Evacuated

Why Can't We Be Friends?

The minute I walked in and had the chance to scan the room, I did. "Thirty-one kids" my new teacher, Mrs. Myers mumbled under her breath. "Most classes don't have more than twenty-eight" she added, I sighed. The looks I received didn't exactly make me feel welcome. I smiled faintly at the bored kids staring back at me before I dropped my bag, books collapsing all over the floor. I couldn't maintain it as much as I'd like to think I did. Giggles spread across the room as I struggled to shove my books back into my yellow and grey bag. When I was on my feet again, almost everyone had disrespectful smirks on their faces, quiet laughs filled the room. One boy, sat in the middle of the room, wasn't laughing, just staring without expression. I settled myself at the teachers desk and she got right back to disciplining the class by shouting rules in their faces that they hadn't even broken yet.

Recess came along not long after and I wandered around the playground and through the field, kids screaming and playing. I looked for the bathrooms and saw two girls standing next to the building between the two doors marked "BOYS" and "GIRLS." I made my way over before one of the girls, older obviously, stuck her arm across the entrance. "It's a dollar, new girl" she demanded. I was displeased and confused. A dollar to use the washroom? What kind of no-good system was this? I quickly realized; this was the school bully, gotta be. I assumed she made everyone pay to pee, which honestly surprised me that nobody had gotten the principal involved. She was bigger than most kids I saw running around the schoolyard. "Eighth grade, I'm guessing." I tried to distract her with one of my favorite theories about the trolls under the bridges who collected toes from unlucky travelers. She bought into it for a second and began trying to figure out what I had said. She'd never understand, as I tried to sneak past into the washroom. She stretched her arm out, once again. "Nice try, bean pole. It's still a dollar" she sharply spit in my face. I decided it wasn't worth trying to pass this girl no more, so I walked into the field where I saw a few of the boys from my class lined up in a row like they were gonna race or something. I ran deeper into the field; "Kids must be too scared to tell on 'er. She'd probably beat um with their own arms" I thought.

When I reached the field where the boys were eagerly lined up, I jumped in on the end of the line and prepared myself to race. I saw someone rise up on the end of the line out the corner of my eye. "Hey new girl, this is just for guys!" he yelled at me. I brushed it off, didn't even look at um. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" he added. "What's a matter, Hoager? Scared a girl's gonna beat you?" It was the boy in class who didn't laugh at me like the rest. BOOM! We were off. The race had began and the boys pushed themselves far ahead of me, I could feel myself falling slowly behind. I paced myself well, hard. Closer to the end, I pushed harder. And harder. I felt myself moving up as I passed several boys beside me who must've lost their confidence by then. I was catching up to first, the nice boy who defended me was not far ahead. I pushed even harder until I finally got ahead of him just as I crossed the finish line. I was panting hard, turned around and the boys were all dropped on the ground. I walked over to the boy and stuck out my hand. "Jess, right?" I asked. A small tanned girl say beside him with her hand on his shoulder. "Sister, probably." He gave me a displeased look before picking himself up and walking away, little girl followed behind him. He didn't look back at me, but she did.

After school, I rode the bus home. My parents moved us from Arlington all the way to a small town in Virginia. We live on a farm. My parents are writers, money was never the problem. They just wanted to move out to rural area to spend more time thinking about what's important. The boy and his sister got off the bus at the next stop. I quickly dodged to the front of the bus to inform the driver this was my stop as well. The bus pulled to a quick stop, causing the two kids to turn around in confusion. "Thank you" I smiled to the bus driver before stepping off. The kids both stared at me before he spoke. "Are you following me?" Jess asked in a disturbed manner. "Um, no. I live over there." I pointed at my house. "We're neighbors!" the little girl screeched in excitement. "Got any little sisters?" she asked. "No, just me" I answered. "Oh" she cringed in disappointment. "Got any barbies?" she happily picked up her old riff. "I think I have a few" I tilted my head up, trying to picture the box under my bed that had the barbies in them. I waved goodbye as we reached my farm before theirs.

The next day at school, we had been instructed to read the composition papers we were assigned the day before. Mrs. Myers proudly informed the class that there was one composition that stuck out and that she wanted that person to read it in front of the class. "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus; By Leslie Burke" she proudly introduced my paper. "Leslie, come up and read this for us" she instructed. I rose from my desk which was placed right between two rows. I stood up in front of the class and proudly read my paper on scuba diving. I used adjectives that made it sound like I really went scuba diving. Like it was really my favorite hobby.I could tell most of the class had zoned out, but I didn't care too much about it. The way the kids at Lark Creek had responded to me as soon as I had walked in pretty much summed up how it was gonna be, and I knew that. So I didn't even bother trying to please them. "Thank you, Leslie" Mrs. Myers smiled slightly before her face returned to its deadly look. "Tonight on Channel 7 there's a special about an undersea explorer. I want you all to watch and write a one-page essay on what you learned" Mrs Myers instructed. A flash went through my brain, I felt my stomach choke. I raised my hand without thinking. "Yes Leslie?" Mrs Myers. "What if you can't watch this program?" I decided to put it. "If you inform your parents it's for an assignment, I'm sure they won't object" she told. "Well that helps me not at all." I couldn't think of a way to protect myself now, so I just gave it up. "But what if you don't have a TV?" I asked. Shudders of laughter came from all four corners of the room. I turned to Scott Hoager, the kid who had told me racing was only for guys at recess the other day. "My dad says the TV kills your brain cells" I informed. "Your dad doesn't know anything!" Scott smirked. "We watch TV like everyday" he snorted. "I rest my case" I mumbled under my breath. "Alright, that's enough!" Mrs Myers demanded. "Leslie, You don't have to write this essay. You can pick something else to write about" Mrs Myers decided. "Yeah, like how to live in a cave" Scott Hoager chuckled, the class right behind him. I walked in the halls and saw Jess ahead of me, head down in a book of some sort. Scott Hoager and Gary Fultcher pushed past him in attempt to throw him on the ground. He struggled at bit as I approached him and retrieved the book he had nearly dropped. I looked through the pages which were filled with drawings of all kind. "Wow, you're really good at drawing" I flipped through the pages. "Like better than any kid I've ever seen" I added, handing the book back to him. "Uh, thanks.." he said hesitantly. I walked ahead to make my way back to class.