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Numero uno
As I sat, staring up at the sky on that chilly Monday morning, I couldn’t help but feel as if that day could hold the key to my future…to my destiny. I just couldn’t imagine at the time how true that feeling was. I mean, I had already known that the day would be special. The first day in a new school generally is, you know. But this feeling was different…it was telling me a more than this being the first day in my new school.
It had all started that morning, while I was picking out an outfit for school. I was deciding between wearing my black tank top or my purple one when I suddenly got this feeling deep in the pit of my gut. You know, the sort of feeling you get when you’ve done something wrong or know that you’re going to get in trouble, the feeling that’s almost as if you’re going down a roller coaster at top speed. Normally I wouldn’t have been bothered by something so meaningless, but the thing was, I hadn’t done anything wrong recently and I knew I hadn’t done anything to get myself in any trouble. So I decided to ignore it, at least until my dad told me it was time to go.
Somehow, his comment brought the feeling rushing back, and as I plopped down into the front seat, my black backpack sprawled out on my lap, the feeling got even more intense. I must not have had a very pleasant look on my face, because as we drove out of our dark and box filled garage and into the bright sunlight outside, my dad spoke.
“Are you feeling well, Destiny?” he asked, looking a bit worried.
“Not really dad, I’ve had this weird feeling in my gut all morning and I feel really odd.” I told him, not wanting to lie. I was expecting him to be sympathetic…or at least able to give me some good advice. However I was severely disappointed when all he did was laugh.
“It’s your first day in a new school. You’re probably just worried about fitting in or something else all you teenagers worry about. You’re just nervous. It’s nothing to worry about.” He said, smiling that huge smile he gets when he thinks he’s been a big help. Well, let me tell you, he wasn’t. His little speech didn’t make me feel any better…if anything, it made me feel worse. I already knew for a fact that I wouldn’t fit in here in this pastel town. First of all, school had been going on for a month, so I knew everyone already had their little “groups” figured out. I wasn’t bothered by it, though. What bothered me was that about half the people my parents had met while we were moving in were dressed in the most awful shades of pink I have ever had the misfortune to look upon. Of course, I would never judge someone simply by how they looked…well not all the times at least. It’s just that everyone in town was so cheerful and perky and…well…creepy. It made me think that all of them must take some sort of happy drug or something.
I mean my next-door neighbors, the Gramselys, came by to welcome us to the neighborhood the other day. I swear, I wanted to pull out my eyeballs when I saw what they were wearing. You see, Mrs. Gramsely isn’t the tallest person around…and she’s sure not the skinniest either…if you get what I’m saying. Not only that, but she’s got this red face that looks like she sucked on a lemon too many times as a child and her face got stuck that way. Well, anyway, that day she had been wearing this light pink dress with a matching jacket and shoes. Oh, and how could I forget the pink handbag and jewelry…she was draped in jewelry. At first, the only thing I could think of was how much she reminded me of a medicine bottle…you know that Pepto Bismol stuff you use if you’ve got an upset stomach. And then there was her daughter, Patricia. Patricia looked just like her mother, the two both had the same strawberry blonde hair, however she was a lot taller than her mother and skinnier too, but her outfit was just as outrageous. Again, it was nothing but pink. Even the ugly little rat she called a dog had a pink jewel studded collar and pink ribbons all over. I wasn’t even the least bit shocked when I noticed the color of Mr. Gramsely’s tie…pink of course…matched with a light purple shirt.
So, as you can see, someone like me whose wardrobe consists of mostly dark colors and the only trace of pink being bright neon couldn’t possibly fit into this bright and cheery town. There was absolutely no chance of it.
numero dos
It didn’t, much to my disappointment, take very long to make it to Central High School. I had pretty much expected that since it’s in the center of our very small community, but I was still pretty bummed. I mean, who wants to have their school just two minutes from their house…definitely not me. In my opinion, the farther the school is from me, the better.
