Alyssa laid on her bed, thinking of what her first day would look like, if she would get to make friends instantly or not.
She got up from her bed, reached for her drawer and took out a photo album, containing the last pictures she took with her friends from junior school.
She smiled as she looked at them, remembering Colin, who sat with her in all her science classes, she turned the page and saw the photo she took with Jessa and Layla, when they went for a picnic at Garden's and Greens, a recreational center in her former town.
As she continued flipping from page to page, she heard her mom yell from downstairs in the living room:
"Go to bed honey, you know you'll have to wake up early so you'll catch the bus tomorrow".
Her mom knew she would still be awake at that time, because she was fond of staying up late, reading novels and listening to music.
Alyssa had an average height, long black hair that sometimes looked unkept because of how curly they were and because she never really obsessed about how she looked enough to fix them, every time it looked messy and she wore big round glasses, that although it made her look nerdy, it also made her look pretty.
She was free spirited and if given the chance she'd be friends with everybody, a trait her mother told her would get her in trouble, because as she often said "people were not to be trusted".
The following morning, Alyssa sat to have her breakfast. She would often place a stuffed rhino on the seat beside her, as it was her younger brother's favourite toy.
Her younger brother, Henry, usually sat next to her, but ever since he got diagnosed with lukemia, the seat was always empty. Henry was 7 and Alyssa was 16, he got diagnosed when he was 6 and when the news came, it broke Alyssa and her mom to a million pieces, it was worse for her mother, because she was a single mother, losing her husband in a car crash.
'Honk! Honk!' the bus blared and Alyssa quickly packed her half eaten sandwich inside a disposable container and hurriedly left. She was in such a hurry, she forgot to kiss her mother goodbye before she left.
She got on the bus, and slowly made her way to a vacant seat, at the back, close to the last row of seats.
"Can i sit here?" she asked the girl, who was sitting by the window.
"Sure you can," the girl said, and asl Alyssa pulled her bag to sit, she heard giggles coming from the back.
"Oh my goodness, look at her hair," one girl said.
"It looks like she didn't have a shower," another girl said and the half of the bus who heard her remark began laughing.
"Oh no!" Alyssa muttered, she just remembered that she was in such a hurry, that she forgot to fix her hair. The girls at the back of the bus continued lauging and making vile remarks about the state of her hair, which made her hate the morning, as she couldn't think of a worst start to the new school year.
"You're new?" the girl sitting next to her by the window asked.
"Yes..., I am," Alyssa said, trying to adjust her hair.
"Don't pay attention to them," the girl said, "that's Claire and Karen, they're bullies. There's usually four of them, but mandy and maureen, usually take a car to school".
"I'm guessing you know them," Alyssa said.
"Yeah, I do, unfortunately," she said, "they picked on me throughout middle school at Northside high and I bet they'll continue from where they stopped".
"Can't you report to a principal or a teacher?"
"Sometimes I do, sometimes i don't, it doesn't make a difference, they'll eventually get off with just a warning," she said, "It's cause her Claire's dad is the PTA chairman and Karen's mom owns Bella's cosmetics, you must've heard of it, its the biggest cosmetic shop in this town, so she usually makes big donations".
Alyssa had already finished adjusting her hair, so she unpacked her unfinished sandwich, while she continued in conversation with the girl next to her, but just then, Claire butted in.
"She can't even afford a decent breakfast," and the side of the bus who heard, burst out in laughter, which prompted the driver to yell:
"Keep it down back there!" and the whole bus became quiet.
They arrived at the school, 'Northside–high' and after the bus parked the students proceeded to get down and leave for their classes. Alyssa and the girl next to her waited until everyone had gotten off, before they left.
"I'm catherine by the way, but please, call me Cathy,"
"Sure thing," Alyssa said, "I'm Alyssa".
"I'll do well to remember the name," Catherine said and they both left in different directions.
Alyssa had to meet with Mr. Colin, the guidance counsellor, to get the list of classes she was to attend for the school year.
She went through the parking lot, into the school building and after asking for directions, she was led to the hallway in the building's third floor, which had Mr. Colin's office at the end of it, with two other hallways flanking it on both sides.
She approached the doot and could clearly see the golden tag on the door, which read, 'Prof. Colin McCall, Guidance Counsellor '. She knocked and opened after she was called in and saw Mr. Colin, just by the coffe machine getting a refill.
"Good morning sir," Alyssa greeted dully.
"Good morning dear," Mr. Colin said, "you must be Alyssa Flynn".
"Yes I am sir, " she responded.
"Very well then, please have a seat," he said, pointing toward the chair in front of his desk. He opened his drawer, brought out a booklet and handed it over to her.
"It contains the list of subjects you'll be doing, from the admission form you filled and the names of the teachers in charge of those classes," he said, reaching for his coffe mug.
Alyssa took the booklet and skimmed through the pages.
"If there's anything you need, or a question you want to ask, you can come straight to me," he said, smiling broadly at her.
Alyssa left the office and as she came out, she opened the booklet to where it had the timetable of her classes for the week, and she saw she was supposed to be having histort classes at 9am, and the teacher in charge was a Mrs. Collymore.
She looked at her phone and saw the time was 8:57am and she hurried downstairs trying to find the location of the class on the booklet she was given by Mr. McCall.
She opened the door and saw that the class had already started, the teacher Mrs. Collymore had just finished introducing herself and giving her rules, one of which included, no late coming.
"And who do we have here?" Mrs. Collymore asked.
"Alyssa Flynn, Mrs," she said dully.
"You're 10 minutes late," she said, looking at the wall clock.
"I'm sorry Mrs., it won't happen again," Alyssa said, trembling from the spotlight she found herself, 26 students staring at her and to make it worse, she saw Claire and Karen, laughing subtly at the back.
