A new Beginning

Preparing for first day of school.

The week went quickly, with a monotonous routine of me waking up, eating breakfast, reading, eating lunch, going for a walk in the gardens to avoid Ms Sanders, and eating tea, and then reading and sleeping. Then all of a sudden it was Sunday night and school was the next day. Ms Sanders pounced on me at around about 7pm and began to get me ready for the school day.

It was a torturous hour. Who knew it took so much getting ready to be presentable in her eyes? She plucked and waxed every area she could see, until I felt like a plucked bird, and was quite red.

“Don’t worry, the redness will be gone tomorrow and you will look great!” Ms Sanders stated, almost gleefully as she saw how much pain I was in from her treatment.

After being plucked and waxed, I was washed vigorously by many maids within an inch of my life and my hair had so many ointments put in it I lost track. They put curlers roughly in my hair, and something else that I was not sure about. Then I was slipped into a silk nightie and told to go to bed, as I would be woken at 5 am the next day to get ready for school.

When I got to my room, my mirror was covered up – so I did not get any surprises as to my appearance I suppose. I am sure the curlers made me look like a freak. Sighing, I collapsed into a heap on my bed and slept instantly.

The next morning I was woken up by a persistent banging on my door. “Get up now young lady you need to get ready for school!” A screeching voice that I did not recognise yelled, muffled by the thick door.

I groaned and got out of bed, shook myself a bit and opened the door slowly to see who it was. A lady stood there, and as soon as she saw me shook her head, and said “Oh dear, this is going to be more difficult than I thought. Not impossible, just difficult. Follow me!”. With that she headed off down the hallway.

Following her, I arrive in yet another room I had never seen before, with mirrors everywhere and a chair in front of a counter. It looked very much like a hair salon for one customer only.

Firstly, Ms Sanders strolls in with an outfit that we bought yesterday, admittedly one of the ones I liked. It was a purple dress that flaunted what I had but still left a lot to the imagination. It was one of the least revealing outfits I had now, so I understandably favoured it. Plus the purple in the fabric made my bright blue eyes stand out more, I thought.

I hurried to clamber into it as they watched on. It slipped on easily and I was quickly dressed.

Then I was pushed in the direction of the salon chair and as soon as I sunk into it the mystery woman descended on my hair, pulling and tugging it every which way as she took out the curlers and did heaps of other stuff that I don’t know about, I just know there was a lot of products used and a lot of pain resulting because of it.

Finally she was satisfied with my hair, and she snapped “Shut your eyes!”. As soon as I did, I felt a brush on my face, so I am guessing she was doing make up. After a good half an hour or more the brush strokes and mutterings stopped, and she fiddled with my hair again. Then when she was satisfied she told me to open my eyes and rotated the chair to face the biggest mirror.

When I see the person in the mirror, I have to double check there is not a girl sitting in front of me or something instead of a mirror. I don’t recognise this model in the mirror, with lush curled brown locks that cascade down her back, and down her front. The electrified blue eyes, the pale blemish free skin and finally the outfit all put together make me think they have tricked me – this can’t possibly be me!

“Hmm… That will do I suppose.” The lady sniffed at me, before walking out of the room.

Ms Sanders walks into the room again after having left to get herself some breakfast halfway through my ordeal.

“Humph, the girl can look presentable so it seems.” She muttered, before saying a little louder, “Mr Stawell is waiting in the Limousine to take you to school. Here is your bag and your details you will need for when you get there. Just make sure you walk straight to the office when you get there and tell them your name. It won’t take long for them to sort you out. They will give you your time table and locker number and will sign you up with a student to take you around school for the first week or so. Here are your shoes too.” She shoves a pair of shoes in my hand along with a light brown leather shoulder bag that looks like it is worth more than all my possessions I used to have combined back home.

I put on the shoes, a pair of black knee length boots with a small heel on them. Then I head out to the driveway unsteadily getting used to the new height. All but falling into the limo, Mr Stawell smiles as he says his morning greetings to me.

“Good morning Miss. Are you all ready for school?”

“I… I think so. I do believe I will be all sorted once I have found out where the office is, which should not be too hard. I am getting a guide or something after that.” I smile weakly at him.

“Ah yes, the office is clearly labelled. Now I have reason to believe you have not eaten yet, am I right? Those women have no idea on how to really treat a growing girl except for to make her pretty. Would you like some breakfast I took the liberty of bringing from the kitchen for you Miss?”

I take the food eagerly, and take care not to smudge any make up or get it on my dress. It was just vanilla Complan, no doubt he had picked it up thinking I had to have something that would not easily spill everywhere and spoil my make up. So nice of him. Then at his discretion I brush my teeth quickly and check the lipstick was not smudged.

We pull up to the school, and he slows the vehicle.

“Good luck for today. I will pick you up from here at 4 pm.” He says, hopping out and opening the door for me.

“I will need all the luck I can gather. Thank you so much for the food!” I smile at him.

“No Problem.”

With that, I slowly climb out of the limo, one foot first, subconsciously extending out like I have seen those women do in movies. The whole area was silent, and I wondered if I had come to the wrong place and maybe I would have to get back in and go to the right location. Then I stuck my head out of the door.