We have a New Student

Chapter Three: Third School and Moving Back

Life had to go on. I missed a week of class because of my grandpa's funeral. I had accepted that I no longer had any grandpas, but at least I still had both my grandmas. 

We stayed at my dad's house for the rest of the school year. My mom found a school...not too close to the house. It was a 15 minute ride by car. The campus was huge. I suck at estimating, so let's just say they had all year levels including a huge building for the college level. They had gardens, huge courts and a lot of space for any sort of assembly. They had theatre rooms, spacious computer rooms and so on. The college building even had a basement, rumored to be haunted by ghost. I did not bother to verify.  

The school uniform was pretty, it looked...expensive. It was a non-sectarian college that was named after one of Jesus' apostles, so it was a Saint Name-here College. The town itself was named after the same saint, but in Spanish. The students in that school were nothing close to saints. Or maybe it was just my classmates.My class was more chaotic than first grade. Even with a teacher present, people threw spitballs, paper planes and themselves. A few boys would be running around the room showing absolutely zero respect for the current teacher and the lesson. The teachers walked out a lot.

My first day was okay. I knew nobody but some really girly girls asked me my name.

"Hey. I'm Charm, if you need any help just talk to us 'kay? What's your name?", It was a girl with curly dark brown hair and pink everything.

 "...Sandra. Sandra Lee" I replied quietly.

She handed her hands out and shook mine. She called her "girls" and introduced them to me. I did not remember a single of her minions' names. 

I loathe girly girls. All they talk about are boys, boys, boys, and how old were they? Eight? Nine? What's with the kids today....

Recess time came. I went to the canteen alone. The canteen was so-so. There was not enough light, and it seemed spooky to me. I found a bench outside and ate.

A tall kid from my class said hi.

"Hey, you're the new student right? I'm Dylan, your classmate." He smiled.

"Yeah... hello", I smiled shyly.

"Are you not lonely alone? I could stay...." Dylan asked.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks"

Dylan waved and left. I continued eating the sandwich I brought. It was windy outside the canteen. My shoulder-length hair managed to tangle theirselves for the nth time. I went on eating joyfully. I had missed my breakfast because I woke up late.

I saw Charm and her girls come out of the canteen.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Did that jerk just talk to you? Talking to him is a no-no dearie. He's a major perve." Charm reminded me of teenagers. Or maybe she wanted to be one so soon, so she talked like one.

"Who's with you?" Charm finally realized I was alone.

"No one. I'm okay." I said.

"Oh. Okay see you in class!" She flashed me a girly smile and waved goodbye.Her girls followed behind her as she left.

The bell rang signalling the end of break time. I hunted for my classmates. It took me a few more minutes before I recognized some of them. I was again at the beginning of the line. 

The bell rang once more, and each class had to return to their classrooms in an orderly manner. My classroom was at the third floor.

The chaos returned. I felt sorry for the teachers.

Days passed. Charm never talked to me again, except when teasing me and Dylan. She always picked on Dylan. The rest of my classmates talked to me only when their lives depended on it, when they had no paper during a quiz. I was an instant paper sponsor.

A few sitting arrangements later, I finally found some friends.  Danielle, Carol and Andy. They were all girls and not Charm's kind.Danielle wore glassesand was also quiet in class. Carol and Andy were just friendly. We roamed the school during breaktime. Our favorite route was going to the back of our building where wooden benches and plants filled the path. We would get out of the other end of our building and walk accoss the front of our building and repeat.  On some days, we would eat lunch under the shade of a huge mushroom looking thiing. There was a lot of those...things.

Months passed. My nanny went to my mom's province to get my school files from my old school. She went back with not just my files, but also letters from my friends Ina and Titus. I was a kid back then, so I did not bother taking their adress. I've lost their letters and... I have no idea where they are now.

My third school wasn't so bad. I had friends. I had space. And there was a cute boy in class. He always borrowed a pencil from me. His eyes always shone when I handed him a pencil. He even wrote me a letter of thanks at the end of the school year--- which was actually our project in language class. He said I was the kindest person in class and I should never change. It felt nice to be the one lending things.

I forgot how my grades were. I was not one of the top students of my class but I always got an award after every quarter ended. It was... "Most Behaved", also known as the silent award. I have reasons to believe that they owed me the "Always Tardy" award. I should have been a gold medalist, beating all year levels.

At the end of the schoolyear, my mom found out that my school wasn't much of a school. She wasn't satisfied with the academic part of the school. Sure, the campus was huge, we weren't hundreds in class, but what's a private school with lousy education? And so with that, mom decided to go back to our house. The one where I forever live.

Daniella, Carol and Andy had no idea they weren't going to see me... ever.

Ina and Titus were lucky that I got to say goodbye.