CHAPTER ONE.

"...warm welcome..."

The thick summer air of Georgia took my breath away. I found myself searching faces, taking in as much information as I could in the seconds that it took me to pass by. Hundreds of students stood out in the courtyard, entertaining conversations amongst themselves. All of them were gathered in their own crowds and cliques while I struggled to find the numbers of my new classes.

With the welcome of a new year, comes the overbearing welcome of a new high school. Transferring during the beginning of the year wasn't so bad. There wasn't that unnecessary high note that everyone couldn't ignore; that there's a new student.

Once I located my locker, I was burdened with the task of learning how to use the foreign device. At my old school, there weren't any lockers. I sighed heavily, discretely trying to use it without looking like I was a freshman. That was the definition of embarrassment, although there was nothing wrong with being one. It's just a label on your forehead that everyone loves to gawk at. Boy, were those the good old days.

"I smell fresh meat," I could hear the beaconing of former students. I tried my hardest to ignore the immaturity but unfortunately I couldn't stop my eavesdropping tendencies. With all my books in my arms, and my struggle to open my locker, three of my five books toppled to the floor, gaining the attention of quite a few people. I cursed under my breath. I'm really blowing it.

"Oh, let me help you!" A small red headed girl quickly jumped ecstatically to my aid.

"You must be new here?" She pipped, handing me back my huge math and science books. I managed to grab my self help book before she saw the depressing title. If I had to, the only excuse I could think to use was, that I was doing a little light reading. I wasn't sure if she'd believe it, but at least she didn't say anything about it.

"What gave it away?" I wondered, hoping I didn't wear it on my face.

"The schedule and map of the school," she answered with a smile, pointing to the two papers that I had in my hands. I wanted to use the excuse that my locker combination was on the sheets but that was already written on the palm of my hand.

"Right. That's probably not a good thing to have out, is it?" I questioned, standing to my feet and attempting once again to open my locker.

"Depends on what crowd you're looking to attract," she noticed me struggling to open my locker and asked to assist. I thankfully agreed, showing her the palm of my hand. After two failed attempts, she called over a boy standing not too far away.

"Cal! Hey, come over here."

I was slightly unsure if handing around my locker combination was a good idea, but after taking a quick few glances of my palm, the boy named Cal managed to open my locker, with a hit from his hand after he had done the combination.

"Voilà mademoiselle," Cal greeted me, grabbing my hand and kissing my knuckles. I refrained from using violence to show that I did not enjoy his displays of French customs. Instead, once he returned my hand, I simply smiled.

"Merci," I replied, recalling the language I had spent 36 weeks learning, and nearly forgot over the summer. When you speak slow I can get it, but as soon as you start to speed up, I lose it all. I like to learn through facial expressions, and context.

"Quel est votre nom, beauté noire? (What is your name, black beauty?)" he wondered, making me giggle. I could understand everything after a few seconds of processing.

"Luana Alston," I answered with a smile before putting the books I wouldn't need into my locker.

"I assume you two are in the middle of introductions. I only took two semesters of Spanish and I have no idea what you're saying, but hi, hola, bonjour, my name's Callie!" The red headed girl announced, ignoring the attention she was getting.

"And I'm Calvin," The brown haired boy added as Callie outstretched her hand for me to shake.

"It's nice to meet you both," I smiled.

"So what classes do you have?" Callie questioned, twirling one of her two braids.

"Take a look," I muttered, handing her my schedule. "Fell free to guide me in the right direction," I muttered, hoping she would.

"Oh, looks like you have French 3 across from me, fourth block, and Calvin has Psych with you, second block," Callie reassured, handing me back my schedule.

"But I can walk you to your first class. It's not too far from mine," She stated, with a big smile. She was a pretty girl, with freckles splashed under both of her small round eyes. A small nose to accompany her petite stature. Although her and Calvin had their differences and select few similarities in appearance, I was quite shocked to hear that the two were brother and sister.

"I'm two hours older than him," Callie confessed, her bubbly personality revealing itself to me as I quietly strolled besides her. Occasionally I had glanced around the campus, catching the curious eyes of those around me. Even though it was the first day of school, we still managed to grasp the undivided attention of those around us. Out of nervous habit, I scratched at the huge sum of curls on my head, feeling the leave in conditioner that I put in this morning, and instantly regretting my actions.

