School Days

Liv starts school at St. Margaret

Chapter 2 

I waited on the corner for Alice on the first day of school. Charlotte had taken pictures of me, Mackenzie, and Alex in our uniforms for the requisite "first day of school" photos that everyone posts on Facebook. I just hoped Charlotte didn't tag me. It was one thing for my aunts, uncles, and cousins to see me on Charlotte's news feed, but if my friends from my old school saw me in this uniform, I didn't think I could ever show my face in Virginia again.  

The polo shirt I could live with, but the khaki pants were just weird and dorky. I'd decided on brown top siders for school shoes. The ones made of real leather were fifty dollars. Charlotte had a fit until my mom kicked in for half of them.  I tried not to think about Tori, or my old school. If I thought about Buddy being gone or the fact that I couldn't go back to Bayside even if I wanted to, I would start to cry. That was not the way to start my junior year of high school.  

Finally, I saw Alice come out. She was with a boy who was also dressed in the St. Margaret uniform. Alice's brother, I guessed.  

"Hey," Alice said. 

"Hey," I said back. "I'm Liv," I said to the boy. "Are you Alice's brother?" 

"Yeah. I'm Jordan."  

 "He's a freshman," Alice said.  

Jordan didn't say much the rest of the way to school. Alice chattered about the football game on Friday. "We're playing Allegheny Heights. Oh, and there will be a pep rally on Friday. The first Friday of the school year is always a spirit day. We get to dress down if we wear school colors." 

"Thanks for the heads up. That gives me time to think of something besides this polo shirt to wear that's maroon or gold." 

"Yellow works too," Alice said.  

After walking for about fifteen minutes, we approached the brick building that was St. Margaret. Kids were milling all around and a few busses were parked in front. It was the last week of August, and it was warm enough that no one needed a jacket. The multitude of kids in identical clothing was a bit unnerving, like a Stepford movie or something. I decided to be glad we didn't wear plaid skirts, like the one Mackenzie wore to South Side Catholic.  

 Alice led me up to a group of girls. I saw that Julia Smithfield was among the group.  

"Hey, everyone. This is Olivia," Alice said.  

"Everyone calls me Liv," I said. I looked at Julia. "Hi, Julia. How are you doing?" 

A petite girl with red hair piped in. "You two know each other?" The way she asked it was weird, not like curious or even surprised. Almost accusingly, like she was purposely left out of the loop and pissed about it.  

"Yeah, our parents are friends," Julia said.  

"Mrs. Smithfield was talking about her at the last booster meeting," chimed in a pretty black girl. "I'm Andrea, by the way," she said to me.  

"Hi," I said back.  

"My mom didn't mention anything to me," the red haired girl said. She still sounded a little ticked off. What was her deal? Maybe she was just a queen bee type and expected to be kept informed of anything and everything that went on in school. I was pretty sure her name was Sarah, and that she was one of Julia's friends.  

Just then, another girl bounced up to the group. She was tall and athletic looking, and had really bronzed skin.  

"Sabrina's in the house!" the newcomer announced and danced around. She was a lot prettier than the redhead, and I started to wonder if maybe she was the junior class queen bee. Something tickled in my brain, and I remembered Julia mentioning the name a few years ago. I was in Laurel Falls over the holidays and I'd gone with Dad and Charlotte to visit the Smithfields. We were probably in eighth grade at the time, and Julia said something about Sabrina. I also knew from Charlotte that Sarah was one of Julia's friends, and that Sarah was in honors classes. 

"Bonnie Smithfield said Sarah's always been the smartest kid in the class and never really had any competition. Maybe she'll finally have some," Charlotte had said to me.  

Based on my impression of Sarah so far, I did not want to be Rory Gilmore to her Paris Gellar. 

"Hey, Mia," a voice behind me said. I wondered which one of the group was Mia. No one responded, and I left a tap on my arm. I turned to look. A tall girl with golden blonde hair was standing behind me, looking confused.  

"Oh, sorry, you aren't Mia," she said. She was tall and not really fat but what some people would call thick. She had cascades of golden blonde hair and dark sapphire blue eyes. I thought she was very pretty.  

"Oh, Hayley, that's Liv. She's the new girl. I could see why you thought she was Mia though. Especially from behind. She totally looks like her," Alice said.   

Interesting. Apparently I had a twinsie at my new school.  

"So, you're Hayley and I know Alice and Julia. And you said you're Andrea. I think you said your name is Sabrina?" I said.  

The pretty, dark-haired girl nodded. She looked a little Asian, but I wasn't sure. "The one and only," she said. 

"I'm Sarah," the redhead spoke up. "This is Claire." She indicated a chubby girl with black, curly hair standing next to her. 

"Here comes Mia," Hayley said. I turned, curious to see this girl I resembled. I could tell who she was immediately, even though she walked next to another girl.  As they got closer, they split off. The one I guessed was Mia was headed toward our group, while the other girl headed toward a group of younger looking girls.  

