I couldn’t walk. I hardly knew my way back to my dorm. Even worse, my vision was blurred out by the accumulated tears in my eyes. I sat on a bench nearby, kicked off Rayna’s shoes, hugged my legs and tried to hold back the tears.
“Savannah!” Someone shouted. I expected to see Rayna, but it was to my surprise, Jeremy.
I tried hiding my face, but it was no use. He knew it was me. As he approached I tried burying my face in my body. I looked so pathetic.
He sat next to me and tried patting my back, “Alexa, she’s just a little... intense.”
I continued sniffling.
“But I’m sensing there’s more to this than just what Alexa said right?”
I nodded weakly.
“Come on, tell me,” he lifted my face with his thumb.
I sighed, “It’s nothing, really. I’m okay.”
“You’re not. Tell me,” he demanded.
“Really, it’s nothing. I’m alright. Just a culture shock for me, I guess,” I lied, trying to compose myself.
He could see right through me, I could tell. I just wasn’t ready for everyone to know yet.
“Come on, let’s go to the cafeteria, grab some food and have dinner somewhere else,” he said, pulling me to my feet.
“It’s alright. We can go back in,” I said, quickly masking my emotions with a calm demeanour. It’s the same thing. Go back out there, and show them what you’re made of.
Jeremy shrugged. We walked back to the restaurant.
I slid next to Rayna. She smiled at me and mouthed, “Are you okay?”
I smiled warily and nodded.
“Sorry for being a bitch earlier,” muttered Alexa.
“It’s okay. You’re right. I didn’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. But since I am, I might as well make the best of it,” I confessed.
“Why are you here then?” Mia asked innocently and politely.
I smiled at her grace. “Not this dinner, this school.”
Mia’s mouth formed into an O shape.
“Let’s not talk about me. So... are there any crap teachers around here?”
They went on and on about this particular teacher with extremely bad breath and B.O. The conversation soon drifted to sports.
“I’m so glad football season is over man,” said Max with relief.
“Tell me about it, man. My muscles are crazy sore,” Jeremy replied then turned to me, “Savannah you’ve got a pretty good build. Do you play?”
“Play what? Football?” I laughed.
“Anything,” he shrugged.
“Nope, my hand-eye coordination is horrible,” I said.
“Amen to that, sister,” Rayna laughed, giving me a high five.
Jeremy didn’t look convinced. Too bad for him, nothing was going to let my secret free from its eternal slumber now. We finished dinner and walked back to our dorms. It was still pretty early, so the gang decided to hang at Alexa and Mia’s dorm.
“I’m bored,” Rayna whined.
“Yeah, let’s play... Monopoly!” I suggested.
“Too boring! Let’s play twister!” Mia giggled.
“I’ll spin!” I quickly volunteered.
“No way! New kid, show us what you’ve got. I’ll spin. My back is killing me anyways,” Jeremy said.
I shrugged. I’ll just be really bad.
“New kid starts first!” Rayna poked Jeremy.
“Okay!” He said spinning the spinner on the square board, “Right leg, red.”
I stepped on the red at the corner.
The game continued for awhile, and by the third spin, the guys were out already. I only had my left and right foot on the mat, both on reds.
“Now, Savannah... right hand green!” Jeremy exclaimed.
I climbed above Mia and put my right hand on the green.
“Back to Savannah now! Left hand yellow,” Jeremy said.
I glanced at the yellow spots. 3 of the spots were taken by Mia, while one of Alexa’s leg was on another. That left only one yellow spot, and it was the furthest away from me.
I bent my back and arched to reach for the last yellow spot, switching my right and left foot so I formed a bridge.
“Whoa, you’re really flexible,” Jeremy said.
I was looking at them upside down and shrugged, “It’s just a bridge, guys.”
Mia said from under me, “Anyone can do a bridge. But standing up and going backwards into a bridge isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea.”
At the back of my head, I was panicking. I kept my calm demeanour and said, “I guess I’m just good at Twister.”
No one looked convinced.
So I won that round of Twister, which they treated me to a bar of Snickers from a vending machine at the dorm lounge.
“Jeez, it’s like you’ve never had Snickers before!” Mia commented as I wolfed down the bar of Snickers.
“It’s not exactly healthy. Whatever, I’m not going to be healthy. I’m going to live! And eat this delicious chocolate every day,” I munched.
“Were you some sort of health freak before this?” Jeremy asked.
“No, but my mom put me on a strict diet though,” I said.
“Why? Were you fat?” Alexa snarled.
I smiled politely and said, “No, I just had to eat really healthily.”
“Why?” Alexa demanded.
