I'm in my room when I get the news. My parents had transferred me into another school after my first day at my middle school, Sequoia. " What do you mean? I'm not going to Sequoia anymore?", I ask my Dad sadly as he sits down on my bed. "Don't worry, Betsi. At the new school you're going to, it'll be a fresh start.", He attempts to cheer me up, holding my hand and lovingly squishing it. I look away upset. I put my other hand on his and push his away as I scoot farther. "I don't want to go to Hellsworth. I don't want to leave my school. I love it and my friends...I don't want to leave them.", I say to my dad as my tone pleads him not to make me leave my best friends. He makes a stern face and speaks. "It's already been decided and the paperwork has been done. Tomorrow, you're going.", He says, making no room for an argument. I nod, suppressing my feelings, and he leaves. I follow him and see as he walks past our kitchen, goes through the hallway, and goes into his room where my mom is. I go to the mini living room and go to where my dad's computer is at. I log onto fastmail.com and start to chat to my friend, Julie, from Sequoia. I didn't know how to break the news to her, so I just talked with her.
"LogIn"
Julie: "Hey Betsi! Did you see Grace? I think she missed orientation. What a bummer~ We totally could've hung out together. What a sad life...😢😢😢. It's okay, tho! I had you today, didn't I? Anyway, what club did you sign up for? I bet you signed up for that K-pop club across the room where Anime club is at. I swear, out of the blue, you entered that room and never came Anime club again after that."
Me: "Hold on a minute there! Let me get to everything first. Yes, I think Grace missed orientation. It's okay, she'll catch up, after all, she is super smart. Yes, you had me, even though I was the one who was nervous all day. And yes, I did sign up for the K-pop club. After all, I had signed up 7th grade and had a blast. So, why wouldn't I? And you're just mad because I left you to enjoy Black Butler all by yourself."
Julie: "YA DARN RIGHT!!! I had no one to fangirl over Sebastian with and Grace sure as heck wasn't gonna!!! I was sooo lonely😢😢😢"
Me:" 😁😁😁!! I'm sorry, by the way, that I left. But, I logged on to tell you something really serious😐😐😐."
Julie: "Okay, I'm here. What happened?"
Me:" My dad transferred me to another school yesterday, so technically, today was my first AND last day at Sequoia."
Julie:" WHAAAAAAAAAT??!! Your dad actually did that? How come he didn't tell you earlier?"
Me:" I really don't know. I guess it's because he didn't want me to be upset? I don't know what's going on in his head..."
Julie:" That sucks. I can't believe your dad would do that! I hope you're gonna be okay tomorrow. Please try to keep in contact with me and Grace. Please?"
Me:" Okay, I try. Bye..."
Julie:"Okay then. Bye."
"LogOut"
I get off of the computer and go to my room, opening the door and closing it slowly so that my little sister, Emma, doesn't wake up. I sit on my bed and feel so alone. My dad switched me schools, making me leave Julie and Grace, the only friends I have. Why?
Is there a reason?
Or is he transferring me because he doesn't want the same thing to repeat this year. I'm so angry that I squish my favorite stuffed dog, Diamond, and slowly start to calm. Diamond has been with me since I was seven when I got her at build-a-pet after begging because my older sister had gotten one. Me, my parents, sisters, and brother had gone through 4 moves and houses and she had been there for every single one of them. I lay down with Diamond in my arms in my twin-sized bed and calm down. I decide that I'll deal with it in the morning when I wake up and slowly drift off to sleep.
