Note: I don't own anything other than my own characters... (Unfortunately x3) On with the story!
The New Girl-Chapter One
Being the new girl sucked. Eyes bored into me from every angle as I tried to find my first period class without looking at my map, and I was failing miserably.
"Hey, you're the new girl, aren't you?" someone suddenly piped up at my side. I turned to see a black-haired teen with friendly brown eyes prancing beside me like a puppy, a huge grin plastered on his face.
"Yeah," I replied with a sigh. Why fight the inevitable?
"Katy, right?"
"Krystina," I corrected him. "But you can call me Krys."
"Oh, yeah, Krys. Right," he replied with an embarassed chuckle. Recovering quickly, he continued, "Well you can call me Xander. And I can help you find your class if you want me to."
There was that happy puppy grin again.
"Sure, why not?" I answered, conceeding defeat. My old school wasn't nearly as big as Sunnydale High, and if I had any hope of making it to Advanced English Lit. on time I was gonna have to swallow my pride.
"So where are you comign from?" Xander inquired after checking out my schedule and tossing his arm around my shoulder like we were old buddies.
"I'm from North Florida," I answered while he practically towed me through the masses of students crowding the hallway. Everyone was still staring at me.
"What grade are you in?" my guide continued, oblivious to said open gawking.
"I'm a Junior," I replied.
"Oh cool so you're a year behind me," Xander said with another trademark smile, flashing slightly-crooked teeth. Then we stopped in front of a classroom and he invited me to join him and his friends in the library for lunch after third period. I readily agreed, since I didn't yet know anyone else and I'd actually been under the impression that I'd be eating alone for at least the next week, and then we parted ways as a three-minute warning bell jangled obnoxiously above our heads.
"See ya later!" Xander called loudly before racing around a corner. I waved at the empty space he'd just vacated before being herded into the room by a throng of teens.
My teacher, Mrs. Peirce, was a stern-looking lady with beady black eyes and dusty gray haired pulled into a severe bun at the base of her wrinkled neck.
"Are you the new girl?" she inquired as I approached her desk, speaking slowly like I was some kind of retard. I may have been a backwoods girl from down south, but I wasn't stupid.
"Yes ma'am," I replied while I handed her my shcedule. Behind me, the rest of the class snickered at the thick southern twang in my voice. Mrs. Peirce ignored them and quickly signed her name on my schedule before shoving it back towards me.
"Introduce yourself," she said, gesturing half-heartedly at the room full of people before burying her nose in a book that looked like it was older than she was. Everybody fell deathly silent as I turned nervously towards them, their eyes freezing me in place. I hated public speaking.
"Um..." I began heasitantly.
"My name's Krystina Marie Montgomery, I'm seventeen years old, and I just moved here from Jackson County Florida about two weeks ago. I have a dog named Tex and my favorite color's blue and I love to ride horses and draw."
An akward silence followed my rushed words and I looked at the teacher to see if she would tell me what I should do now.
"Have a seat," she finally said, gesturing once more towards the rows of untidy desks without even looking up from her book. So with a small gulp I looked around until I spotted an empty seat towards the back of the room and quickly scampered over to plop down in the hard plastic chair.
"Don't worry about Miss Pissy," a little brunette murmured quietly from the desk beside mine as I tried to slow my racing heartbeat. "She's always in a bad mood."
"Thanks," I replied just as softly as 'Miss Pissy' finally set her book aside and stood to begin class.
"I'm April, by the way," the girl continued, holding out her hand and giving me a friendly smile.
"Call me Krys," I said in return, taking her slender hand in my own sun-darkened one.
"Pay attention girls!" Miss Pissy barked, causing us to jump and straighten immediately in our seats, flsuhed with embarassment at being caught. But when she turned her back on us to scrawl something on the whiteboard, I couldn't help but sharing a smile with the other teen.
"See ya tomorrow!" I called to April as students flooded the hallway after the bell rang for the end of first period. She grinned widely and waved in return as she ran off to her next class, and I took a look at my map. She had been nice enough to mark the best routes to my other classes in bright-colored highlighters, and I referenced a neon pink path now as I slowly made my way towards American Sign Language with Ms. Alexander.
-Good morning,-the plump, middle-aged woman signed wordlessly as I entered the nearly vacant classroom.
"Good morning,"I replied, signing and speaking at the same time before handing her my schedule to sign. With a pen, I'd like to clarify.
Once she handed the sheet back she directed me to an unoccupied seat right in front of her desk and I settled comfortably into it, setting my bookbag at my feet as more people began to trickle into the room.
-So what's your name?- Ms. Alexander inquired as she perched on the egde of her desk in front of me.
"Krys," I told her, fingerspelling my name before saying it again in shorthand. It was something my little sister Skylar had come up with when she was seven, forming the letter 'K' and circling twice around her heart.
-How long have you been signing?-the older woman continued.
"For about twelve years," I answered. "My little sister was born deaf."
-So you know what you're talking about!- she replied with a nasal chuckle. I noted the tone and ventured to ask if she was also deaf. Usually I wouldn't have even dared to be so rude, but something about her made me trust her. I felt more comfortable around her than I'd felt since moving here. She chuckled again at my question.
-I've also been deaf since birth,-she told me.
I returned the bright smile she gave me as the bell rang, and when I told her so she turned to begin class.
I think I'm going to like this class, I thought to myself.