CHAPTER 6
The next five days passed - maybe just a bit too quickly. Suddenly, I was staring Monday in the eye - my first day of my new school.
On Thursday, Becky had taken me down to Geelong North Secondary College to buy some school uniform. I came back with black pants, white shirts, green v-neck jumpers, and white dresses that had green stitching.
I was looking into the bathroom mirror at the new me. My uniform was neat and tidy and I'd left my blonde hair out. I was planning to get the hairdresser to colour it something close to my natural chestnut colour so that I wouldn't have to continue dying it.
I'd also left my face free from any make-up. I was aiming for a new and responsible me; someone who would be capable of being a mother. The word 'mother' was still hard for me to comprehend.
I took one last glance into the mirror before heading downstairs. Dad and Becky were in the kitchen eating breakfast already. I took a seat at the table and grabbed two slices of toast which I covered in Vegemite.
At 7.45am, Dad told me, "I'll drive you to the bus stop on my way to work and then I'll pick you up at about quarter-to-four this afternoon."
And at that, Dad got up, kissed Becky goodbye, and led me out the front door.
It took us only a few minutes to get to my bus stop at the main street. Once I was out of the car, I insisted for Dad to continue on to work.
There were a few other people at the bus stop, dressed in the same uniform that I was. I sat down on one of the seats and waited for the bus. I could feel the gaze of many eyes on me, but I never met them.
When the bus arrived, I got my bus pass out and waited until it was my turn to board the bus. I showed the driver - an old man with and extremely long white beard - my pass and went in search for a seat. I ended up sitting on my own seat behind a girl who had boarded the bus when I had. She sat alone also.
The bus drove on towards school, collecting other students at various stops. After only about five minutes, the girl in front of me turned around and looked at me. She had naturally blonde hair with hazel coloured eyes and a friendly smile on her face.
"You're that new girl, right?" she asked.
"That would be me," I replied.
"Hi, I'm Courtney, and I think you're in most of my classes. Is your name Nasatya or something?" she asked.
I let out a light sigh - I now knew what I would have to repeat many times today - the pronunciation of my stupid name.
"Close," I said, "but it's pronounced 'NAH-SET-YA'. My mother came up with stupid names for all her kids." I smiled.
"No, no. I like your name. It sounds really pretty," she smiled sweetly at me.
That was unexpected - I'd never thought of my name as pretty.
Courtney came and sat next to me whilst the bus was stopped at an intersection. "I can show you around today if you like," she offered.
"Please," I said. She smiled.
"So, where've you come from anyway?" she asked.
"Oh, um, I moved from the Hawthorn area to come and live with my dad. Things were a little tense between me and my mum," I answered. I hoped that that would be enough for her for now. I wasn't sure whether I could trust her with the real reason yet.
"Oh, okay," she said, "So what, you must be a pretty big Hawks fan then?" She grinned at me. The Hawks - formally the Hawthorn Hawks - were the Australian Rules football team that I had always been a huge supporter of. I couldn't believe that she was into footy as well.
"Huge fan," I smiled.
"Damn," she said with mock disappointment, "you're heart will get broken when the Cats beat your scrawny arses this weekend." The Geelong Cats were somewhat my least favourite team - behind the Collingwood Magpies of course.
Little did Courtney know that my heart had already been broken. I knew that she meant it jokingly, but her words still tore at my chest. I clutched my abdomen.
"Har-har," I said with mock laughter. Hopefully my response wasn't too late.
The bus trip continued with the same kind of discussion - she was curious about all of my hobbies. She wanted to know if I played any instrument, what things I liked to read, and what other sporting codes I followed. I realised that I didn't enjoy any of these hobbies, and was greatly disappointed with myself.
When we got off the bus, she helped me find my locker that I'd been assigned. It turned out that it was very close to hers. She didn't have time to introduce me to her friends which she was really annoyed about.
We raced to class when the bell rang and made it with seconds to spare. We sat toward the back of class, but that didn't stop people from looking at me. When the English teacher - Miss Benson - walked in however, the whole class obediently turned around and paid her strict attention.
Unsurprisingly, I had to correct the teacher when she called the roll. "Nasatya Perchio?" she'd called.
"It's NAH-SET-YA PER-STA-SHE-O," I'd called back. At that, she's continued on with the attendance check.
I caught up with the class pretty quickly - it wasn't hard, they were following a very similar curriculum to my previous school.
At recess, Courtney dragged me to her group of friends who were sitting under an old gum tree.
There were four people sitting on the grass there already. They all looked at me curiously, but they all looked friendly enough.
"Okay guys," Courtney began, "this is Nasettia, and she's new here. She's really cool and all, but she supports the Hawks, so it may take a little longer for you guys to warm up to her." I loved the way she was able to joke about the most stupid things.
They all stood up and looked at me. "Aww man, not a fricken Hawker!" one of the guys joked.
They all laughed but then started introduced themselves to me.
"Hi, I'm Zac," the guy who had made the remark before said, "nice to meet you." He shook my hand with maybe a little too much force. I had to flex my fingers.
"Hey, I'm Sophie," a short, blonde girl said. She simply waved.
"I'm Hayley," the other girl with black hair announced.
