The First Day

The day was February 1st. The hour, 06:58. I would start my new school in one hour and two minutes. Now I was merely lying in bed, staring at the light blue ceiling of my father’s house, counting the minutes until my alarm clock rang. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous at all. I was very much enthusiastic about starting anew. For the first time in my life everyone around me would not know me as the Hippolyte princess, but as Charlie, the normal, new 15-year-old girl from the 11th grade. At least I hoped so.

As I walked out the house in my deep red rain boots and large, dark-blue coat I dashed to my father’s Jaguar, in a desperate attempt to avoid the infinite tunnels of rain falling from the deep grey sky. My father was going to drop me off at school today, from where, I would then learn, I was going to meet Mr. George Baltimore, the Principal, and Mrs. Fleming, my form tutor. And I’ll admit, at this point I was a bit nervous.

When I arrived at my classroom, classroom number 2 at Stonefield Hall, I met 16 gazes of excitement and, in two particular cases, of utter boredom, following me as I passed all four rows until I got to my desk. Although I was dreading the possibility of profiling myself before the entire class, as is so often seen in television, now I somewhat regretted not having that opportunity. As I sat down a wave of whispers rushed through the room. Was it about me? Oh please, please, please, let it be about something else! “She’s beautiful” said a boy in the row in front of me. He must have been referring to another girl; there were seven other girls in this room alone! “Her face is familiar, but I don’t quite know where from”, said a black-haired young girl I would later know to be Josephine, or “Josie” Barker. I was extremely nervous now. I wanted no one to recognize me. As the day passed it seemed Josie Barker’s brief intervention was totally forgotten, replaced by an incomprehensibly large interest in my l"ong, reddish brown hair and blue eyes".