The bus rolled and stopped at about four different bus stops as I sat with my head against the window. It was a warm fall day and the bus was pretty full as school started again. The fourth stop was one of the less crowded ones and most of the people who got on took seats in the front of the bus, but there was one who moved towards the middle of the bus and took the seat behind Jane. Jane turned around the two talked for a bit but instead of turning around to join in on the conversation, I remained with my head against the window. There was so much to think about like how far my new school was and what it was going to look like. If I was going to be able to find my classes alright. Who I was going to meet on my first day of school. Whether I would like my new teachers or not. The bus left the last stop and we were finally on our way to McLean High School, where all the questions I had would be answered.

Have Your Voice Heard: Become an Odyssey Creator

I looked out the window as the bus went through a neighborhood with homes that looked much more modern that the ones I was used to seeing in my cold-a-sac and after a couple of turns down different streets in the neighborhood, there it was. The buildings were made of red brick although there was many of them, McLean High School looked very welcoming without having to step inside any of the buildings. The bus came to a stop about midway up the line and the many people began to pile off and go in different directions. There was people going straight ahead, to the right, and walking back along the lines of busses to a door behind us. I stood on the sidewalk looking around in awe while wondering which way to take, and seeing Jane walk straight ahead towards what looked like the main entrance, I followed her, hoping to get an idea to where the hall I was looking for was. Earlier in August, Jane had taken my map of the school and color coated it for me, showing where the halls I would need to know of were. My first class was Anatomy in the Yellow hall, so that’s where I decided to start.

I walked down the main ramp where everyone else was walking and when I reached the bottom of the ramp, some people went to the left, others to the right, and even more went straight. I decided to follow the people going to the right and found myself in a crowded hallway with blue tiles across the walls.

“Must be the blue hallway.” I said to myself as I tried to decide where to go next. There were several different classrooms but looking on my schedule, I wouldn’t have any classes in the blue hallway until silver day. The blue hallway was long with people walking in all directions, so I continued to walk down the hallway until I reached the end. At this point, classes were about to start and my three options were turning to the left, walking out the doors to the right outside then into the next building, or turning around and walking back up the blue hallway. Time was running out so I made the quick choice of following a small group of students outside and into the next building. As I stepped into the building, the tiles changed from blue to silver and there was much less people compared to some of the other hallways. At the very end of the hall stood the double doors that I had seen others walk through earlier in the morning and as I turned the corner, there seemed to be even less people strolling down the hallways. Of what little people there was, there was a man dressed in a uniform that stood out from the much younger looking students so I walked up to him, determined not to be late to class on the first day. “Excuse me.” I said holding out my schedule to the man. “I just transferred here and I was wondering if you would be able to tell me where the yellow hallway was.”

“Well for sure! If you walk down to the very end of this hallway towards the main entrance you should come across a stair case. Walk up the stair case and turn to the right and you should hit the yellow hallway. Actually 202 should be one of the first classrooms on the right side of the hall.” “Thank you so much!” “Anytime! Where did you transfer from?” “Hawaii.” “Well that’s definitely a far way out!” the man laughed. “If you ever need help in the future name is Officer Davis.” “Thanks a lot Officer Davis!” “You best be getting to class now or you’ll be late.” I turned on my heel and walked as fast as I could towards the staircase at the end of the hall that Officer Davis had pointed out. I skipped the stairs by two’s hoping that I wouldn’t trip and fall but luckily, I made it to the top unharmed. Walking just a little way down the hallway, Room 202 in the yellow hallway was exactly where Officer Davis had pointed on the map, up the staircase and on the right side of the hall.

Entering the classroom, there was already a good portion of other students in the room sitting at the lab tables and standing around talking, so I walked over to the back of the room to one of the only seats remaining, a table with three other guys. None of us really talked to each other much, but I managed to learn that the tall boy with curly hair was Nick Anthony and the one about my height with short blonde hair was Jon Clines. Just seconds after 8:00, a woman dressed in a white lab coat walked in and introduced herself.

“Hello all! My name is Jennifer Choumil but to students, I am known as Mrs. Choumil. Welcome to Anatomy and Physiology! In most cases, you will have assigned lab partners but for the first couple of days, I want you to get to know the people around you. So, to start off, I have a game that we are going to play and it is a lot like Bingo. The goal is to find other people around the room that have the same thing as you and to mark it off your card when you do. Good luck!” The students rose from their chairs as one and circled around the room trying to find something their card had in common with another’s. This went on for most of the class period and the other half was spent going over the syllabus and the material that would be taught in the class. After the bell rang signaling the end of first period, the bell rang for highlander time, which Nick went on to explain it was a little more than half an hour break to try and get more things done. When highlander time ended, third period was up next and much to my delight, I had walked past that classroom earlier in the day. The journalism classroom was in the red hallway, the hallway that led down the main ramp into the blue hallway so I knew exactly where it was. A shorter woman with blonde hair and a friendly smile and an even more cheerful laugh introduced herself as Lindsay Benedict or Mrs. B, the advisor to The Highlander, McLean High School’s magazine. The way that class was started was similar to anatomy, yet it was different. Instead of doing something similar to jeopardy, Ms. B. had us do an ice breaker so that the new members of the staff felt more comfortable with each other. The rules were simple. Ms. B. would start off and would say her name, and something that corresponded with the first letter then the next person had to say the same exact thing as Ms. B. on top of their own thing and so on. There was many laughs as friends reunited and new bonds were made and from that very moment, I could tell that Journalism was going to be one of my favorite classes.

The rest of the day turned out much better than I could have ever expected. French was in the Green hallway in Room 281 and was a very nice experience overall. At first I did feel a little out of place because many of the students had a much better understanding of French but eventually Mr. Click’s high pitched and warming laughs helped me to enjoy even the first day of French. My last class of the day was AP Lit with Mrs. Caponetti and there was a quiz straight out of the gate on our summer reading, A Doll’s House, and while she seemed very nice and all, there was a feeling that not so many people would like her as much as they liked other teachers. School ended at 2:55 and I moved with the rest of the crowd of people in search for bus number five and found in the line of busses at the front of the school. Jane was already on the bus and I took the seat in front of her while Caroline Griffis. About halfway through the ride home, Jane tapped me on the shoulder and smiled. I returned the favor and grinned back at her as I turned around in my seat.

“So how was your first day new kid?” Jane asked still smiling. “Well you know it really wasn’t all that bad! There are definitely ways that it could have been worse.” Jane laugh as I said this and the two of us began talking about our first day of senior year and the different people that I had met and that she could introduce me to. It was at that point that I realized that I was happy to have a neighbor like Jane that was so willing to help, even if I had only known her for just a couple weeks. It was at this point that I thought: Maybe McLean won’t be so bad.