The weekend passed way too quickly.
Over Saturday and Sunday, I had gotten all of my school supplies together, bought my large, electric-blue Vans backpack, and endured a whole 32 hours of Lisa as company.
Needless to say, I spent most of the weekend pitching, talking via whiteboard to Hayden, or giving Kouger a bath (you wouldn’t believe how long it takes to give him one). And during the time where I wasn’t doing anything that involved me hearing anyone, I had music replace the silence or Lisa’s babbling.
During the weekend, I had wished it would end so I could go to school and escape the house. Now that it was Monday, the weekend didn’t seem so bad.
I sat in the passenger seat of Old Blue with my right headphone in, staring at the busy school grounds.
“Have fun, Jess.” Dad told me.
I smiled at him. “I will, you have fun at Giovanni’s.”
Dad winked at me as I got out of the truck and slung my backpack over my shoulders and grabbed the box full of books and such for my locker.
I began walking to the entrance of the school, saying nothing. I didn’t really know anyone, and I didn’t really care. Right now, I just wanted to dump my box of supplies in my locker.
I went inside, getting greeted by an overly zealous Principle Marten.
“Jessi Ray!” He exclaimed. “Welcome to your first day!”
“Thanks.” I called back as I kept walking to the stairs, heading up to my locker.
When I finally found locker #83, I pulled a slip of paper out of my jean pocket with my combination.
“2…1…7…4...” I whispered as I unlocked the padlock.
“You know, usually saying your combination out-loud isn’t a good idea.” A girl’s voice next to me said.
I looked to my right to see a girl about my age smiling at me.
“Sorry, I’m…new.” I told her.
“It’s fine, I was new at one point, too.” She said, her brown eyes twinkling.
I laughed. “At least I’m not alone.”
She shook her head. “You’re not. I’m Leah.” She held out her hand.
“I’m Jessi.” I shook her hand before closing my locker door.
“Well, Jessi, what’s your first class?” Leah asked.
Leah nodded.
I thought for a moment. “History.”
“Me too!” Leah exclaimed.
“Thank goodness, because I think I’d get lost.” I said with a smile.
Leah laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll take you there.”
Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad…
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LATER
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I was wrong.
History was fine, it turns out that my seat was right next to Leah’s, Mr. Cordell was nice, and the stuff we learned was pretty easy to learn.
The next few classes, however, were torture.
Math was dull and I got stuck next to the smartest kid in class, which in turn makes me feel stupid most of the time. And, just to pour salt in the wound, Mrs. Goide was very critical and hated talking. Even a whisper was yelled at and finding the answer to something you missed was like some sort of Navy S.E.A.L. mission.
Spanish class wasn’t terrible. I got the joy of sitting in the back of the class, which I would usually enjoy, but Mrs. Martinez talked very quickly in both English and Spanish. I did like the girls who sat next to me though, and both of them were named Madeline.
Health was so boring it’s not even funny. Mr. Harback was nice, but also a germaphobe and couldn’t stress how important it was to sanitize. The guy I’m sitting next to – Nathan – also fell asleep half-way into the class.
And that’s where I am now.
I watched as drool slowly dripped from the corner of Nathan’s mouth as Mr. Harback passed out a piece of paper with instructions of how to properly wash your hands.
I poked Nathan’s shoulder as the stack of paper came to him.
He snorted and jerked upright, wiping the drool off his face and passing the papers along before going back to sleep almost immediately.
Luckily, the bell rang and it was finally time to leave.
I stuffed my health work in my backpack, slinging it onto my back, leaving to go to lunch.
Honestly, I was actually excited about lunch.
Besides, who could blame me? Except for history, my other three classes hadn’t left a good first impression on me.
I began to walk through the crowded hallways, squeezing past lingering people and avoiding getting trampled on.
I turned the corner and walked right into someone’s front.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going, freak!” A senior boy told me.
“Sorry.” I apologized as I walked around him, still walking towards the theater class.
I shook my head and kept walking.
“Welcome back to high school.” I whispered as I came up to the theater room.
I walked inside the double doors into the cafeteria. It was already half-full of students.
I went over to the lunch line, jumping in the back of the line. The line quickly filled up behind me as more students kept coming in the cafeteria.
I stood there, slowly moving up in the line for about five minutes, trying to ignore the idiotic football jocks behind me. They had decided to play monkey-in-the-middle with a football.
I looked around, noticing Leah coming up towards me.
“Hey,” she greeted. “How are the rest of your classes?”
I shrugged. “Not as good as history, but I’ll survive.”
Leah laughed and was about to say something when one of the guys behind me was shoved into my back.
He turned around at the same time I did.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s fine.” I told him, turning around to roll my eyes at Leah.
She tried to hide a laugh, sadly one of the jocks noticed.
“Hey,” he grabbed my shoulder and made me turn around to face him. “Something wrong?”
“No.” I said. “Nothing’s wrong.”
The bulky senior stepped closer to me. “What was that look for?”
“Look, she said nothing was wrong, ok?” Leah butt in. “Just leave her alone.”
“I will when she tells me what that look was for.”
“Just relax, man.” I told him gently.
