First Day

Edie bit her bottom lip nervously while looking out the car window. She regretted asking her father to move. But there were too many things pushing her to get out, to break away.
Edie let out a sigh, trying to be loud enough to get her Dad’s attention. After a few times of doing this, her Dad looked over at her. She pouted and said “I just. I’m nervous Dad. At registration there was no one who dressed like me. I mean, I swear I saw at least four different people stop and stare. I don’t want to go. Can I just stay home today?” This time it was he who sighed. Knowing what he was going to say, she turned and looked out the window again.
“You can’t stay out of school forever. If you are having too much trouble…then I guess go to the office.” He said, paying full attention to the road.
Edie put in a cd, turned it to track nine, and put the volume up loud. This had become routine, listening to the same song on the way to school, ever since the beginning of last year. She pressed her forehead to the glass and closed her eyes.
About ten minutes later the truck came to a halt, and her dad turned the radio off.
Her eyes welled up with tears. She looked at her dad and said, “Dad,” she paused, “do I have to?”.
His only response was a nod. “I love you Dad. I will be out here after school. Whenever that is, I just hope it’s soon.”
“I love you too Edie. You will be fine. Just call if you need to come home.” They both knew she wouldn’t call. She grabbed her messenger style back pack, slung it over her shoulder, adjusted her fishnet stockings, and looked in the mirror one last time. She shut the door, and then waved to her dad.
Edie wished it was all just a bad dream. That she would wake up in Florida, going to GHS still, with all her friends. But when her dad pulled away, she knew it wasn’t a dream. She knew that she did move two months prior to school starting. She knew that she did not know anyone in Texas. And she knew that she was scared to death. She grabbed her cd player, put on her head phones, and turned up the volume.
Edie walked through one of the many glass doors, and put on her ‘If you want to live, then don’t look at me’ glare. People looked at her like she was an alien. She cared, but didn’t show it, or at least she hoped.
She ended up in the auditorium with all of the other 10th graders for orientation. This had given her a chance to see who she could possibly end up in class with.
Orientation drove her absolutely insane. Everything was long and drawn out. Eventually she dozed off. Trying to sit up straight and sleep was hard to do. Her head would sway, each time this happened she snapped awake. It ended with her deciding to stay awake. Ducking down in her seat, she slipped on her headphones. Before long she was lost in thought. She came back to reality after some guy had stepped on her to get out in the aisle. Orientation was over, and everyone was headed to class.
Edie held back until there were just a few people left. Making her way up the aisle, she noticed a group of ‘angry goth kids’ lingering behind, staring at her.
“Oh dear lord. Don’t let them talk to me, please!” She pleaded under her breath. She kept walking, not breathing, and looking down at her feet. She hoped that they wouldn’t talk to her, that they wouldn’t approach her. A girl with long dark hair pulled back in a pony tail walked and stood in front of her. Edie had to do everything she could to not laugh. She bit her bottom lip and raised her eyebrow. A look of sheer confusion mixed with amazement went across her face.
“Hey. You’re new here? My name is Jennifer, and this is -”. At this point Edie had tuned out what she was saying. She wondered if Jennifer, or whatever her name was, knew she could see right up her nose. Honestly. Edie thought. Who really talks with their head tiled that far back! She can’t be serious. Edie studied the group of outcasts while Jennifer kept talking. Greasy monkeys with no style. Edie thought, and had laughed out loud. At this point , Edie tuned back in, and Jennifer was saying something about eating lunch with them. The only non-mean thing that she could think to say was “Right.”, and walked off.
The rest of the day seemed to slowly go by. Edie had met a really nice girl, Kelsey, who ended up being in a few of her classes. They had a lot in common, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by their appearances. They dressed completely different. But that didn’t matter. Edie was glad to have met someone nice. She paid little attention to anyone else though.
The only other person she had talked to was a girl named Lauren. They both ended up sitting next to each other in Biology. Lauren had seemed pretty cool. She was wearing the ‘Drop it Like It’s Hot’ Fall Out Boy tee, and she had the most rad emo bangs ever. It had taken a while for Edie to actually get Lauren to talk to her. But after it was all said and done, they hit it off pretty well.
The bell had finally rung, which meant school was out. Edie made her way down the hallway, out the front door. She found her Dad’s truck and got in.
He looked at her and said “I see you’ve made it out alive.”
She looked back, smiled, and replied, “I guess I did.”