Monday morning. Dreaded Monday morning. Amanda rolled over, as the sun from her window shone right into her slowly opening eyes. She groaned, lifting the blanket over her head, but she wasn't there for much longer before her mum began rapidly knocking on the door. "Come on Amanda. Time to get up!"
"I'm awake, I'm awake," Amanda groaned, slowly lifting her head above the covers.
"Hurry up. We need to leave soon! You don't want to be late on your first day of school," her mother said sharply. It was about two minutes later when Amanda finally sat up out of bed, rubbing her eyes with a tired expression. She looked over at her alarm which seemed to be working at a reasonable time of 7:34. Her dad still hadn't looked at it, but Amanda also hadn't had any weird things happen since 12am Sunday morning.
She walked to her wardrobe and slid open the doors. There, on a coat hanger, was her new school uniform, ironed from the night before. The girls' uniform had a white shirt with a blue tie. The skirt was made from the same material as the tie, and went down to her knees, which she found to be a reasonable length. Her winter jacket was beside it, all cozy and warm which she was obviously going to need.
She felt sick looking at the uniform though, as it was a constant reminder of a new school and a new environment she wanted no part in.
She got changed, packed her shoulder bag for school, and headed down to the living room.
"There you are," her brother sighed as he watched her slowly descend the stairs. "Can you go any slower? Mums already in the car."
"CaN yOu Go AnY sLoWeR?" Amanda repeated, mocking him in a high-pitched voice.
He waited for her to reach the bottom before handing her the car keys and walking out to the car, which had been parked out in the front yard. Amanda followed as slowly as she dared, making sure she locked the house as she exited the front door, as her father had already left for work by bus.
The trip to school was rather silent. Not much to be said, both Amanda and Robbie awaiting the entry to their new school, one less excited than the other. Although the conditions on the road were still new to Amanda, she had been placed behind the wheel for their first trip to school. She somewhat found it comforting watching the trees, which were so nice and fresh compared to the ones in New Mexico. It had been snowing as well lately, so all the trees seemed to be dusted in white, even though the snow hung heavily on the branches.
Amanda thought the scenery would've been the best part of her day, and before she was aware of where she was, her mother suddenly told her to turn right. Without arguing or even knowing where she was going, Amanda found herself driving through the gates of Harry Ainlay High. She gulped, searching for a car park.
It wasn't long after, that Amanda and Robbie were standing in the admin office, waiting to be told where their classes were.
It all happened so fast that Amanda had no time to recalibrate what she said or did. Beforehand, she'd had a whole idea laid out of how she'd react to every possible question or action, but now she found she'd already answered several questions without following her plan.
"So, are both of you excited to make some new friends?" Their principal had asked, as she led them out of the office, towards their classrooms.
Robbie had shrugged, whilst Amanda merely continued walking with no sign she'd even heard, trying to dispose of the question while trying very hard not to be rude.
The school grounds were huge. Bigger than either of them had ever seen before.
Their old school was at least half the size and had nowhere near as many students, which was weird because their old school wasn't exactly small either.
From Amanda's view, making friends was going to be a very difficult job. She didn't enjoy teenage socialising for some reason.
She preferred to sit and study alone.
Although she had had friends back in New Mexico, they had all understood how she liked to live her life. Most of them had all grown up together since primary school, which made it hard to get used to making new friends.
As they approached Robbie's class the sound of clattered conversation could be heard as students waited for their teachers to arrive.
Placing his bag down, Robbie turned, glancing at his sister with an earnest expression. He had suddenly come to realise the amount of fear he had. Amanda looked at him with an understanding smile. It was as though he finally understood how daunting and devastating the concept of moving school really was.
She patted him gently on the shoulder, encouraging him to get it over and done with. He sighed, opening the door as a sudden hush fell over the whole classroom. He wasn't one to be nervous but when everyone had their eyes fixed on you, it was near impossible not to be.
It was then that Amanda realised, that nothing could have worried her more now. Nothing more than the thought of a class full of random, nosey students, staring her down when it was her turn to enter her class.
The Principal glanced at Amanda, a smile touching the ends of her mouth as she exited the classroom, closing the door behind her.
"I'm sure your brother is going to love it here. I heard he was interested in computer science?"
Amanda stood motionless, looking at her as she took a moment to respond.
"Um, yeah he is," she replied emotionlessly. The Principal's grin turned into a bright smile.
"Well, he has a lot of students in his class who are looking to pursue the same dreams. Sounds like he'll easily make a stash of friends."
Amanda's responding smile was dry but showed a hint of worry, as though her mind was elsewhere. She had no idea what lay ahead of her. Within the next 5 minutes, her life could drastically change. She didn't want to think about meeting everyone. She didn't want to consider the fact that she'd have to talk to people and make new friends.
It was only a couple of minutes later that Amanda found herself outside her classroom, placing her bag amongst the others from her class. She gulped, her mind dashing back to the fonder memories of her previous school in New Mexico, wishing and praying she could wake up from this dreadful nightmare.
Although it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be, she couldn't help but begin worrying about all the missed opportunities and the new school environment she so desperately wanted to escape. How was anyone supposed to pick up their last year of school in a NEW school? How could her parents expect that of her?
She stood motionless outside the classroom doors, seriously hesitating the moment of walking through them into a crowd of attentive eyes. The principal touched her shoulder lightly, as she, herself, had done with Robbie not moments ago. It was then that she noticed she was unwillingly walking into the room, her legs slowly, but uncontrollably, taking one step after the other.
She wasn't a child. She wasn't one to be shy (no matter how much she liked to keep to herself), but it didn't matter what people said; she hated how this whole experience was being forced on her. It almost made her feel like deliberately making some ridiculous scene on her first day, resulting in a hopeful expulsion from the school. She knew it wouldn't happen. She knew she didn't have it in her despite how much she wished she did. It was a thoughtless plan that would result in a more... negative ending than she wished for. It only took an idiot to figure that out.
She blinked suddenly snapping out of her drifting imagination as she heard the principal say her name. She allowed her eyes to fall over the room as she realised she was only being introduced.
The desks were collected in small groups of three, all aligned next to each other, filling the room with three sets in each row. There appeared to be roughly 30-40 students in the room, which seemed vastly huge compared to her classes of 20 in New Mexico. But of course (most importantly), she noticed that everyone was staring at her.
She guessed it was good manners to pay attention when someone was speaking up the front of the class, but why on earth was she standing at front of the class? What a great way to boost anxiety for a new student on their first day in a foreign school with creepy students. She ignored the urge to run out the door, clutching her pencil case as a substitute for overcoming the overwhelming pressure.
She'd have to stay at this school till the end of the year. She'd have to tolerate it no matter how much she hated it, but despite all that, she'd already sworn to herself she'd never get used to it, and nothing would change her mind.
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