The drive to San Diego was a lengthy three hours and twenty-five minutes. I was on my way to Coronado Beach for my last summer weekend with my sister. We usually came down here to party or just for pure relaxation purposes. But it’s been nearly impossible to relax and clear my mind over the whole summer. Freshman year at Rosamond High School was absolutely the worst. My parents got divorced. My sister Sydney left for college. I was a wreck. I had nowhere to go, I had no one to go to, I felt like, my world had fallen apart, like I had lost everything. My mom bought my sister an apartment and wanted my sister and I to live in it together, because she wanted us to help each other out through those tough times. I really had no choice, so I moved in with her to Thousand Oaks. My first few weeks there were pretty rough. I would usually still be asleep when Sydney took off for school. She had to take the train to school. She went to California Lutheran University, which wasn’t that bad, since it was close. And then on top of all of this my mom was going to pay for me to go to private school in Chatsworth, another almost 2 hours by train, which I had to ride by myself. Just Sydney and I living together was one heck of a ride.

Now let’s get to the real details. My name is Della, and I went to Sierra Canyon School. As you already know, I left Rosamond and moved to Thousand Oaks with my sister. The hardest part of moving was that I would  only see my parents a few times a month because my dad still lived in Rosamond, but my mom lived in Pacific Palisades and constantly worked at her new job. They got divorced because my mom had an affair and my dad eventually found out that she was pregnant. So he left her, filing divorce, and my mom remarried with the guy she had the affair with, and had a baby. My mom had fought for custody of Sydney and I, which she did eventually, but it still breaks my heart that it seems like my dad is completely out of the picture. My mom thought that my life would be a little easier if I lived with Sydney to clear my head and to bond with her a little more. It took a while but I did it. It was hard, but I did it.
Starting sophomore year at Sierra Canyon was very nerve-wracking and a bit stressful because applying was hard enough, I had to make sure that my grades were on point, I had to make sure that I made the dance and soccer teams, because the two were so important to me. And the hardest thing was dealing with the people. I didn’t know what to expect, and I wasn’t really sure who would accept me, or would be nice. I guess I just had to wait and see.
On my first day of school, I was so nervous that sweat trickled down my back like raindrops on a window. I was shaky and I felt like I was going to puke. I walked in looking like a newborn deer that didn’t know how to walk. I looked so stupid. I tried looking as confident as I could, after putting my stuff into my locker and heading to my first class, English.

I guess I was late for my first class. My face was flushed, except for my cheeks, which were red like a tomato.  My new English teacher, Mrs. Robinson, and all of the students whipped back to look at me and just stared until I sat down. “What?” I asked.
“Are you a new student?’ my teacher  asked.
“Uh, yeah. I’m from Rosamond.”
“Okay, name?”
“Della.”
“Oh, okay. I have you here on my list. Well, welcome to Sierra Canyon, Della.” She replied with a smug look on her face. Maybe she was just not in the swing of things yet. The other students still stared at me, making me feel uncomfortable. A brunette girl with a Sierra Canyon Cheerleading jacket said, “Rosamond, huh? Those girls always seem kind of rachet.”
“Leona! We don’t say those words in this school. It reflects badly on you and your peers.” Mrs. Robinson exclaims.
“Ugh, whatever.” Leona mutters under her breath.
That was rude of her to say, but whatever. I tried not to let that get to me. There was still plenty of hope for nice people to come along. But unfortunately, later on in the day, I slipped and fell on my face in the nicely-waxed floor in the library, I spilled my drink all over my brand new, navy blue, Sierra Canyon jacket, so I smelled like fruit punch, and I tripped and slid across the gym in P.E. with everyone laughing – of course. I tried to hide how hurt I felt until towards the end of the day, before I went up to meet up with the principal, to go over how my day went. I went into the lush courtyard where no one would see me, and tears rolled down my cheek as I sat down on a bench. My first day had turned to crap and I wondered how my other days at school would go. The a shadow approached me with a question that I needed to hear, “Are you okay?”

