Once Upon a Time: True Stories of an Aspiring Writer

18: Good Girls Gone Bad

BEFORE GETTING TO SCHOOL IN NEW JERSEY, I first had to pass through Felton in Connecticut. I was there September through December of 2008, and it felt like a long four months.

I knew it was a tiny school (78 students, I think) and wanted to start over, so I read a book called "How to be Popular" where the main character finds a book with popularity tips that she uses to elevate her social status. I thought it was a good idea, to a degree, and vowed to use those tips for myself as well. Never mind the fact that the main character couldn't stay popular. 

But before I even had a chance to do anything, a girl said hi to me right away. I'd barely even moved in yet and was still carrying things in from my car.

Ally was slightly taller than me with red, curly hair, small green eyes with green glittery mascara, a very slight Mexican accent combined with a slighter Chicago twang, and dark jacket with slightly blinged-out jeans. "Hi," she said, as I carried boxes into the dorm. "Are you new here? I'm Ally."

"I'm Morgan. It's nice to meet you," I said, putting my best social skills on in order to prove I didn't belong there.

"Cool. Maybe we could hang out later?"

Wow! Barely on campus for ten minutes and I already had a potential friend. This was easy. 

Later, everyone separated into orientation activities in the classroom building. I was making name tags with a bunch of other girls, none of whom seemed interested in talking to me. Oh well. I could use my popularity tips anytime I wanted. I was just preoccupied at the moment. Yeah, that was it. No worries. 

Well, we had a floor meeting that evening, and once again nobody seemed interested in talking to me. All the girls gathered in ther rustic man cave-ish common area of our floor for a chat, something we'd do every night. Granted, I may not have been doing much to help my case, but an obstacle stood in my way.

Despite what everyone promised about "everyone being in the same boat" in high school, I would learn that most students already knew each other from a summer program several months ago. Inside jokes had already formed. Students referred to each other as "mom," "dad," and it wasn't unusual to walk into math as Julie was greeting her male friend with a happy, "Grandpa!" Apparently, some sort of schoolwide family existed and I was the weird twice-removed cousin who knew nothing. I was also one of a handful of freshmen because classes were mixed. 

Additionally, it seemed like almost everyone liked anime or video games. They were far and away the "popular" interests. One guy, a gifted sci-fi writer, would talk to me about nothing else but D&D. (I've never played D&D.) I would also watch other girls draw their favorite anime characters. Again, can you say "gifted?" The quality stunned me. Neither of them were particular interests of mine, though, so it was harder to bond. I did gain a new appreciation for manga-style drawings, though, and employed a few desktop backgrounds of cool-looking girls on my computer. Who cared that I didn't know who the characters were? Besides, I had my very first personal computer with me---a MacBook. It was fun to customize it.

Not that we couldn't have fun for the first weekend; even I managed to enjoy myself despite the situation. We had an Olympic event of sorts, where I participated in an egg-and-spoon race. We played Apples to Apples in large groups, which is always funny. Another bonding activity was even Duck Duck Goose. I was surprised to find out how hysterical it was to come up with different combos of duck and goose, be it salt/salt/pepper, dog/dog/cat, etc. 

And I had my new friend Ally. And she seemed detached from everyone else, nor did she care for D&D, World of Warcraft, or anime. For some reason, nobody seemed interested in talking to her either. But, we bonded. It worked for us. Ally and I didn't have very many classes together, but there was plenty of time to chat in the afternoon.