EX-PLICIT

Chapter Three

It's been about 6 or 7 minutes since the Janitor left to get the principal. I'm starting to get impatient. I stretch my neck and take a sip of my water. As I'm about to rest my head again, I hear talking from outside, so I turn my head towards the door. A short and chubby woman wearing a very formal pantsuit enters the hallway and smiles at me. I look and see the Janitor smile and give a little wave to me from behind her. 'wow! He's really nice' I think to myself. I look over at the principal and hear her say "Kim? Kimberly Carson? You may come into my office now." oh my .. I finally sigh in relief. Had it really been that long of a morning already? I roll my eyes and stand up. I take a step forward and then realize I left everything at the side of the chair so I turn around, lean down and grab my back pack and water bottle, then stand back up and walk into her office. Before I can take a seat she clears her throat and then says "Can you please gently close the door behind you before you take a seat?"
"Oh, uh, sure, no problem." I respond. I make sure to close the door as quietly and gently as possible and then take a seat in the chair directly across from her and slightly to the left.
"So, Ms. Carson, How may I help you today?" She asks in a seemingly higher pitched voice, much more so than when I first met her in the hallway. "I just need my schedule. In my old school district, we'd get our school schedules in the mail before the first day of school started so we knew where to go and we could be prepared for whichever classes we were assigned to. I'm new to this school district, but I would love to be able to follow along with my schedule so I can make sure to make it to each of my classes on time as well as be prepared.. if that's at all possible..?" I say and then look up, only to look her in the eyes. Deep inside, I cringe. It really grosses me out when eye contact is held for too long. I clear my throat and ask if my schedule is ready for me to look over yet. She seems to be able to glare at me and keep a straight face at the same time. Interesting... The sound of the printer starting up jolts me from my own world of thoughts and opinions. I look around and see her walking back towards her seat with a couple sheets of paper in her hand. "Okay, here we go. This", she says as she puts the first piece of paper on the desk in front of me, "is your weekday school schedule. First period will always be homeroom. I signed you up for 9th grade homeroom with Mr. Adams. He's really nice and very helpful with our new and transfer students. Each period lasts between 45 and 50 minutes and you'll hear a school bell ring throughout the school at the end of each class period. After homeroom, you'll have English 110 with Mrs. Anderson for first period. When that class is over you'll head to world History with Mr. Stroughton. Then you'll have a 15 minute snack break. After that, you'll head to Art class for third period with Mrs. Boving and then to the gym for P.E. for fourth period with Miss Myers. After fourth period, it's lunch. Everyone gets a 35 minute lunch break in the cafeteria. If you need to sign up for a lunch voucher please let me know now otherwise please bring a home made lunch in a bag or cash for the schools lunch. Understand everything so far?" She asks. "Yes ma'am, I understand." She eyes me for a second or two and then says, "Okay then, I'll continue. After lunch finishes, you'll have 5th period Algebra with Mr. Kim and then 6th period music with Mr. Benjamin, where you can learn to play an instrument, learn to read music, try out different instruments, and just have a fun time. Just not too much fun.." 😊 She smiles and winks at me and then continues. "Last of the day, you'll have 7th period Earth Science with Dr. Gonzalez. After the end of the school day, you'll hear the last bell ring and then you'll head back to where the bus dropped you off this morning when you got here. Here's a hall pass to get to third period and a copy of your daily school schedule to take with you." I take both papers from her and thank her for all of her help. She seemed nice, I think to myself, as I head over to my third periods' classroom.