It was a week after what my dad called "the incident". We had made it from Seattle, Washington to Tampa, Florida by plane. And finally we were unpacked. Which meant, the following Monday I would be enrolling as a freshman in high school. And even better, tomorrow was Monday. It was now 8:03 pm and I still couldn't sleep. I know 8:00 isn't that late but, I've barely slept in a week. I was telling myself that everything would go fine. But I was having a hard time believing that. Eventually I fell asleep though. I woke up with my alarm clock going off. It was 6:00 am and my new school started at 7:30. The school was literally just around the corner from my house, so I had plenty of time. I put on my favorite pair of black skinny jeans and a black hoodie. I would be sweating, but I mainly only had clothes that were meant for the cold. I fixed my hair, and slipped on some plain black flats. You might be thinking that I wear too much black. Well, I'm just hoping people will leave me alone because of it. Dad had to go to work, so I had to enroll myself in school. I walked over to the school grounds. There were so many people that it was hard to get through. I didn't know where the office was, so I was going to ask a group of girls for help, but I saw a sign the said office on it. One of the girls from the group turned around and looked at me. She said,
"Before you ask, the answer is no. You can't join the group. And-"
But I cut her off saying, "Yeah right, I don't want to join your dumb prep group now or ever. I just met you and your friends and I can already tell you guys think that you rule the school. Like I would be friends with people like you." Then I gave them a smug smile and walked to the office.
"Okay honey, you're all set." Said the secretary as she handed me my schedule and locker combination. Before I left she added, "Have a nice day Miss Alice."
My first class was math, in room 302. I did not feel like going to math right in the morning. I found the room easily, and asked the teacher where to sit. She said,
"You know where to sit. We don't get new spots for two more months." She looked up at me. Then she added. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're Allison Maestoso. I'm Mrs. Thorn. I was good friends with your mother, you look so much like her." I smiled and said thank you. Then she whispered, "There is an open spot in the back, right there, Allison." She pointed to a desk in the fourth row.
"Thank you." I replied "And I go by Alice."
"Okay, Alice." She said with a smile. I could tell that I was going to like her.
We worked on fractions for the entire class time, and I loved it. Fractions are my favorite thing to do in math. But when Mrs. Thorn announced my name in front of the class, I felt awkward. I was sitting alone so she said, "I know that we don't get new spots until January, but does anybody want to sit next to Alice until then?" A girl that was dressed like a rainbow raised her hand then basically skipped over to sit next to me. She plopped down on the seat just as the bell rang. I started to grab my stuff hoping to get out of there before she could start talking. I was a second too late.
"Hey." She said "I'm Vanessa."
I rolled my eyes and looked the other way. I started to walk towards the door. I was right about to go through and into the hallway before someone tapped on my shoulder. I looked, and it was her. I kept walking, successful to get away this time.
I had a free hour next, so I sat in the study hall reading because I had nothing else to do. I was interrupted by a paper ball hitting me on the head. It said: we think u r cool. wanna join our group? I looked up to see Preppy Princess from this morning looking right at me. I wrote on the paper: Heck to the no. I already told you that I'm not friends with people like you. Also, you had some spelling mistakes in your message. I looked up at her and then chucked the paper at her. It hit her on the forehead, and she quickly read it. A look of dissatisfaction crossed her face, and she looked up at me. I shrugged and went back to my book.
We had an anti-bully assembly for the rest of the day in the cafeteria. They would pause it so we could get lunch, then it would keep going. I sat next to another freshman who was named Peter. He laughed at some of the parts in the assembly saying "that never happens in real life." And sometimes I caught him staring at me but didn't think anything of it. I think I just made my first friend since my mom's death. I'm proud of myself.