The perfect storm in a quiet room

Chapter 3

After the whole awkward situation, I received a half-hour medical check-up. Luckily, it's nothing, just some bumps on my back and forehead. I have to take some pills to ease the pain, though, I'll be good as new in a few weeks.

Then I headed to the principal's office to finally collect my timetable. He spent thirty minutes informing me of some rules I need to stick to, but I didn't listen as my mind was busy paying attention to my phone's clock, which indicated that I was already twenty minutes late for my class.

Finally, the principal stopped talking, and handed me some papers that my mom's supposed to sign. Then he explained to me that I'll be given the timetable once I've chosen between economics and humanities, and, in order to do that, I was going to go through an 'adaptation process' so I can pick the one I like better. But I didn't accept that. I don't want any 'adaptation process', I just want to know my timetable and all the subjects I'm going to take during the course right now. So, I quickly told him that I'll be taking economics this year. I wasn't aware of the content of this course itself, but I was sure I wanted to take classes in which the main topic would be mathematics, and economics is full of them.

He handed me the timetable corresponding to economics and told me how to get to my classroom. I took the papers and ran out of the office. I walked like five minutes by the majority of the corridors and I still can't find the classroom I'm supposed to be in. All of them are pretty similar and the school is not so big but the indications I've been given are a bit confusing. Perfect, another thing that goes wrong during the day.

This is not the way I thought I was going to start my first day in a new school. Everything was supposed to be perfect. It should've been that way, not otherwise. I've been planning this day for years. Even when my days at my old school were so horrible that I was literally suffering from the pain my classmates have caused me, I made a notebook, where I wrote all my thoughts and imaginations about how my life would be if I had friends or went to a new school. I also used to cut some photos of my favorite actors and glue them on my notebook. I used to give them new names, imagining they were my friends. It was something that made me feel good at that moment, but if I think of it now, it might have been a bit odd and sad, too.

I've always imagined this moment as perfection itself. I've dreamed of this moment millions of times, fantasizing about the possibility of starting over, in a new place. A place where nobody would know me and remember I was the fat girl of my class. Nobody would know about the names I was called for the "belly" I used to have. I thought this was going to be a place where I would not be judged and would once and for all be treated right. However, since I walked through that door nothing went as planned... I knew I had to keep my expectations low. I knew that everything was going to go wrong sooner or later because that's what always happens to me. I knew I should have listened to MJ when she said: If you expect disappointment, then you can never really be disappointed. She was damn right.

When I finally find my classroom, I can see through the window that the class has already begun, as I've imagined. My first day and I'm late, what a lucky girl I am. I open the door slowly, trying not to make too much noise, but I fail. As I come in, the whole class shuts up and turns their gaze to me, focusing on the bruise on my forehead, as I've supposed it was going to happen —no one overlooks it. Some of the students laugh and point at me, whispering something to their friends. Perfect, people are already making fun of me —the first good impression I wanted to make just went to hell.

Could this day get any worse? I've already had enough and it's only eight fucking a.m.

"Guys, I would like to introduce our new student, Hannah Rivero. It's her first day so I hope you can make her feel welcomed and comfortable." The teacher says with a warm smile, while adjusting her black-horn-rimmed glasses.

I force a weak smile and hurry to sit down on the only seat in the back that's free. I sit down and take out of my backpack a pen, pencils, sheets of paper and a notebook, and place them on my desk. However, a tap on my shoulder interrupts my activity.

I turn my head to the side, and my eyes find green ones. It's the girl I met before, the one who caused the bump on my head and back. However, she's not alone; she's with two more girls. One of them is a fair-haired girl just like the one I've met and the other one is a beautiful brunette. The three of them are sitting, forming kind of a circle with their desks. And they sure as hell don't seem to be paying attention to a single word the teacher's saying.

"Oh, hi. I didn't know you were attending this class", I whisper as low as I can, grinning.

"Don't worry, you must have been a bit overwhelmed with everyone staring at you." She says while elbowing me, sticking out her tongue, showing me that's nothing more than a simple joke.

I stare at her for a few seconds and then look away to meet the other two girls' eyes. They are looking at me while scowling. Their blue-light eyes are piercing mine, which is something that makes me uncomfortable. I've never been a person that likes to be looked at and be in the spotlight —situations like these make me nervous. Although, I've never actually been in the spotlight. Just when I was bothered or when I had to go in front of the whole class for those show-and-tell —that was one of the most terrifying moments for me.

Their eyes are still fixed on mine. Maybe they don't like the way their bestie is talking to me. I try to look away and focus my attention on something else. I don't want the girl who's in front of me to feel my discomfort. And the thing is, just like my mom, I'm an open book as regards my emotions. Every emotion that I feel inside, is immediately reflected on the outside.

"Hey," Casy says when she realizes my awkwardness, "relax, it's just a joke... anyway, how're you feeling about those bumps? And for the hundredth time, I'm very sorry for that, I was so stupid. Oh, by the way, everything went all right with the doctor, didn't it? I guess so... But I'm sorry, really sorry. It was my fault that you were late for class..." she pauses and waits for my reaction, but then starts talking again, "Sorry, I'm talking way too much, right? I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm doing this," she says and then starts playing with her hair. Then she looks away, seeming nervous. So I guess I'm not the only one, which is a relief.

"It's okay, everything is forgiven, don't worry. And yes, everything went alright with the doctor, he just gave me some pills. It was nothing so you have nothing to worry about."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that... I'm Castille by the way, but you can call me Casy."

"Casy. Nice name."

"No, no. Not Keisy, Casy, just the way it's written," she corrects my pronunciation, while writing her nickname in my notebook.

"Okay, so, Casy it is," I say with a grin.

She grins back at me and nods. This girl is so friendly and so... carefree. I don't know, there's just something special about her.

"And... you're Hannah, right?"

I'm just about to ask her how the hell did she know that, but I quickly remember that the teacher said my name earlier when I entered the classroom. I nod and smile, while saying enchanté.

Our small talk ends and I stop looking at her to focus on the class. It appears to be a class about law, legislation and all those boring-ass things. This is precisely the subject I hate the most and the one I understand the least. I don't see why we need to study these stupid things. In the hypothetical case I want to know something about the law, I can search it on google; just click on some keys and press enter to get the information, easy peasy. Anyway, this is something I'll always hate about school —the constant need to teach content that's useless as hell. This content only works as a headache for all students.

Anyway, my mind is far away from the teacher and those fucking laws —I'm thinking about Casy. She's definitely a nice, sweet and very special girl. I want to get to know her more. Maybe she can be my first real friend. Maybe she will make my school experience better and more... enjoyable. Who knows, maybe we might even become best friends. And that would be a dream come true for me.