Anyway, an overwhelming sense of dread crept over me as my dad pulled up to the entrance of the school. If Dad noticed any more changes in my behavior, he didn’t show it. He simply unlocked my door and waited for me to exit the car. Then, as I stood in front of an unfamiliar school with unfamiliar people, Dad just waved good-bye and drove off. He didn’t even tell me to have a good day at school, which he’s told me every first day of school since I started preschool. I didn’t want it to bother me, but as I walked into the school I couldn’t help but think that by Dad breaking his stupid “good luck” tradition, I was going to have a terrible day at school. I was right.
I looked around the main hall for a moment, taking in the surroundings. The whole building looked a bit sterile, like a doctors office. Everything was pure white, like they repaint the whole building every year or something, except for all the doors, which were pastel pink. I couldn’t possibly imagine having to go to school here for a whole year and not want to kill myself, it was that bad.
I walked over to the main office, which was the only room with a normal wood door. I figured that maybe, just maybe the school might be somewhat normal…and not…well…too pink. However my relief was short lived because as I walked into the office, I walked right into my worst nightmare. Everything in the office was pink, the walls, the carpet, the desks, the chairs, everything. I wanted to scream.
If that wasn’t bad enough, there was nobody there. I had to get my schedule…and there was nobody to give it to me. So, I did the only thing a kid in my situation could…I sat down in one of those hideous pink chairs and waited. I waited for what seemed like an eternity before the secretary finally entered the office.
She was a tall lady who looked like she was in her mid fifties or something. Her face was slightly creased with wrinkles and she seemed like she never stopped smiling. She looked like a nice enough person.
She knew right away that I was the new student. I guess they don’t have many people move here, and in such a small town, I’m sure she knew everybody.
“Welcome to Central High. I’m Ms. Bladek. It’s very nice to meet you.” She said as she pulled out my schedule and handed it to me.
I looked down at my schedule and nearly screamed. Someone had signed me up for Art, Music, and Home Economics. I remember clearly telling my parents to sign me up for the basic classes…and only the basic classes.
“Is something the matter with your schedule?” Ms. Bladek said, curiously.
I looked up at her. “Yes, there is something really wrong with my schedule.”
She took a quick look down at my schedule then back up at me, a confused look on her face.
“You’re in the tenth grade aren’t you? I don’t see any problems.”
I sighed in frustration and pointed to the extras. “What about these? I don’t want these. I want study hall.”
“Well, I’m sorry.” Ms. Bladek said, “But I was specifically told to put you in those classes. Besides, there’s no room in any of the study halls. They’re always the first to fill up.”
“Are you serious? Study hall filled up…I’ve never heard anything so absurd.” I said, trying to stay calm.
Ms. Bladek nodded her head sorrowfully and quietly said, “I know it sounds odd, but it’s true. There’s no room for you.”
I think I can safely say that this just about ruined my day. I mean, I’ve always done things the same since I started middle school. I go through my boring basic classes then get three periods of naptime. That’s just how things are supposed to be in order for me to be happy…but this school just destroyed it, both my schedule and my happiness in just one slip of paper.
Anyway, Ms. Bladek decided to show me to my first class since I was already ten minutes late. Personally, I would have rather taken my time, because my first class just had to be history. It’s not like I don’t want to learn about what happened in the past, but I mean I don’t want to know every stupid detail. It’s not like I’m aiming to be a historian when I’m older or anything. And as I walked through the hideous pink doorway and into the bright, pastel room I knew right away that I would be skipping this class…a lot. And it wasn’t just the colors of the room, it was the faces of the kids in it, all twelve of them.
You could tell from the looks on their faces that I wasn’t the least bit wanted, but I guess I wore too much black for their delicate eyes to handle or whatever because their looks of contempt and disgust only lasted for a moment as they all stared back down at their text books. I couldn’t believe it. Everyone in this town was so stuck up. Gosh, I wanted to graduate already.
As if being forced to be in this class wasn’t enough, no sooner had Ms. Bladek left than the teacher, Mrs. Krahn pulled me up to the front of the class. She looked down at me from behind her silver glasses and smiled. She turned toward the class and said “This is the newest member of our class. I hope you all treat her kindly. Now, why don’t you introduce yourself…Destiny. Then you can take one of the empty seats.” She looked down at her class list, then handed me a very large…and old by the look of its binding…history textbook. I could just feel the students’ eyes on me as the teacher spoke. I knew they all expected me to say something.
