Psycho | Beatrice

1 | pilot

"Are you ready?"

I take a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the new atmosphere.  The car continues sitting in idle. My mother glances over at me staring straight ahead. Finally, I build the courage to step out. My twin brother, Devin, who sits behind me does the same.

Devin is very tall with a wide build. He grew up doing recreational sports and since then has been hitting the gym. My brother and I are very different. We grew up in a different atmosphere and yet we're the same age. It seemed as if my parents put all their efforts into him and none into me. I never got any socialization.

I got the short 5'3 gene while he lofts at about 6'. We share our brown curly hair and green eyes. Our eyebrows are thick and dark, which match our hair.

The cold October frisk in the air overwhelms me, causing me to hold my arms closely to my chest.  I watch my black converse step over the curbs and cracks while walking up to the large complex.  Devin walks far ahead of me.  I open the heavyset glass door.

Loud chattering comes from the locker commons in front of me.  The couriosity intensifies, causing me to look up immediately. I'm struck with fear.  There are possibly five hundred kids laughing and yelling.  My home schooled self cannot contain this. 

I search for my brother, but I can no longer find him in the sea of people.

I stand still, unsure where to even go. Some people glance at me from their lockers. Everyone is formed in to groups.  The groups range from two people all the way to probably thirty.  The largest group I notice is a group of thirty buff looking guys all wearing navy blue bandanas.  They all hunch over the lockers laughing with each other.  But then I notice one of them subtly pointing at me, whispering to the four guys around him. 

Suddenly a hand goes around my shoulder and starts forcing me to walk.  I look next to me and there stands a girl about my height with dark red wavy hair. 

"Hey!"  She smiles.  "You're new here, aren't you?"

I think immediately to my mom telling me that because of the size of the school, no one will be able to tell if I'm new.  We walk through a door and into this small hallway.  Then I hear this bell ring from the loud speakers.  Everyone seems unfazed by it. 

I nod.  "You can tell?"

The girl pauses in her footsteps. "No way, you're from America?! Your accent! It's so cool!"

I nod looking down. I seriously don't want to go through this. I've never wanted to feel like an outsider here, so I've kept quiet as much as I can. It's almost inevitably going to happen here.

The girl laughs.  I notice her teeth are almost the most perfect teeth I've ever seen.  "Where are you headed?"

"Umm," I pull out the crinkled sheet in my pocket and unfold it. 

The girl gasps while taking the sheet from my hands.  "We have first and third together!  My best friend is also in your fourth.  Her name is Mia."  Then she looks around.  "We better get to class before the three minute bell rings". 

I follow the girl through the maze of people and hallways.  The bright florescent light almost gives me a headache.  Then we take a turn, heading up the stairwell.  There are a couple more turns we make until we reach our classroom. 

"I'm Emma by the way." The girl says while slowing down outside the classroom.

I give her an awkward smile.  "Beatrice."

When we enter, I notice about forty cheap desks packed into a small classroom. 

"Mr. Dallas, this is Bea."