"Go have a sit, Miss Flynn, and don't be late next time," Mrs. Collymore said, and went back to the board.
Alyssa with her head down, slowly walked toward the back, looking for a seat, when she heard a whisper.
"Hey, newgirl."
it was Catherine, she was sitting next to an empty seat, which she pointed out to Alyssa. Alyssa was lucky, because it was either that seat, or an empty one just in front of Claire and Karen.
"I'm so happy you're here," Alyssa said gleaming at Catherine.
"Same here," Catherine said, "I know most of the bums here from our time in middle school, and sadly I can't say I'm friends with any one of them".
"Maybe if you associated more, you'll get to make a friend or two," Alyssa said, unpacking her large history textbook from her bag.
"Nah, I'm better off by myself," Catherine said.
"At least, you have me now," Alyssa said smiling at her.
After they finished their short conversation, they saw Mrs. Collymore glaring at them.
"If you're done with your little chatter, Alyssa I'd like you to give me a brief detail of England," Mrs. Collymore said. At first Alyssa was shy and shaking, but Catherine gave her a slight tug on her hand and she started to speak.
She answered the question brilliantly to the surprise of Mrs. Collymore. As Mrs. Collymore walked back to the board, Claire blurted:
"Nerd!" and some parts of the class, burst out into laughter.
"Mrs. Anderson, I will not tolerate such behaviour in my class," Mrs. Collymore said. What Claire did usually resulted in a detention, but she was Claire Anderson and she was untouchable.
The bell rang, ending the class and the students wasted no time in rushing out, except Alyssa and Catherine, because Alyssa was scared of crowds, so Catherine decided to wait for her.
After the class emptied, they both proceeded to the door, discussing about what Mrs. Collymore had taught them. They got to the door and when they stepped out of the class, they saw Claire and Karen, waiting for them.
"I almost got into trouble because of you today," Claire said, with her face already turning red.
"That's not how i remember it," Catherine said, coming in front of Alyssa, facing Claire. While Alyssa was of small stature, Catherine was a little tall and plump, having a tom-boy personality. She loved wearing ragged jeans and t-shirts and preffered boots to sandals or fancy female footwear.
"I don't remember speaking to you chubby!" Claire snapped.
Catherine got angry and was about to shove Claire, when Mrs. Collymore came and drove them to their next class.
"Thanks for standing up for me back there," Alyssa said blushing.
"We're friends, remember?" Catherine said, "Where you headed?"
"To music class,"
"Ooh that's too bad, we aren't having the same classes, I'm taking designs and technology,"
"Alright then, I'll see you at gym?" Alyssa asked, as she diverted to a different hallway.
"Of course, but to be honest, I hate the gym, I'm only going cause you are," Catherine yelled as Alyssa was already a bit far from her.
"I'll see you then!" Alyssa bellowed.
Later that morning at 11am, Catherine and Alyssa, met at the entrance of the gym hall. When they got in, they met the gym teacher, Mrs. Emily, a young and beautiful lady, addressing their classmates.
"Welcome, everyone to the first physical education class of the school year, and I'll be your gym instructor".
"Catherine and Alyssa, were paying attention to what Mrs. Emily was saying when Claire who was standing with Karen at the back said:
"Seems you came to lose some weight," and immediately some people in the class burst into laughter.
Naturally, like Mrs. Collymore did to Claire by reprimanding her, would've been what Mrs. Emily should've done but it wasn't.
Mrs. Emily benefitted off Claire's father's finances and also used his help to get the job as the gym instructor, so she didn't set Claire straight, instead, she joined in laughing at Catherine.
Catherine was fuming at first, but when Mrs. Emily, joined in the laughter, she was instantly reduced to tears.
"Let's go Cathy," Alyssa said, taking Catherine by the hand and leaving the hall.
Mrs. Emily, made attempts to stop them, but they didn't listen and left, an act which made them spend 30 minutes of their lunch time in detention.
Alyssa and Catherine, after serving detention, went to the cafeteria, with the hope that Claire and Karen, would've finished and left, but that wasn't the case.
Immediately they walked in, they saw Claire pouring milk on the hair of a younger student, most likely a middle schooler. Alyssa couldn't bear the sight and she quickly walked up to Claire and hit the milk container from her hand and guided the crying student away from the cafeteria. What made the scene very annoying and disgusting was because everyone around were just looking and laughing, and no body was doing anything to stop it, or maybe they were too scared to.
"Our Saviour," Claire said sarcastically and everyone began laughing again.
Claire was reported to the principal, but like Catherine had said, nothing was done about it, she was only told to apologise to heather, the girl whom she assaulted.
The final bell rang that Monday, signalling the end of the day. Some students stayed back to talk with friends whom they haven't seen during the holidays and while others hurriedly left, and amongst those who left was Alyssa and Catherine, but before they could leave they were way laid by Claire and her gang.
Claire, Karen and with them was maureen and mandy. Maureen and mandy skipped school that monday to go 'school shopping' like they called it, but came to school, because Claire had called and told them about Alyssa.
"Oh, I see, this the new girl," Maureen said, circling Alyssa, "she looks petty though".
"I don't think so, it's those glasses she wears that hides her true ugliness," Claire said, angry that maureen had complimented Alyssa.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to give her a proper Northside high newbie welcome," Mandy said, reaching into her bag and bringing out a can of whipped cream.
Before Alyssa could do anything, Mandy sprayed it all over her hair and on her face too. Catherine, on seeing what had happened, grabbed Mandy by her collar and pushed her against the wall, she fell and hurt her knee and they both ran away.
"I'll be letting daddy know, that there are animals here!" Claire shouted, as she and the other girls helped Mandy who was furious up.