The first day of school at McCormick High is today. I’ve never been more scared in my life. I wasn’t ready to move from my hometown in Georgia. I loved it there. I was super popular at my old school and had so many great friends. But that didn’t come easy, it took a lot of hard work and understanding. I always get good grades and I’m almost, kind of, somewhat, excited.

I’m getting up and getting out of my bed to put on the new red, open-backed dress I got for my first day. I investigate the mirror and smile at how well the dress goes with my long brown hair. I grab my curling iron and curl my hair for what seems like hours. Finally, the last piece of curled hair drops from the curling iron and warms the back of my neck. I smile as I walk over to my closet to pick out a pair of shoes. I can’t decide if I want to wear my red heels or black flats. I decide to go with the black flats and walk downstairs to the kitchen where my mom is finalizing breakfast.

“Hey, sweetie.” She yawns as she sees me appear from the stairwell. “You look gorgeous.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I reply peeking over her shoulder to see what she’s making. “What’re you cooking?”

“It’s a surprise for your first day at your new school. Are you excited?” Grinning she grabs plates. “Head upstairs for five minutes please so it can stay a surprise.”  I turn around and walk upstairs to get my phone off the coffee table. I sit on my bed and go on Snapchat to talk to my best friend, Kennedy. I take a selfie and send it to her with the word “streaks” written on it. She sends me back a selfie with three heart eye emojis on it saying I look gorgeous.

“OK, you can come downstairs now Aria!” my mother yells from the bottom of the steps. I jump out of my bed, run down the stairs, and see my favorite breakfast waiting for me at the table. The gooey strawberry and chocolate mixture surrounded by a thin warm cake makes my mouth water.

“Crepes!” I run over to my mom and hug her tightly. I sit down at the table and eat my strawberry and Nutella crepe, enjoying every moment of it. When I finish, I realize that the bus will be here soon and I need to grab my stuff for school and leave. I rinse off my plate and grab my light blue backpack as well as my phone. “Bye Mom! I love you!” I shout from across the room.

“I love you, too!” she yells back as I walk out the door and wait for the bus. I am outside for only about a minute when I see the yellow McCormick school bus come rolling around the corner. To my surprise it doesn’t stop at my house first, it stops at the neighbors. I see a pretty, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl walk out of her house. It isn’t until she is almost on the bus that I realize, we are wearing the same dress. This could be bad, or it could be good. I see her pointing and laughing through the tinted windows and start to worry. As I take my first steps onto the bus, I hear her and her friend laughing really loud.

She stands up and gets in my face “Who do you think you are wearing the same dress as me?” I walk past her with my head down and sit alone in the back. As the bus begins moving again, she shouts. “I asked you a question, new girl!” Still ignoring her, I pull out my phone to tell Kennedy about this.

Me: Hey Kennedy, we have a slight problem. :|

Kennedy: Wut’s the matter?!?!?

Me: There is this girl who is already starting to be mean to me and I’ve only been on the bus for two minutes.

Kennedy: Ari. Don’t let them bother you. I am always here for you. I have to go. Just got to school. Ugh. Bye!!!!! <3

Me: <3

I look up when I feel the bus halt to an abrupt stop. Looking out the window I notice a red, white, and black sign on a brick building that reads McCormick High School. I throw my phone in my backpack and get off the bus last so I don’t have to deal with those snobs. When I step off the bus I notice everyone looking at me.

“What’s your name, new girl?” The voice is familiar, and I turn around to see the girl I was avoiding.

“What’s yours?” I question sassily.

“I believe I asked you first.”

“Aria. Now your turn.” I can see mouths drop open. I’m not quite sure why.

“Aria,” She says mockingly. “You look ugly in that outfit and your fat is showing.” I turn around and try not to let it bug me, but it does. My first class is biology, and I ask someone for help getting there. Thankfully, they point me in the direction, and I walk down there. The sign on the door reads “Bio”, so I know I’m at the right place. I take a seat right next to the window and get my mechanical pencil and spiral-bound notebook out. The rest of the students walk in and their eyes widen when they notice me. Whispers float around the room. Silence hits the room with a bang when the girl I was avoiding arrived.

“Hello! Clap for us! Sarah and Carrie have arrived!” She shouts as the other students start to clap loudly. I clap softly in the window seat before she starts heading over here flipping her hair. She stops and chuckles when she notices me. “Hm, Aria was it? That’s my seat.”  I stand up and sit in a front row seat. “Thought so.” She says flipping her hair and sitting in her seat. The whispers begin again until the bell rings. The teacher walks in and sits down.

“Okay class, so my name is Mr. Walters…” His words fade out as I remember my old school. I was popular, but not mean like them. I am snapped out of my daze by a slammed door. I look over to see a cute guy walking in. I instantly knew he was what might get me through my last year of high school. He had brunette hair just like mine with gorgeous green eyes and a jawline so defined. Ugh. He’s gorgeous.

He walks to the seat next to mine, smirk-smiles, and grabs a pen on the ground. “Hi.”

“Hey, what’s your name?” I ask him shyly.

“My name is Jake. What’s yours?” He seems nervous, almost afraid. Is he afraid of me? If so, why?

“My name is Aria.”

“I really like that name.”

“Thanks. I like yours, too.”

“Thanks. Can I sit here?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“OK. Cool.”

“Do you know what her name is?” I say pointing at the girl who was being mean.

