~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
“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
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.