Chapter One:

First Day of Hell School

“Wake up, sleepy head!” My mom said in my ear. “Your

alarm’s been going off for ten minutes. You don’t want to miss

your first day, do you?”

First day of what, I wondered. What could be so important

that it’d get me up before the sun drank his first cup of coffee? I

mean it’s summer, right? Then I looked at my calendar.

“Oh my god,” I cried. “This sucks!”

I suddenly realized that it was my first day! My first day of

High School. Now, you might be wondering what the big deal is,

right? Well for a teenage girl, the first day of school, especially

High School, is the crucial point of which you see what social class

you’ll be put in (for the rest of the year... at least).

I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to take a quick

shower. Man! I’d planned it so perfect too, wake up, and take a

ten minute shower. Then what mom said sank in... “Your alarm’s

been going off for ten minutes...ten minutes...”

“Crap,” I muttered under my breath as I realized I didn’t

have time for a shower.

Then I sped back into my room and bee-lined to my closet.

Pants: Lace-up boot cut... good... I was done with that... Shirt: A

blue marbled tee with a lace up v-neck... perfect.

Off to my bathroom for make-up. I didn’t have time for

much makeup... lip gloss with a coral tint for my lips... a dash of

blush for my cheeks... sweet and simple... great. I grabbed a

poptart, said goodbye to my mom, and I was out the door.

I rushed down to the bus stop and tried to compose myself

before the bus arrived. Done... I had accomplished the look of

indifference. Then a bus went by too close to the curb and

splashed me with water and ruined my outfit. It was too late to go

home and change. I just had to wait for the bus and hope that my

clothes dried.

When the bus came, late of course, there was nowhere to sit

except in the back in the midst of a rowdy group of juniors and

seniors.

“Hey babe,” one of the guys said with a voice like velvet

covering a cactus, “you look a little wet.”

“Yeah,” said another. “Why don’t you get out of your wet

clothes, sexy.”

The rest of the bus ride was just as humiliating. By the end

of it, I had started to hate upper-class guys altogether. Maybe even

all teenage guys.

The day wasn’t starting out at all like I had pictured it.

First period was typing class. Right off I knew that I would hate

that class. As the teacher handed out the syllabus she expressed

how excited she was to be teaching us, and that she was certain that

it would be a great class. Looking over the syllabus, though, I

decided that “great” wasn’t exactly what I would have called it.

We would be spending the first quarter learning how to touch type.

Second quarter we’d learn about how to use word and excel...gee...

how “fun”.

I got lost on the way to second period, so even though there

was a ten minute break, I managed to be five minutes late. Luckily

the teacher seemed nice enough, and it was LA my favorite class.

The teacher was very understanding of our newness to the school

and promised that there would be no homework from him for the

first week. Also he wouldn’t count us tardy until then either.

Third period was health, and it was taught by a teacher who

had just finished college. I could tell it was going to be a long

semester, though, ‘cause he was a cutie and he was also teaching

health. Any way you look at it, it is not good to have a crush on

someone who was going to teach F.L.A.S.H. otherwise know as

Family Life and Sexual Health. Yes, it would be a long twenty

weeks.

By the end of third I had found a suitable selection of

possible friends, along with some guys that were possibilities for

dates. I had also blackballed some of the people into the “not a

chance in my lifetime” classification. High school was looking up

for me.

Fourth popped my balloon, though. It was PE, and the first

class that was really mixed between classes. It had everyone from

freshmen to seniors. Even worse was that two of the guys from the

bus were in that class. In most of the classes I had been to so far,

when my name was called all I’d have to say was “here” and that

was the end of it. Not this one.

“Sarith,” Ms. King said as she took roll.

“Here,” I replied... same old same old.

“Sarith,” Sneered one of the guys from the bus. “Did your

parents want to call you Sarah, but there was a typo on you birth

certificate?”

“Jasper,” said Ms. King, “it’s so great to have you in my

class again. How would you like to get an F this time?”

The rest of the class laughed, but he shot us all a look that

would have stopped a rabid charging bull in his tracks.

“Depends,” he sneered. “How many tires do you want

slashed?”

She just smiled at him and then carried on with her

attendance. She then placed us in squads that would become our

teams throughout the year. As luck would have it, Jasper was

assigned to the same squad I was.

We played half court basketball with two squads on each

half. I pride my skill in basketball, and generally am pretty good,

so I though that it would be fun. No dice. Jasper and the rest of

the guys were major ball hogs and kept the ball away from all the

girls on our team. The only satisfaction I had was that right before

the bell rang, I stole the ball from the other team and scored the

winning shot!

Then we had lunch. I was planning to go into the

lunchroom, but when I walked in, it was a sea of big intimidating

upperclassmen. Quit a few of the guys were well over six feet tall.

I decided to go hangout in LA with Mr. Davis. He asked me about

my first day and listened intently as I went through an overview of

my day.

Next was math with Ms. Brown. I was supposed to be in a

freshman honors class, but instead I was put in with a bunch of

average sophomores and a few juniors. I was the only freshman in

the class, so I was singled out for torment. The torment only got

worse when they found out that I knew most of the stuff that was

being taught. That class seemed to never end.

Next was history with Mr. Clowne. He seemed like a really

good teacher. He told us that he despised busywork, and that we

wouldn’t even need to lug around the huge book we were supposed

to get. He also promised that if we just tried to get most of our

work done, a B would be the lowest grade we could get.

Then we had homeroom. I had it with Mr. Clowne, so I

was happy. He told us that if we were quiet, and he didn’t get any

complaints about us not getting our homework done: he’d play a

movie a week in the class. It could be anything but ‘R’ rated, and

he’d take suggestions for good movies. We didn’t watch anything

that day though; he said he wanted to see what types we’d like

before he went to rent them. We decided on comedy, sci-fi (not

too scary though), and action.

After school, our bus was late, and it was raining. Just my

luck! In my hurry to get out of the house, I’d forgotten a jacket. I

was standing there in the pouring rain with a blue and white

tee-shirt. It was a great way to bring me back to the reality of high

school. Even worse was the fact that one of Jasper’s friends, Sean,

had an umbrella. He invited me to join him, but then I’d have to

stand within the group of rowdy boys that had ridiculed me that

morning. They were sure to make some more rude remarks about

me.

I decided to take the lesser of two evils, finally. It was

easier to ignore words than rain. Surprisingly enough, though, they

made no move towards teasing me and they even moved closer to

me, which in itself was kind of childish, but it kept me warmer, so

I decided to let it slide.

The bus finally came and I sat in the middle. It wasn’t

exactly the best seat, but it wasn’t the front with the suck ups or the

back, so I couldn’t complain.

As I got off the bus a few of the guys shouted after me.

“Bye Typo!” Jasper shouted.

“Bug off F-er!” I yelled back. “And I mean that in multiple

ways!”

He was too shocked to think up a good comeback and just stood

there. Right before I got of the bus though, Sean yelled just one

thing, “Later babe!”

“Whatever!” I shouted back.

It had been one of the worst days of my life, but, yet, I

couldn’t figure out why I was just standing there in a tee-shirt, rain

dripping off my nose, and smiling. Hmm...