It's my first day at Clayton prep. Even though I acted totally fine, I was completely nervous. Transferring from a public school to a fancy and rich private school was a big change, and a scary one. I looked at the huge school in front of me. Hundreds of people flooded into the building. I was just standing there, completely nervous, while they all pushed past me. My phone lights up as I walk towards the school. I read the text from my boyfriend, Evan. "Good luck!" He says. I smile. I'm so lucky to be with a great guy like him. I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn around. "Hey." A girl with beautiful deep brown eyes, and wavy brown hair says. She's wearing the Clayton prep uniform like everyone else, but somehow manages to look better in it. "Hi. You're Izzie right? I'm Casey. I'm the-um- sorry, you already know that." I stutter, suddenly not being able to speak properly. What is wrong with me? She probably thinks I'm weird now. "Sorry, I'm super nervous. I'm the new kid from Newton." Newton was my old high school, which was way smaller than this. Izzie nods. "Look, new kid from Newton-" "Casey is my name." I interrupt her. Did she really forget that easily? She stifles a laugh. "I'm sure you were hot shit at your last crappy school-" "Wow. Warm welcome. They should put you in the orientation video." I say, interrupting her again. Why is she being such a bitch? It's not like I did anything to her, I don't even know her. "But I've heard about you." She says, looking me up and down. "Good things?" I ask. "You punched a girl in the face and got suspended, so no." Shit, how did she hear about that? "I've worked my ass off to build this team and we don't need any drama." She says, with a hint of anger in her voice. "I don't want any drama either I'm-" "Don't care, just handle yourself." She replies, cutting me off. She pushes past me. "Coach said you were gonna show me around." I say. She turns back towards me. "Classes are in there." She says, as she points to the school. She walks away. "Thank you, that's super helpful." I say sarcastically to myself. Seriously, what is her problem?
When I walk into the school, It's even bigger on the inside. The halls stretch for what seems like miles, and I'm guessing there's at least a few floors. I have no idea where to go. "Hey!" I see a lone girl walking through the halls. "Do you know where biology is?" She walks past me without saying anything. "What the hell?" I ask myself out loud. The bell rings, signaling that I'm late. It sounds like a little elf hitting a triangle, which sounded kind of soothing at first, but then it got creepy.
After I finally find biology by having to find teachers in the halls to ask where it is, I sit down at an empty seat in the middle of class. I'm late. The kids are already scribbling down notes while the teacher is talking. I missed the beginning of the lesson. The teacher is saying words I've never heard, and it sounds like he's speaking a different language. "Is this AP bio? I'm supposed to be in regular biology." I ask a kid next to me. "No, this is regular." She replies, as she writes notes down. "Oh, great. I just never knew I was dumb." I sit through the rest of the class, completely clueless. Public school was a breeze compared to this hell.
Once we go to lunch, I order food. I'm starving. "Sorry, you don't have any convenience points." The student behind the counter says. "What's a convenience point?" I ask. "You have them on your flex card." He replies. "What the hell is a flex card?" I ask. "Ask the administration for one of them. For now, you can eat at the vending machine around the corner." I walk away. They're seriously too fancy to take real money? I eat some chips from the vending machine, which taste like shit. I wait until lunch is over.
Soon I go to my locker to get some books, but I can't get the locker open. After like the tenth time trying, I hit the locker and give up. A boy with short, brown hair and green eyes walks over. He tells me to try a combination he gives me. The locker opens. "Woah. How did you know?" "Because that's my locker." I laugh. "Oh." I shut the locker door. "Tough first day?" He asks, smiling. The classes are hard, the school is huge, and the people are the worst. I can't even find the bathrooms, it's like they hide them." He laughs. "You'll get used to the place. I think they hide the bathrooms to send the message that we're too fancy to take a dump." We laugh together. "You're the only half-way nice person I've met." I tell him. "Half-way nice?" He asks, still smiling. "I'm being cautious." I smile back. "I'm Nate, by the way." He says. "I'm Casey." We shake hands. After I pull away, a girl runs up and kisses him. They kiss for a second, and she pulls away. "Hey Newton." It's Izzie. "I thought your name was Casey." Nate says. "Bye Newton!" She yells as the both walk away down the hall. "It is, it's Casey." I say to myself.
After all my classes are over for the day, I have track practice after school. Everyone is stretching in the grass when I arrive. I guess I'm a little late. "Hi." I say to the girls as I approach them. I start to stretch too. "You look tired, Newton. Tough day?" Izzie asks. I fake smile at her. "No, it's been great." I lie. "Find your way around all right?" She asks, almost teasingly. "Yeah, actually this super helpful girl showed me around." I lie once again. I'm not gonna give her the satisfaction of knowing my day was horrible and that it took me forever to find my classes. She nods, staring at me. "Cool shoes, I love when they're all old and worn, like yours." Another teammate says, sarcastically. Why is everyone such a bitch? I hear two girls talking about how they hate going to different countries every year and traveling. They have no idea how lucky they are. I've never even left the state. "What did you do for summer break?" A teammate asks me, after she tells everyone how she traveled all over the world, and how it was exhausting. "Nothing really. I went to Target a couple of times." I tell them the truth, and they think I'm joking. They all laugh except Izzie, who is still staring at me. I wonder why she doesn't laugh too. Maybe she's not rich like the rest of them?