The Queen of 6th Street

Chapter 2

One week.

That's how long it took for the transferring process to begin and finish. Syd had no idea if it was supposed to take longer than seven days, but she decided not to argue against it. It hadn't taken much effort to convince her dad to allow her to attend Althea. They both agreed that this wasn't an opportunity she should ignore, and Syd's dad trusted her enough to handle herself around an entire school of boys. It's not like she was going for them anyway.

It was Monday morning again; instead of heading to school in her favorite pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she was wearing a crisp new uniform. It was exactly what you would expect. I short sleeved white blouse under a black blazer with a plaid tie and plaid skirt. The school's color was a dark teal, which reflected in the tie and skirt. Truthfully, Sydney could do without the skirt. She preferred pants, but since pants weren't available, she did the next best thing; spandex. They weren't visible to the average person unless they were looking somewhere they weren't, and she doubted anyone would check.

The route Syd took to get to school had been planned as soon as she'd called Mr. Walsh and given him the green light. Althea was not a fifteen-minute walk from home. Instead, it was a bus ride and a fifteen-minute walk away. Overall it was around a forty-five-minute commute, and since Syd caught the seven-thirty bus, she got to school with plenty of time to spare. She hadn't been sure what to expect when she arrived because before today she'd never had a reason to go to North Eastwood, so she'd never seen Althea and all its glorious richness.

Rich was definitely the right word to describe the school. She'd found the entrance to the grounds easily, but stood frozen at the entrance staring at everything that spread out before her. Past the half-mile driveway, were some of the biggest high school buildings she'd ever seen. The first building you saw had a huge clock tower, like a mini version of the big ben! Surrounding it were buildings and parks, and an endless amount of space. Althea could easily be compared to a small college campus. She'd been to a few before, and the similarities were impressive, although Althea was probably still nicer.

The building Mr. Walsh had instructed her to visit first was the one with the clock tower. He said it was the main administrative building, and he would meet her there in the morning. True to his word, Mr. Walsh was waiting inside when she walked through the door.

"Good morning, Sydney," He called when he first spotted her. "I'm glad to see you made it here with no problems."

"I am too, This is the first time I've taken the bus to this end of the city. Thankfully there were no unexpected mishaps."

"Glad to hear it. If you will follow me, I will show you everything you need." Syd nodded and followed Mr. Walsh into the main office. "I suppose we'll start you off with the basics." He handed her a sheet of paper. "These are your classes. We run on a block schedule here, so you won't have every class every day. There is a map of campus on the back of the schedule for you to use as you see fit. Most of the boys are friendly, so if you ask they can help as well. Teachers too, feel free to ask teachers if you're lost or confused."

"Understood."

"Your locker is located in the Benson building. It's close to your first period, and most of your academic classes. Even if it's not close, there are ten minutes between every class so you should have plenty of time to run to your locker if need be."

"What about books?" Syd asked adjusting her weightless backpack.

"They are in your locker, as well as a few other things you will need."

"Other things?" Syd wasn't sure what the other things included. She had pencils, notebooks, anything else she would need. All she needed was her books.