Different- My adventure in the realm of finding myself

Chapter VI: Outdoor Educational Lab School

Walking into sixth grade I was feeling better than the year prior. I had a great summer, since I managed to go to Germany and France all in a month. I was glad to finally be back in America with friends, and actually be able to speak to people without sounding like I belong in first grade.

Every first day of school at my elementary school, we would have a large ceremony out in the front parking lot. We would meet all of our new classmates and our teachers would hold up the signs to indicate the places that the students belonged.

I remember walking around, trying to find my class. I saw a girl with blonde hair. I thought she may be new, and so I tapped on her back to ask her where her class was, and I was shocked at who I saw when I turned around.

Trelora, one of my classmates since kindergarten, turned around, her hair dyed from dark brown to light blonde.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "Trelora, I didn't even recognize you!!"

As I was talking to Trelora, I was thinking about her hair. I had always wanted to dye my hair black and purple, but I knew my dad would absolutely never let me. It made me feel jealous and self conscious, as well as sad and disappointed.

I guess I never knew just how much I would have to get used to my classmates having a lot more stuff than I did, and sometimes, stuff I wanted. Bad.

I didn't really cover this in the earlier chapters, but my dad and his side of the family are quite strict. They don't like makeup, hair dye, jewelry, contacts.... Pretty much anything that alters your appearance. Considering how much of a girly girl I was and the fact that my dad and stepmom hated picking their battles, I was often quite frustrated. I felt like I never could see the changes I wanted to, and experiment to see what I liked. Every time I asked for anything, my dad would say:

"No! Chloe, why can't you just love yourself for the way you are?"

It's funny, considering I just liked changing things up. I always noticed how he seemed to act as if I was asking for a nose job or something. It really bothered me, and it often caused my dad and me to be at odds.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO MY RANT😂

We all lined up to sing the song of our school, as we always do in the opening ceremony.

"We're mountain lions, we stand proud and tall,
Climbing to new heights above them all!
Rooney spirit leads the way,
Helping each other to start a new day,
Our motto states we can do anything
Just set your goals and success you will bring!
We're mountain lions and proud to be at
Rooney Ranch!
1 2 3!
ROAR!"

We walked in, ready to begin a new year.

My teacher, Mr. Mueller, had been a student teacher in my twin sisters classroom a year before, and had obviously taken a spot as a sixth grade teacher. With my little knowledge I had on him, what I had seen was he was actually very empathetic, helpful, and very calm and collected. He was a very kind teacher, and definitely more on the modern fun side.

One of the best things about being in sixth grade at my school was having not only the top grade slot in the school and being looked up to, but the amazing field trips we would have that year. Unlike little kindergarten trips to the zoo and Jumpstreet, we got to travel as a large group to amazing places for days on end. The two main field trips planned that I was looking forward to? Outdoor Lab and Washington DC. Both of these trips were 1-1 1/2 weeks long, and we would be with our classmates the whole time. Me being a social butterfly, it was a dream come true.

Settling into school for the first month and a half was quite difficult considering Fletcher's and my terms as the year ended last year. I also had a new person to steer clear of: Arnold.