Sofia
After hours of tossing and turning in my bed, I'm woken up by the sound of my alarm. Slowly lifting myself off from the comfort of my bed, I make my way to my bathroom. In my bathtub, I let the warm water sink into my skin to try and calm myself down.
I'm out of the bath relatively quickly and now staring at my closet in an attempt to find an outfit to wear.
I end up settling – after trying on all forms of clothing available in my closet, with the majority of it still on the floor after being cast aside – for a black skim dress paired with a light blue shrug. I tie my hair in an updo, messy bun to be exact, with a blue scrunchie that matches the colour of my shrug. I put on some lip gloss and tie everything off with a pair of blue-framed glasses. I do a once-over of myself in the mirror, nod in acceptance of my appearance, and make my way out of my room, grabbing my bag by the door.
I don't stop walking till I get to the underground garage and head for my car. I slide in, put on my seatbelt, turn on the ignition, and drive out onto the highway.
After parking my car, I make my way over to the main entrance of the school's building, intending to get my schedule and locker's location from the reception. It doesn't take much time, and soon I'm in the main school building. The first thing on my agenda is to find my locker. Should be easy enough
I'm walking down the hallway, trying to find my new locker.
I feel like I'm in a maze trying to find my way out
Hall 6
Locker D 15
That's what the paper I'm holding in my hand says, except I've been walking down the halls since forever now, and I haven't found it yet.
I got tired of walking around, and I decided to ask someone close by for directions.
"Excuse me?" the boy I ask turns to me after hearing my voice, and I take it as an opportunity to go on, "Sorry, but I'm looking for hall 6, can you point me in the direction?" The boy seems to be lost at my words, 'cause he turns his head around in a confused manner.
With his act, I notice his quite distinct features, dirty blonde hair, and brown eyes, also roughly six feet, I guess.
So I try repeating myself, but he cuts me off.
"It's a straight walk from here, and then turn left," I sigh with instant relief.
"Thank you so much," I say as I turn to leave, but I turn back, hearing him say something.
"Sorry, please, I didn't quite catch your name," he says, perhaps not expecting an answer to escape my mouth, and with that same uncertainty, "Joseph," he utters, "My name is Joseph". He says his name while stretching his hand forth as if to make himself seem friendly.
"Sofia", I say while shaking his outstretched hand, which makes him breathe out in relief.
"Sofia," he says, my name like his hearing it for the first time before adding "with a 'p'?"
"Nah, with an 'f'," I reply
"So like the princess?"
I snort, "Yes, like the princess." he chuckles.
"So I take it you're new here, Sofia?" he asks, moving his hands to the back of his head.
"Well, yeah, just transferred from Oakridge High."
Not many students transfer in their final year, and yet here I am in a brand new school in a whole new city.
I'm not the only one here, though; three other people from my old town are here as well, with the same reasons as mine.
Our parents got a promotion and had to move to the headquarters of the company they worked for
At first, I was a bit hesitant cause a whole new school would mess up our study plans for the SATs, but my mom said it wouldn't change much if I just took the books with my notes and the textbooks, and also added that I didn't really have a choice on the matter. So, unfortunately, I had to pack up my entire luggage in the middle of the night.
We arrived in the new city three days after mom told us the news, and were set to resume the new school the following day.
Sandra, in all her excitement, chose to resume school that very day along with the others.
I was the only one who chose to skip the first two weeks, and for very good reasons, one of which was revising my SAT practical exams. The past two weeks were spent at home studying and eating. It was an undisturbed cycle- well, at least until last night.
"Oakridge?" I nod in response to his question, which pulls me from my thoughts
I'm about to end our conversation with a thank you, so I can get back to finding my locker when I hear the sound of a bell. Shit
I let out a sigh before asking the boy, Joseph, for directions to my homeroom.
"Sure, I'll show you," I sigh with relief before telling him, "Ohm, room 3B." he seems to smile before saying, "Seems like I'll be seeing you often then." I'm left thinking again before he clarifies, "My homeroom's in the same hall." That makes more sense.