"Beth! Wake up It's 6:00 in the morning!", my little sister, Emma, shout as she shakes my body. I push her away and pretend to sleep. After five more tries, she leaves and I'm alone in the room we share. After a while, I reluctantly get up and dressed for school. I put on some jeans and a Harvard crop top that reaches my hips and walk into the mini bathroom in my room. I begin brushing my teeth and afterward, I put my unruly frizzy hair into a bun. Since I know my mother will hassle my about my frizz on top of my hair, I grab hair gel and gel down my friz. I put on my glasses and walk out of my room and make myself cereal. I eat and do my chores such as take out our dogs, feed and give them water, and grab my backpack and coat. My little sister is already in the big living room watching cartoons and I go to our parents rooms and wake up my mom to take us to school. She gets up and tells me to wait in the living room as she wakes up my dad and tells him to take me and Emma to school. I wait and watch "The Amazing World" in the living room with Emma. 15 minutes later, my dad, in a black track suit and sneakers, appears with the car keys and tells us to go to the car. We go to the car and he follows suit. He unlocks the car and we get in when we get to the car. We buckle our seat belts and are off to school. Since I am in middle school and Emma is in elementary, we go to my school last. We drive a while until we get to Emma's school, where she departs with "Have a good day at school" and "be yourself". After dropping Emma off, we drive to my school. As my dad drives, it's silent in the car so I look at the clock. I'm so early that I wanna cry and I immediately regret even waking up. 'Great! Now I have to walk in when class has already started and people will stare at me.', I think frustrated. I sigh and dad looks at me in the rear view mirror. He gets to my school and parks in the parking lot across the school.
"Betsi...", He says as he looks at me. I don't look at him and respond. "Yeah?", I say. "Please know that this is for your own good. You'll have a great day and meet lots of new friends. It will be okay.", He says. I look at him and smile a fake smile and he returns mine with a genuine one. We say our goodbyes and I get out of the car, cross the road, and go into the office. The stares of the kids follow me into the office. I sit down in the waiting chairs and wait. It takes the office staff 3 hours to arrange my schedule and send me off to my 3rd period, band. I get to the front of the band room and hesitate to open the door . I look around and fall to the floor 'Can I really do this?', I ask myself as I scrunch myself in the fetal position beside the door and look down at myself . All of my nervous thoughts surround me and I feel nauseous. A stare I feel penetrates me and I look up to see an Asian boy in the hallway far right. I heat up, embarrassed that someone saw me look so pathetic right when I enter the school. I stare and he stares until he breaks the stare and walks off. Grateful that I no longer needed to feel embarrassed, I gather up the courage and finally open the door.
Immediately, the whispering starts. I hear "Is she new?", "why is she so short?", and "why is she so ugly?" right off the bat and suddenly wish I hadn't come in. I look around and see a plump brunette woman in a chair with students in a circle in chairs as well. "Hi! You must be Beth, right?", the plump woman asks as she stands up and holds her hand out to shake mine. I nod and shake her hand. "I am Ms. Sanders. Well, we were just introducing ourselves, so just grab a seat in the circle and tell us about yourself." she says politely. I look around the circle and see a seat near the teacher so I just take that seat. I spend the next few minutes introducing myself as the rest of the students patiently listening. I finish and everything is quiet. "Well, thank you Beth for telling us about yourself! It's about to be 4th period in a couple minutes so just grab your stuff and huddle at the door.", she says as she gets up and walks to her desks and sits down.
