Moving from California to Canada can be pretty stressful. It comes with a new home, new people, new country, new neighborhood, and a new school. I'm Lavender Nash and I am going to be attending Degrassi High School. I will be living with my cousin Ellie while my mother is at rehab. Ellie has told me that Degrassi is filled with drama. She attended Degrassi a couple years ago and told me all about her experiences. I hope my experiences aren't as frightening as hers were. Ellie lives in an apartment with her boyfriend Craig just two blocks away from Degrassi. I will be occupying her guest room.
I woke to the sound of my shrill alarm. I stumbled out of bed and turned the shrieking of my iHome off. Today was my first day at Degrassi and I hoped to be early for once. I scurried around the small and unfamiliar apartment. I ate breakfast, took a shower, packed my backpack, and got dressed all in twenty minutes. I was out of the house by 7:30. The air was muggy and the neighborhood we lived in was a little too fancy for my taste. The walk to Degrassi wasn't as long as I expected it to be. As I approached the building, a flow of students went in and out the doors. I walked and merged into the flow. When I entered the school I heard giggles, cell phone rings, odd conversations, and shoe squeaks. My first class was P.E. I couldn't actually attend P.E. because I had recently had surgery on my knee. I felt just fine, but my doctor thought otherwise. The school gym was average sized. Crowds of people were playing around with basketballs and hanging out before the bell rang. I went up to what seemed to be the teacher.
"Hello, Mr.," I looked at my classes list and saw his name, "Coach Armstrong. I'm Lavender Nash, the new student."
"Oh, hello. Would you like me to brief you on how our system for P.E. works?"
"Um, no, I actually can't attend P.E. I had surgery recently and I have a doctors note," I pulled out my note and
"Okay, sit today out. You can accompany Clare today. She had eye surgery, so she has to sit out as well."
I turned around to see one girl sitting out on the bleachers. She was fair-skinned and had short, light brown hair. I sat on the same bleacher that she did, a little ways away from her. She was sitting there eying a certain boy who was running around the gym with the rest of class. The boy she was looking at had deep black hair. He wore black basketball shorts and a black t-shirt. I could tell that she liked him. I just didn't know if she herself knew.
She saw me looking at her and said, "Hi, are you, by chance, the new kid that Coach Armstrong was talking about?"
"I think. Unless you got two new students today," I responded.
She laughed a bit, "I'm Clare, Clare Edwards."
"I'm Lavender Nash."
"So what brings you to Degrassi?"
"I'm staying with my cousin, I'm actually from California."
"Oh really? All the way from 'Sunny California'?"
"No, I come from the Bay Area. It's not as warm as people portray it to be."
"Oh, I didn't know that. But why'd you come here? Did you just get up and move?
"Um, no. My mother is currently attending a rehabilitation center and my father is no where to be found."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know-" She started.
"It's okay. Don't worry about it. But, do you think that you could show me around school or something?"
"Sure. Here, I'll be right back," She stood up and went over to Coach Armstrong. She had a little talk with him and came back over to me, "Come with me."
"Where are we going?"
"I asked Coach Armstrong if I could show you around school now since we are both sitting out. Luckily, he likes me," She said with a slight smile.
"Okay cool, let's go," I followed her out of the gym and around the school. She showed me to each of my classes, the cafeteria, the principal's office, the auditorium, and the quad. We easily became friends. Throughout our walk we talked about each other families, and our friends. I learned that she has a sister in Kenya, she is strictly Catholic, and that she has a best friend named Ali. I told her about my cousin, and a few friends that I had back home. The bell rang when we set foot back into the gym. I grabbed my bag and said goodbye to Clare and headed off to Art.
I hadn't even thought about going to my locker. I had all my books in my very heavy backpack.
I walked into the art class with only a handful of people in the room. There were two chairs for each table. I took a seat at one of them and waited for class to start.
The teacher came into the classroom and the bell rang.
"Good Morning class," She caught sight of me, "Today, we have a new student in class. Everyone, please welcome Lavender Nash."
I stood up and turned around and said hi to everyone.
"She is coming all the way from California, correct?" She asked.
"Yeah, from San Francisco to be precise," I replied.
"Now everyone, work on yesterday's project while I help Lavender adjust to our class."
I went up to her and said, "It's okay, and I can catch on quickly. I'm a quick learner."
"I'd hope so, but I'll still make sure the transition of schools will be as easy as possible. In fact, I'll pair you with someone more experienced with the Degrassi lifestyle," She faced over to one of her students, "Sav, Sav Bhandari, can you switch with your partner and partner up with Lavender here?"
The boy she talked to was tall and dark skinned. He had dark black hair and really defined lips. He talked to a girl next to him and came up to Ms. Dawes and me, "Sure, but she's gonna need a partner. She's having a little trouble with the second layer."
"I can arrange a pairing, now you go help Lavender make her tiles," She instructed. We walked back to the desk I sat at.
"Here, I'll go get some clay for your tiles," He said. His voice sounded familiar. He was very attractive. I had a strange desire for him. In my five minutes of knowing him I developed a, what people call it, huge crush on him. It was kind of pathetic. I hadn't known anything about him, but I knew I liked him. He came back with two thin strips of clay. He put then on the small cutting board on our table.
"Okay, so when you make each tile," Just his voice mesmerized me. I couldn't hear what he was saying because I was too infatuated by him. He was smiling gracefully with every instruction he gave. The deepness of his black eyes would keep me forever if he hadn't stopped. "Hello? Lavender?"
"Hmm?" I said, still half enticed.
"So remember to do each tile from the middle outwards."
"Yeah, sure," At the time, I didn't know what the hell he was saying. Good thing I've made tiles before.
The rest of the day was a blur. Clare invited me to the 'Dot' to meet up with her and her friend Ali. I intended on joining them after I went home to do my homework.
I walked home after my last class to unpack all my new textbooks and do my homework. After the incredibly easy homework that I had, I walked to the café that Clare had talked about. The café was small, yet roomy. It had a modern look to it. Apparently, the Dot had been renovated due to a major accident.
"Lavender!" Clare said to me, calling me over to her table.
I took a seat next to Clare.
"Hi, I'm Ali Bhandari," The dark-skinned, black haired, pretty, and short girl sitting across the table from me had said. Wait. Bhandari? Does that mean that she is Sav's sister or something? She looked it. I could tell that this was going to be totally awkward. I had to get to the bottom of this.
"Are you Sav Bhandari's sister?" I blurted.
"Unfortunately. That's all I'm ever known as," She sighed a bit, "You look all red, do you like him or something?" She sounded like she was joking, but my facial expression didn't really help.
"Oh my God, first day crush? That's the first time I've seen that," Clare said.
"Eww, sorry, but how could you like, him?" Ali seemed so disgusted.
I just sat there, being red and not responding. I hadn't known that when she said 'him' that he was actually walking into the dot with a girl.
"Hey," He said. I wasn't sure if he was talking to Ali or me. After a while I noticed that he was talking to me, so I politely said hi.
"I'm glad to see that you've made friends on your first day," Doesn't everyone say that kind of stuff to new kids? But for some reason, when he said it, it meant so much more. Well, at least to me. He said that and walked by. I watched them make out for a full five minutes. I practically gagged. I watched them while Clare and Ali were talking.
"I'm gonna get him," I said, sounding more scary than I planned.
"What was that?" Clare asked. Ali looked stared at me like I was crazy.
"Whatever it takes."
TO BE CONTINUED…