Let her go

26

Nervously, Ellie's eyes trailed over her every feature in the mirror. She had had her stitches removed and the swelling had subsided, but if you looked really hard you could tell her right cheek still wasn't completely even with her left. She had somehow managed to start brushing her teeth again a few days ago, when she found she was able to open her mouth enough. She had also begun consuming more solid food. All in all, she was almost healed, aside from just a slight pang of pain here and there.

She had spent a good hour or so deciding what to wear, not too simple, but not too dressy. Once there was nothing left to touch up, she sat down and patiently waited until it was time to leave. Her new school was about 15-20 minutes of walking distance, so she set off half an hour early.

Ellie stopped in front of the black, metal gates framing the yard. She pushed them open and entered. She walked slowly down the little paved road towards the entrance to the school, keeping her head tilted upward and marveling at the greatness of the old building. The front doors were heavy. Ellie struggled with them a bit before she finally found herself inside.

The front hallway was empty. She supposed all the older generations hadn't thought to arrive this early, and all the 1st years were on the top floor as instructed. She remembered passing through the seemingly endless, large hallways as a little girl when she wanted to visit her grandmother who used to work there as the principle until a few years back. Back then, everything she saw she construed as much larger and more unobtainable. The hallways and classrooms would be packed with students, most of them much older that Ellie, who had always been very small and petite for her age. It all appeared so far away and so scary. Now this was finally her school.

Slowly, she began her ascend up the great staircase facing the front entrance. A few more kids her age, she heard, entered the school and followed her example. Once she reached the landing she found herself in the midst of a huge crowd of new students, all patiently waiting to be welcomed into the Great Hall to hear which class they've been sorted into and mingling with those around them. Coincidentally, Ellie came across a girl she had met back in elementary school when she attempted volleyball practice. She stopped to chat with her and was introduced to a kind, plump girl named Maggie, who turned out to be in the same grade as Elli and who would, within a year, become one of Ellie's most loyal and long-lasting friends.

Returning home from school that first day, Ellie was ecstatic. She was thinking back to all the friends she'd met and her heart swelled with the sense of belonging she'd longed for her entire life. This may have been slightly exaggerated, as Ellie would later find out her class was not as perfect as on first glance, but she would still be much more satisfied with it than the one in elementary and middle school. She would also meet some amazing people from other classes and grades and she would one day become the confident, gregarious, care-fee person she'd been striving for. But that wouldn't happen for at least another year. For now, she was just the same Ellie she'd always been; lost, demure and clinging onto all the wrong things.