Soon, the bell rings and everyone's out the door. I look at the schedule handed to me by the office ladies and navigate myself to 5-D, my math class according to my schedule. I get there and see everyone is in a line. The girls are lined on a white line and the boys on the wall. I follow this arrangement and stand at the end of the line. The teacher, Mr. Vang, opens the door and individually greets the students by shaking their hands. He lets the girls go inside first and when it's my turn, kindly welcomes me to the classroom, shakes my hand, and tells me to line up with the girls at the end of the room for arranged seating. Me and the rest of the girls acquaint ourselves with each other as we wait for the teacher to greet the others. Once the boys come in, he starts to read off names. The seats are in little 4 seat pods and he assigns each student to their group or pod. I end up being seated by a girl named Charlotte, a guy named Alex, and another guy named Jack. We spend the entire period learning our group mate's names and about each other. I sit and talk, but something about Jack feels...familiar. 'Oh! He's that Asian kid I saw staring at me when I was embarrassed.', I realize. I feel embarrassed again and redden. It seems he picks up on this, but doesn't say anything, I guess. 45 minutes past and it's time for lunch. The class lines up outside of the classroom on the white line and follow it the cafeteria. I end up behind Jack and I end up staring at him. I observe him for awhile. I look at the back of his head, his black look spiky. He's well toned and he's wearing a grey t-shirt with black shorts. I end up looking at his back. His shoulder blades pop out nicely, he has broad shoulders, and smells really nice. Suddenly, he leaves to the front of the line and I suddenly feel embarrassed for staring at him as if I was interested in him. I hope, inside my head, that no one saw me do that. I stay in the line and see another Asian boy at the front of the line. He's not cutting, it just seems that he's waiting for someone. I see him signal to someone and look backward in my peripheral vision. Sadly, I can't see that backward, so I ended up just looking back at him. Abruptly, he starts doing the dance to Anpanman by BTS, right in front of the line with people staring at him. I admit I get surprised at his sudden dance, but ultimately, admire his courage to dance in front of people. Since I'm somewhat close to him, I call out to him. "Hey you!", I yell. He looks at me, surprised. He points to himself as if confirming I was calling him. I nod and he walks over to me. " Were you just dancing to Anpanman by BTS?", I ask. "Yeah! I was! There's not a lot of people who recognize that dance. Are you army?", he asks smiling. I smile subconsciously and nod. He points to the back of the line to a cluster of people. "There's more army here too, actually! Do you think since you're army, you could let me and my friends cut you in line. I nod and feel good that I managed to fit into a crowd. I let him and his friends cut me and before leaving with his friends, he tells me his name. "By the way, my name's Brandon. What's yours?", he asks. I tell him my name and he leaves. I follow them in line, since in this school, students just have to sit next to the people they're next to in the line. I end up sitting in a different table though, so I just watch him and his friends interact. They're all very comfortable with each other, so I feel a bit envious since I was not with my friends. After lunch, I go to the library that's all the way behind the school in another building. I spend my free time there and soon the bell rings, marking the start of 5th period, which for me just so happened to be english. I go to English and we did self introducing activities throughout the period. Soon it was the last class of the day, for me, it was science. We also had to introduce ourselves with people. I circle around with people, feeling so conversationally new until I greet an Asian girl named Monica. "Hey, my name's Monica. Didn't I see you talking to Brandon during lunch?", she asks. I tell her my name and nod. "I was just asking if he was dancing a dance to this song called Anpanman.", I tell her. "Yeah, he was! how'd you know?",she asks. "I'm just just a fan of BTS, that's all.", I respond. "Do you know any of their dances?", she asks. I nod, smiling because it seems I've made a friend. "Well then, you should consider joining the dance team then.", she tells me. "The dance team?", I question. "Yeah, me, Brandon, and a couple of others are apart of a dance team.", she says. "Oh! That's really cool! Thanks, maybe I'll join.", I say. "It's after school club, so if you can, we'd love to have you.", she replies. I ask her how to join and she tells me that I have to get a permission slip from the office in order to join. Then the bell rings, she tells me bye and everyone leaves. I go to the front entrance and see my ride waiting. I signal my parent to wait and run into the office, grab a permission slip, and dash to my car. As my dad is driving me back, I can't help but be excited for tomorrow. I tell him about after school and he says to run it by mom first when we get home. We go to pick up Emma and she tells us about her day while we drive back home. I get home and put my things on my bed. I relax for a while then get my game face on while I clean alongside my sister. When I'm done, I plop on my bed in exhaustion. I'm tired and everything hurts, but I put the pain behind me and grab the permission slip to ask my mom to join. I go to my parent's room and inside is my mom on her phone. I sit down on her bed and she puts her phone down. "Mom? Umm...Can I join the after school club?", I ask, afraid she'll say no. She waits awhile and surprisingly agrees to sign the sheet. I bring her a pen and she fills out the information. Afterward, she hands it to me and the pen and goes back to her phone. I hug her and run to my room. I put the permission slip in my backpack, change into pyjamas and go to sleep, excited for what was to come tomorrow.