I sighed, I had been through enough traumas today, but things just kept getting worse. I looked out at the class with their uninterested looks and folded my arms across my chest.
“My name’s Destiny Welmington, I moved here last week from New York City and so far living here has been the worst experience of my life. Everything here is tacky and boring and pink…which by the way is by far the ugliest color ever created.” Was what I had wanted to say, but I wasn’t particularly interested in creating enemies my first day here so I simply said, “My name’s Destiny Welmington. Nice to meet you.”
Of course meeting them so far had been anything but nice. And I could tell they all felt the same way if their stares and whispers, as I made my way to the back of the classroom to take my seat, was any sort of hint.
Class went on as if I wasn’t there and as I scribbled drawings into my notebook I could hear the random drone of Mrs. Krahn listing names of different Generals of the Civil War. I let out a small sigh. I couldn’t think of one single reason why we possibly needed to know any of this junk, so I just tried to block it all out.
However, I think I tried a little too hard, because when that stupid Bell just feet from my desk started ringing I nearly fell out of my chair in surprise. I hadn’t been expecting a noise that loud at all.
I put all my stuff into my backpack and slowly got up from my seat. By now, everyone in the class had already gone, even the teacher. And as I walked out into the hallway, there were only a few kids still scrambling to get to their next class. I looked down at my schedule and found my next class, English, my favorite class. It was in classroom 15, and at the moment I was in front of classroom 8. I pulled out the horridly drawn school map and noticed classroom 15 was upstairs. Now, if only I could find these stairs, everything would be fine. However, as I walked down the hall and turned, like the map said, I was not met by stairs but by a wall. And as the bell rang, I crumpled up that useless map and tossed it back into my bag. I was already late, so I found no reason to try to rush anymore.
I turned around and went back the way I came. I figured that if there wasn’t a stairwell in that part of the school, there might be one on the other end. So I walked until I made it all the way to the beginning of the school. There was a slightly open, pink door and I could see a stairwell just behind it. I let out a relieved sigh and followed the stairs and to my amazement, the stairs were right next to classroom 15.
I gently knocked on the closed door and opened it carefully. I was again met by unfriendly stares and as I entered the room I realized that they weren’t just coming from the students. The teacher, Mr. Burmis, a very large man who seemed to be about six foot seven in height glared down at me from the front of the class.
“Well, you must be Ms. Welmington.” He said as he took a few steps closer to me.
“Yeah, I’m Destiny Wel…” I began before I was suddenly cut off.
“Well, Destiny I hope you don’t plan on making this tardiness a bit of a habit.” He said as he went to his desk and pulled out a huge literature book that I swear could have been as old as the poet on the cover. Then he pointed towards the empty desks in the back and said, “Pick whatever desk you want, and don’t interrupt anymore.” Then he returned to his lesson.
Again, I sat as far away from everyone else in the class as possible. However, this time I actually listened to the teacher’s talk of William Shakespeare. I couldn’t really help it actually. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been interested in literature and Shakespeare in particular. I mean, I’ve always been an above average reader and I spent most of my childhood with my head behind a book. And I still remember that first copy of Romeo and Juliet that my father bought for me when I was eight years old. It was wonderfully dark and romantic. I swear I must have read it a thousand times.
And even if the teacher of this English class was rude, even if I frankly hated him already, I wasn’t going to let that ruin the only class I’ve actually ever enjoyed. Well, at least that’s what I told myself.
That is, until class was interrupted by a boy dressed from head to toe in black.
Numero tres
It was about fifteen minutes into Mr. Burmis's discussion on Shakespeare. He was just beginning to mention the possible connection between Shakespeare's Play "Hamlet" and the death of his only son Hamnet. However, as he was getting into the detail that eleven year old Hamnet may have suffered from the Bubonic Plague, the door to the classrom was suddenly swung open. Everyone in the class turned their attention to the front of the room and there he stood.
