Julia Lelieveld and the fifth element

~3~

Today was my first day of school. I walked down the stairs and saw through the front door window that Dad's car wasn't in the driveway.

He had already gone to work. He had told me last night that an important piece of evidence had surfaced in a major case he had been assigned to.

He had already warned me that he will probably have to work a lot in the coming time.

He had left a note in the kitchen wishing me luck for my first day of school.

Outside the wind felt icy cold, I shivered for a moment, luckily it wasn't raining anymore.

I rode my bike to school. Last week I had already cycled there a few times, so I wouldn't be late on my first day. I had gotten out of bed earlier on purpose so that I could easily find my classroom at school.

The school was centrally located in the city. It was a beautiful old building with a large lawn with trees as an entrance. My old school was a new modern building, this was the opposite. I put my bike in the garage for the juniors and walked to the main entrance. I saw the children looking at me curiously. Fortunately, they didn't know me here, so neither did the drama that happened last spring.

I reported to the reception. A little woman with big glasses was looking for something in a filing cabinet. The glasses made her eyes look very large. She was wearing bright red lipstick that clashed with her pink suit. She looked at me and smiled.

"What can I help you with, honey?"

"Goodmorning, I'm Julia Lelieveld, today is my first day here at school."

"Yes that's right." The little woman went to another cupboard and took out a folder that was already there.

"Your papers are ready. Look, this is a map of the school, here we are now." She pointed with her red painted nails at the arrow on the map. At a glance I saw that the school was very large.

"Here's your schedule. Junior year, is that correct?'

"Yes that's right."

"Okay, your first class is math, in room 304. That means it's on the third floor in the fourth room, do you understand? There are also some forms that you need to fill out. It all speaks for itself. Your student card is also included and here is your locker number with code. You can pick up your books at the library."

"Thanks, I get it."

"Good luck, honey, on your first day."

"Thank you, bye."

While I looked up the library on the map, I walked towards the stairwell. The library was on the first floor.

The library was in a beautiful old room, just like in a movie. I was sitting at a table waiting for my books when I looked for my locker number on the map. My locker was on the second floor. That worked out well, I could drop off my books before I went to math.

The librarian was a middle-aged man, with wavy black hair and glasses. You would expect a man close to retirement, but this man looked fit and well-groomed. He came walking from a back room with a large stack of books. "Look Julia, your books for this semester. There are quite a few."

"Thank you sir. Could I maybe leave half the books here and pick them up this afternoon to put in my locker?"

"Yes, of course, and call me Rob."

"Oh okay. Thanks Rob. Till this afternoon."

I grabbed half of the books that included the math book and walked to the second floor. It was already getting busier at school. I quickly found my locker. It was a somewhat faded locker.