~Chapter 2~

FIRST DAY

I CLOSED MY EYES AND INHALED deeply. I expected the new, leathery smell that Kara and David had been telling me about would fill my nose, but instead, the bus smelled like raw meat, spoiled milk, and dirty socks. My eyes flew open and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. This did not look like the bus David had described to me earlier this month. It wasn’t new or clean. It was filthy. There were spider webs in about every window and the seats had a bunch of holes in them. I calculated how long it had been since David attended Middle School. Six years. Wow, a lot has changed in just six years.
“Hurry up, will ya?” A loud voice boomed from my right. I jumped. I hadn’t realized the bus driver was right there. He had a thick mustache and was going bald at the top of his head. “I don’t wanna be late, so find a darn seat!!” He shouted at me, his face inches from mine.
“Sorry,” I muttered and turned my eyes away from his. I looked around at the bus. It was still quite empty.
I walked down the aisle and found the nearest empty seat possible. As soon as I sat down, the bus lurched underneath me and sped off. I had to hold tightly to the empty seat next to me to keep from flying off. We rounded a corner and suddenly the tires stopped moving and my whole body flew toward the seat in front of me. “Ow,” I mumbled, rubbing my head. Who knew the seats could be so hard?
I heard the doors open and the bus driver named Kurt shout, “C’mon, c’mon, I don’t have all day!” Suddenly, a stampede of kids rushed on the bus, filling most of the empty seats. I figured this was the most crowded and popular community.
A girl who looked like she was in sixth grade too, came to sit by me. She had black hair and big, bright, chocolate-colored eyes. She wasn’t very tall, but she looked horribly fragile and weak, especially under her heavy-looking backpack.
“Hi, I’m Rose Walkman,” I said as she took her seat.
“Hi Rose, my name’s Jill Mataki,” She replied, smilingly shyly. Mataki, I thought while I shook her hand, It rings a bell…
“Are you also in sixth grade?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“I see… So, do you have any siblings?” I wondered.
“Yes, just one.” She said quietly. “I have an older brother named Jacob.”
“Oh!” I gasped. “Jacob Mataki! He was my brother, David’s best friend!”
“Really?” She asked, her big eyes widening.
I nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” I answered. It was the truth, I was quite sure it was the Jacob, the one my brother spent most of his afternoon’s at.
“You don’t look very much like him.” She commented, looking at my face, with probing eyes.
“Most people say that, but it’s probably because he looks more like my mom--he’s got her green eyes and almond-colored hair. A lot of people say I’m like my dad--he’s also got light blue eyes and what I call coffee-bean colored hair.” I giggled, showing Jill my dark hair.
She laughed too, a very quiet, timid sound, but I was sure it was a laugh.
“Hey, are those natural highlights?” She pointed to a strand of blond hair that was mixed into my hair.
“Yeah, but I don’t know where I got them from. Neither my mom or my dad has highlights.” I shrugged.
Our conversation ended there. I would normally have talked more, but I felt quite nervous. Jill didn't start any conversations either, which I was grateful of. I had a feeling we would be pretty good friends.

