I stepped into the classroom and over 30 pairs of eyes turned directly onto me. My cheeks flamed bright red.
The teacher, a friendly looking 40-something year old man, looked at me from across the classroom and said "Hi, you must be Bellezza Rossi. I'm Mr. Smith." He gave me a welcoming smile and motioned for me to come stand with him. I slowly walked up to the front of the class, my cheeks getting brighter and brighter.
"Um, I go by Bella," I mumbled shyly.
"Alright Bella, you can go ahead and sit down next to Amanda. Amanda, please raise your hand." he replied kindly. A really pretty girl with soft red curls raised her hand politely. I walked down the isles and sat down in the back row in the empty seat next to Amanda. She smiled at me, and I smiled back shyly.
"By the way Bella, where are you from?" asked Mr. Smith.
"Um, I just moved here from New York," I said looking at the ground as I sat down.
"Well Bella, I hope you enjoy it here at Crestwood," replied Mr. Smith, smiling, "Now class, as I was saying, World War I began in 1914."
I reached down to grab a notebook when a piece of folded paper landed on my desk. I unfolded it and it read:
You have really pretty hair :) -Amanda
I looked at the ends of my long blond hair. I didn't have time to straighten it this morning, so it was wavy. I had natural highlights, and it was a very light blond. Almost no one believes me when I say it's my natural color. I smiled and scribbled back on the note:
Thanks :) so do you! Is your hair naturally that color?
I tossed the note onto Amanda's desk and tried to pay attention to the teacher. Amanda handed the note back to me, and it read:
Yeah, my mom would kill me if I ever dyed it!
Before I had time to reply, the bell rang. I put my notebook back in my bag and slipped the note in my pocket.
Amanda came up to me and asked, "What's your next class?" I handed her my schedule and put my backpack over my shoulder. "Oh my gosh! We have Chemistry together next!" she exclaimed, "You're going to love Ms. Lee!" She lead me out of the classroom and down a series of hallways.
When we walked into the classroom, I saw James sitting at a long lab table turned around talking to a boy with black hair.
He smiled at me and said, "Hey Bella!" Amanda looked at me in shock as I waved back at him.
"You know James Carter?!" she whispered excitedly.
"Um, yeah... He gave me a tour of the school this morning." I replied with a shrug, kind of startled by her reaction.
"He is the hottest guy in school! Almost every girl in the school has a crush on him! And I get to be his lab partner this year!" she whispered at me with a huge grin on her face. She gave me a playful shove and sat down in one of the empty seats by James.
I walked up to the front of the class where the teacher was sitting at her desk. The teacher was a tall young lady with blond hair that fell just past her shoulders. She looked more like a high school student than a teacher.
"Hi, I'm Bellezza Rossi, the new student. I go by Bella," I said to her, feeling more confident than I did in first period.
"Welcome, Bella!" she said cheerfully, "I'm Mrs. Lee. In this class, we do a lot of labs, so I'm going to need to put you in a lab group. Ah, you can be with James Carter and Amanda Matthews, since they don't have a third partner yet. Amanda, James, please raise your hands."
"Oh, I already know them, we met during first period," I said with a smile. I walked over to the lab table and sat down next to Amanda, smiling at her and James.
In that class, we set up a very simple lab on how water reacted with different types of chemicals. The lab didn't take very much effort, so we spent most of the time talking about my schedule. For third period, I had Spanish with a teacher names Mrs. Aguilar. For fourth period, I had English Literature with Mr. Harper. After fourth period, I had lunch with both Amanda and James. Fifth period, I had Algebra II with a teacher named Mrs. Jones with James.
"Good!" exclaimed James, "You can help me with my homework!"
Then sixth period, I had gym with Coach Hanson. Finally for seventh period, I had Creative Writing with Mrs. Oliver, who Amanda described as the sweetest old lady ever.
"You're into writing?" asked James
"Yeah, mostly poetry," I said, a little embarrassed. Poetry isn't exactly the coolest thing ever.
"You should join poetry club!" exclaimed Amanda
Third and fourth period were a blur of awkward greetings and interested stares at the new girl. I hurried to lunch and found Amanda almost immediately. Although Amanda and James are lab partners, they aren't really friends. They get along well but only talk to each other because they were forced to be lab partners at the beginning of the school year. They each have their own cliques. Amanda hangs out with the smart kids that stay away from trouble, and James hangs out with the football players.
Amanda and I sat down at a table where her friends were sitting. As I pulled my sandwich out of my lunch sack, Amanda introduced me to her friends. I was introduced to Emma, a sweet looking girl with brown hair that fell to her shoulders, Annie, a quiet girl with jet black hair that fell more than half way down her back, and Mark, a quiet, shy boy with short, dirty blond hair.
I told them what New York was like, and about life in the "big city". They, in return, told me all the details about the small city of Crestwood. Since Crestwood was so small, everyone pretty much knew everyone. Apparently, news travels very fast in such a small city.
The bell rang to go to fifth period and I made my way to Mrs. Jones class. She sat me in a seat in the back of the class, right behind James. After that class, James gave me his cell phone number, saying he needed help on his homework. With a laugh, I made my way to the gym.
After gym, I went to my Creative Writing class with Mrs. Oliver. She looked to be about 60 or 70 years old, with short white curly hair. She had a very friendly smile and talked with a sweet, soft voice. My first assignment in that class was to write a poem about your favorite childhood memory. I could tell I was going to like this class.
I could tell I was going to like this school.
