~Bejewled~

~New beginnings~

I ran down the stairs in a stained t-shirt and baggy sweats. No makeup, and feeling more depressed than I thought.

I stayed up all night worrying. How was I going to tell Cam and Nicole? How would I make friends? I didn't want to think about it but it stayed in my mind. Like the way the stains in the t-shirt I was wearing wouldn't come off.

I remember the maid, Estella, scrubbing and scrubbing. But it wouldn't come off. The more I thought of this memory, the more I realized that Grandma wouldn't approve of this outfit of choice. I didn't mind the way she thought. After all, this is her fault.

"Valerie here's your lunch Maria packed-" my grandma was cut off on her own. Her eyes looking me up and down. What? This is your fault.

"Ok.." I said reaching for my lunch. She grabbed it behind her and started shaking her head. "What the hell?" I said putting my hands on the counter, like I was interrogating her.

"You can not go looking that. I demand you go upstairs and change immediately." She said in that stern voice that didn't scare me this time around.

I scoffed, the nerve of this woman. "I'm leaving. Either you give me the lunch or I'll just buy pizza from the lunch room?" I said giving her an ultimatum, knowing she hates lunch food.

She handed me my lunch and crossed her arms. "Cant have you eating all those oils. Enjoy your tofu salad." She said. I'm still gonna eat pizza anyway, i'll just give this crap to Nicole.

"Right." I said, giving her the same sharp up and down stare. She looked more offended than I did.

I walked out the door and got in the drivers vehicle and put in my AirPods. Before I could turn on my music, the driver said something, he never did that.

"Intresting look there Valerie." John, the driver said, looking at me with a smile. I jokingly rolled my eyes. "Just drive, man." I said, with a smile.

Cam met me in the front of the school, no Nicole.

"How's my girl?" He said with a smile throwing his arm around me. I sighed and looked for Nicole.

"Terrible." I said not thinking of how he would react. He looked at me, not expecting me to answer that way. He sighed, thinking of what to say next.

"Why? What's wrong?" He said, not knowing what else to say at my vague response. I looked at his concerned face, knowing I should have probably have just said I'm good. I didn't know how to tell them about Oakwood, and I didn't want to.

"Oh, uhm.." I said, not knowing how to explain. I saw Nicole appear around the corner. A relieved smile covered my face, knowing Nicole would probably yap about something and I would be in the clear.

"Hey! What's going on with you?" She said, not blabbing. Shit. I sighed as we reached the lockers. I took Cameron's hand off my shoulder and crossed my arms.

"I have something to tell you." I said, in a stern voice reminding me of my grandmother. They both got a confused look on there face, not sure to add anything or just let me talk again.

After about 10 seconds of silence I continued, "I'm moving schools...Monday." I said, almost beggining to tear up. Cameron dropped his face in sadness while Nicole stayed with her stern face.

"You waited this long to tell us?" She said , in a tone matching her face. I to, got a stern face on, but didn't answer how I wanted to. "Uhm..wait-" I said, not exactly finishing what I wanted to say.

"That's.. I just can't believe you waited this long. Your not giving us a lot of time to process this, Valerie." She said, raising her brow and crossing her arms. I scoffed and tilted my head.

"I just found out last night so calm down." I said, eyes wide in disbelief that after saying I'm leaving, she had a problem. She uncrossed her arms and apologized.

"I don't know what to say.." Cameron said, head down. I sighed and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry Cam, I'll still hang out with y'all. Just not at school. Ok?" I said, almost crying again.

"Ok." Nicole nodded, almost tearing up. I let go of Cam and went and hugged Nicole.

"It's just a school. I still have y'all numbers and we are aloud to see eachother! Nicole your mom works at my house!" I said, looking at her smiling. "Well, I guess." She said, a slight smile grew on her face.

"Now come on, first periods about to start." I said to the them, leading the way to Mr. Miguel's classroom. I hated this class, but I also hated the thought of not coming here again.

I opened the door to my house and someone yanked me into the sewing room by the door. "What the hell.." I said looking down at Mrs. Amy, our stylist. She took out a measure and started measuring my hips. My grandmother walked in with her glass of wine and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat down.

"What is happening?" I said to my grandma looking out the window across the room. She sighed and blinked slowly. "We need to get you a skirt for your uniform." She said without an expression on her face.

"Uniform?! Your kidding right?" I said, lifting the side part of the skirt covering my pants. My grandmother put down her glass of wine and sighed.

"In order to adjust to this new school, you will need to accept it! It's adorable, why don't you wear stuff like that?" My grandmother said with a slight smile on her face. We don't get many smiles from my grandmother often, so I decided not to argue.

"Oakwood Academy, That's crazy." I said, looking at the pamphlet with my phone in my hand. I was on the phone with Nicole, reading through this new school to see what it was all about. "Why does your grandmother keep my mother so late! It's almost 9:30 and she's not home yet." She said, obviously panicked by being home alone.

"Well you know Elizabeth." I said. Nicole sighed in the awkward silence. I heard her bed creek as she moved to the side. "I gotta go, I have a huge test tomorrow and kinda just remembered." She said in a panicky tone. "Bye Nicky." I said , hanging up.

My first day is Monday, but I'm not that upset. It new, different. I'm ready for a New Beggining.