During our ride there, I tried to convince myself the worst thing that could happen on my first day is getting a lot of homework, but then again, that is still quite bad. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and I tried thinking about other things, like what I would do when I got home if I didn’t have much homework.
Kurt slammed our foreheads against the seats in front of us three more times before arriving at the school. I glanced down at my watch--it was eight ten, meaning I had five minutes to check-in and find all my classes. Jill and I walked together to the office which was located to the right of the parking lot. Inside the office, the chairs lined one side of wall, the other side was behind the long counter. There were three windows behind the chairs and they provided most of the light.
We walked up to the desk together, where the main receptionist helped us. She gave us both a map and a schedule of our classes. I looked at it and immediately groaned. Each day we had a different schedule. The only class that stayed at second period was History. How was I supposed to remember the order of my classes or the days when I had math third period? The receptionist told us not to worry, and that we will remember our schedules soon enough.
I hoped she was right.
As for the map, I tried memorizing where all my classes were, but I was quite sure I was going to end up walking around school with my nose stuck in front of it.
Jill and I only had Math, English, and Science together, but I didn’t really mind. Sometimes I liked being alone.
During homeroom period, Mr. Harrison told us about additional classes and after-school clubs we could sign up for next week. I’m planning to sign up for the Math Numbers Club and maybe Cooking or Drama class.
The rest of my classes went well. Not exactly good, but well.
I found the classrooms pretty easily, mostly because all the sixth grade classes are on one side of the school. Most of my teachers just talked about class rules and where to turn our homework in, stuff like that. They also handed out all our textbooks and I ended up getting six. No one assigned homework except Mrs. Mann who gave us a five-paragraph history essay due on Friday, which gave me only two days to work on it. She is the worst teacher I’ve had in four years.
I was happy, no, relieved to even make it out of her classroom alive.
I didn’t meet many other kids except for Nikki, a really nice eighth grader, and Sam, a kind and friendly sixth grader that was suffering with me in history class. It felt good to know I wasn’t the only one struggling to understand what Mrs. Mann was saying.
Before I knew it, lunch period had arrived and I found myself sitting between Jill and Sam. I opened my paper bag and found a ham and cheese sandwich. Jill had homemade California rolls and chicken teriyaki. I wondered how she could fit all the food in her tiny stomach. Sam bought lunch, and it looked like the cafeteria food you see on TV.
“It’s definitely meat loaf.” Sam said.
“No, I think it’s chili,” I objected.
“What do you think, Jill?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” She answered. Sam shrugged and we went back to arguing between meat loaf and chili. Jill just giggled every now and then.
“Why don’t you just try the darn thing and then we can see who’s right?” I asked him, annoyed.
“Fine, fine. But you’re sure you don’t wanna bet?”
“Ok, I’ll bet you five bucks it’s chili. But don't cry if I win!” I warned him. I was good at these bets, because I had David. He doesn't normally like to bet, because I won most of the time.
“Five?!?” He asked, outraged. I nodded stubbornly. “But I’ve only got three bucks!”
“Fine, three it is, then. Now, eat so I can prove you I’m right.”
He scooped some of the stuff up and shoved it in his mouth. He looked quite confident.
“It’s meatloaf.” He lied.
“Really?” I asked sarcastically. “Why don’t you let me try?”
“Ok, but take your own fork, I don’t want girl germs!”
I took a bite and immediately noticed the chili flavor. “It’s chili.”
“No it’s not,” He said stubbornly. I could tell he wasn’t going to change his mind.
“Chili!”
“Meatloaf!”
“Chili, chili, chili!”
“MEATLOAF!”
“Oh come on, we both know it's chili. Now hand over the money.” I smiled smugly and waited for him to answer.
"Why do girls have to be so cruel?" He muttered under his breath. He shoved his hand into his pocket and took out a brown leather wallet. He opened it and handed me three dollar bills. "Happy?"

"You believed me? I was just kidding! Keep the money, seriously." I said, pushing the bills back. I didn't wait for him to respond and got out of my seat, beckoning Jill to follow me to the gym.

~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~

The final bell rang and I rushed to the bus stop, Jill at my heels. I was sure that if I didn’t arrive at two forty-five sharp, Kurt would just take off without us and I‘d have to wait for the eighth-graders bus. Luckily we made it on time, though. I wiped the sweat off my forehead as I hopped on the bus. Jill and I took the same seats from this morning and we chatted about our classes the way home. She got off first and waved good bye to me. I got off at the next stop and it was only seconds after I stepped off the bus did I see another bus pull up to the stop. At first, I thought it was the one I just got off of, but then I realized it was the one for Collins Elementary School, the one Michelle and Ricky went to.
Sure enough, Michelle was the first one to skip down the steps, with Ricky slouching behind her. “Hi Rose!” Michelle said enthusiastically. I could tell she had a brilliant day, the exact opposite of mine.
“Hey, Michelle.” I tried to sound normal, and not at all worried about my essay. I did a pretty good job because Michelle just smiled. Then I turned to my brother and asked, "Ricky, what's wrong?"

“Chess club,” he answered simply.
“Still not old enough?” I guessed.
He sighed. “Yeah. You have to be in fourth grade! They just changed it this summer because a third grader beat a fifth grader! I don’t find that fair.” He said angrily, his eyes down at the sidewalk and his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well, life isn’t always fair.” I walked around Michelle to stand next to his small body and wrapped one of my arms tightly around his tiny shoulders. “Ok, just for today, I’ll make you chocolate chip cookies, all right?”
His eyes flickered up to meet mine. “Really? You don't expect me to do something back?” He asked.
"Nope, nothing." I said. But then, after thinking for a second I said, "Actually, there is something."

He looked at me anxiously. "What is it?"

"Don't be so upset. Ok?"

A tiny smile formed on his lips. "Ok." He was silent for half a second before he shouted, “Hey, race you home! Last one there’s a rotten egg!” He was off in a second. I gasped in shock and then sprinted after him.

It didn’t take long for Michelle and me to catch up to Ricky and we were soon running neck-to-neck. I cocked my head to the right to see Michelle huffing and puffing. I twisted my head to the left and saw Ricky with a determined look on his face.
That was when I heard the voice.