Chapter One: Lottie; Friendless, Hopeless
I step slowly off the bus. Will the new girl be here today? Will she have already heard of the most pathetic girl in Judith Elm Minnesota Elementary School, me? “Lottie! The new girl is here!” screams I think my one and only friend, Mavis. “Mavis and Lottie, the two odd ducks” I overheard Madam Sonia say once. She used to be my favourite teacher, too.
“She’s here? Do you know her name? Where is she from?” Does she know about the two odd ducks? I rocket questions at Mavis. She rockets down the steps from the car lot to the bus lot while I rocket up the stairs to the bus lot to the car lot. We meet in the middle. Mavis smiles at me. My heart lifts slightly. Mavis pants and stares at me. And my world vaporizes. I sit up, wishing I still had Mavis with me. But we left her in Minnesota. I am not awaiting the new girl this time, I am the new girl.
“Sweetie? You awake?” My Ma, Alexandria La Vonve, asks me, as she does every morning.
“Awake. But I wish I wasn’t.” I complain.
“Oh, Darling, I was the new girl quite a lot. You’ll find friends faster than you think. You’ll like this in the end, I’m sure.” I mutter something distasteful and my Ma leaves me alone to dress.
I begin to put on a fleece and a warm winter coat, but then I remember. North Carolina. My new prison. It’s warmer here. I stick my pajama clad arm out the window. Sickening. It’s about 80 degrees out there. I toss on my “Minnesota girl” shirt and some nice jeans. My nikes sit, tossed into the corner. I grab some socks and slip them on. They’re for soccer. I sigh and pull them off while pulling another pair out of my box from the move. These are nice, white, clean socks. Well, best I have. I toss on my nike sneakers. The smell downstairs is tantalizing. I fear if I am away from it any longer, I’ll begin to drool.
I rush downstairs to our labyrinth of boxes. Once I have made it to where Ma is, I sit on a box set down near me. “When were you a new girl?” I ask, politely
“I was only a few years into elementary school when my Ma, Rosey La Vonve, moved us away from Da’s military base. We went to Annapolis. I was new there. I didn’t even speak the same way. Ma and I had a slight canadian way about us, eh? We were canucks, they were southerners. People gawked at me. Said I looked ‘more than a mite like Avril Lavigne’ whatever that means. Anyway, I was new, and friendless. Until Giovanni moved in with Alessandro La Vonve.” Here, Ma smiled thinking of Da. Alessandro, meaning protector of men. Alexandria, meaning protector of man. They fit well together, at least, that’s what I think. Mema doesn’t.
“So, finding Da is what saw you through?”
“Yes, ma petite cerise, without him, I believe I would be lost, still.”
“Well. That’s enheartening.”
“Well, you asked. I answered.”
“I suppose I did.” After Ma’s speech of preparation, we got in the car and rode to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary for my first day in fifth grade in North Carolina. “I guess we’re here?” I ask when our car glides to a stop.
“Negatory, ghostrider. We are getting coffee for your first day. Decaf for you. And don’t forget your bunnyhug. You’ll look weird without one. In ‘winter’ here, people like bunny hugs. They call them ‘Sweat-Shirts’ though.” This slang is going to drive me, and Ma, mad. She orders us our coffee. As she promised, I got Decaf. We finish our coffee and pop back into the car.
“Now we are here.” Ma says after five minutes of driving.
I toss my head in lazy circles, my pony tail swishing behind me. I see some three or four girls in the middle of the hallway. The popular kids. I note what I have in common with them. They are tan, I’m paler than snow. They all have long hair. Not a single blue eyed one there. No blondes, either. But, they all have glasses. Except one. I touch But she has a glasses case in her pocket.
