"Where do you think you're going?" Mr. Peterson asked, still writing on the board.
"I have to use the bathroom," She half stated, half asked.
"You have to have the lavatory pass."
"Okay, may I please have the lavatory pass?" she asked with a sweet smile.
Mr. Peterson chuckled, "nice try. Take a seat."
Sam felt hot embarrassment well up inside her, especially since a couple of art kids were snickering at the encounter. But she did end up sitting back down at her desk.
Sam was a new student at North Shore High. She'd just moved from Nashville, Tennessee with her parents since her mom had just got a new job as a concrete plant manager in the North Shore area. In Nashville, the school system was a little different. The kids were trusted to go to school in the city, so they were also trusted with trivial things like going to the bathroom when they needed to. She was not used to being reprimanded for little things like the color pen she used, or reading ahead in class.
"Is that your natural hair color?" The boy next to her asked randomly.
"Um, yeah," Sam answered awkwardly with a small smile, suddenly intimidated by the attention.
"It's gorgeous," the boy responded to which Sam thanked him. "See Janis, this is the color I want," he said, grabbing a piece of Sam's hair and holding it up to his own head.
The girl, Janis, nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off Sam. "This is Damian. He's almost too gay to function."
Sam giggled. She almost felt flustered by the gaze of the girl in front of her.
"Hey Janis, nice wig what's it made out of?" Some kid heckled from across the class.
"Your mom's chest hair!" Janis shouted back. She turned back to Sam, "I'm Janis."
Janis. For some reason, Sam was taken aback by Janis. She liked her immediately... A friend-crush, she called it in her head. Sam liked Janis's vibes: the way her hair ombred out to blonde at the ends, the way she laughed when she thought something was particularly funny, the way she looked at Sam.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Sam," she looked down at her school map slightly embarrassed and then faced Janis again, "do either of you know where room 313a is?"
Janis grabbed the map and looked at Damian while saying, "yeah it's in the back building we'll take you there."
Sam felt pleased with herself. She'd made friends today, and on her first day of school. She looked back down at her notebook but glanced back up to meet Janis's eyes. The girls smiled at each other and then went back to studying.