“Come on, dude.” The guy who slammed into me grabbed the arm of my current opponent. “It was my fault.”
The bulkier senior tore his arm away, sticking his tongue in his cheek as Leah and I slowly turned around, finally getting to the front of the lunch line.
I grabbed my sandwich and drink, following Leah to an empty table.
“You eat alone?” I asked her, slightly surprised. She seemed like such a friendly person, I didn’t understand why she’d be alone.
Leah shrugged. “I usually like being alone at lunch.”
“I can go somewhere els-” I said before she cut me off.
“You don’t have to! I like you, so I’ll make an exception. Besides, this could be valuable time to learn about the school from the girl who knows all about it.” Leah joked, winking at me as we sat down.
“So you know everything?” I asked.
Leah laughed. “Well, close enough. My dad’s worked here as long as I can remember.”
“That’s cool.”
“So, what’s your next class, Jessi?” Leah asked.
“Theater.” I said between a bite of hamburger.
“I loved theater! You’re going to love Mrs. Stone.” Leah told me.
“Do you do theater?” I asked her.
Leah shook her head. “I did it last year, but I made it onto the varsity softball team here, so I chose that instead.”
“I’d choose softball, too.” I said.
“Do you play?” Leah asked.
“I did. Kind of do. I haven’t played on a team in a long time, but I still pitch or hit a few balls whenever I get the chance.” I explained.
“Hey, at least you didn’t completely give it up, right?” Leah asked.
I nodded. “True.”
“So you pitch?”
I nodded.
“That’s so funny because I’m a catcher.” Leah said. “If you ever want a catcher, just find me.”
“Alright, I will.”
We continued the rest of lunch talking about all sorts of random things. And I learned that Leah and I are a lot alike.
When the bell rang for sixth period, there was a massive wave towards the door.
“Usually I go around the other way to go to my locker before sixth period.” Leah told me. “It’s quicker and you don’t get crushed.”
I laughed. “Sounds like a good idea.”
Leah and I both walked towards the back door of the auditorium, coming out into a slightly empty hallway and headed towards our lockers.
I dumped off the stuff in my backpack and grabbed the books and supplies for my seventh and eighth period classes: English and physics.
After I zipped up my backpack, I was off for theater.
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LATER
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Mrs. Stone was just as amazing as Leah had said.
She was nice, enthusiastic, friendly, and loved all of her students. She even gave me a hug after class!
I was feeling better about my day as I walked towards my physics class with Mrs. Gravette.
Mrs. Gravette was there at the door, waiting for me.
“Hey, Jessi.” He said, leading me inside. “Your seat is the one on the corner over there by Montana.”
I nodded and walked over to the seat on the right-hand corner of the room.
I put my backpack on the ground next to my seat and sat down.
The brunette girl next to me looked up. “Hi! I’m Montana.” She introduced.
“I’m Jessi.”
“Are you new?” She asked.
No, duh.
“Yeah, my dad and I just moved here.” I explained.
“Cool! Well, welcome to physics.” She said as the tardy bell rang and Mrs. Gravette started her class.
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LATER
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Mrs. Gravette was just as perky as when I’d met her at orientation. She was amazing and after theater, I was about to actually think that this might be a pretty good school.
Montana didn’t turn out to be a terrible desk-buddy either. She was pretty funny and she did basketball, so I was glad she wasn’t a super girly girl.
I was walking to English class – the last class – when I walked into another person.
“I’m so sorr-” I said, stopping as I saw who it was. “We got to stop meeting this way.” I joked as I found myself looking at Hayden.
He laughed. “I’d be cool with that. So where are you going next, Jessi?”
“English with your mom.”
“Me too! Hey, maybe we’ll get to sit together.”
“I’d like sitting next to someone I actually know.” I said as we began walking to the English classroom.
When Hayden and I walked in, the first thing we noticed was that all of the chairs were on the desks.
Most of the students were already inside, but Mrs. Trevors waited until the tardy bell rang to explain what they were for.
“Mrs. Trevors, do we have to stand all class long?” One girl asked.
“No, Tracey,” Mrs. Trevors said. “Since we have a new student – Jessi – I figured we all could switch around seats. Everyone say hi to Jessi.”
I blushed furiously as everyone said ‘hi, Jessi.’
“Alright, now, everyone come up and choose a piece of paper out of this basket. They all should have numbers on them that match a numbered seat on the desks. Find your new seats!” Mrs. Trevors finished explaining.
We all walked up and got our seat number. Soon, there were chairs being move to the floor and people sitting in them, finding their new seats.
I finally found seat #28 and sat down, looking next to me.
I watched as Leah came up and sat down in seat #27.
She noticed and laughed. “Hey, fancy seeing you here.”
I smiled at her. “’Tis quite a fancy.”
I looked to my left to see Hayden sitting down in seat #29.
I was about to burst of happiness.
I actually got a good teacher in a class I would probably enjoy, and I got to sit next to two people I knew and tolerated!
I instantly knew that this was going to be a good class.
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That’s the end of chapter 6! I hope y’all enjoyed it and chapter 7 will be coming!
REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED :D