“When you think it will be normal, it really isn’t.”--Shamara

First day. Damn. Why am I so nervous? It’s not like I am getting married or anything. I’m just going to a normal school. Yeah, just school.

“Hey, sweetie! You need to get going or you will be late!” Mom yelled from downstairs.

I looked in the mirror one more time and went downstairs. I picked up an apple in the kitchen and headed toward the door.

“Bye Mom!” I yelled as I went out the door.

“Love you, sweetie. Good luck!” She replied.

Looks like Dad already left for work as the new manager at the hardware store.

I backed out of the driveway and headed toward the school.

After about 15 minutes of driving, I finally spotted the school sign that said: “Welcome to CHS.” Yeah, I feel so welcomed.

I found a parking spot a few rows from the front office. I started walking to the front of the school until I saw Chloe waving me over.

“Hey, Shamara! Are you excited? I couldn’t wait until school started again. I was getting so bored staying at home all the time.

I chuckled,”I know what you mean. Want to come get the schedules with me?”

“Yeah! Then we can meet with the gang at lunch”

We went to the office and filled out the necessary paperwork. When we finally got our schedules, the first bell already rang.

“OK. It looks like we have the same classes except for 5th and 6th period. I have stats and Spanish during that time.” She said as we were walking to our math class.

“Cool. At least I’ll know somebody.”

“Hey. Why do you not have P.E. Or a foreign language?”

“Oh. I kinda met all the requirements for them in my freshman year. I always take a music or some kinda of art class.”

“Man you are so lucky. I hate P.E. But it seems like they gave you a free period. Oh. You could probably ask the librarian is she needs another hand. Her other student aid graduated last year.”

“Um...Ok. I will ask her later today.”

“Great! Ok...here we are.” She said when we stopped at a door like the rest.

As we walked in a middle-aged teacher welcomed us.

“Late again as always, Ms. Stephens?”

“Well someone had to escort the new girl, Mr. Summers.” She replied.

He chuckled and said, “Ok, Ms. Stephens. I will forgive you just this once. Now go have a seat.” He turned to me after she sat down. “Now you must be the new girl, Ms.Stephens was talking about. Don’t just stand there. Introduce yourself.”

Dang no pressure at all.

“Hi. My name is Shamara Williamson. I came from Oakstown, Iowa.”

There simple and sweet.

“Thank you for that Ms. Williamson. You can have a seat by Ms. Stephens.”

And the day goes on until lunchtime. I got my food and went to find Chloe. I finally found her with three others at a corner table. Chloe saw me and waved me over.

As I sat down she was saying, “Guys, this is Shamara Williamson. She is the new girl everyone was talking about. Give her any trouble and then you will have to mess with me. K?”

I think she just gave them an evil eye. Remind me not to get on her bad side.

“Now that we are all straight. That over there is Dawn Owens with the red pigtails...”

Dawn waved and continued eating.

“To her right is the annoying James Logan.”

I have to admit he is cute. He has brown hair with green- looking eyes. He looks like he goes to the gym every day.

“And this handsome devil is my ma... I mean boyfriend Nick Taylor.”

OK...weird.

“Hey, where is Matt. He does know it’s the first day of school right?” She asked the others.

“He had to do some business out of town. So he will be here on Wednesday.” Nick said.

“Ok,” she said as she turned to me,” I guess you will meet him in a couple of days.”

After lunch, we parted ways. It turns out that my next class is music. Which is on the other side of the school. Yeah!

When I got to the classroom, I was greeted by a woman in her late twenties. She introduced herself as Mrs. Julia Inverness, but to just call her Mrs. Julie.

She gave us a day off and told us to do anything we want as long as we stay in the classroom. I decided to go to the grand piano while everyone else decided to talk or text on their phones.

It has been several years since I played the piano in front of people but I have been playing here and there. I picked out a piece of music that was known to be soothing and playful.

Everyone was distracted so I started to play. The longer I played the more at peace I felt. I kept playing until the last line.

As I brought myself back to reality, I realized it was quiet. I looked around and everyone was staring at me. Then they started clapping. I’ve never had that kind of response before. The teacher came up to me and asked, “How long have you been playing?”

“Since I was five years old.”

“Well I hope you will play more for us and you are welcome to come in at any time.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Julie. I will probably come by more often since I decided to leave my piano at the other house.”

“Well, I sure hope so.” She turned back to the class and said, “Alright class is over. Have a good day!”

Before I was at the door, everyone came up to me to comment and asked to hang out sometime. I politely declined for the day and headed toward the library.

When I got there, no one was around so I decided to look around. After about ten minutes, I saw a woman trying to carry a big stack of books. I ran up to her and said,

“Here let me help you.”

“Well, thank you, dear. Just set them down on the counter. My name is Jennifer Bein but you can call me Jenn. I’m the librarian here.”

“I’m Shamara Williamson. I actually was coming to ask you if you needed any more help around here since I have a free period.”

“Oh, yes that would be wonderful. One of my student aids graduated last year and the other one is not here today.”

“Awesome. Just tell me what needs to be done and we can go from there.”

So the rest of the week became a regular everyday thing. I still haven’t met the other member of Chloe’s gang. But I have a feeling that I will soon.