FOR THE LIFE OF ME....

ENTERING THE WORLD OF HIGH SCHOOL

NOTE: I, ASHILYK SMITH, OWNS ALL RIGHTS TO THIS BOOK.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

"Mom, can't you just go to my first class with me then go home, please?"

"You'll be okay, besides I have to go to work."

I pouted. Today, I'm starting my ninth grade year of school at Frayser High. Yes people, I'm a freshman in high school. I'm also a momma's girl. My mom has always been my support system. I tend to cling to her more when change appears. My mom and I finally made it to the front office. She turned to me and said,

"I'm going now. Have a good day. You can tell me all about it when you get home."

I watched her walk away. Then, I put on the bravest face I could muster seeing as my stomach was in knots. I pushed open the door with the bold words MAIN OFFICE on it. I walked into the office with my brightest smile plastered on my face. "Good morning," I said to everyone in the office which I might add was full of people at work, as my grandma would say walking around like chickens with their heads cut off. A woman spotted me sitting behind a counter typing away on a computer. I assumed she was the secretary.

"How may I help you this morning?"

"Hi. I'm going to be a freshman here this year."

"What is your name?" she asked going back to whatever she was doing on her desk computer.

"I'm Ashilyk, Ashilyk Smith," I asserted with a smile.

"Pretty name. Where did your parents come up with that?"

"Thank you. It's my mom's name spelled backwards."

"Cute," she said handing me a piece of paper telling me where the auditorium was. Apparently, all the students meet in there the first day of school. As I ran through the hall on my walker it was empty not a body in sight. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the fact that I have Cerebral Palsy. I was born with it, but if I must say so myself I'm still a sight for sore eyes. Most of the time, I forget I have a disability. I was raised not to use it as a crutch.

As I made it into the auditorium, I opened the piece of paper the secretary gave me. It read: The freshmen should be seated at the far left of the auditorium. Find a seat and, the assembly should start promptly at 7:00am. I hope your first day goes well. Secretary, Mrs. Turner

I looked at my $8 digital watch for Wal-Mart. It was cheap, but fly. It read 6:30am. "Thanks mom for dropping me off so early," I sarcastically mumbled as I huffed to find a seat. People were constantly staring like I was that unusual. "Man I've lived here for three years, and I'm still not accepted," I thought as I took the closest seat I could find on the far left side of the auditorium. I folded my walker , and put it in between my legs and the seat in front of me. I sat there and mentally prepared myself for today. I looked around and students were dressed like me: in uniform. It looked like each grade had different color shirts they had to wear: 9th grade wore white shirts, 10th grade wore maroon shirts, 11th grade wore gold shirts, and 12th grade wore forest green shirts. Today, I had on a white button down, khaki jeggings, brown and tan coach shoes, with the purse to match. My sandy brown hair came to the middle of my back with butterfly flips in the front, and I had on studded earrings and a bracelet. I thought my outfit was simple, but cute.

This seemed to be a really diverse school. It looked to me that the jocks were the bad boys of the school. You could tell who they were because they had on nice leather letterman jackets. Jocks seemed to be dominantly in the 11th and 12th grade. Girls-I guess the "popular" girls-just flocked to them. The "nerds" were in there own world:communicating among each or with theirs in books. There were mostly preps in the 10th grade and a few in the 9th. I smiled because those were my type of guys. They just looked so clean cut. After scoping out my surroundings, I looked at my watch it was 6:45am. "Huuuh I still have 15 minutes to spare,"I groaned slouching in my seat. I must have spoken my mind out loud because the person on my right turned in their seat.