I woke with a start and blinked my eyes a few times to adjust them to the bright light floating in my room where the curtains were slightly ajar. Slowly I turned my head to my clock, 6 am, I couldn't believe it, all I wanted was to get a decent night's sleep for once…my thoughts where interrupted by a loud banging on my door, which I recognized as the reason I woke up in the first place.
"Emily for fucks sake open the fucking door, I need to borrow this black top of yours!"
Katie. Ah I should have known, who else could it be? Groaning I made my way to the door of my room, just as I unlocked it (I locked it ever since I was a teenager and found out that my perverted little brother James nicked my underwear and did god knows what with it…YUCK…too early for such thoughts) it was swung open, a rather annoyed Katie storming past me.
"Well good morning to you too, Katie"
"Yeah whatever, so where is it?", she asked rummaging around in my closet.
"Where is what?", I asked slightly confused.
"The top, Ems! Do you ever listen to one single word I say?", she yelled even more annoyed than a few minutes before. Ah yeah the top, totally forgot about that, I blamed my still fuzzy brain.
"Actually I wanted to wear it today, you know my fist day and all…", I explained.
"Well let's see, you don't need to look sexy when you're in work, so I definitely need it more!", Katie countered.
"Why are you up this early anyway?", I was rather shocked, usually you have to drag Katie out of bed unless it's already afternoon.
"I have a date!", she stated proudly a broad grin braking out and almost splitting her face in half, it looked pretty funny and I was trying to contain my laughter, so she wouldn't be even more pissed than she already was.
"At 6 am? What kind of freak is taking you out at 6 am?", wow she must be fairly desperate to agree to this.
"At least he's male and rather good looking, that's all that matters, right?"
By now my room was a mess, clothes scattered all over my floor and bed. I shook my head in disbelief, and who was gonna tidy this up again? Yea, me! Now Katie was not the only one, who was annoyed, great start in the day. Well it can only get better, right?
"Found it!", Katie exclaimed, disappearing quickly and several minutes after that I heard the front door slam shut behind her.
I sighed and started to put my clothes into their previous place again. I literally couldn't believe how ridiculously similar this exchange with my sister was to my first day at Roundview college, just a few years ago. And now it's my first day at Roundview again, only this time it's as a teacher. Putting my last garment back into the closet I smiled, yeah it simply has to be a good day, I had been looking forward to this since I decided I wanted to become a teacher four years ago. I glanced at my watch half past six, time for a shower.
An hour later I started the engine of my new moped, I really loved my old one, the one I had driven during my college time, but it looked rather rusty now and I wanted to make a good impression, so I decided to not take it. This new one was coloured in a dark red, it reminded me of my favourite wine and matched my hair perfectly, which was now a few shades darker than when I had been a teenager. It was nice, actually, I thought while enjoying the air stream through my hair.
I pulled to a halt in front of my old college and observed the scenario for a few minutes. The building looked still exactly the same, I smiled when I saw the huge banner above the entrance, Welcome to Roundview, it said. Yeah exactly the same. It was loud and cramped, people everywhere, shouting, laughing, telling each other stories about their holidays, listening to music….
Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves I made my way to the back door (I decided to not take the front door as I didn't want to push my way through the crowd). The back of the college was ridiculously calm in comparison to the front. I took in my surroundings and noticed a blond girl, sitting on the steps, smoking a fag. Except her I was the only one here. I studied her from the distance and decided that she must be part of the staff too, a teacher probably. Calm down, Emily, I reminded myself, you're not sixteen anymore she won't bite you head off. Although I wasn't as shy as back then I wasn't outgoing either. It was hard for me to make new friends or even acquaintances, but I wanted to change that and here was my opportunity to take the first step in the right direction. I walked towards her, sat down a step below her and smiled. She turned around to face me, her eyes narrowing in the process; slowly she raised an asking eyebrow at me. But all I could think was: oh my good I've never seen such beautiful eyes in my whole life. They were a clear ice blue with a slightly darker ring surrounding the iris. A cough reminded me that I was probably staring; I blinked a few times, lowered my head and blushed. Well great Emily, the first colleague you meet and you already managed to make a fool of yourself. A sudden movement brought me back to reality and I looked up to see, that she was silently offering me a cigarette. "Thanks", I mumbled and lightened one. I didn't usually smoke but right now it was all I needed to calm my nerves.
"You are new.", the blonde stated, not looking at me.
"Yeah", I choked out and cleared my throat when I noticed just how husky my voice sounded. Even huskier than normally.
"I'm Naomi", she spoke up again and I couldn't help to pick up how confident she sounded. Naomi, I thought, pretty name, just like her. No, Emily she is your co-worker, you can't think things like that, I scolded myself.
"Emily", I said hesitating.
"Well, what are you doing here, Emily?", she asked and I frowned, surprised by the rudeness in her tone.
"I-I well I know I should probably have taken the front door but I don't like crowds and I –I just thought I could use the backdoor…", I trailed of, already embarrassed by my ramble.
"Students aren't allowed to take the backdoor.", she informed me and I couldn't contain my laughter. I knew I was short, but I wasn't aware of the fact that someone could mistake me as a 16-year-old college student.
Naomi looked at me, rather annoyed and stood up. "The bell's already rung about 5 minutes ago, so unless you want to be late on your first day I suggest you get going." And with that she turned around and left me standing there, dumbfounded.