I was crying. Crying? There were tears streaming down my face, so I guess I was crying. In front of a class. Shit. In front of a class of sophomores at a new school at the end of the year in a tiny town. Fucking hell.
"Um, Miss Evans? Can- can I sit down now?" I asked between sobs.
"Of course, Abigail." The short teacher with blonde hair and a violently pink blouse stuttered. I guess she wasn't used to the new kid crying on their first day, in their first class.
I rushed to my chair in the back of the somewhat quiet classroom. I heard the kids whispering to each other about me. That new girl with the firetruck red hair and matching lipstick that cried on her first day of school. I saw the looks. I saw the cliques that were blatantly laughing at me.
At lunch, I sat alone. No one came over to say hi. No one bothered me. I didn't mind. I could still feel the stares and hear the voices. I scanned the cafeteria for possible friends. A small group stood out. Five girls and three guys. Pretty average sized group, but the had probably been hanging out together since sixth grade. Exciting. I went to reading my copy of Les Misérables quietly until the bell rang.
My final class of the day is math. On the fucking third floor. I get all the way up the stairs and I'm winded. The classroom is barren almost, except for the three inspirational posters on the walls. What bullshit. I scoffed to myself. But I walked up to the teacher, put on a smile and said "Hi, I'm Emberly, the new girl. This is Algebra 1, right?" And 'Mr. Cooper' assured me that "yes, it is and you can take a seat at any open table." No desks? Fuck. It dawned on me that these people would be my table partners and I would probably have o work with them so choose people you think might have an average IQ.
I scanned the classroom, eliminating possible seats until it came down to two tables. One with two of the girls and one of the guys that I had seen at lunch and not said anything to, and one with a guy that looked of higher than average intelligence. I was leaning toward the table with the guy when he pulled out a binder with five notebooks and a laptop? The guy wasn't actually in this class and he had to have either been doing an evaluation or detention.
I sat down at the other table just as the bell rang. One of the girls was a kind of pale blonde girl, the other an angry looking black girl with black hair. The black haired girl was wearing a red flannel and black yoga pants and the other was wearing a light green floral top and black jeans.
"HI YOU MUST BE THE NEW GIRL!" The blonde girl essentially screamed in my ear. Probably not really but to someone who in general isn't a fan of talking to new people, that's what it felt like. "We saw you at lunch and you looked lonely." She saw the confused look on my face and realized she never introduced herself. "Oh! I'm Louise, and this is Winter!"
"Nice to meet you. What have you guys been working on for the past two weeks so I can get caught up?" I asked. They had been working on quadratic functions. Something I had learned in 8th grade. Lovely.
"You really care about catching up right at the end of the year?" The girl named Winter asked.
"Yeah. I've always kind of been a freak about my grades. Just trying to keep them up. Make sure I'm doing the work I need."
"So you're a goody two shoes." Winter insisted.
"Sure. I dunno yet, it's the start of something new. Maybe I'll be a goody two shoes or maybe I'll be a whore. I haven't decided yet." I responded.
The bell rang for class to be over and I began packing up my stuff and Louise handed me a slip of paper with two phone numbers written on it. "The top one is mine and the other one is Winter's. Call either of us if you need anything. See you tomorrow!" She turned and left, dragging Winter with her.
That was my first day at Riverton City High School.
