The Dark Side of the Moon

2. First Sight

I didn't sleep well that night, even after I was done crying. The constant whooshing of the rain and wind across the roof wouldn't fade into the background. I pulled the faded old quilt over my head, and later added the pillow, too. But I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight, when the rain finally settled into a quieter drizzle.

Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage.

I was in a cage.

I looked at the map, trying to memorize it now while sitting on a bench, the cool morning seeping through my worn sweater as the chatter of students surrounded me. I could feel their eyes and hear their whispers, assuring me that I was without a doubt a topic of gossip in this small town. I blushed deeply, but continued to keep my head down.

Hopefully within a few days they should forget about me...Charlie warned me to avoid making friends.

I stuffed everything in my threadbare bag, swung the strap over my shoulder, and stepped  towards the school.I kept my face pulled back into my hood as I walked to the sidewalk, crowded with teenagers. Surprisingly, my attire did not stand out as much as I had feared, although seemingly more worn through.

Once I got around the cafeteria, building three was easy to spot. A large black "3" was painted on a white square on the east corner. I felt my breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as I approached the door. I tried holding my breath as I followed two unisex raincoats through the door.

The classroom was small. The people in front of me stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. I copied them. They were two girls, one a porcelain-colored blonde, the other also pale, with light brown hair. At least my skin wouldn't be a stand-out here.

I took the slip up to the teacher, a tall, balding man whose desk had a name plate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at me when he saw my name - not an encouraging response - and of course I flushed tomato red. But at least he sent me to an empty desk in the back without introducing me to the class. It was harder for my new classmates to stare at me in the back, but somehow they managed. I kept my eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given me. It was fairly basic: Brontë, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. I'd already read everything. That was comforting...and boring. And yet, the teacher droned on.

When the bell rang, a nasal buzzing sound, I stood up as quickly as I could, attempting to avoid the eyes of the curious peers who surrounded me. A gangly boy with skin problems and hair black as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to me, but I scurried out of the room before he could even attempt to say hello.

To be silent is to be good.

That was something Charlie had told me since the day I was born, and 'encouraged' me through many painful lessons to remember.

The rest of the morning passed in about the same fashion. My trigonometry teacher, Mr.Varner, who I would have hated anyway just because of the subject he taught, was the only one who made me introduce myself. I stammered, blushed, and tripped over my own boots on my way to my seat.

After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the other who would attempt to introduce themselves or ask how I was liking Fork High, but I only gave brief, vague responses that ended the conversation in a deadpan. I tried to be diplomatic, but mostly I just lied a lot.

One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she tried harder than anyone else to get to me. It seemed that once she found her useless prattling was bouncing off of me, unheard, she began to dislike me. She ignored me for most of the class, but teased me all the way to the cafeteria. I couldn't remember her name, so I kept my head down and moved to sit at an empty table, tucked into the corner of the room, hidden from her view at her large table, as she was surrounded by a large group of friends. Seven, to be exact.