my last class of the day, art. The only class I don't have with Linda. She gave me directions to where I needed to go, and I was on my way.
Room 101, on the first level, is where my art class is. I make my way downstairs, past a group of kids I don't recognize. When you're a new kid, it can feel like everyone is staring at you and talking about you, but this isn't the case. When I arrive for art, the room appears to be nearly full. This advanced class is for students in grades ten through twelve. When I walk in, the only seat available is next to Rick Riley. You've got to be kidding me, right? I take a seat next to him, avoiding direct eye contact. I don't want to speak to him, and I don't even want to look him in the eyes. Yet his gaze is fixed on me.
"We could be friends," Rick says with a smirk on his face.
I laugh, "Oh no we couldn't"
"We definitely could, I can picture it," Rick says,
I keep my gaze fixed on my art teacher. Mrs. Smith is a dirty blonde-haired woman with blue eyes. She is tall and lovely.
"We come from two very different worlds, you're so full of yourself rich kid who thinks he's better than everyone else because his daddy owns the place, and I'm not " I smile as he furrows his eyebrows at me. I'm right and he knows it.
"You know what you're right, we could never be friends" Rick starts "You want to know why?" he baits me.
"Why?" I reply taking the bait. "Because even though I may be daddy's money, at least I'm somebody unlike you. You're a nobody, you and your little duckie friends are nobody's. It's all a stunt all you guys do is take up space, your worthless. Just because you won the Junior Goodwill Games doesn't mean shit, especially around here."
I stare at him for a bit, his words sting, "I've earned my spot here you got yours handed to you. Your only captain because your daddy would throw a fit if you weren't so don't act like you deserve that title, you're a disgrace to it, and this school."
Mrs. Smith speaks just as Rick is ready to respond. "Ella, Rick? Are you kids paying attention to what I'm saying?" People giggle.
We both say, "Yes."
I keep ignoring him and focus on my art teacher. Rick takes his pencil from his pocket and taps it repeatedly on the desk. I'm not going to say anything in the hopes he'll stop. He's been tapping his stupid pencil on the stupid desk for about five minutes. Instead of speaking, I tear the pencil from his grip and snap it in half. I smile as his face gets red.
"What was the point of that?" He whispers madly.
I continue to ignore him. I don't where he gets his ego from but it's taking up the entire room and someone needs to knock him off his high horse. I will gladly be the person to do it.
I'm cleaning up my desk now that art class is over. He scoffs at me and walks away. I'm off to find the rest of the ducks. Today we meet our new coach, the JV team's coach.
"Hey, Connie!!" I say as I rush up to her and give her a big hug.
"Ugh, I wish you were in my classes."She says.
"Me, too," I respond as I pull away from the hug. "Are you ready to meet our new coach?"
"Yeah, but Bombay can't be replaced, right?" she explains. Don't get me wrong, I adore Bombay, but he had a habit of abandoning us when we needed him most. I'm secretly hoping that this coach is a step better than him.
"No one can take his place," I say reassuring her.
We join with the rest of the ducks and head to our locker area to change. Our gear had already been delivered to the locker room a few days prior. When we walk into the locker room, we notice that each of us has our own section, with our names are written on the cubby that hangs over the bench. We all picked our places and began to prepare. My equipment was in the back corner, but there was no plaque with my name on it. I find this strange; wasn't I a member of the team?
I gather my belongings and begin to dress. I pulled over my favourite Ducks jersey, which was our second jersey from when we won the Junior Goodwill Games. My last name "MAY" is sewn in large black letters on the back, along with my favourite number "81".
We all finish getting dressed, take our water bottles, and head out to the ice, only to discover that the varsity team is still practising. We all approach the boards individually, and so does Varsity. My helmet is resting on the top of my head, allowing others to see and hear me clearly.
"Oh look who it is," Rick says. "You think you've guys got something, don't you? You don't, you're all simply a publicity stunt to make my father look good. We'll have you packing in a couple of months.
"Oh please, you're just mad we're here, and took your little brother's spot, go cry about it to your dad, boo hoo hoo," I say, acting sad.
He doesn't respond, and just death stares at me instead.
"Aw, did I make you mad?"
"Cut it out and get off, we're done practise." the Varsity coach says stepping in between our teams.
Coach Wilson, the Varsity Coach. With blonde hair and blue eyes, he is a tall and thin man. He appears to be this mean and disciplined person, but he also appears to be the type of coach who prioritizes hockey over everything else. We take the ice after the varsity team has left. It's time for us to start our practice.