Life can be summed up in two words: unfair and unpredictable. Just three weeks ago, Reese Hampton was on a plane from Manchester to Illinois. Now, she stood in front of her new school in Chicago, Hawthorne High. From the brochures alone, she had plenty of reservations about this place, and seeing it in person only confirmed her doubts.
Her main gripe? The lack of a uniform. Everyone looked like a jumble of mismatched colours, a stark contrast to the orderly attire at her old school, Evergreen Academy in Manchester.
Oh, how she missed Evergreen!
Another issue was the constant chatter and crowds. It was overwhelming, but she knew she couldn't always get what she wanted. Despite her misgivings, she felt a flicker of hope.
It was the start of Autumn term, the start of her senior year...the start of her new life. She was determined to put the effort to make this term count! It would be the last chance she had to have the best high school year of her life. She then realised she had been standing in the same spot for more than 4 minutes. Great! Now some could think she was jobless. She walked slowly to the large door at the student entrance, stupidly ignoring the bold words that said 'PUSH' .She pulled the door but instantly noticed it wouldn't budge, still not thinking to check if it was a push door, she stood her ground, trying to pull the door, too used to the way her last school worked. As she continued to struggle she heard a voice say,
"Its a push door."
She turned around to look for where the voice came from but the hooded figure was already walking away.
Strange..
She turned back to the door and pushed it open which required a bit of force because the hinges were a bit stiff, damned public schools!
She scanned the area, realizing she had precisely six minutes before the school day officially started. To her right, a bold 'MAIN OFFICE' sign caught her eye. Perfect. She knocked softly on the door... no answer...
Just as she was about to knock again, the door swung open. A tall woman, appearing quite aged, stepped out.
"Ahh, you must be..." She thumbed through a brown file. "Reese Hamptons... come in."
Reese entered the room slowly, observing her surroundings. The elderly lady proceeded to a chair and took a seat.
"Okay, I have your timetable here, your homeroom teacher is Mr. Johnson, and you'll find homeroom in room 108," the lady explained briskly.
"H-homeroom?" Reese repeated, her Mancunian accent evident. "What's that?"
The woman raised an eyebrow, clearly taken aback by the accent. "You know, where students gather in the morning, for attendance, to discuss the day's schedule?"
Reese paused to think. "Oh! You mean form room."
The lady seemed to suppress a chuckle. "Yes, that's it, whatever you call it across the pond."
Reese stood there, bewildered, her inner voice yelling, 'She's definitely off her rocker.' Yet, she chose to respond with courtesy and respect.
"Right," she stressed. "I'll be on my way, uh, nice seeing you," she said as she hurried out the door, eager to leave before feeling even more uncomfortable.
She walked quickly, the halls were empty, just great!! Now she would be late to her first class! She looked at the map at the tiny corner of the map as he guided herself to room 108. About 2 minutes later of confusion, she finally found it...room 108. She opened the door slightly and then eventually had the door fully open, the whole class went silent....all eyes on her
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!! Silly me, I haven't even told you what Reese looks like...let me try to make two braincells spark....Ahh there we go....Ok...
Reese was about the height of a typical teenage girl, with a few freckles on only her cheeks, pale blue eyes that were a light azure blue. A pair of glasses hanging on her nose as she pushed it up. Long brown hair that went down to her waist level, she would have been absolutely perfect if she didn't have the fashion sense of someone from the early 2000's. She didn't seem like the British time so anytime she spoke to someone she hadn't met they would be a bit startled by her Mancunian accent.
Now standing in front of a group of strangers, Reese felt a wave of nausea. Her teacher, Mr. Johnson, gave her a reassuring smile.
"You must be Reese... come in... why don't you introduce yourself!" he said cheerfully. Reese dreaded speaking to strangers, yet here she was, about to share snippets of her life with over fourteen people.
"Do I have to?" she whispered, but her accent didn't go unnoticed. She heard murmurs like "No way! We've got a Brit!" and "I never thought we'd have a Brit here!"
Scanning the room, Reese's gaze fell on the hooded figure she'd seen earlier, now at the back of the class surrounded by a group of guys. All eyes were on her, except for the hooded one. Amidst the silence, a snobbish girl near the front sneered, eager to embarrass Reese.
"Mmm, your parents named you Reese? What kind of poor name is that?" she mocked, prompting a few chuckles. Reese, determined not to be ridiculed on her first day, retorted without thinking.
"Oh, my dad named me after his love for chocolate, but you wouldn't know about that since you've maybe never eaten chocolate because you're probably on a diet, trying to be one of those 'pick-me' girls who'll never reach their perfect body goals," Reese blurted out. She immediately regretted it, but to her surprise, laughter erupted, not at her, but with her. Even the hooded figure seemed to chuckle, though his face was hidden.
The girl whom Reese had just insulted scowled, visibly irritated by Reese's words. "Was that supposed to be an insult?" she asked bitterly.
Reese rolled her eyes. "It's more of an educated guess." The teacher, momentarily distracted by their amusing banter, finally intervened.
"Alright, that's enough, girls. Reese, take the back seat next to Xander," he instructed.
"Who's Xander?" she inquired, slightly confused.
"Xander, remove your hood so Reese can see you," the teacher replied.