Monday, September 8, 2003

Lizzie walked into her new school at 10 minutes till 7. It was so huge. How could she ever find her way around it? She glanced back at her locker number on the piece of paper in her hands. 659 in the upper level. Where was that? Where were the stairs? And where were all of her classrooms?

She decided it was a good thing she got there early, or else she may never find her way around. No one was there, she noted. Not even Gordo or Miranda. On her way to where she thought her locker was she passed a few scattered people also wandering the halls, but they didn't look like freshmen like her. They were maybe sophomores, or maybe juniors. Not seniors. The seniors weren't stupid enough to come to school an hour early.

She got to her hallway and followed the trail of lockers, reading each number, until she reached the locker 11 from the end. 659. Her combination was 43-1-48. She put it in slowly and carefully, then tried to lift up the notch. It didn't work. She did it again, and it wouldn't go. Once more she tried, and this time it gave way. If I have to do it slowly 3 times, I'll never get to class on time, she thought to herself. Then she gazed at her new high school locker, somewhat excited. She put in her shelf, then some magnets she'd brought along. She had a mirror, a few pictures of her, Miranda, and Gordo, 2 of her cousin Heather, then some of Josh Hartnett, and then Brooke Nevin. She smiled slightly after they were put up, deciding it was definitely a high schooler's locker. Her locker.

"Hey, beautiful."

Lizzie turned and saw Miranda smiling at her and she smiled back. "Hey, freshman. You excited?"

Miranda nodded. "Definitely. You done here?"

Lizzie put her backpack inside and slammed it shut, then replied, "Sure, let's go to yours."

"Then I wanna see where my classes are," Miranda said as they started walking down the hall. "You know, so I know where to go today. I don't think the upperclassmen'll be of much help."

"Probably not. You seen Gordo?"

"Not yet."

Then a girl came up the stairs that were some distance ahead of them, and started looking at the locker numbers, searching for hers. As the two best friends neared her they recognized Claire Miller.

"Hey," Claire said, sounding welcoming. Lizzie and Miranda looked at her, surprised.

"What?" Lizzie asked.

"I just said hey," Claire replied. "Us freshmen gotta stick together, you know. You guys don't know where 657 is, do you?"

Lizzie pointed in the direction of her own locker. "Way down there. You're 2 away from me."

Claire smiled. "Cool. Then I'll see you at passing period? Maybe sooner?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Sure." Claire left and Lizzie and Miranda continued on their ways.

"Wow," Miranda said. "What just happened?"

Lizzie shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm not gonna be mean to her if she's nice to me. Where's your locker?"

"Right here," Miranda said, stopping in front of one. She punched in her combo and her locker opened on command. She smiled at Lizzie's gaping face and explained, "I've been practicing."

"You practice your combo?" a male voice asked. "Typical freshman."

Miranda and Lizzie turned and smiled at the sight of their third and final unit. "Hey, Gordo," Lizzie said. "You excited for your first – oh, no, wait – second day of high school?"

The cute 14-year-old guy was smirking. "This won't be as bad as the one I went to before, I'm hoping. That one was public, this is private. But I saw elevators, and that isn't a good sign. I've had a bad experience with high school elevators."

"The elevators are only for the handicapped," Miranda informed him. "You won't be using them unless you want to get suspended."

"That's a negative. My parents'd kill me."

"No kidding, Mr. 4.0."

"Hey, I don't have one yet. You two know where 114 is?"

"Locker?"

"No, room. French."

Miranda's eyes widened and she turned her attention from her locker to her friend. "French?! You're in French?!"

Gordo seemed neutral. "Yeah, so?"

"So am I! What hour do you have it?"

"Same as you. It's only offered first block. Oh, yeah, and that's another thing. We have the block schedule here. Do you know how many classes I have? 4. French, Religion, Advanced Algebra, and PE. If you count Study Hall, I have 5. It's convenient."

"You're in Advanced Algebra?" Lizzie demanded.

Gordo nodded. "I'm one of 3 freshmen. I hear the class is mostly dominated by juniors."

"Have fun."

"Totally. And I'm assuming there won't be many guys in French, either. And PE? That's a freshman/sophomore class. It should be better. However, I'm not looking forward to the showers. Of course, I have that last block, so maybe I could stall. Or even skip the shower entirely. I could shower at home, even. But I guess I can't avoid it forever. I- wow, you guys aren't very talkative today, are you?"

"No, you're just overly so," Lizzie replied. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

"I'm praying this first day isn't as bad as my last first day. But it shouldn't be. This is where my brother went, and he said it's not bad."

"Your brother?" Lizzie asked, confused.

"Half-brother," Miranda put in. "Luke, you mean?"

Gordo nodded. "He said that unless things have drastically changed, I should be fine."

"When did you talk to him?"

"Internet last night."

Gordo had gotten a lot more comfortable about talking about his half-brother Luke, which was a very healthy sign. When he first found out about him, he was ashamed. After that, he didn't really care what other people thought, he was just awkward around the guy. But now it was normal, almost. He didn't even bother to insert the "half" before "brother." He considered Luke part of his family, which was good because it was the only family the college student had ever known.

"So what do you guys wanna do till the bell rings?" Gordo asked.

"I wanna find my classrooms," Lizzie said. "So that I don't have to beg some junior during passing period. Do we have chapel today?"

Miranda nodded. "We usually have it Tuesdays and Thursdays, but they're having it today as a sort of initiation thing or whatever."

"Is chapel optional?" Gordo asked. The two girls looked at him, surprised.

"Why would it be? This is a Christian school."

"Well, it should be. Otherwise they're trying to make the students believe what they want them to believe, and that's unfair to the student. It's stripping the student of his or her rights of free will."

"This is a Christian school," Miranda repeated. "Like I said. Religion class isn't optional."

"That's another thing that makes me mad. I'm Jewish, and I have no use for learning about the Lutheran congregation."

"Then why're your parents sending you here?"

"Cause it's a good school, it's small, I know a lot of people going here, my dad knows someone who teaches here, and I also get a free ride."

"Why?" Lizzie demanded.

"Scholarship."

"Figures."

Gordo smirked. "But personally, I don't see the point. I get to go for free at your average public school, too. What's the difference?"

"Quit complaining; we're here, aren't we?"

"That's another thing. You guys aren't Christian, what are you doing here?"

Lizzie paused. "I honestly don't know why. I guess that whole knowing a lot of people coming here is a factor, and my parents also did pull out the 'nice school' reason."

Miranda nodded. "Lots of successful people come out of here. One girl went to Mayo Clinic."

"I didn't hear that," Gordo said.

"Here's the next one," Lizzie said, pointing to Gordo. "He's going on to Harvard."

Gordo made a face. "It's a nice school, but it's also a nice law school. Law isn't my thing."

"Wow," Miranda stated. "You do have high standards. Harvard isn't good enough for you, Gordo?"

"Something like that."