“Is eating healthy something bad? Jeez, I feel like I’m being interrogated for murder!” I joked.
Alexa let it go, but she knew something was up. They all did.
Silence flooded the room. Well, this was awkward.
“I’m tired. I’m going to call it a night. Goodnight everyone,” I finally broke the silence.
Rayna followed me out and we went back to our dorm.
“So... do you like them?” Rayna beamed.
“I guess so. I can tell Alexa doesn’t exactly like me,” I replied.
“She just takes time to warm up to someone new. Believe me, she’s an amazing friend,” Rayna smiled.
“I’m sure,” I affirmed as I plastered a fake smile on my face.
I quickly got ready for bed and flung myself into bed. It felt so good. I’ve never felt this tired before—and that’s coming from me.
“Savannah! Savannah!” Rayna rolled me around in my bed.
I rubbed my eyes and yawned, “What time is it?” I took the pillow I was sleeping on and covered my head. I’m so tired.
“Savannah, you better wake up now! It’s your first day of school!” She poked me.
I whined agonizingly. “Can’t they cut newbies some slack? I’ll just be 10 more minutes.”
“You’ve got to get up now! You’re off schedule already!” Rayna barked.
I rolled in my bed and finally fell to the floor, my butt first. Rayna pulled me up and dragged me into the bathroom to freshen up.
“So, I’ve gone through all your clothes, and none of them give off that wow factor you need for your first day of school. I’ve laid out some clothes from my wardrobe, but we’ve got to go shopping one day! Honestly Savannah, do you not like shopping?” Rayna nagged while I was brushing my teeth.
I shrugged, “I guess I didn’t really have much time.”
She rolled her eyes, “Whatever this secret is, and it’s bound to come out eventually.”
I looked at her innocently, “Oh what are you talking about?”
“This secret of yours is making us all crazy! It’s as if you were some serial killer in your old life or something!”
“I assure you, I’ve never killed anyone!” I laughed.
She narrowed her eyes at me and exhaled sharply, “Whatever, put these on.”
Rayna walked me to my homeroom. I had homeroom with Jeremy and Alexa. Jeremy quickly offered me a seat next to him. Alexa smiled at Rayna and acknowledged me subtly. Rayna skipped to her class. Jeremy leaned in to talk to me, “How was your first night at JBA?”
I frowned, “Good?”
He laughed and put his hands up as if surrendering, “Just trying to get the conversation going.”
“Well thanks. It’s just going to take getting used to,” I shrugged.
“Anything back home you can replicate here?”
I thought for awhile, “I miss something dearly, but I can never do that here.”
“Why not?”
“We don’t have the facilities for it,” I smiled knowing he’ll never guess it.
“Hm, so you can’t be a basketball, football, volleyball or a tennis player, cause we’ve got those ‘facilities’ here. You can’t be a swimmer either...” He thought hardly.
“A surfer?” He guessed finally.
“I’m from Colorado. I’m guessing you’re not taking Geography huh,” I laughed.
He shrugged, “Worth a try.”
I laughed.
“It’s going to come out eventually, you know. No secret in JBA lasts for more than a week. Beat that and you’d make history, new girl,” Jeremy said.
I laughed, “I’ve got nothing to hide, so unfortunately I can’t make history.”
He rolled his eyes.
A buff teacher walked in and said, “Listen up guys. My name is Mr Patrick. You do my work; I stay out of your shit. You perform well in school, stay out of trouble, I’ll be the best teacher ever.”
“However, if you do choose the unfortunate route of getting you as well as me in trouble, since I will be your homeroom teacher this semester, you will find yourself dreading coming to school, dreading being here and especially dreading my class especially. So do yourself a favour, and get on my good side,” Mr Patrick articulated flawlessly. He emphasized on the agonizing dread we’d have.
The class nodded and Mr Patrick silenced the class with a hand gesture. “I understand that this class has a new student, and since it’s very rare for a sophomore to transfer, please come up front and introduce yourself.”
Nervously, I stood up, Jeremy gave my arm an encouraging squeeze and I made my way to the front of the class.
“Hi, my name is Savannah. I transferred from Colorado Springs, Colorado. I’ve been homeschooled until now,” I said. I proceeded to make my way back to my seat when Mr Patrick interrupted.
“Savannah, you must have more to tell the class, don’t you?”
I shook my head.
“Every homeschooled kid has something different about them,” Mr Patrick insisted.
I shrugged, “I guess I’m the exception to the rule.”
“This is a tough nut to crack, but secrets never last at JBA anyways, even from us teachers,” Mr Patrick said giving up finally.
Why is everyone so convinced I have a secret?!