Back At School

I hopped into the Chrysler. Mom's driving me to AGPS. You have to pay 500 dollars for each semester. AGPS is a year-round school. The students and staff stay there every day and night unless there's either an emergency, holiday, or break. The limo stopped in front of the students' center. My mom wished me a quick good luck as I hopped out. She drove off. I entered the main building and wasn't surprised to see a long and cluttered line at the front desk. I walked all the way up to the front of the line. I'm allowed, my parents pay extra.

“Hi Penny! How was summer vacation? Are your parents still together? How is Rose? It's so nice to see you! Here's your building number and class number,” Ms. Willsburgh said. She's been teaching at the school for as long as I attended here. Silly me, I never told you my age. I'm 13, and I've been coming to the school since I was 5.

“Awful Ms. Willsburgh! Yes, they are, and Rose is still as annoying as the previous summer. Nothing ever changes and nothing ever will,” I replied. I glanced down at my card. I had building 5, classroom 4. There was 7 buildings in total. Building one harbored pre-k and kindergarten students. Building two had first and second graders. Building three: third and fourth. Four: fifth and sixth. Five: seventh and eighth. Six: ninth and tenth. Seven: eleventh and twelfth. In each building was everything we needed to learn for those grades. I walk slowly slowly, glancing at other girls' cards to see who has what and who

was in my building, my class.

“Penny! Penny! Over here! Look at me!” I recognized the voice as my loud friend, Elise. Her mom often stars on commercials and her dad is a famous lawyer.

“Hi, Elise,” I say as I walk over. “How was break?”

“Excellent! Fantastic! Never better! We went to Africa! Then Jamaica! Then Hawaii! Africa had all these wonderful African animals! Jamaica was the best! Hawaii had great beaches! You should have come with us! It was so much fun! And guess what! I saw Maya at our hotel in Africa! And she was picking her nose! Of course she didn't see me until I snuck behind her and said hi. I'm serious! How was your break?”

You would think that my overzealous friend would be more mature by now. I mean, we're going to be in high-school, building 6, next year. Did I mention that Elise has a big mouth? If you want to keep a secret and want it to stay a secret, then don't bother telling her. “Nothing I couldn't handle,” I replied to her question. I always say the same thing when my friends ask me how my break was.

Elise shouldn't even be talking about Maya. I catch her picking her nose all the time when she thinks no one is looking. Everyone does, at some point. Maya's family is richer than me and Elise's combined. Maya's dad is an actor and her mom is a celebrity hair stylist. As far as I can tell, she has the perfect life. Hate to admit it, but I'm jealous of her. Speaking of Maya, here she comes.

“Hi gals! Nice outfit you wore in Africa Elise. Of course, mine was better. Anyway, what classes are you girls in? I'm in class five.”

Every year we compare classes. “Class five, too,” I replied.

“Aw! This sucks! I won't survive the year without you guys! I'm in class two!” Elisa practically screamed.

“Great. Here comes Lillian,” I warned my friends.

“Hi, hope I didn't walk in on the loser club meeting. It would suck if I had any of your classes. So, what classes do you unfortunate souls have?”

Lillian is the most stuck-up girl in our grade. Her mom is a singer and she looks down on us for whatever reason. She isn't even the richest girl here. She's more like an in-betweener. We repeat our class numbers, hoping she isn't in any of ours.

“I'm in class three. Two whole doors down from the trash!”

Ever since that day I forgot to shower in my dorm and got called up to the office, she's been calling me the trash. Before any of us could reply to that insult, Lillian was walking out of the main building with her little sidekick, Courtney.

“Good riddance!” I yell behind them.