Book- Misunderstood

Chapter 2

In truth, all that had happened was merely a set up, a time to take me away from my father whom was an innocent man, ganged up upon by the greed of others as all was taken from him, leaving him stricken with grief through the legal action known as divorce. I had not known at the time what any of this had meant as my vocabulary had yet to reach so far but I learned only a year after of its meaning, after spending false time and joy in the confines of Costa Rica with my grandmother whom had helped plan this... coup de ta, and my mother whom was the weapon that took from the family that we had. Finally, after the long year of culture that seemed to pour itself into me where I held no knowledge, we once again left back for the United States where we took to a place that still remained close to the home we had left. So close. Yet so far.I surveyed my empty room that held a large window that viewed the neighborhood we lived in. I looked at the sole bed in my room holding a comfort the held repentance to the injury that lay on my heart. Even so, I smiled as each day I would find a new place before me despite my yearning for my father. I left the room, closing the dark brown wooden door and went into the bathroom, and saw for the first time myself in my reflection. It wasn't like one would describe simply their features but the small details that told people whom I was apart from a doppelgänger. Gold hair like my mothers, pale blue eyes that stared back, a small face and frail body, a smile that looked.... different from a normal one but I couldn't tell what it was. I continued my morning though, brushing my teeth robotically as most kids normally do, before grabbing my bag and leaving, my mother already gone or engrossed in her work. There was no one to tell me "Hello" nor "Goodbye", just the solitary silence of the house. I left for school, my first day, an excitement that filled me to the brim as all sat on the bus in silence as they too were unsure of the place they were being taken to, though a smile still played across my face. Finally, we left the bus driver with a kindly farewell and made our way into the school, a place that seemed itself to tower above me and everyone else, almost like a grand library in a work of fiction where people congregated and learned together. Though we all stood in a disorderly fashion, trying our best to discern where it was we held place and purpose to be until finally I had found the room I was assigned. I entered immediately, my pace in earnest as I looked around only to finally sit down. Soon more and more children like me filed in, their faces confused, awed, enamored, and some with a smile that seemed a little different than mine. Finally, the sound of ringing filled the air from some unknown place and we were left to our own in this new place as a man, who's hair was short to almost the point of being bald, eyes intense as one who hunted prey, and a stature that showed he was of gentle nature had entered the room. All of us looked at him with curiosity at such a man whom we could have revered easily as a "God" among us, based merely off of physical characteristics. He spoke slowly, as if testing waters that our minds seemed to all contain, "Hello everyone. Starting from today you'll be attending school for what, hopefully, will not be your entire lives." A few of the kids giggled around me and I tried laughing along with them but it came out more of a mumble than anything. The teacher continued, "My name is Mr. Allegar. I will be your teacher for the year, and I hope you learn a lot so you can one day be my president." He smiled at everyone as he said this, though his eyes skipped over me. Immediately I felt an odd sensation of warmth on my back, sweat seeming to collect on me at this oddity but I still tried to remain calm. Maybe he just hadn't noticed me? Slowly the teacher began to work around the class in the usual fashion, kids like me making their way up to the front of the class, their hair all different colors, except nothing as strange as red or blue, their eyes wavering from gentle to intense and their voices at many different pitches. Though, I didn't realize at the time, it was odd for a child to notice something as trivial and defined as the features of the person but nonetheless I wanted to make a place for myself in this "world". When it came my turn, I stood up tenderly as if afraid to set off a bomb or to disturb the silence in the room. I walked with care toward the front, feeling the many stares of other people on me, on my back, giving me their thoughts and judging me already like we had the teacher. Finally I stood at the front and smiled meekly, nervous as my voice came at it's higher pitch, "H-Hi... My name is Jack Irsa, I came from Del Rio..." I got more nervous as people didn't say anything and listened to me intently, so I decided against my better judgement to say something else to lighten the mood that had settled around the class. "It has a river!" I felt worse when everyone continued staring at me, and to make it worse, Mr. Allegar said nothing as well, feeling his gaze far more than the children giving me fear within me. "Go sit down Jack, it's Miss...." I walked quickly to my seat, my eyes growing with a little bit of tears at the dejection I felt despite trying my best as a girl walked up to the front, speaking her name like the rest of us had. That day no one had talked to me but I watched as they all talked to each other. I felt like the "world" had abandoned me, that the world itself had turned against me, waiting for 8 hours of 6 different classes, waiting, trying to talk to other whom merely brushed me off. I went home at the end of the day, the bus bustling with chatter as I sat, staring at the window as the day seemed bright and sunny, but to me seemed almost like it had been raining. I stepped off the bus and looked at the ground as I walked toward the empty, solitary house that held no comfort, no home for me. When I was inside, I did the work that the teacher had assigned to us and went to my room, and laid down. I stared at the ceiling and closed my eyes. That day I dreamt of the day I had left my home.