As the bus pulled into the drop off zone at the school, I took a deep breath and took in the sight of my new school. There were three buildings, one looked like it had the gym in it and the other two looked like they were academic buildings. The bus rumbled to a stop and it's passengers hopped out onto the sidewalk in front of the larger gym building. we hovered for a brief moment trying to decide where to go. further down the sidewalk were 9th graders holding signs that pointed us in the right direction. As I got closer I saw that the 9th graders were wearing tie dye shirts with WEB printed on the front. They must be the 9th graders that will show me around the school later, I inferred.
Carly and I turned the corner and continued down the hallway and emerged into a courtyard surrounded by the three large buildings that were visible from the street. In the middle of the courtyard was a smaller building made of stone bricks. it reminded me of a storage house, though it seemed odd that there would be a storage house in the middle of the campus. There were a few trees planted to the side of the strangely placed storage house, and behind the Gym building was a small grass area. It seemed like it would be a good place to hangout during lunch.
Carly and I turned another corner and found ourselves in yet another outdoor hallway that cut through the Gym building. Music echoed off of the brick walls coming from an open door halfway down the hall. As we approached we saw other students inside talking to one another. one of them I recognized.
"Jenny!" I squealed in excitement. she turned to face us and greeted us with a smile and then waved. Jenny had very pale skin as always and golden hair that came all the way down to her elbows. she was an average hight for a girl our age but still not quite as tall as me.
Carly zoomed through the open door and trapped Jenny in a hug. I followed her in but skipped the hug, I had never been a hugger and judging Jenny's expression, neither was she. Two other familiar faces loomed from the crowd.
"Lily! Carly!" They said with smiles. they came over and greeted us with hugs. I tried to escape their outstretched arms but found myself locked in a hug by sarah. Sarah was shorter than Jenny but still slightly taller than Carly. Marry, who had been standing next to Sarah, was much taller than both Jenny and Sarah. Marry and I were the tallest in our friend group, we always towered over the others, which is why we made such a great pair.
Before we can get a chance to talk more, two doors on the other side of the room open and we are herded into a new room, a gym larger than the one we were in before. We are guided to bleachers and then hushed as a teacher picks up a microphone.
"Welcome to rose creek junior high!" He says in an overly enthusiastic tone. He is older with quickly greying hair and a droopy face. "We are glad to welcome you all to the beginning of a new school year," he pauses and looks down at a piece of paper that he holds firmly. "Today you will tour the campus and bond with your new classmates. Lets begin by finding your welcome group and playing a game." Oh no, i thought what kind of crazy game could they have in store for us? "You can find your name tag on the tables behind me, on it there will be your group number. I will give more instructions once you are all in your groups." he finishes.
An uproar of talking between the students starts as we get up and walk over to the tables. I wonder to the tables on the far right side thinking that they will be arranged in alphabetical order based on last name. Mine is West, which would mean that My name tag is at the end. I work through the horde of students and reach the tables. I look down to see that the last name on those name tags start with R. I have to travel a little further to find the Ws. Finding my name tag becomes a struggle that takes much longer than I thought. But im sure there will be more challenges of greater difficulty in the future.