“Sarah. She’s my girlfriend. Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” I raise my hand and quietly ask if I can go to the bathroom. Mr. Walters nods, and I head out of the room. How could I have been dumb enough to think that they didn’t have anything going on? I head back into the room only about two minutes later and quietly take my seat. Jake grins at me, and I turn away quickly pretending like I was paying attention the whole time. I watch the clock intently and five minutes before the end of class I hear my name being called.

I look at Mr. Walters. “Would you like to come up here and tell me a little bit about yourself?”

“Uh, sure,” I say shyly as walk up to the front of the room. “Hi. My name is Aria.” Giggles arise from near the window. “I moved from Georgia and left my best friend Kennedy behind. I now live on Mercier lane with my mom.”

“Where’s your dad?” Sarah asks from near the window giggling and knowing that there is some heartfelt meaning as to where he is.

“He died,” I replied coldly and then walked back to my seat with my head down. I grab my stuff as the bell rings. As I’m walking down the hallway, I hear someone behind me call my name. When I turn around to see who it is, Jake runs up to me.

“Hey, I’m sorry about your dad. I’m sorry about Sarah, too. You could tell she knew that there was something personal going on.” He says sympathetically. I could see it in his deep green eyes, I knew he was being genuine.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it,” I say. “Can you help me find the Chem. Lab?”

“Is that your next class?” He asks.

“Yeah. Why?” I question with curiosity.

“I have that class next, too,” he replies while smiling. He then turns and looks into my emerald green eyes. “You want to be my lab partner? Normally I’m with Sarah, but she is skipping class today. We would be partners for the whole first semester.”

“Sure, why not?” I say with a giggle. As we reach the door that reads chemistry my heart starts pounding. He wants to be my partner for chemistry.

“Good morning. You must be Aria,” The teacher smiles, “My name is Mrs. Morris.”

“Hi, nice to meet you, Mrs. Morris.” I get ready to speak again when Jake chimes in.

“Mrs. Morris, I was hoping that Aria could be my chemistry partner this semester.”

Mrs. Morris chuckles and replies, “Delightful, you crossed out one thing on my list of tasks. You guys can sit anywhere you’d like.”

“Thank you!” He states as he grabs my arm and pulls me to a seat. I am laughing and enjoying talking to Jake. He told me that he was the quarterback and that Sarah was the cheer captain and that’s how they met. He told me that I should try out for the cheer team, and he told me about Sarah’s friend, Carrie, the stereotypical dumb blonde. I look towards the clock when the bell rings and I see Sarah and Carrie walk in like they owned the place. Then, I catch Sarah’s eye, and boy is she furious.

“Mrs. Morris, I would like to be Jakey-Poo’s partner this year, please,” She says in a tone she must use when she wants something.

“I’m sorry. It seems “Jakey-Poo” already has a partner.” Mrs. Morris replies while trembling in fear.

Sarah’s eyes turn cold, “Who is it?”

“Aria. He asked me before class if she could be his partner.” Mrs. Morris tries to look busy, and it works.
    “Hey babe, I thought I was going to be your partner this year,” says Sarah with her puppy dog eyes. I roll my eyes as he starts falling for her trap.

“I think I’m going to go with Sarah if that’s okay with you Aria,” He says with his irresistible smile.

“Sure,” I say trying to pull off a fake smile. I walk up to Mrs. Morris’ desk and ask if she could just assign partners instead. She nods and I walk back to where I was sitting before. I really didn’t think this whole partner thing through because I ended up getting partnered with Sarah. She just scowled at me until Mrs. Morris spoke.

“Introduce yourself to your partners, please.” Sarah and I groan.

“Hey loser, I know you were the one who asked Mrs. M about being partners with Jake. He told me that you did it and he didn’t want to be mean, so he just said yes.” Sarah tells me in her snobby way.

“No, actually he asked, but it’s cool,” I reply annoyed. I know that when she isn’t around, he is a whole new person. Why is he like this?

“Sure,” She replies sarcastically. “Whatever, Ariel.”

    “It’s Aria,” I say woefully.

    “Does it look like I care? Honestly, nobody in this school should know your real name. From now on, you will always be known as a loser.” I let it go because I’m sure it’s not true. What does she have against me anyways?

    Me: Do I have to ride the bus every day?

Mom: No, I’ll pick you up after school today and it was only for this morning.

Me: Perfect. Thanks.

Mom: May I ask why you asked?
Me: Just curious.

    I didn’t talk to anyone the rest of the day, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t hear the whispers. I heard the things they said, and boy did it hurt. DING! My phone goes off in the middle of English, and I get it confiscated. Great, another embarrassment. I got my phone back at the end of English when it was time to go home. It was a message from Kennedy!

Kennedy: Hey! How was the rest of ur day? Were those grls still mean?

Me: No. They left me alone. Thnks 4 caring! Miss u grl!

Kennedy: That’s good!

Me: Yup.

    I walk out the front doors and see a bench to my right. I sit there and text my mom.

Me: Hey, school’s done, where are you?

Mom: Coming. Be there in 5 minutes.

Me: See you soon.

I know what you must be thinking; if you’re a senior, how come you can’t drive to and from school yourself? It’s because I don’t have a car and my mom needs hers to get to work. I see Jake walk out the door and he waves at me. I look away in anger; he betrayed me. I don’t know what Sarah has against me, but I’m sorry for whatever I did to make her hate me. I see my mom pull up to the pick-up lane and I grab my backpack. I walk over to her car with my head down. The whole time, I still hear the whispers.