Away from the past

Coronado High

January 18th

First day jitters have arrived. I'm up and ready to go at about 6:30 a.m. My house is not far from the school at all but mom still offered to drive me. I have on a stripped t-shirt dress that is completely appropriate for school. Nothing fancy and this is what I truly like to wear. I am a comfortable dresser, that's how I've always been and will probably always be that way. I wouldn't have been able to wear this dress back in San Clemente and it wasn't because of my parents.

"You ready?" Mom pokes her head in.

I nod and pick up my book bag. It's kind of warm this morning so mom blasts the air on our way to the school. I can't help but think about how things are at my old school right now. If I was there, I would be walking through the halls, passing Theo by his locker. No matter how long ago I've broken up with him, he won't leave me alone because he doesn't take no for an answer. I assume he would be looking for me right about now but hopefully I'm wrong, probably not. Maybe today, everyone will just think I'm only absent for a day but that'll get pretty old real soon. In that school, people talk. It doesn't matter how minor or major the situation is, if it's good enough to be spread around, it will be.

"It's go time." I look at my mom and smile.

She smiles back and I get out of the car and walk up to the entrance. I have to remind myself why I'm here. This is the best thing for my parents and I. I walk in the front door, admiring my new beginning.  In the office I get my schedule and a lady escorts me to my first class.

I have science lab with a man name Mr. Lions not too far from the main office.

"Hello, Hello Mr. Lions." The lady interrupts him writing on the board. "Your new student has arrived, punctual too!"

She jokes with him.

"Ah, of course! Liana Kaden, I've been waiting for you to arrive. Welcome to Cornado High." I can tell he has his silly moments.

"Thank you." My cheeks feel huge on my face.

There is no one in the classroom but kids are filling the halls. School starts in fifteen minutes, the lady from the office shows me to my locker and we go on a mini tour of the school. She brings me back to my first period with five minutes left until class begins. Instead of regular desks, we have lab tables. Four people are usually at a table so they put me at the table with three other people.

A girl named Ellia is the first to greet me and helps me with the next assignment for this class.

"What school did you come from?" She asks the dreaded question of the next few months.

"Silverleaf prep." I feel so ashamed.

"Oh we have a fancy pants in the building." A guy across from me jokes.

"I'm Jordi by the way and don't worry just because you came from private school, doesn't mean I won't like you. I know not all private school kids are stuck up. You're doing great so far." He's definitely corky and I think he's the first person here that I'll like.

"Thanks." I'm finding it hard to speak more than four words at a time. Maybe it's a good thing that I'm at a lost for words, no room for me to mess up.

Other than Ellia and Jordi at the table, there is another boy named Myles. Myles seemed nice too, not much to go off of since he didn't say much. Science was pretty boring today but that class does do a lot of experiments so I guess I can look forward to those.

Next is math, then health, then art. Nothing spectacular about any of those classes but I find myself being at ease sitting in this place.

Lunch rolls around and I find the only people I kind of know. Ellia seems happy that I'm sitting with them so I guess I made the right decision. Jordi and Myles are here as well but so is a kid named Jesse. He is in my Science class too but he sits across the room. He's apparently on the track team but also helps out with softball from time to time. It seems like softball is the one thing that Ellia can't stop talking about right now. She's also trying to get me to join and I find it absolutely absurd.

I just got here and I haven't played in so long.

"We start practicing early because it doesn't really get cold here. Please say you'll try out with me! You can come over this weekend and we could practice then." She begs.

People here are so different from Silverleaf people. No one would act like this there and I'm actually kind of glad.  A new friend I suppose. I came here not wanting to get too attached to anyone for a while but Ellia and Jordi make that so hard.

I have gym with all of them right after lunch. The gym class is pretty big  so when we get on to the field, there are four different activities to choose from. Football, soccer, softball, and walking around the track.

Of course Ellia drags me with her but I don't mind. The person in charge of softball for the activities is the actual coach and it turns out she's doing some early scouting. I catch people staring at me all day but I am new so I really don't care. All day I've kept to myself when I could, and hardly made eye contact with anyone, especially in the hall.

My brain won't stop wondering what's happening at my old school. Are they talking about me? Do they think I'm just absent? Is anyone trying to contact me? I really shouldn't care but there's so much baggage I have with that place. So many terrible things happened to me and so much drama all of the time.

At the same time, I can't express how grateful I am to be far, far away.