You know how something epic always happens to people on their first day of school?
How they're brutally rejected or warmly welcomed into the throngs of the larger-than-life society we call high school...
I'm sure you're expecting that sort of story from me, something memorable or at least a bit exciting.
Let me assure you, nothing like that happened.
You could say it was like any other day of high school...
I woke up pretty early, (I was new at the whole high school concept, waking up early was not something I stuck to) way before my alarm clock went off, showered, got dressed, and sat down on my bed, contemplating whether to go downstairs for breakfast or not. In the end, my rumbling tummy won out, and I went to eat breakfast.
Breakfast was a slightly tense affair, Mimi and I still weren't bffs yet so she tried to avoid me in any possible way, and I found myself avoiding her subtly so her parents won't notice.
Rachel was her usual bubbly self, and before we all left the table, Aiden asked all of us to go through our parts of the plan and we did.
It scared me a bit, knowing I was to pretend to be somebody I was not for the rest of my life on Earth, but I didn't dwell on it, it was better than being a lab-rat.
As soon as Rachel dropped us off at school, she stuck her head out the window and said to me, "Ok Stella, have a great day at school. And remember, if you need anything Mimi's with you ok?"
"Thank you Rachel, I'll be sure to remember that", I forced myself to smile and walked after Mimi, towards what appeared to be the main entrance of the school.
As soon as we got in, Mimi pointed towards an office and said, "That's the main office, you can go there and get your class schedule. And just so we're clear, you and I aren't friends, just pretend you don't know me while you're here".
And with that she walked away, not once turning back. I sighed and adjusted my bag so the leather strap wasn't digging into my shoulder so much, and headed towards the office on my own.
I honestly wasn't expecting anything less from Mimi.
********
The receptionist was a young woman with a bright smile, she asked me to sit on one of the overstuffed navy blue couches while I waited for the principal.
She checked out some things on her computer and then her expression turned grave as she said, "I'm sorry about your parents, this must all be so strange for you".
I looked at her, not knowing what to say or do, should I be sad? Depressed? Mourning? Grieving? I still hadn't got a grip on all those human emotions, I didn't know how I was supposed to be acting. But before I got all flustered about it she let it drop, probably mistaking my personal dilemma for something else. Maybe she thought I didn't want to talk about it...
Before I could over-think it, the principal came to usher me into his small office. It was pretty fitting because he was a small man himself. He wore thin wire rimmed glasses, and a yellow polka dotted tie with his black suit. His black hair was thinning a bit in front despite his poor attempt to hide it with an overly gelled hair-do.
Everything in his office was neat and tidy, papers kept in some kind of organiser and pens in a pen holder on his spotless mahogany desk. There was a sharp absence of colour, so much so that I was feeling out of place in the office, everything was either grey, black or white, only the furniture was brown, and I found myself unreasonably afraid my colourful outfit would disrupt the harmony of the place.
He cleared his throat as he looked at me with grey eyes made even more striking by his glasses, "You must be Stella McLewis, welcome to our humble school", he saw me fidgeting and motioned towards one of the grey chairs, "Have a seat please Ms McLewis.".
I gratefully sank down into the chair and exhaled, "Thank you Mr...".
"Collins, Mr Collins", he said, "I'm the principal here", he pointed out, as if it took rocket science to figure that out.
"Thank you Mr Collins"
He joined his hands together, fingers touching, thumb to thumb, index to index, and so on as he leaned forward, elbows resting on his polished desk, "So, I don't know if the secretary or anyone has told you the basics about the school and its rules and regulations so I'm just going to high light the key things you need to know.", I nodded and he carried on, "You will get your books from my secretary, Ms Rosemead when you leave this office, please make sure to sign that you have gotten a copy of all your required books. Your class schedule will also be given to you, there are some electives you will be required to choose from, they will be added to your class schedule. Bullying, graffiti, or violence of any sort is not tolerated in this school Ms McLewis, any case of that will lead to a suspension or expulsion, depending on the magnitude of the offence. You will also find that we have a strict attendance policy, so I hope you're not one of those students that skip school."
He raised an eyebrow as he looked at me and said, "Now is that clear? Do you have any questions?"
I shook my head and answered in the negative and then I was dismissed.
Getting my class schedule took much longer than I was expecting. Ms Rosemead I saw, was very nervous about mixing things up, so she went through it over and over again.