"And, now it's time to meet the important one," the last guy said. He walked over to me, put his arm around my neck and turned me around to walk away from the group. "I'm Josh. I'm the funny, hot one of the group." He laughed at himself. He started mumbling unintelligibly, and I couldn't understand why. I couldn't understand any of his actions for that matter.
I was saved when Courtney ran to catch up with us. She grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Josh. "Alright Josh, control yourself. You probably just gave Nasettia a heart attack," she turned to look at me, "Don't worry about him, he was only joking. He does that to like any girl he comes across."
"No, its okay," I replied. Josh just crossed his arms and put on a stupid facial expression. Courtney just rolled her eyes. I could see that I was going to get along with this group of people very well. I felt that they'd be able to help me become the right kind of person to be a mother.
The school day passed faster that I thought it would. Courtney caught the same bus as me home. When the bus stopped at my stop, I got off with Courtney and the group of people I boarded it with this morning. I said goodbye to Courtney and waited for my dad to arrive.
It was only five minutes before the old bomb of a car pulled up at the stop. I yanked the door open and climbed in.
"Hey Nas. How did it go?" he asked.
"It was really good actually. I met this girl on the bus who showed me around all day and introduced me to her friends and stuff. She and her friends are all really nice," I answered in a sincere voice.
"That's good," his smile was genuine. "What's this girl's name? If she's on your bus, she'd have to live locally. I might know her."
"Oh, her name's Courtney, umm... Courtney Elliott," I answered. It took me a moment to remember her surname.
"Elliott, Elliott," Dad repeated, thinking. "Oh, that must be Cathy and Brian's daughter. Nice family. I don't talk to them much, but they used to be my neighbours here when I first moved to Bannockburn."
So it was evident that I'd met some nice people to become my new friends. My father's reassurance made me highly optimistic.
"I've just got to stop off at the supermarket," Dad said, waking me from my absent-minded session, "Do you want to come in or stay in the car?"
"I'll come," I replied, I hadn't seen much of the town yet.
"Alright."
Dad drove around to the carpark and parked the car close to the entrance. We got out, slammed our doors in synchronisation and walked towards the supermarket.
When we got into the shop, Dad picked up a basket and went through various isles. I followed along, not wanting to get lost.
When we got to the checkouts, Dad realised that he'd forgotten something, but he didn't want us to lose our spot in the line - even though we were at the end of the short line - so he insisted that I wait in line while he raced to get the bread he'd forgotten. I grudgingly complied.
Dad was taking too long because it was soon my turn at the register. "Hi, how are you?" the guy behind the register asked. He sounded like a machine when he said it.
"Fine thanks," I replied. I put on a little smile, hoping it would be enough. I unloaded the various grocery items onto the register's conveyer belt and he scanned them through and placed them into bags.
Dad still hadn't returned, and I was starting to panic. "Umm, my Dad's paying, but he's gone to get something he forgot..." I didn't know how to continue.
"No, no, it's alright," he pressed various buttons on the screen, "I'll just put this lot on hold." There was no one behind me in the line, so I stood there, feeling really awkward. I could see that he was looking at me, and I had no idea why.
"Hey, this might sound a bit strange, seeing as you wouldn't know me, but are you by any chance Anthony Perstacio's daughter?" He smiled friendly at me. I noticed that his voice sounded so polite, so fearless, and best yet - dreamy.
"Yeah, I am. How did you know?" I asked.
"Oh, just that I'm always minding his groceries," he grinned - obviously, this was something my father did often. "Plus, he's been telling me his daughter had come to live with him, and seeing that I've never seen you before, I could only assume." He smiled again, and I couldn't help but be knocked hypnotized by his chocolate brown eyes.
"You're good."
"I know," he laughed at himself; "Anyway, I'm Taylor. Taylor Elliott. Seeing as I know your surname, I guess you should know mine." He stretched his arm out for me to shake it.
"Nasettia," I said as I shook his hand. His olive skin was so soft that I let my hand linger on his probably more than what was polite.
"You wouldn't happen to be Courtney's brother, would you?" I asked. In a town this small, there could only be one Elliott family.
"Shh, shh," he hushed me, but he grinned, "Don't tell the whole world that I'm related to such filth," he laughed again. Obviously, he was joking. "I knew it'd be only a matter of time until you made the connection."
I was overly confused. I gave him a puzzled look, but he only laughed. "I saw you two on the bus today. I do go to the same school as you. I'm in year twelve. I was sitting behind you two, but obviously I'm not important enough to be noticed," he laughed again.
"Hey, Taylor," Dad's voice sounded. I was still lost in Taylor's eyes that it took me a moment to get the world in order. "Sorry I took so long this time. I see you've met my baby," he directed to me.
"Yeah, it seems that I've stumped her with my stalking knowledge of her," he said as he scanned the last few groceries.
Dad and Taylor laughed in unison.
I grabbed one of the bags whilst Dad grabbed the other two and we headed for the exit. "I'll see you on the bus tomorrow Nasettia," Taylor called as I walked away.
I turned to look back at him, but he was already dealing with another customer.
"He's a nice kid. That's your friend's brother you know," Dad told me.
"I know, he told me," I said. At that, we got back to the car and headed home.
After dinner, I was extremely tired after the long day, and so went to bed earlier than I normally would. As I drifted to sleep, I couldn't get Taylor out of mind.