It was my first day of high school. Well, first day of my new high school, anyway. William McKinley High School, Lima, Ohio. I had just moved from England; mum had been relocated to Ohio for her job, and this was my new school. I stood outside the massive building, staring at its large structure and wondering if it would be anything like the horrible TV shows that you always see about American high schools; cheerleaders and stupid accents and ditzy blonde girls. Well, only one way to find out.
As I walked up the steps and through the double doors, I was greeted by hecticness. Everywhere. There were rows of lockers either side of the corridor, the odd door to a classroom every so often. There were kids hastily grabbing books from their lockers and stuffing them into their bags, there was half the football team laughing and heading down the corridor towards what I guessed would be the gym, there was a boy in a wheelchair attempting – unsuccessfully – to weave through the crowd, there were nerds, jocks, preps...and oh my god, there were girls in cheerleading outfits. It was like the TV shows, but so much worse.
"Hey, you must be the new girl!" oh no, a cheerleader. A blonde, bimbo, preppy little cheerleader.
"Uh, yeah..." I muttered, eyes skirting around, looking for something to drag me away from this girl. My eyes settled on a boy, probably about my age, brown hair, fringe, cute, looking in his locker for something and looking slightly alone. A boy – more of a man really – with a short Mohawk walked past him, barging into him and pushing him into his locker, causing him to spill his books all over the floor. The Mohawk boy laughed, a couple of his friends high fiving him as they strolled down the corridor while the cute boy turned slightly red, picking up his books and shoving them in his bag before walking off in the opposite direction.
"Hello? New girl?" the other, brown haired cheerleader said, glancing at her blonde friend with a slightly amused look on her face.
"Oh, sorry. Yeah, I just moved here." I mumbled.
"But you have a really strange accent. You must be like, British or something." The blonde one said. No shit Sherlock.
"Um, yeah, we just moved here for my mum's job." I said, seriously starting to get annoyed.
"You have really interesting hair. It's like, red." The brunette said. Are you serious? Are they actually that dumb?
"It is." I said, turning to head off. Anywhere away from them.
"Oh, you don't have to go! We'll help you find your way around! Mr Shue said you've got first period with us!" the blonde one said. Oh joy, I'm stuck with them. "I'm Quinn by the way."
"Oh, okay!" I said, attempting to sound enthusiastic. And probably failing.
As I walked with them towards a classroom door, ignoring completely what both of them were saying, I looked around at what everyone was wearing. That was one thing I'd been worrying about; what to wear. I didn't know what these kids at American high schools wore, so I just shoved on a skirt, a vest, a leather jacket and my converse. And I really didn't fit in. Especially with my bright red hair. But hey, these cheerleaders didn't seem to care. And since when did I fit in anyway?
Once we reached the classroom and I followed the two girls through the door, I felt even smaller. There was a class of about thirty, all staring at me. Quinn and the brunette went to sit down near the back with a couple of the football boys I had seen earlier and a few more cheerleaders and I was left at the front with a man who was probably in his early thirties, dressed in a suit jacket and jeans, smiling warmly at me.
"Hi, I'm Mr Schuester, welcome." He told me, smiling, and then turned to the class, "Everyone, this is Natasha. She's just moved here from England."
A couple of titters were heard from the class and the Mohawk boy who I now noticed was at the back of the class wolf whistled. Typical jock. I think.
"Anyway," Mr Schuester raised his eyebrows, signalling for the class to shut up, "Be nice." He nodded me to sit down, and I hurried to the first free seat I could see. Which just happened to be next to the cute boy I had seen earlier in the hallway.
"Hey, I'm Kurt, and I just love your hair. And I love the whole thing you've got going on with the skirt and jacket!" he said, turning to me. Oh great, I think he's gay.
"Hey," I said, smiling at him, "Thanks. I really had no idea what to wear. I mean, America's just so...different."
"Well, you look a hell of a lot better than most of the people at this school. They really need to learn how to coordinate." He replied under his breath.
I sniggered at his comment. He's definitely gay. It's such a shame really, he's so cute, "Well, I can see what you mean. I'm loving the bowtie by the way." I grinned, taking in his shirt, waistcoat, skinny jeans. How did I not notice it before?
"Thanks, I got it from the mall yesterday. Hey, you should come some time, I could totally show you around." he said, smiling.
"Sounds awesome." I replied, returning the smile. Note to self; don't fall for a gay guy.
"Settle down please class!" Mr Schuester shouted from the front of the class, subsequently starting to talk in Spanish about a frog and something else of which I had no idea. By the end of the class I had had no more time to talk and was about to start up a conversation with Kurt again when Quinn and the brunette cheerleader plus another blonde one that hadn't been there earlier grabbed me and steered me out of the classroom.