I am in front of the door to the Artemis Academy Middle School. I gulp.
I'm Julia Speck, an out-of-the-ordinary twelve year old girl. And, based on the looks of the Artemis Academy, nothing but what is considered normal will be welcome.
I wish that I'm back at Silver Lake Middle school, my old, familiar, school. But after the accident and then the move, I had to start an entirely new life. Already girls are staring at me in my wheelchair, at my thin, unmoving legs. Why must this be happpening? I just want to be home with Katy again.
I take a deep breath and enter the building, students watching me from all sides. The AA (Artemis Academy) is a serious looking school, with silver colored floors and quotes from famous people engraved on the walls. AA is an all girls school, and the boys in Free City go to the Apollo Academy.
The girls all wear matching silver uniforms and Mary Janes. I feel even more out of place in my old pink tee, baggy jeans, and worn out sneakers.
I find my locker and dial the combination (You use a keypad- fancy). My locker swings open and I start to pull the stuff out of my backpack. According to my schedule, my first class is taught by Mrs. Sands. Better not be late.
Brushing my brown hair out of my eyes, I roll my wheelchair to classroom 232, Mrs. Sands, Level 4.2b, grade 7, maximum authority level. Wow. Interesting label. I guess that means she's strict. I open the door to her classroom and find that I'm the last one there. Mrs. Sands, an old, grey-haired woman with peircing green eyes, glares at me as if I just betrayed humankind.
"Ms. Speck, why are you late?"
A couple girls giggle at my name, but most of the class stares at me with robot-like indifference, only a small amount of them betraying their curiousity.
"Um... this is my first day, so I had to put my stuff in my locker, and then I had to find your classroom in a school that's bigger than I'm used to..." I begin to explain.
"You could have come here earlier to put your ITEMS in your locker. Please sit down back there." Mrs. Sands cuts me off, pointing to an empty desk next to a tall girl with platinum blonde hair, "And I'll mark you absent. Students at Artemis Acacemy must learn responsibility. Don't let it happen again."
"I won't, Mrs. Sands," I say, forcing back tears that have been forming in my eyes at the unfairness of it. I turn my wheelchair and consider pointing out to her that I can't sit down because I'm already sitting down. But I don't, and I pull up in front of my desk. The blonde girl smiles at me, revealing perfect white teeth.
"It's okay, Mrs. Sands is always strict." She says, "I'm Chloe, by the way. What's your name?"
"Julia." I say, grateful to have somebody nice talk to me.
"Hello, Julia!" Chloe says a little too loudly and the girl in front of us gives us a nasty look with dark green eyes.
"Becoming friends with the oddball, Chloe?"
Chloe glares at her, "Julia isn't that bad, Holly. Leave us alone."
"Why should I? Okay, now I think I know why you're being so nice to this JULIA. You're so desperate for friends, you're trying to befriend someone disabled! She's probably not right in the head!" Holly hisses at her. This infuriates me, already angered at many people today. I feel my face getting warm and I clench my fists. This isn't good...
"I'm perfectly right in the head!" I shout at Holly, forgetting about the rest of the class, "I just can't walk! Leave me alone, okay?!"
There is a stunned silence in the classroom. Holly raises her dark eyebrows and snickers. She quickly turns to the assignment that the class is working on just as Mrs. Sands walks up to me.
"Excuse me, Ms. Speck, but I believe you are supposed to be working. Chloe should have shown you the assignment by now, or were you too busy talking?"
Holly giggles, which causes Mrs. Sands to turn on her.
"As for you, Ms. McDare, I doubt you haven't been caught talking in class and I also equally doubt that you have done your work SO DO IT." And with that, she stalks away from Holly, leaving the students to shudder and work on their assignments.
...
I manage to make it through second period (Tech) and third (Pre-Al. *Shudder*) and I am heading to lunch when a small sixth grade girl with wavy blonde hair and large blue eyes stops me.
"Why can't you walk?" She asks innocently, "Do you have a broken backbone?"
I start, "Why, yes. You're a smart little kid to figure that out."
She raises her eyebrows, "Oh, but I didn't. Erin Hunter did."
Who?
I look at her, confused. "Who's Erin..."
Just then, the lunch bell rings. I apologize and hurry to lunch. Late again!
...
At the end of the school day, I grab my bag out of my locker and swing it, with some difficulty, over the side of my wheelchair. Then I roll to the front doors. Because it took forever to stuff my huge binders into my tiny purple backpack, the hallway is mostly empty. But when I open the front doors, I'm suprised to see Holly standing in the sunny courtyard greeting a slender woman with pale brown hair and two boys who are about as tall as Holly. But that's where the resemblance ends.
The first boy looks very tough and stuck up, with golden hair and eyes. He is wearing an Apollo Academy uniform, so he must have just left school.
The second boy is kinda weird. He looks a bit cranky and keeps on snapping at Holly, but I notice that he keeps close to the woman. He has odd colored hair: Kind of black, kind of dull brown, you could almost say it was gray. He is also very pale and skinny: While his brother's Apollo uniform fits perfectly, his is baggy and unflattering. But what catches me is his eyes: The palest, brightest blue eyes I have ever seen.
I know, odd place to stop, but I WILL UPDATE TOMMORROW!