Sophomore Status

Chapter 1: First Day Jitters

"25, 39, 13" I whispered to myself over and over again as I turned the small knob on my black and white lock.

It was only my first day of school and I already had my first setback. I read the numbers aloud that were written on my left arm in dark purple sharpie.

"25, 39, 13!"However when I said it this time, anyone could tell I was aggravated.

I put my head down and slammed it into my locker wishing that I wasn't at school.

"You need help?" An unfamiliar voice had said.

A blond haired girl had come to my rescue. She stood there smiling at me, with her perfectly white teeth and beautiful smile, waiting for an answer.

"Um, yeah." I replied, embarrassed, as I lifted my head from the locker.

"The combo is on my arm" I told the girl.

She studied the purple writing on my arm before attempting to turn the nob on the lock.

"Left... Left... Left... 25, 39, 13" She mumbled with a smile still on her face.

For a few seconds, she stood there yanking the lock, which gave me an uneasy feeling. I didn't want to be missing my books on the first day of my sophomore year.

"Gotcha!" She squealed.

I looked down and in her petite hands laid the lock, unlocked.

"Thank you so much." I said quietly.

However, on the inside I wanted to hug that girl.

"My names Lindsey." She told me with a smile covering her face
LINDSEY I thought. The name echoed throughout my head before I could politely reply.

"I'm Kathleen but call me Kate" I replied back.

I opened my locker and saw the picture of me and my younger brother Jason taped to the door of my locker. I had put it in their the Monday before on orientation day. There was also a back to school mixer, but I didn't go to that. Parties weren't my thing at that time, especially because I didn't know anyone accept for this Lindsey girl.

"Well nice to meet you Kate." She said back to me. I smiled at her. She smiled back. I looked away from her and grabbed my books as she skipped away down the hallway and turned the corner. When I grabbed my mustardy yellow English book, I slammed my locker shut and closed the lock, hoping that it would open when I came back. I started walking towards the main hallway and looked on top of every classroom door looking for room 1-002c. That was my advanced english classroom. When I was at orientation, the guidance counselor explained to me how nice the teacher was but I usually didn't warm up to teachers.

I continued looking for the right room. I saw 1-002a and b, and finally reached room 1-002c. When I stepped into the classroom, there were only a few people in there. I thought it was because I was early to class. I didn't want to be late or not find a seat or anything like that, so I made sure I was early. I stepped further into the room so that I could find a seat, but to my surprise, the whole class was staring at me.

One boy had even yelled, "hey look, it's a new girl!"

I could hear the class starting to mumble about me to one another, and I felt awkward just standing there so I stepped toward the desks and sat down. A girl with red and white hair and a nose ring said, "Don't sit there. That's Thomas's seat."

Who was Thomas? I thought to myself. However, I didn't want to actually ask. Asking required talking and I had already done enough of that for the day. That's only because I'm a loner. I hate to admit it, but I don't like to be around other people. It's only because when I was ten years old, my mom died from breast cancer, so I pretty much lived in my room after that. I didn't want to be around anyone for a while and I kind of got used to that and lived like that ever since then.

I gathered my book and stood up from the desk. I decided that if I wanted to avoid talking, I would go to the back of the classroom. I sat down in another desk that was sturdier than the first one. That probably meant that it wasn't used often. Good. My goal was to be somewhere where other people weren't.

Shortly after that, the bell rang and more students came spilling into the classroom, which meant more people curiously staring at me.

Once everyone settled in, the teacher began talking. It only took him about five seconds before he noticed the new face.

"Well look what we've got here! It's a new student. What's your name?" He said loudly so that I could here it from the back of the classroom.

"Kate." I said quietly, but still loud enough so he could hear.

"Oh, that's right! Kathleen Olivia Anderson, I saw you on my role during orientation. I'm Richard, but of course it's Mr. Parnell for you. Everyone else should already know that because I had all of you guys last year. Get it? Got it. Good!" The man said

After that, he started the intro to the english lesson. He looked like he was in his mid-30s. He had a big mole on the right side of his face that stood out more than his light blue eyes. What bothered me most was the way one side of his hair flopped over his eyebrows.

I couldn't help but notice the bright blonde haired Lindsey sitting in the front seat giving eyes to the guy sitting in the seat that I tried to sit in earlier. I had guessed that it was Thomas. Lindsey started to lean over to get closer to Him. When she did that, her elbow slid the yellow english book off of the desk and onto the ground, alerting Mr. Parnell.

"How many times do I have to tell you two, no fadoodling in class. Now pay attention." He told them with a stern voice.

'Fadoodling'? What kind of word was that? Mr. Parnell was an english teacher. That clearly wasn't english. Besides that, Lindsey put a sad expression on her face and picked up her English book off the ground and placed it back on the desk.

The class lasted about thirty more minutes. Thirty minutes of attempting to memorize all of the faces in the classroom. I wanted to make sure I knew if I had any of these people in my other classes. When the bell rang, I grabbed my English book and stood up from the sturdy chair, and walked out into the hallway towards my locker. This time, my locker opened after I yanked it a little bit. I grabbed my math book and a folder of scrap paper and shut my locker closed. I knew that geometry would probably be a bore, so u made sure that I took long trying to get to class, accept I ended up not being able to find the classroom. The bell rang, and I was still wondering the hallways trying to find the classroom.

After a few minutes, I found the classroom, and sat down. This time, there was no Lindsey and no Thomas, but there were a few familiar faces from English. The class went by pretty fast, and before I knew it, I was already in painting 1, which was right before lunch. The lunch food was horrible. I sat down at an empty, round table outside of the cafeteria. I was eating my lunch in peace when Lindsey walked up to me and started a conversation.

"How's it going?" She asked me

"Fine."I told her

At this, she sat down on the seat across from me and began talking.

"Well I'm doing great! We are back to school and I have already met two new people and I think one of them is going to make a great friend." She said to me

Lindsey went on and on about the other new boy named William. Based on her description, he was pretty attractive. After a few minutes of listening, I began to dose off. I started to imagine images of the new boy, and made sure they matched the description that Lindsey gave me.

When Lindsey finished talking, I managed to ask, "do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes," she began, blushing "his name is Thomas."

"I noticed in first period." I replied to her as I took a bite of my food and swallowed it whole.

Lindsey and I continued talking until the ball rang. Then I was off to fourth period, fifth, and then sixth, and finally seventh. My seventh period was chemistry. The teacher was nice, but the class was boring, like every other class. And like every other class, it went be fast.

The bell rang sooner than I thought it would, and I was off to the bus. Lots of other people that were older had cars or got rides from their friends, but I was too young to get my license. However, I did have my learners permit.

I stepped up onto the bus in silence and that made it official that my first day was finished.