"Awesome, please lead the way." We make our way down the hall, and I make an effort to memorize the direction, only stopping when we get to the home room.
Most of the seats are already taken up by students, leaving only two seats open, but one is already claimed by someone's bag, leaving the one in front as the only available seat.
Soon after the teacher enters and tells everyone to settle down before addressing us
Scanning the room to make sure everyone's in their seats, the teacher's eyes soon land on me; she looks shocked to see me.
"Sandra, I never thought I'd find you in first home room class, did the sun rise from the west today?" She looks out the window to add emphasis to her words, and the students snicker. I'm about to clarify the misunderstanding, but I'm cut off by the sound of the door opening. The principal stands by the open door, not making an attempt to walk in, and silently gestures for the teacher to come over.
With the teacher gone, I feel a little bit at ease, grateful for the interruption. But my mind is only at peace for a while. I hear students talking, gossiping, and snickering, and I'm sure I can feel their pointed fingers at my back. The whole situation makes me sick and, in an attempt to drown out in noise, I pull out my headphones from my bag and put them over my head. When the noise persists, I decide it's best if I play some music as well. I'm about to do just that when the sound of the door opening again draws my attention; the teacher walks through, quieting the sound down with her presence. I huff out a sigh of relief.
With a light tap on my shoulder, she gestures for me to come stand beside her. I pull my headphones down slowly before setting them down on my desk. Giving her a confused look, I make my way over to her, only stopping once I get to her side. "What now?" I mutter under my breath. She seems to hear me and decides to get on with it.
She clears her throat as an indicator for the class to quiet down, before speaking, "Seems we have a new student in our midst." I almost feel stupid for not knowing that's why she was called by the principal.
With so many eyes on me, awaiting my introduction, I release my hair from its updo and let it fall over my face as a way of hiding from the crowd.
I hate having unwanted attention, and the best way I cope with it has always been by feeling small. That's how I've done it for as long as I can remember.
With my long hair that goes all the way down to the bottom of my calf, now in front of me, I can barely make out the crowd. The teacher lightly taps my shoulder, urging me to go on.
I take in two deep breaths before speaking.
"Hi everyone," I nervously say, keeping my eyes pinned to the floor, my glasses threatening to fall off, "my name is Sofia Lopez." I make emphasis on my name. "I just transferred here from Oakridge High. It's nice to meet y'all." The snickering all but seizes after I introduce myself. I turn to the teacher, "May I have my seat now, ma'am?" I ask her, and she gestures for me to take my seat. She then apologizes to me and says that she mistook me for someone else. I nod in response, not wanting to continue the conversation.
Soon after, the bell rings, indicating the official start of classes that day.
I decide to find my locker first before heading to class. Following the directions Joseph gave me, I finally found my locker.
Ugh, God bless his heart.
Inputting the password given to me, I open the locker door and finally offload my bag into it, before closing it back up. I turn around in hopes of not being too late to class on my first day, but what I'm met with shocks me.
Heads are turned, all in one direction.
Mine.
And there it is again, unwanted attention, for the second time today, and in just an hour. Why me?
I try making myself feel small again and instinctively reach out for my hair tie, except my hair isn't tied. I never ended up putting it back up after releasing it the first time.
I'm at my smallest, and yet I don't feel small enough.
I take in two deep breaths and walk, with my eyes glued to the ground, avoiding the people staring at me, down the halls to my next class.
Praying with each step that it should all go away, the eyes make them stop. When suddenly, as if on cue, I bump into something I assumed was a wall cause of my not looking ahead while walking, only to hear it speak? I slowly raised my head as realization dawned on me.
This is definitely not a something.
"I'm really sorry I wasn't..." I was about to mutter an apology, but the words instantly died in my throat the moment our eyes met.
Green – strangely familiar pair of green eyes meets mine, and I find myself getting lost in them, studying every feature, trying to recall where I've seen them before. It's only when he, cockily, tilts his head to the side that I finally place where I saw them.
At the bar!