I backed away for a second. Here I was dressed in my Bahama’s. My green skirt shimmied in the lime-light while my turquoise dress served as a huge contrast to the drab colors that they wore.
“Uhhh…I’m Lauren,” I said, this time being careful with my speech. Some of the girls giggled a little bit. The one in front of me gave a tsk-tsk.
“Well, Lauren, hasn’t anyone ever told you that you are supposed to say a little bit of an ‘excuse me’ before you start barging into someone else’s property?” she asked. The girls giggled even harder. One even had her hands clasped onto her chest as she laughed.
“Uhhhh, ummmm…” I began, not sure where to really start.
“Ah, whatever kid! I’m Rachel!” she exclaimed, holding out a hand. I gave a little bit of a muffled laugh as I shook her hand.
“Oh, hey, Rachel,” I said, shaking her hand with a light grip. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, you too,” Rachel said. “Now for future reference stay out of people’s noses before you just walk in, ok?” With that, she returned to talking with the rest of her friends. I stood there silently. Seeing the groups just talk among themselves made me realize of the segregation that I could not just shrug off. Don’t give up, Lauren, I thought to myself. You’re in a different world, a whole new realm that you need to find your place in. At least it didn’t go to punches or blows. She shuddered as she thought about Rachel releasing a punch into her face.
“You might want to back away from them,” John said, approaching me. “They can get kind of nasty.”
“I didn’t find them to be too bad,” I said. “It just takes a matter of getting used to, you know.”
“Don’t get yourself too caught up in the cliques around here!” he warned with a stern voice.
“Ok,” I replied, looking down at the ground. How condescending John was! He almost felt like he needed the pressure to boss me around with how I should live my new life! But when I looked up again, he was smiling at me. One would have said that such a smile was creepy and unsettling. I shuffled against the wall and averted my gaze.
“Sorry,” he said.
“No it’s fine,” I replied, but John was already walking out in the middle of the hallway. He stood apart from the other boys in the class. Soon, I noticed that three groups formed: the boys, the girls, and John all by himself.
“You might want to be careful with who you hang out with here. I see that you are the type that really likes to get close pretty quick.” I spun around to see the other girl I saw in down-town Fairfax. She looked at me with her arms crossed. Her glare made me think of how my mother’s you’re-in-big-trouble look.
I walked in.
***
“Welcome to my 9th grade homeroom class! I am Mrs. Leonhart. I will be your homeroom teacher from now on!” I perked myself up, prepared to introduce myself in front of everyone. One boy looked like he was about to drone himself to sleep. Several girls had on smiles that looked like the Barbie doll ones that were pasted onto them. Gazing my eyes around each of them, I breathed in a deep sigh. This was not quite the atmosphere I expected.
Many people talked about how they were raised in this environment. Many of them had said that they already had been here after so long. I guess this should have been something to be expected, but it just made me feel isolated from the rest. No, no, wrong emotions! I perked myself up as soon as the teacher’s finger landed on me.
“Hi, my name is Lauren Baxter! I’m from South Jersey and…” my voice trailed off. For a second there was a bit of a pause.
“Why, hello, Lauren! How very nice to meet you,” Ms. Leonhart said. “I can very much tell by your accent that you do not quite fit our northern ways. Next student.” I was flabbergasted. She had just passed over me like I was nothing! I could hear Rachel and several of her other friends giggling as they looked at me. I lowered my head, staring at the front of the desk in front of me.
***
Lunch time felt the same as it was in the hallways. The cafeteria was abuzz with people talking and laughing as they picked up their food. The girls twisted side ways this way and that as some of the boys approached them with their fetish words. The girls sometimes all sat with one another. Other times I would see there was a bit of a mixed-gender group that sat; however, for the most part I would see that the men and women remained separate, not really talking to one another.
I was lucky just to be able to find my own table in the streaming amount of people. At least I did not end up inside of the bathroom like many of the other stereotypical loners.
“Do you mind?” I turned around to see that John had arrived to sit next to me.
“Sure,” I said. John sat next to me. His velvet spiky hair blazed in the middle of the lunch room. It simmered a fire inside of me that all of the other dull haircuts could not.
“So, South Jersey, huh?” he said. I smiled. He was actually starting to act kind of cute might I say.
In the distant table, I caught eyes with Alexis. She had a tooth pick inside her mouth, lurching it upward when I caught her attention. Her gaze seemed to say “don’t-say-that-I-didn’t-warn-you” type of gaze. I turned away.Probably just all in my head. Nothing worry about. Rachel looked at me and smirked. Great, we’re rivals already.
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