A few from our group said hello to Mia.  

"I'm Olivia, but everyone calls me Liv," I said. I could see why Hayley had thought I was her. We were about the same height, five foot three, and petite. We also had dark brown hair that hung halfway down our backs. Mia's nose was definitely smaller. I take after my dad's side of the family, who are Italian, and I have what some politely call a prominent nose. Mia didn't look Italian, or any particular ethnicity that I could tell.  

"They're about to let us inside," Sarah announced. We all started in the direction of the main entrance.  

"That's Sister Martha, standing out front in the turquoise," Alice said.  

I looked toward the steps leading to the main door and saw a white haired woman standing there. She was dressed in a skirt suit that was a bright turquoise color. I hadn't expected an old-fashioned nun's habit, but the bright turquoise was unexpected. She wore a white blouse under the jacket, and multi-colored scarf that looked like real silk and had a bit of turquoise in it as well. I looked down towards her feet.  

"Whoa. You weren't kidding about the ankles," I whispered.  

"Sister Martha's ankles need no exaggeration," she whispered back.  

They weren't even ankles, really. Her calves were the same size from the knee down, instead of tapering into an ankle like a regular person. It was like round pillows stuffed into black dress shoes.  

"You're in Mr. Bolock's homeroom, so follow me," Alice said.  

We went up a flight of stairs, down an hall, turned right, and entered a classroom at the end of the corridor. There was a lanky man with light brown hair and a mustache to match standing at the door, greeting everyone.  

"Hello, Olivia," he said as I walked in. I was impressed until I realized I was probably the only new student out of a homeroom of twenty-five kids. There were only fifty or so kids in the entire junior class. My class at Bayside had almost two hundred. This was going to be weird.  

We all took a seat, and Mr. Bolock promised to rearrange seating after morning announcements. There was a collective groan at the mention of assigned seating.  

Sister Martha came on the morning announcements. First we said morning prayer. I knew the Our Father, but there was another one my classmates said in unison that I didn't know the words too. I just moved my mouth and pretended to say it. Then we did the Pledge of Allegiance. At the very end, after the words with liberty and justice for all, Sister Martha tacked on the words "born and unborn" which must be a regular thing because my whole class said it with her. I tried not to register shock on my face. 

Could they just change the Pledge of Allegiance like that? What if a person was pro-choice? Heck, I am staunchly pro-choice. I didn't think anyone would notice if I didn't say that part, but it still annoyed me. I know all Catholics are supposed to be pro-life, but it was still really presumptuous. I decided not to worry about it too much. Private schools can do what they want.  

Mr. Bolock immediately started arranging us alphabetically after announcements. I was second in my row. Sarah was diagonal to my right. A lanky ginger boy named Ted was in front of me. The maroon polo looked really unfortunate with his hair, and Sarah's too.  

Sarah pushed her shoulder length hair behind her ear and looked me over. 

"So, what do you think so far?" 

"Of school? It's okay so far. I mean, I haven't even had my first class yet." Sarah merely nodded and turned back around.  

Ted looked at me and scowled, so I decided to ignore him. He didn't seem very friendly. The guy to my right, just behind Sarah, was drawing in a notebook.   

"I'm Liv," I said. "What are you drawing?"  

He looked up from his notebook. "It's a character from Halo," he said. "I'm Ethan." 

"Nice to meet you," I said. He had short brown hair and big brown eyes. He was thin and wore cute nerdy glasses. He seemed nice, and cute. I hoped he'd be in a lot of my classes.  

"Nice to meet you," I said. "Do you happen to have World History with Mrs. Bloom first period?"  

"Yes."  

"I'm in that class too," Sarah said. She had turned around when I first spoke to Ethan and listened to our conversation.  

"Well, I'll follow you guys then," I said. The bell rang, and I followed Ethan and Sarah to the third floor. I really didn't need much help. The entire school had four floors, and the first digit of every room number told you what floor it was on. Mrs. Bloom was in 312 which was on the third floor. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  

My morning classes were uneventful. After World History, I had Honors Spanish III, digital communications, Honors Biology II, and study hall. I had lunch fifth period and went to the cafeteria. I looked around for Alice but didn't see her anywhere. Some people had lunch fourth period. I hadn't thought to ask her which lunch she was in. I suddenly missed Tori a lot. I wished I was allowed to use my cell phone during lunch to text her. I felt overwhelmed, missing my old school and Buddy.  

"Would you like to sit with me?" a voice said. I turned to see who it was. For a moment I thought she was a teacher, but she was wearing a school uniform. She was in my Spanish class. Her name was Helen.  

"Sure, thanks," I said, gratefully putting my books at the table. I'd packed a lunch for the first day, and Helen had too. The tables were long, like at a banquet. 

I sat down and opened my lunch bag. I had a sandwich, yogurt, and a banana. Helen had half a sandwich, a pudding cup, and a pack of peanut butter crackers.  

