January 4, 2012
Dear Friend,
I am writing to you because he told me you would listen and understand. Don't try and figure out who he is because you might find me and I definitely don't want that. Saying that I won't be saying real names of the people I am talking about (or my real name). I will also not have a return address nor tell you where I actually moved from so you can't find me. So what exactly inspired me to write a handwritten letter (because what 21st century teenager does that right?) well my friend Eli always referred me random books to read. Well the most recent one that he referred me was 'Perks of being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky. Maybe you have heard of it or read it. Well I liked the idea of Charlie writing his thoughts and life (like a confession of some sort) to a complete stranger. So here I am, your new one way pen pal I guess. I am sure you are probably wondering who this crazy person is that is currently writing you. As I said before hand written letters are pretty much a dime a dozen these days; as it's mostly bills, Netflix, magazines, and even more bills. Well let's just say this cray girl is named Alexa.
Today was my first day of school at McKinley High. The worst feeling is starting a new school in a completely different state/country midway through their senior year. I felt even more invisible here (minus the one time where a jock threw a slushie in my face) than I did where I used to live. I had a tour guide though who showed me around the school by the name of Rachel. She talked a lot mostly about herself, her boyfriend Finn, glee club, and how she was determined to get into a school called NYADA. It was nice that she was a senior like me so we had a couple of classes together. We had American History and Spanish together she was also nice enough to let me sit next to her today. So I guess I can consider her my first friend in Lima. Her friend Kurt (who I guess normally always sits next to her) understood so he wasn't angry with me, he didn't introduce himself though.
Spanish seems to be the easiest class since it is practically the exact same as it was where I used to live. I do miss my Spanish class buddy, Jake though. The oddest memory popped into my head dealing with Jake. When I was dating my first boyfriend, Eli he freaked out because I was hanging out with Jake. See Eli's ex-girlfriend started dating Jake a few weeks after the two of them broke up so he started assuming they had the same taste in girls and I would actually cheat on him with Jake. Anyways the hardest class for me was History. No matter how many times I take that class I can't seem to remember anything. I have never really failed that class just fail a lot of the tests. It's my memory though, it's very selective and I only remember things I want to remember; like I remember that in Harry Potter George losing his ear was foreshadowing Fred's death. Like the splitting of his other half.
After the first day ended I had to walk home with my younger step-sister, Lily. She is almost the exact opposite of me. See she is more into being popular and conforming just to fit in. She actually cares about the social ladder. Me on the other hand I prefer to be myself and stick to not caring about the status quo. I have never fully been liked or treated well by the populars. So my sister going on and on about Coach Sylvester not letting her on the cheerios from getting here mid school year was pretty really annoying, like the only way to make friends was to be a cheerleader. She still made a few friends though apparently they are "totes awes and like the coolest people in this crap town…they are even cheerios." So if you can't tell the 20 minute walk was pretty much hell. In other news my mom agreed to get me a car as long as I only get A's and B's in school and drive my sister around. I guess there is always a catch, but it will be worth it to not have to listen to her talk the entire way home. The radio has never seemed like such a beautiful thing.
I guess she decided that getting the car (even with the catches) was because she pulled me away from everything for her job. She is a surgeon and was offered a better position here than the hospital she worked at where I used to live. She felt especially bad for me leaving my dad with dementia back home. Originally I thought I was going to be safe and able to stay back because of my dad. It was his idea though, he wanted me closer to my mom and knew it would be better if I left with her. No matter how much crying and sadness came from it, I had to leave for small town Ohio. I was also sad about leaving Eli and Fiona who were my two best friends. At the end of semester carnival Fiona and I kissed and I seriously thought we would start dating. So leaving her was extremely hard. At least we can still skype, makes leaving everyone less painful.
The reason I even started this (other than being inspired by an amazing book) was because feeling alone at school for so many years I felt that I needed a source outside of a diary who would listen and not judge me.
Love,
Imogen
Alright so this is actually inspired by Perks of being a Wallflower as said in the story. The whole beginning (and end) of this chapter sounded very similar to the opening of the book and that is a onetime thing.
