The day I found you annoying

Chapter 1: Cool kids

I stared at the facade of the school. The building, full of graffitis and metal bars stared at me back.

"It's big, huh?"

Trying not to show my disappointment, I glanced up at Annie. "Yeah."

It was big. It was just dirtier, more crowded and with less vegetation than my old school.

"Come on, it's gonna be great. You're gonna make tons of friends."

I smiled and tugged at the straps of my Prada backpack. "Yeah."

Annie placed a light kiss on the top of my head and pushed me gently, encouraging me to make my way towards the front door.

As I walked by, children bumping into me, I couldn't stop but think how my life had changed in the last couple of months. My uncle couldn't afford a private school even when all the money my parents left was for him to take care of me. He said public schools were completely fine.

I guess we were about to find out.

There was a metal detector at the entrance. They made us let our stuff in plastic trays and walk through a metal door while they scanned it.

Kids were used to it. I though it was weird. It was as if we were at the airport, though we weren't going to some tropical destination, we were actually going to learn.

Urgh.

Miss Heighton was nice, I guess. Long hair braided, she wore long skirts and t-shirts with sappy messages on them. She was what my mom would have called, a hippie.

She made me introduce myself, in front of the whole class. I wasn't shy or anything, but kids looked at me weird. As if the way I dressed made me any different from them.

"I'm Colette Retherford, but they call me Coco. I'm nine." I looked around awkwardly, curling a strap of brown hair around my finger.

"Can you tell us a little bit more about you?" Miss Heighton smiled.

I was starting to feel nervous. "I- I don't know."

"Why don't you tell why you're here?"

"I- Uhm." I bounced on my heels. "I moved in with my uncle. And Annie. She's my nanny since I was little."

Kids started murmuring things. What? People didn't have nannies here?

"My parents died. Well, they were killed, but they're still investigating-"

Some kids gasped and a bigger murmur danced around the room.

"Okay." Miss Heighton smiled and clapped her hands, getting up from her desk table. "Time to write a little composition about what you did this summer."

Great start, Coco. Now you're the weirdo whose parents were killed.

Sometimes I wished I just could shut up.

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At lunch time, everybody had their groups. The older kids sat in the middle, while most people in my grade sat right at the beginning of the cafeteria. Boys looked at me weirdly and the girls made fun of my clothes.

Some of them had tight tops that almost showed their belly buttons while I wore an expensive summer dress my mom bought for me in Paris.

I didn't think there was nothing wrong with their colorful and worn out trainers, why wouldn't they stop looking at my D&G sandals?

Trying to ignore their gazes, I continued walking until I arrived to a smaller table, where just one boy who looked my age was sitting. He had almond green eyes and curly, really blond hair.