The reason I almost thought she was a teacher was her hair. She wore it short, but not like in a popular pixie cut. The only way I could describe it was an old lady style. She was also extremely busty. She was on the chubby side, but I couldn't help but notice that her b***s were huge. There was also something stiff about her uniform that made it look even more awkward than the other students'.  For one thing, her pants were ironed with creases going down the front. They were so sharp I thought you might cut your finger on them when you touched them.  

"So, do you normally sit with other friends at lunch?" I asked Helen. 

"Well, last year I sat with my friend Rebecca," she said. "But she moved over the summer." " 

"That sucks," I said. I didn't know what else to say. It sounded like Helen didn't have any other friends. I knew Tori would be okay without me. She played soccer and was on the cross country team and took dance classes. She was also bubbly and friendly and even though I was her best friend, she had a lot of other friends.  

 "What kind of things do you do for fun?" I asked Helen. 

"Rebecca used to come over my house on some Saturdays or I would go over to hers." 

"What else? I used to live in Virginia and we went to the beach a lot. I'm going to miss that. But I heard there's a football game Friday night and a school dance on Saturday. Do you go to those?" 

"No, I'm not really into football games or dances," she said.  

Wow. I was grateful to have someone to sit with, and Helen seemed eager to make a new friend, but we had very little in common.  

"What classes do you have this afternoon?" I said. I didn't really know what else to talk about with her.  

"I have Algebra II after lunch." 

"Oh, me too," I said. Math was one of the only subjects I had that wasn't an honors class.  

After lunch, I walked with Helen to algebra class. We sat down in some seats and a good-looking guy smiled and paused in front of our desks.  

"Hi, Helen. You look nice today. Who's your friend?" 

Helen beamed. "This is Olivia. She's new." 

"Hi, Olivia. I'm Justin," he said. He smiled and showed his perfect white teeth. He looked like the Hollywood definition of a high school quarterback. He was tall, but not too tall. He had a thick head of light brown hair, big brown eyes, a lean and broad-shouldered build, and those perfect teeth.  

Justin sauntered off and sat a few rows over. I watched students enter the room. This class was going to be interesting. None of the usual honors kids was in this class. I was pretty sure Mia, Hayley, Sarah, and Ethan were all in pre-calculus.  

Sabrina and Andrea walked in together. They sat down near Justin. A another guy came in and sat with them too. I saw Sabrina lean over and whisper to him. He glanced over in my direction. I felt like everything in the room paused and went into slow motion for a few seconds.  

Forget Justin. This guy was hot. He had coal black hair and obsidian eyes. He was lanky with skin on the pale side. He had a mysterious air about him. I saw him whisper with Sabrina and Justin and look over in my direction.  

"Helen," I whispered. "Who's the guy sitting with Sabrina, Andrea, and Justin?"  

"That's Seth Reese. He went to North Side with us."  

The teacher, a tiny blonde woman with a booming voice, came in. She looked to be young, probably still in her twenties, and handled Seth and Justin's cut ups with just the right combination of humor and firmness. I decided I was going to like this teacher.  

After that I had Honors English 11, which was with Seth's mom, Mrs. Reese. English is my favorite subject, especially creative writing. Mrs. Reese was pretty, and I could see Seth got his looks from her. She wore a pixie cut and had the same dark eyes and hair. She wasn't terribly tall--about my height. I supposed Seth got his height from his dad, since he was at least six feet tall.   

Mrs. Reese gave us a short writing assignment. She told us to write it in our notebooks. I had some paper, but I hadn't gotten any notebooks yet. I was keeping tab on how many I would need. Some teachers wanted us to have binders instead and some classes, like digital communications, I wasn't going to need a paper notebook. 

One of the guys asked what we should do if we didn't have an English notebook. 

"You don't have an English notebook?" Mrs. Reese demanded. She made it sound like he just announced he was going to kick puppies or something. I'm sure he just meant he didn't have a notebook yet. It was only the first day of school. 

I looked for Alice after school so we could walk home together. While I was looking, Mrs. Reese strode up to me. 

"Are you a walker or a bus rider," she asked.  

"A walker," I replied.  

"Well don't loiter around," she said.  

"Oh, I won't. I was just looking for Alice Grimaldi so I would walk with her. We're neighbors." 

"Very well then." 

"Liv, you ready to walk home?" It was Alice. I nodded gratefully and we started off in the direction of our street. 

"So, how did it go today?" Alice said.  

I did a quick look around to make sure Mrs. Reese was no longer in earshot.  

"What's the deal with Mrs. Reese?" I said. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, she acted all pissed off when a kid didn't have a notebook for English class. And she just snapped at me not to linger on school property just now when I was looking for you." 

"Oh, I'm sure she just meant he needed one for tomorrow. Mrs. Reese is fine." 

I wasn't sure I agreed, but Alice had known Mrs. Reese for a long longer than me.