"You know, your curls are really pretty on you," Callie complimented, making my face warm up, but obviously due to my darker complexion, she wouldn't notice; something I was grateful for.

"Thank you, if only it was my natural hair pattern," I muttered, blowing at one of the loose curls that fell into my line of sight. Calvin and Callie both gave me a look that proved that they didn't have a single clue about what I was going on about. I smiled, realizing that this was definitely a majority white school. This was a foreign language to their ears, and I could see it written all over their faces.

"Sorry, I mean that I have to do something to it to make it look like this. Naturally, my hair is a mess," I spoke softly, hoping they would understand the difference between white peoples hair, and black peoples hair. Besides the obvious differences of course.

"You've lost me," Calvin broke the silence, staring at me with a dumbfounded look on both of their faces. They almost looked like twins when they made that face. I couldn't hold back a giggle.

"Yup, I can see it all over your faces. Maybe I should make a diagram or something," I joked making the two of them frown at me.

"That just might work," Callie groaned as we reached the destination that I can only assume was my first block class.

"Hey, we should totally exchange numbers. Catch up for lunch if we all have the same one?" Calvin suggested, pulling out his cell phone and handing it to me, with the create a new contact info displayed in front of me.

"This is his subtle way of flirting," Callie quickly informed me, making her brother go deep red in the face.

"Not that subtle," I smirked, making Calvin sigh heavily as I typed in my number and name. I also took a quick selfie for the contact picture, cheesing as hard as I could, with my eyes closed, showing how well I had done my eyeliner this morning. Callie jokingly praised my selfie skills, making me bow in response.

"What's your secret?" Callie wondered, excitedly. Calvin shook his head at his sister and I, claiming that we were being extra.

"Hard work and determination," I spoke, trying my hardest to keep a straight face as Callie applauded.

That's when the first bell rang, telling everyone that we had about 10 minutes before the late bell. "Well we've got to get to class, I'll just send Callie your number!" Calvin rushed away, pushing his sister with him as he went. I waved goodbye to them both before entering my first class. I found myself looking down at the floor, hoping we wouldn't have assigned seats. I reached an empty desk, deciding that the back of the class felt decent enough considering I hadn't met anyone yet.

"I'd let her ride all night long," the statement was obviously from the group of white boys who were sitting around in the corner across from me. They were all chuckling at the stupid words of the guy that sat in the center. Even though he had whispered it, I could hear it from a mile away. I rolled my eyes. But theirs were glued to every inch of my body.

"Not on the first damn day," I stated to myself. I didn't bother responding to them, knowing they were just being immature. It was sad but definitely prevalent in every school. But I wasn't going to let it get to me. It wasn't worth my time.

But apparently I wasn't the only one already irritated with their snide remarks. I watched as our teacher, stood to her feet. She leaned against the desk, barely sitting on it, and crossed her arms across her chest. She was also an African American woman, with much darker skin than I possessed, but she was definitely blessed with the natural hourglass figure that most black girls envied or spent their lives trying to unlock. 

Obviously she was equally disgusted in their behavior, considering she was a well put together woman by her youthful and conscious appearance. We both exchanged the same look, but something in her eyes caught me off guard. It was a common and most assuredly present, though I assumed, misplaced emotion; fear.

"Just look at that ass. Not bad for a nigger," One of them continued, making it much harder for me to ignore. I didn't care who you were, or if I knew you; I didn't tolerate the degradation of females, and most definitely not the degradation of my black brothers and sisters.

"How about you shut your mouth before I come over there and shut it for you," I finally said, loud enough for the attention of the entire class to be directed to me. I didn't mind the prying eyes, for once. I lifted my chin, significantly bruising the pride of the guy that was ill-fated to face my wrath. I hadn't even started yet.

"And if you take a look to your left you will see the angry black woman in her natural habitat," he said lamely, smirking at the guys surrounding him, their faces slowly forming into evil grins to match the small presentation of their character. I hadn't noticed before but the hats they were all wearing had in microscopic white lettering, KKK.

I could feel my inner black trying to claw it's way out, but because of my pacifism, I just sat there, mouth a gap, and heart beating out of my chest. Never before had I ever been faced with such racism head on. It was like a volcano had erupted before me, and I was forced to stand just where the lava could pool at my feet. It was humiliating. It was then that I began to understand the look on my teachers face. She was genuinely afraid; and so far, the only other black person I had encountered all day.