Thank God Alice has a better sense of direction than I do.
After we realized that we were both going to the same place, she had no trouble showing me in the right direction. I thought it was a huge coincidence that we were both transferring to the same new school on the same day.
I think once the shock wore off, Alice started to warm up to me. Of course, she asked about my hair, as everyone always does.
I should mention this. I have teal hair. My old blonde hair completely washed out my pale skin, and after much online research, I found a photo of a pretty girl with pale skin and bright blue hair. I loved it. It didn't take much convincing of my lenient parents, and I have continued to dye it for almost a year.
Alice smiled and laughed at my story. I was confused at first, because it wasn't really meant to be funny. She had a distant look in her eyes when she explained to me about her strict, Catholic parents, that freaked out when she wanted to get her ears pierced. I'd heard of those type of people before, but it just didn't seem real to me. I guess it showed in her conservative outfit of jeans, a gray, long-sleeved shirt and black scarf.
The rest of the walk was silent, but oddly comfortable. In just that short time, I think we had grown accustomed to each other. I wondered if her situation was similar to mine, at whatever school she used to attend. I was curious, but wanted to savor the quiet, before the storm of noise hit at school. There would be plenty of time for socialization later.
We rounded a corner and a huge clocktower came into sight. The letters "HHS" were painted in medieval script below the clock's face. Harrisburg High School. The school spread out widely below it. The school looked like it consisted of one, one-story building, and at the front two huge wooden doors were open, with students filing in. I looked at Alice, and she was still staring with wonder-filled eyes at the school. It seemed as if she hadn't ever seen anything like it in her life. Who knows, maybe she hadn't. I continued forward, assuming that Alice would follow behind me, but she didn't.
"Come, on Alice, we'll be late," I said, breaking her stare.
"Right. Let's go," she said, nervously gulping and following me.
We joined into a crowd of students and entered the busy hallway. We had instructions to visit the dean's office to recieve our schedules and student ID's. I know I had no idea where this office was, and I didn't think Alice did either. Beside us was a tired-looking boy with hipster-style glasses and dark brown hair.
"Excuse me," I said, tapping him on the shoulder. He looked at me and smiled.
"New here?" he asked, trying to sound friendly.
"Yeah, could you tell us where the dean's office is?" I asked, gesturing to Alice.
"Sure, the last door at the end of this hall on the left, you can't miss it. You'll like the dean, he's cool."
"Thanks, I'll see you around," I said, and started to walk away, but he stopped me again.
"What's your name?" he asked, although he didn't look the least bit interested.
"I'm Jade, and this is Alice," I said.
"I'm Al. I'll see you around!" he smiled, waved, and ran off to join his friend, a tall boy who looked like him.
Alice and I continued down the long hallway, looking at the various posters decorating the walls. Judging by the posters, there was a big football game coming up, and some of the students were wearing festive clothes in school colors.
We reached the end of the hall, and Alice spotted a door that read "DEAN'S OFFICE" in blue letters. We turned in and a man with a grey mustache and a green baseball cap sat at a desk, covered in Philadelphia Eagles banners and bobbleheads. I smiled. My dad is a fan too. The dean looked up.
"Girls! You must be Miss Morris and Miss Prince," he said, standing up.
"That's us," I said. Alice looked terrified.
"I'm Mr. Tomsen, welcome to HHS!" he said, shaking our hands. He sat back down, and did a quick search on his computer. Soon, two papers slid out of his wireless printer. He handed them to us.
"These are your schedules," he said, then looking directly at me. "I understand you'll be part of our DA Program."
"DA?" I said.
"Dyslexic Abilities?"
"Oh, yes."
"We've been developing this program for the last 5 years, we're very proud of it," he said, as I scanned over the cardstock paper. All of my classes had "DA" in front of them. "All of your classes will be tailored to your needs."
I smiled. I might have a chance here. After I looked over mine, I peeked at Alice's classes. She clearly wasn't dyslexic. All Honors and AP classes. We were only sophomores.
"Now, girls, for your ID pictures," Mr. Tomsen said, grabbing a Nikon camera, and gesturing to a white wall. I took the liberty of walking up first, adjusting my hair and fixing the collar on my black blazer. After the picture was taken, shiny dots from the flash clouded my vision.
Alice was next. It took her a moment to process what was happening. I looked at her, and gestured to the wall. I was beginning to wonder what her problem with social interaction was. She walked up to the wall, and gave an extremely awkward and forced smile. Mr. Tomsen frowned, but still snapped the photo. After plugging in his camera to his computer, he handed Alice and I two cards, complete with our pictures, names and grades.
"Have a great day, girls. Welcome to HHS!" he said, gave a cheery wave, and Alice and I hurried out of the room. The first bell was going to ring in 5 minutes, and according to the map printed at the bottom of my schedule, I had to be on the opposite side of the campus. I turned to Alice.
"Well, I'll see you later. Lunch, maybe?"
"Oh. Um, yes. Lunch," she said, gave a reluctant smile and turned away.
One thought from that day stands out to me: This girl needs some work.
