High school is Hard: 1st Edition

Almost Escaped

I get off the bus, thankful that Tiana and Josie weren't on my bus. If you're wondering who they are, you've had the good fortune of not meeting them. Those two are probably the rudest people I've ever met.They've always bullied any new kid, and are just generally snotty to everyone else.
They've never directly picked on me, but I've seen them pick on other kids in my grade. So I want to avoid them as much as I can. I would prefer to not be involved in drama today. Or any day for that matter.
     As I'm walking into the school, I remember everything. From the yellow and blue stripes on the wall (our school colours), to the shelves of plaques and trophies from past years, to the bear logos practically everywhere. (Our school mascot is a bear. A Golden Bear to be specific). Except now everything seems fresher and cleaner. The hallways no longer smells of cologne, and the floor is so shiny. It will never be this clean again until next September but it's fiiiine.
     I walk over to the wall where all the home rooms are posted. I find out I'm in homeroom 9-1. Mr. Oakshire. That's who I have for science. Charlotte says he is nice, but gets off topic too much. And never be late to his class. Cool. As I'm making a mental note to always be early to his class, I hear a voice behind me.
"HOIII!" Natalie exclaims as she nearly suffocated me with her hug. (Hoii is how she says hi sometimes. She's weird, but so am I!) "HOII!" I yell back. "You're so weird, but that's why we're best friends" "HAHA!", Natalie chuckles. "We're in the same homeroom", I say, noticing that Natalie is also in homeroom 9-1. "YAY!", Natalie exclaims.
     Then I hear another voice- "Hi Ellie! Hi Nat!", Victoria says. She, along with all my friends, calls me Ellie. Victoria is another one of my best friends. She has always been the fashionable one. And that's just on a normal day. Which mean she went ALL OUT today.
     She's wearing a turquoise flowered dress with a jean jacket over top, turquoise heels (I don't know how she walks in those) and gold jewelry. Her hair is brown to light brown ombré, styled in wavy curls. Her makeup is actual artistry and I don't know how she knows how to do it at 14 years old. (I'm 13 cause my birthday is December, so a lot of my friends are 14 by now) She's wearing a brown and gold smoky eye, WINGED eyeliner, blush, contour, highlighter and a pink-ish red-ish lipstick. She looks like she's in grade 12!
     "HI FASHONISTA!!!!!!!", both Natalie and I say at the same time. "Jinx!" Natalie says as she's doing a victory dance. Darn. I should have said jinx faster!
     Then Fiona gets here. She makes a beeline for the homeroom papers. "I'm in homeroom 9-4, what are you guys in?", she asks with concern.
"Hello to you too! I've been great, thanks for asking.", I say with a chuckle.
She replies with a chuckle too, "Sorry, I just don't want them breaking up the Four-mation!" (Four-mation is what we call ourselves. Get it?! Formation? FOUR-mation?! Their are 4 people in our friend group? Anyway.)
     Natalie says with dismay, "Looks like they already have. Ellie and I are in 9-1, Vicky and you are in 9-4."
"NOO", we all say in sadness.
"Don't worry, we'll see each other! Since both of our home rooms are in the same hallway, our lockers will be close together!", I exclaim. "Let's get to our homeroom to get our schedule and locker number." Natalie says.
     We walk through the halls of our school, and my crush, Luke Chapman is at the other side of the hallway. "Oh my goodness you guys. Learning Commons. Learning Commons.", I blush. (Learning Commons is our code word for Luke because his initials are LC and LC is what the teachers always call the 'Learning Commons' which is actually just the library).

"Why don't you just tell him how you feel?", Victoria advises me.

     She's always been the straightforward one. Fiona's the quiet one, Natalie is the smart one. Everyone says I'm the nice one. But what we all have in common is that we are all kinds of crazy!
     I reply with embarrassment on my face, "Tell him? How would I tell him? We've talked when we were doing projects together, but that's it! That can't be enough for him to like me back."

"It was enough for you to like him though.", Fiona says. True.

"Hi!", I wave to Luke as he walks by. "Hey", he says back. He wouldn't find it weird that I said hi would he? Would he? WOULD HE? After all, we were in the same class last year. He knows who I am. I hope. Does he? Probably not. Or maybe? Ugh, I don't know! I've had a crush on him since about October of grade 8. And before you say anything, no, that's not a long time! I have extreme tunnel vision when it comes to crushes. When I fall, I fall hard.

"See? He waved!", Natalie says with happiness.

"I know, at least he knows I exist! That's step one, right?", I ask with optimism in my voice.

"Definitely." Victoria assures me.

We continue walking until Natalie and I arrive at our homeroom. "Bye Vicky, bye Fiona! The Four-mation stays strong!", I say as Natalie and I enter our homeroom. Natalie then chants "Long Live the Four-mation!" I chuckle then tell her to shush, as our teacher will get here any second. Fiona and Victoria leave to get to their homeroom and Natalie and I take our seats.
     But then I see that Tiana and Josie are sitting in the seats behind us. Aw man. I give Natalie a knowing look, and she gives me the same one back. Well, they haven't picked on us yet, so why start now, right? Except now they're bullying a new kid in my class, Olivia.
"Girl, why do you dress like my grandma?", sneers Tiana.
"Can't you leave me alone?", pleads Olivia.
"Can't you just leave my presence?", retorts Josie.
"Like, why do you dress like a potato? Your clothes look like old hand-me-downs from 4 generations ago.", mocks Tiana.
"My family doesn't have a lot of money, okay?!", says Olivia, sadly.
"Aw, poor Ostrich doesn't have money. Why are you coming to school if you're poor?", says Tiana, harshly. "I bet you don't even have a phone. Not that anyone would want to text you"
"Ugh, I don't want to get this Ostrich's poor germs on me.", hisses Tiana.
I couldn't take it anymore. No one deserves to be treated like that. Olivia seems nice, and someone should say something. And that someone is going to be me.
"Her name is Olivia, and you really should leave her alone.", I say, calmly.
"Mind your own business. This doesn't concern you.", Tiana snaps.
"I'm just saying, you shouldn't treat someone horribly just because they don't have money. It's not fair to her, and it's not even your business."
"You can't tell us what to do.", Josie rebukes.
"Then don't tell other people how to dress."
"You can't argue with us, we will always win.", Tiana insinuates.
"Just please think about being nicer.", I give my final advise.
"C'mon Olivia, do you want to sit with us", Natalie asks.
"Sure, thank you."
Natalie, Olivia and I compare schedules and we tell Olivia not to worry about what mean people say. I can tell that she is definitely going to become a friend of ours.
Then Mr. Oakshire walked in. "Hello students! Welcome to your first day of grade 9, and welcome to your homeroom. I will be teaching you science as well! Now let's do attendance."
He does attendance, and when he calls on me and I say, "Here!" He replies with enthusiasm, "Oh, I taught your sister, Charlotte Winters. Well Elizabeth, I am expecting some great work from you." I smile, not knowing what else to say.
I really don't like it when people compare me to my sister. She's always had super good grades, and it just puts so much extra pressure that I don't need right now. Natalie has an older sister that is friends with Charlotte, and the same thing happens to her. But it's fine, our sisters are super smart. I then hear that dreaded mocking whisper of Tiana behind me.
"Aw, is little Miss Teacher's Pet gonna be just like her little Miss Perfect sister?"Excuse me, what?! And to think, we almost escaped the wrath of Tiana and Josie. Maybe I should've kept my mouth shut. But sometimes you need to stand up for what's right.