He was about 6 foot tall, with black hair and pale skin. He was wearing nothing but black from head to toe. He looked as out of place in this bright room as I did.
I chuckled a bit under my breath, just waiting to hear Mr. Burmis explode. If he could yell at me for being a minute late my first day of class, I just couldn't imagine what he'd have to say to this kid. I imagined a huge argument, ending with this kid in detention at the least. However, my thoughts were no where near what actually happened.
Well, as this guy walked into the room, everyone started whispering and giggling. My hopes where that they found him as odd as they found me and that I would have at least one person in this school who would understand me. I flashed a quick glance over to Mr. Burmis and was utterly shocked by what I saw. Instead of him becoming furious, he looked...well...happy.
"I'm so glad you decided to join us today, Mr. Dragomir." He said, a smile on his face. "I'm sure you'll find today's lesson quite enjoyable"
I couldn't believe it! I get reprimanded my first day of school for being one minute late and then here comes mister high and mighty fifteen minutes into class and he gets welcomed with open arms! This school was seriously screwed up, there was no doubt about that. I was so angry I could hardly keep from screaming, and things got even worse when that stupid Dragomir guy sat in the seat right next to mine. With all the extra seats around, why did the jerk have to sit in the seat right next to me? I just couldn't believe this was happening to me.
I tried to calm myself down, but found it nearly impossible when I noticed the jerk was staring at me. I ignored it for a while, but he just wouldn't quit it. He wasn't just glancing in my direction, but he was full on staring at me...glaring at me it almost seemed like. Almost like he was studying me, trying to find something out about me...and I didn't like it. It made me really uncomfortable...almost as if he was invading my private space. I just had to make him stop...that was what my mind was telling me...I had to do something to break his concentration on me.
So, I did the first thing I could think of. As soon as Mr. Burmis turned to write on the chalkboard, I crumpled up a peice of notebook paper and threw it at the Dragomir guy's face. Well, it worked...I guess.He stopped staring at me with such an intense look and was instead staring with a look of shock. I was so sure I'd won when Mr. Burmis shouted from the front of the room.
"Destiny Welmington!I don't know how they taught you kids in your old school, but here we don't throw things at people for no good reason! Do you understand me? Now appologize to Mr. Dragomir!"
I just sat there, my mouth hanging open. How did the teacher know I threw it, his back was turned when I'd done it. I looked back over at the Dragomir jerk, and saw him smirking...he was enjoying the fact I was in trouble. I just couldn't take it anymore...this place was just too much for me.
"I'll apologize to him as soon as he apologizes to me." I said, matter-of-factly.
Mr. Burmis became increasingly angry, I could tell. He became red in the face and some nasty vein was like...sticking out on his neck...or something. It was not a pretty sight.
"And why must Mr. Dragomir apologize to you?" he said, trying to keep calm. "What could he have possible done?"
By this point, every kid in the class was staring at me. Each one had the same look of contempt and disgust, as if they would punch me sooner than speak to me, but I didn't care...not anymore.
"Well, I don't know how you teach kids in this school, but where I'm from, it's rude to stare at people. Maybe if someone had instilled these rules in Mr. Dragomir's head, we wouldn't be having this discussion." I said.
There was a collective gasp from every student in the room, and Mr. Burmis began to look like a boiled lobster...and trust me...red was not his color. Anyway, by this point I knew I was headed for trouble. Big trouble...and really fast. I cast another glance towards the Dragomir kid and was satisfied to see that my little remark wiped the smirk of his face. He was staring at me like I was the weirdest person he ever met. I was quite proud of that, in fact I was overjoyed.
For a moment there was no sound and I began to wonder if I'd won the argument. However, there's one thing any student like me knows, and that's, the teacher always wins. It doesn't matter if it wasn't your fault or if they're the one that's wrong. The only thing that ever matters is their authority, and boy do they use it every chance they get. Mr. Burmis was no exception to the rule, in fact he followed it perfectly.
He walked over to my desk, slamming my literature book closed. "Ms. Welmington, I want you out of my classroom this instant!" he yelled, "You are to sit in the hall until you learn some respect for your classmates and your teacher."
