Color Chapter 1

School

I stood at the sidewalk waiting for the bus to carry me away. I closed my eyes and listened. I could hear birds chirping, a cool breeze made my hair go flying. I could hear woodpeckers endlessly gnawing at the trees. I opened my eyes and saw a family of deer walking off into the woods. I was jealous, why would I be jealous of a deer? Because that deer doesn’t have problems. It has an easy, perfect life, the life I crave so desperately. I just want to be free, like the deer, like the birds. I just want to be happy.
But that won’t happen to me. Good things aren’t something I’m used to. I could see the bus was coming my way; I frowned as it got closer and closer. My freedom was slipping away. All I wanted to do was run, and never come back.
But I didn’t run, instead I patiently waited for the bus to stop, and I climbed on. I could already see all the different types of kids who went to this school. There was a girl with glasses quietly reading a book. Behind her was a girl who was wearing a shirt I’m pretty sure would immediately get dress coded, she was chewing bubble gum and angrily texting on her phone.
And of course, in the back of the bus were a cluster of rowdy jock boys who probably don’t even know how to spell “school.”
Suddenly I was snapped back into reality.
“Young lady please take your seat!” The cranky old bus driver yelled.
I quickly walked down the aisle and sat in an empty seat. Here we go… I peered out the window; I was leaving behind my safe place. My home, where there was no one to judge me or make fun of me. I closed my eyes so desperately wishing this was all a bad dream and I would wake up again and be safe in my house. I just want to be able to see color again, to be able to feel again. I just want to be normal.
I noticed my usual symptoms starting to get worse so I opened the front pocket of my backpack and took some Advil. By the time I looked back up we were there. The school was big, it was made out of brick and wood which is strange because schools aren’t usually made with wood, and it also had tons of windows. It looked more like a fancy hotel than a school. I got off the bus quickly, hoping to not get pushed.
I walked up to the thin glass doors and opened one; carefully not to break it. I looked around, the school was massive. The schools colors were white and light blue at least that’s what my mother told me. So I assumed the walls were a beautiful sky blue color. There was oddly enough a chandelier in the center of the ceiling, even though that doesn’t belong in a school. There was a huge staircase leading to a second floor. I also saw that there were a prodigious amount of lockers practically everywhere. I took a deep breath in and looked at the map. My locker number was B107; that was supposedly on the second level.
I ran up the steep stairs and looked around. I saw rows and rows of lockers and classrooms. I looked at the closest locker number. B5; that means my locker should be close. I followed the trail of lockers until I reached my own. I pulled out my locker combination. 35-40-5; I carefully dialed the numbers. The locker slowly opened. I put all my stuff in my locker quickly. I was running out of time and the bell was about to ring. I shut my locker and ran, my first class was math. Luckily I saw the math classroom almost immediately. I ran over and took a seat, everyone stared at me. Was my hair okay? Did I have something stuck in my teeth? I tried to ignore it.
Okay class! Welcome to my class, I’m Mr. Marks and I’ll me your math teacher this year! So for this year… I tuned out after that. I played around with my hair, paying no attention what so ever.
Ms. Sky how about you introduce yourself? My head snapped up when I heard that. Oh no…
I got up and walked to the front of the class. My throat was burning and I couldn’t swallow. I was starting to sweat out of pure nervousness.
Um hi, my name is sky, I moved here from Georgia. We moved because of um… My parents jobs… I guess that’s all you really need to know… so um yeah…
I quickly walked back to my seat with my head down and my cheeks flushed. That was so embarrassing. I could tell everyone was staring at me so I didn’t look up for the rest of the class period.
I tuned out again in hopes of forgetting my horrible flop…
Finally the bell rang and I rushed out of the class, eager to escape. My next class was History. I scanned my map but I couldn’t find my class. I quickly ran to a teacher to ask. “Do you know where Ms. Goll’s class is?” I stammered. “Right down this hall to the left.” She smiled at me. I ran straight for it. I slammed the door open. It made the biggest, loudest most obnoxious sound ever. My cheeks turned bright red.
Again, for the second time today, the whole class was staring at me, judging me. “Sorry” I murmured. I ran to a seat in the back row practically in tears. This is a disaster. I glanced up and saw the teacher giving me a warm smile. I tried to smile back but it was more of a crooked smirk.
As the class started I looked at my surroundings, but mainly the people. I saw that the guys here were good looking, even if I couldn’t tell what color they possessed. The girls were also all gorgeous; they were all pretty and perfect. They were nothing like me; I was the lonely; ugly duckling that nobody liked. I was different, I was alone.
The class dragged on and on, I must have been looking at the clock every two minutes. Just hoping the bell would ring. People kept staring at me. It made me really self-conscious. I just wanted to leave. This day has been horrible, a nightmare, it’s been… Hell.