Her name was Alessia, and she seemed to be the only one who cared or even noticed me.
“Not really, it's , my first day here and it went pretty bad actually.”
“Oh, so you're the new girl. I heard about you all over school today but I didn't see you anywhere.”
That definitely ticked me off. That was not the answer I wanted to hear. I sighed in a frustrated mood and I got up from the bench, leaving her with no response. I quickly walked away, towards the principal's office, wiping hot tears from my eyes.
“Wait!” Alessia cried.
I ignored her, but I was regretting what I had done. That was my opportunity to make a friend here and I blew it. I could've told her how I felt and she could've helped me out. But no, I was stupid and I didn't take my chance.

I finally got to the principal's office, but I guess the hard glass door slapped me in the face as I ran into it.  Well, just one more thing to make my day just a bit worse.
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, I could feel blood rushing to my forehead, and my nose was throbbing. I could feel my face start to bruise. Thank God that the principal didn't see that.
“How did your first day go?”
I didn't want to admit how terrible it was, but I I guess I was thinking out loud.
“Terrible – I mean, ugh. Yes it was terrible.”
“Oh no, why? What made it so terrible?”
I explained everything that had happened during the day. I hated it, and I felt really bad because it was like insulting him. Like telling him how terrible his school is. My phone buzzed. It was Sydney. She said that she just left school, so she wants me to catch the train soon and she'll pick me up at the station. I asked the principal if I could be excused, I gave him my explanation as to why I had to leave. He allowed me to leave, with a puzzled look on his face. On my way out, my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. I felt horrible and I couldn't believe the day I had. I went to the bus station outside of the school. The Chatsworth Train Station was close by, so it wouldn't be a long bus ride. I was a Chatsworth Train Station member, so I had a Metro Card like the ones in New York City. I just made it to my 5:00 train back to Thousand Oaks. I fell asleep on the train, and I woke up when the attendants were handing out snacks and drinks (in Chatsworth, the have very fancy subways). I barely had any food that day so I almost inhaled my panini and the Sprite went right through me. I took yet another nap, until the train stopped, at 7pm. I groggily walked off the train with my backpack and across the Thousand Oaks Train Station, finding Sydney. I hopped into the car and fell asleep there too. She knew how I felt, since she did it every day.

I awoke the next morning to the Spice Girls blaring in my ear at 5 in the morning. I got up, got dressed and grabbed a quick granola bar for breakfast. Sydney drove me to the train station and I hopped on my train. I looked out the window of the train, with thoughts running through me head the whole time. I thought about Alessia. I could either apologize to her or not talk to her at all. The ideas were racing back and forth in my mind. Then the train stopped. I got off, and got back onto a short bus ride, the second day of school inching closer and closer. The second I stepped into school, Alessia came up to me. She seemed genuinely happy to see me. Why would she want to talk to me after what I did to her?
“Hi Del-”
I cut her off.“Hey Alessia, I'm really sorry that I like completely ignored you and I stormed off like a little kid. I was just having a rough day and I shoulder at least tried to look past it.”
“Oh my gosh, hahaha. Don't worry about it Della. I know how hard it is to look past a bad day, well, you really can't actually. It's fine.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks. Can we try being friends again?”
“Of course!” She said.
And that day we became best friends.

Now, let’s fast forward to two years later. It was my graduation day. The Sierra Canyon School Class of 2018. I was overflowing with success. I was the co-captain of the soccer team, I was one of the best singers in Chamber Singers, I was captain of the dance team, leading my team to be the California High School Dance Champions, and I graduated 3rd in my class. Sydney showed up, my mom, my step-dad, my biological dad and my little brother Lukas all showed up. I felt like a pig in mud. I felt like life gave me the gift of success and freedom. I felt like I had let go of all the negativity in my life and I was free to do what I wanted. That day just couldn't have gotten any better. Later after the summer, I had moved across the country to go to MIT, to follow my dream to be a research scientist.