"Fine." I said, throwing my things into my bag. I stood up and threw my chair back under the desk. I walked slowly towards the door, and upon reaching it, looked back at Mr. Burmis and the Dragomir guy and said, "But you might as well change my classroom to the hallway, because I refuse to respect anyone who doesn't respect me." Then, pleased by the shocked looks on everyones face, I walked out the door, slamming it hard behind me. If they expected me to sit out here quietly for another 20 minutes, they had another thing coming.
Numero cuatro...or part of it at least...
I made my way down the down the stairs and through the lower level halls, quickly and quietly, so I wouldn't be noticed by other classes. Upon reaching the other side of the school, I quietly slipped out the door and walked towards their pathetic sports feild. No one was out there and I figured I could relax behind the bleachers for the rest of the day. I got there quickly, trying not to give anyone looking out the window a chance to spot me.
Once in the shade, and safely behind the bleachers, I relaxed. I threw my backpack on the ground, pulling out my English book. I decided I'd read up some more on Shakespeare and Hamlet just in case Mr. Burmis decided to throw a pop quiz in my honor. I lay my head down on my bag and began to read. It was a wonderful to read about Shakespeare's life. It made this idol of mine seem more real. I mean, the guy had his share of problems just like any other average person. It almost made me think there was still hope for me.
Yeah right, like that could ever happen. I was nowhere near as talented in anything I did. I probably wasn't gonna make it very far in life, let alone as a writer. The negative thoughts rolled around in my head until finally, I guess I dozed off.
When I finally came to, my English book was open, lying on my face. I sighed, lifting it away so I could see. However, I found that I was no longer alone. A small girl was sitting directly in front of me, watching me curiously. She had long, glossy black curls partially tied back in a pink and black ribbon. She had on a black dress with pink lace and small black mary janes. She had a big smile on her face, and the longer I looked at her, the bigger it seemed to get.
"You're finally awake."she said, her voice was small with a childlike ring to it. "You've been asleep for almost an hour. You fell asleep pretty quick too...was the story that boring?" She pointed to my English book.
I said nothing. How could this girl know I'd fallen asleep an hour ago...had she been watching me from somewhere...had she been here all along? I looked around to try and find where she could have been hiding, but couldn't find a single place out of my vision.
The girl giggled, "You're not much of a talker are you? Well, I don't know many people that are, besides myself. My brother says it's okay though. He says I can just talk enough for all the quiet people here. So, you're the new girl, right?" she laughed, "What am I saying, of course you're the new girl! I've lived here my whole life and know everybody...and I've never seen you before...so of course you'd have to be new...you are, right?" She moved a bit closer to me, and I scooted farther back. My first impresion was that this girl was insane. What type of person watches people sleep then bombards them with senseless chatter and questions.
Again the girl scooted closer to me, "I guess you are! Yay I was right! That means your name's Destiny...that's a really cool name. My name's Luminita but everyone calls me Luna...well except for my dad and Big sister. They call me Lumi." More like 'Loonie' I thought as she giggled once again.
"Do you have a nickname?" She asked, scooting even closer into my personal space bubble.
"Ummmm...no..." I said as I pulled away from her, my bag dragging across the ground.
"Well that's too bad...maybe I'll make one up for you!" she said.
"Luna, stop bothering that poor new student," a voice rang out from behind me. I turned around to see him ,that Dragomir guy, smiling in our direction. "you never know when she'll throw something at your face."
The nerve of that guy, I swear. I just couldn't stand him! I looked back over at Luminita, who was already on her feet running straight towards him.
"Big brother!" she chimed as she jumped into the air, nearly tackling him into a hug. Of course these two were siblings. Both were rude...both were weird...goodness...they even looked the same. I couldn't stand being near them much longer.
"Deidrich," I could hear her say, " this is my new friend Destiny! She's really nice...she wouldn't throw anything at my face. The two of us are good friends!"
Friend? Since when did I say I was her friend?
(that's all I got for now...)
 lhflowers · Tue Jul 15, 2008 @ 04:02am · 0 Comments |
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