I chose Art and Creative writing as my electives and they got added in my class schedule, and then my books were handed to me together with the papers I had to sign, and then finally, I was allowed to go look for my second class, I had already missed the first.
There was no map or labels to show me where to go, so I just wandered aimlessly down the empty corridors, hoping to stumble upon the classroom.
And that's when I saw it happen...
Two burly guys had one thinner brunette guy held by the elbows, and from what I could tell, they were trying to force him into an empty classroom and failing miserably. For a second there, all I could think was, 'What happened to the no-bullying rule??".
I was snapped out of my frozen state when the brown haired boy, surprisingly strong and fast, spun around, freeing himself and hitting one of the burly guys on the nose.
There was some cursing and some more escape manoeuvres, and then Small guy was running...
Straight towards me.
Smack! He ran into me, and we both went falling, poor me landing on my elbows and butt, and hitting my head on the tiled floor.
I just lay there on the floor, trying to get my head to stop spinning, until I felt a hand pulling mine, setting me on my feet again.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there", I looked into the greenest eyes I'd ever seen- not that I'd seen many then- greener than the blades of grass I saw on the field when I...arrived, they were so captivating I could barely register what he was saying, "I mean, I did, but then it was too late to stop, coz I was already running. You know all about momentum right?", he continued.
And then he saw the puzzled look on my face that probably said I had no idea what he was talking about, because he ran a hand over his face and said, "Er, never mind. Are you okay? You don't have to go to the nurse or something do you? Man, I really hope you don't have a concussion, you look slightly dazed", I mentally shook my head to clear it, and opened my mouth to answer no but he cut me off with a, "Who am I kidding? You banged your head really hard there, I'm taking you to the nurse".
And so I was begrudgingly dragged to the nurse's just an hour or so after getting to school.
"I'm Zach by the way. You must be new. Sorry I ran into you on your first day", Small guy said, as he smiled sheepishly at me while we waited for the nurse to dismiss me.
She checked me up and declared me free of concussions or whatever it was Small guy had gotten into his head that I had.
I guess I should stop calling him Small guy now that I knew his name. He wasn't even small, just smaller than those other guys.
"It's ok, thanks for bringing me here", I replied.
"So...what's your name?", he asked, looking genuinely interested.
My name...
I still felt funny when I remembered I had a name, a few days before I was just...existing.
"I'm Stella", I said carefully, feeling the foreign yet familiar word leaving my lips.
"Stella, nice name, I don't know why, but it suits you", Zach said, smiling a bit.
"Thanks", I whispered. If only he knew...
"Ok, Stella, you're all clear, you can go now", the nurse said, and then she turned to Zach with her hands on her hips and her eyes slightly narrowed, "And you, stay. Away. From the hallways".
He grinned, as if they were old friends, and said, "Sure thing Anna, I'll try to remember that", and then dragged me off.
*****
"So this here is your Physics class, my class is just opposite yours, I have History now. I'll come show you to your next class if that's ok with you. It's also close to my next class"
He asked to see my class schedule, and I let him because I was tired of wandering around aimlessly, so there we were, standing in front of a door with Phy 23 written on it.
Apparently, the doors had labels... I could feel myself blushing for not noticing.
I wondered how I looked when I blushed...
"Thanks, I'd really like that", I managed to say, and then I pushed in the door and walked in.
********
Hello people!!!
That. Is probably the longest chapter I'd ever written. I started it a while back, but lost my train of thought on the fourth paragraph or so, but I decided to try it out again, and ta-da!! Here it is!!
For some reason, I like Art and Creative writing, even though I'm a medical student, that has got to be weird right? Although to be honest, I can't draw or paint to save my life. Smh
Today's song is...
Idk!!
Let's see some song suggestions, I'll dedicate the next chapter to whoever dedicates a song that's more fitting to this chapter.
Speaking of dedications, I'm dedicating this chapter to my dear aunty Fanna, hopefully she gets to read this soon. Thanks for being an amazing aunt and an even more amazing role model.Love you loads Xx.
P.S, pretty please people, don't forget to click on the yellow star icon on the page. I really worked hard for this chapter so I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote for it.
Also, spot a typo? Kindly point it out in the comments section. Thanks :)
XOXO- Zara