Winter break was extended by three days because of the snow however, it seemed like no more than a minute to me.
The day had finally arrived. It was the start of the school year for me however, for everyone else it was a continuation.
"Will I be left out? Will I be a loser?"
These were the type of thoughts that consumed my mind over winter break.
My Dad left early in the morning for work so I had to take the bus to school.
I stood at the bus stop for twenty-three minutes in the cold nearly unbearable weather. My eyes were bloodshot red and they felt like liquid nitrogen was poured onto them.
The generic long yellow bus had arrived and it was identical to the ones in Florida.
The bus doors opened and I entered the slightly run-down bus. The seats were made of brown leather. Rips and tears revealed the yellow foam that was inside the seats and underneath the seats, there was gum that have been there for years.
The bus had three stops before it got to the school. My stop was the first so the bus was fairly quiet until we reached the second stop. Once we reached the third stop it seemed as if everyone was yelling on the bus. Three other people were sharing the same seat as me because the bus didn't have enough seats and I felt like I was being crushed.
Two girls were using so much perfume that I thought I was going to suffocate and there was a boy who had a full-grown beard eating an egg sandwich. The perfume was already enough but the egg sandwich made it so much worse.
The bus had finally arrived at the school and it was nothing special from the outside. The exterior of the school consisted of dull red bricks and the school mascot which was a bear painted above the entrance.
I had expected this because there would be no way in that my dad could afford to enroll me into a private school. I have always attended a public school so I was used to the quality of the schools.
When I entered the school I saw the walls were plain white with some cracks here and there. The floors were boring grey marble and the roof was a generic popcorn roof.
I looked at a picture of the school map on my phone and used it to find the nearest bathroom. I used a picture of the map rather than the actual map because it was easier and because it would draw less attention to me.
I walked into the boy's bathroom and it smelled horrible. One of the stalls was missing a door and the door on the stall I used wasn't able to shut fully because the lock had been moved slightly down.
Inside the stall, wanna-be gang members drew their gang signs on the wall and some people's social media were written which were school fighting pages.
When I finished my business I went out and saw people vaping. I thought nothing really of it because it wasn't that uncommon to see people vaping in my old school. I washed my hands and had to use my shirt to dry my hands off because the paper towels were in a urinal.
I walked to my first-period class which was English and it was bizarre not seeing everyone in shorts and t-shirts. The weather here is cold so it only makes sense that they were not wearing that type of clothing.
A beautiful girl with black hair sat next to me. I tried to start up a conversation with her.
"Hey what yo-"
"Can you move? My friend Kylie sits here."
"Oh sorry."
I got out of the seat and sat in an empty seat. Nobody told me I couldn't sit there so that was my desk now.
My desk was at the end of the classroom and to the left of me there was a wall and to the right of me, there was this pale blonde-haired girl with emerald green eyes.
The teacher walked in. It was a middle-aged woman with black hair. The teacher told the class to write down the word of the day. We had to write down a vocabulary word and every two weeks we would get quizzed on them.
The teacher didn't bother to introduce me so I sat there and copied the word.
After 5 minutes the teacher instructed everyone to get into groups of two and to work on an informative essay about whatever subject we wanted.
Others went into groups while I just sat there. I hadn't made any friends yet so I had no partner. The teacher asked me who I was working with and I told her that I wasn't working with anyone. I was then forced to work with the girl on my right.
"Alright, so what topic do you want to write about?"
"..."
"Do you have any ideas...?"
"..."
I was talking to a brick wall at that point. I then chose a topic on how gaming is growing and started to write my essay on a piece of paper.
After I finished writing the first paragraph I showed the girl what I wrote.
"You think this is good?"
"..."
"Are you mute?
"...no..."
I felt like a jerk at that moment. I apologized to her and she took my pencil. I smelled her cherry-scented perfume as she took my pencil. In 20 minutes she had finished the essay. I read over it and it looked surprisingly good.
"Hey, this is pretty good. I didn't think you knew much about this topic."
"..."
"What's your name?"
"Sarah..."
"Oh cool my name is Ryan."
"..."
I didn't know why she didn't talk much to me.
"Does she hate me? Did I say something to upset her? Is she shy?"
Whatever her reason was for not talking to me that much I was still glad that I had someone to talk to.
Thirty minutes later the bell had rung and everyone started to go to their next class.
The next class I have is gym. I'm not the most athletic person but I but gym class back in Florida was essentially a free period.
When I walked into the boy's locker room I saw the dusted grey tile as the floor and the white drywall had holes from students punching it.
Some played music from their phones and some vaped in the bathroom stalls. This school was similar to the one I went to in Florida. Even though this school wasn't good at all it made me feel like I was home again.
I had started to think of the memories that I had made with my friends in gym class. The snacks that we would eat and the bets that we would make. It was silly yet I was happy back then.
"Can I ever be happy like that again?"
The gym teacher walked into the locker rooms. He was a middle-aged man who was bald and had a dad bod. We went into the gymnasium.
Foam balls of all colors were in a netted yellow bag. The gym teacher put all the balls in a horizontal line in the middle of the gymnasium.
Everyone split into two different teams. We were playing dodge ball and when he blew the whistle everyone started running to the middle of the gymnasium to get a ball. Every time someone got out the teacher blew his whistle.
There was no mercy in some of the throws. Some of them seemed personal and left a mark on people. When I got hit with a ball hurt like a bee sting. I went to the wall on my right and sat on the wooden floor.
I took out my new phone and played a cheap horror game that had ads every time I got caught. I had to escape a house but it was like an escape room where I had to find keys to escape certain rooms all while avoiding a monster.
When the dodgeball round ended I saw that many people didn't go back in for the second round so I stayed there playing on my phone.
I was right about gym class. It was a free period and that was fine with me because it meant less stress for me.
I looked at the photo I took of my schedule and saw that my next period was math. I sighed because I hate math with a passion.
I hoped that the class would be easy and that I would make some friends in that class.
The bell rang and I went to my math class. I saw the teacher and she noticed that I was a new student.
She was no older than thirty and had long brown hair with brown eyes. The teacher seemed nice and she gave me a seat in the back. To my left, there was another empty seat and to my right was Sarah who was in my English class.