Chapter 2- The First Day of School Part 1
Gabriella groaned as she woke up to the sun shining in through the window. It seemed like forever since she hadn't woken up completely exhausted.
"Stupid school" Gabi muttered while she checked on Ariela in her bassinet. She was still asleep. Good. That meant she had time for a quick shower.
The warm water relaxed Gabriella's aching muscles when she stepped into the steaming shower. Gabi was not looking forward to today at all. She has moved many times to many different places, and if there was one thing that she had noticed it was this. First days of school are always the worst. It seems as if they never change no matter where you are. There are always the same people, same situations. It is so annoying!
The whispers. Finding all your classes. Having to tell the whole class about yourself. You also had the usual in every school... Freaky weird teachers. Snobby classmates. Evil teachers. The geek. At one school these would be fine, but when repeated over and over, it gets old. Fast. And Gabriella could guarantee that they would happen again.
Gabriella was snapped out of her thoughts to Ariela crying in her bassinet. She quickly put on her robe and went to calm the baby down. After Ariela stopped crying Gabi hurried and got ready for school.
Gabi could hear the sound of her mother's voice drifting upstairs while she was walking downstairs.
"Uh oh get ready for one of grandmas speeches Ri Ri." Gabriella warned the gurgling infant
"Well ,well, well! If it isn't Miss Mommy herself!" Gabriella's mother greeted "Me and Catalina here, were just going over the plan."
"What plan?" Gabi asked as she warmed up the bottle
"The plan on what to say if anyone asks questions. You know how teachers are with us new kids. They always make us stand up and talk in front of the class about our families, our hobbies..." Catalina trailed off
"Where we're from, why we moved. Yeah I got you now. So what's the story?" Gabriella asked
" Okay Ariela is your sister and we moved because of my job, because that is partly true. Um, since I'm always gone on business trips Gabriella is the one who mostly takes care of her. That is why you are always seen with her. Isn't it brilliant!" their mother exclaimed
"Yes, almost as if it was written by a true professor, but what about dad?" Gabriella asked " You know someone's going to ask about him."
"I don't know! Make something up!" Maria snapped angrily before snatching a banana and storming out of the room.
"Touchy touchy" Catalina commented sitting down on a barstool by the island.
"Haha totally" Gabi agreed, feeding Ariela her bottle. The baby ate it hungrily as if she were being starved. The thought made Gabriella laugh. After finishing the bottle and burping the baby Gabriella set her into her car seat and made herself some cereal.
"So we're driving my car to school until your car comes right?" Catalina asked
"Yep"
"What about the baby?" she asked
"We're dropping Ariela off at her daycare on the way" Gabi answered stressing Ariela's name. "Which reminds me, can you watch her while I get the directions to the school and day care?"
"Sure" Catalina said through a mouthful of cereal
"Thanks" Gabi hurried upstairs to get the stuff they needed, dodging all of the unpacked boxes that seemed to be everywhere. After getting everything ready for both school and day care the girls grabbed their backpacks, and with Ariela in tow, left for the first day of school.
"And the Montez sister's have arrived" Catalina announced as she parked the car in East High's parking lot. "You ready to do this sis?"
Instead of an answer all she got was silence. She looked over and saw Gabriella looking at her anxiously
"What's the matter sissy?" Catalina asked using her childhood nickname for Gabriella.
"I want to go back." Gabriella stated. Like any other first time mom, she was worried sick about leaving Ariela for long periods of time. Actually, since she hadn't actually left her with anyone else at all yet, she was extremely anxious to leave her alone with someone else. Catalina practically had to force her to leave the day care.
"Oh I so knew this was going to happen! Look Gabs, Ariella is going to be just fine. Those people make their living taking care of kids. I'm sure they know what they're doing."
"But you don't know that!" Gabriella insisted, "Plus there were a lot of kids there! They could have forgotten about her! You know how little she is!"
"Yes I do, but I also know how loud she is. Trust me Gabriella, there is no way that she will be forgotten. Now come on, I want to find my first period class before it's halfway over!" Catalina joked as she got out of the car
Gabriella tried to disregard her fears about leaving Ariela, but she just couldn't. It was all she could think about! Of course she expected she was going to feel something like this since it was her first time to leave Ariela, but she hoped she would forget about her fears after a while. Hoped.
Walking up the front steps to this massive school, the first day jitters started. Gabriella started to second guess everything that she did. Do I have all of my school supplies? I need this backpack right? Are we going to the right place? Are we even at the right school?!?!
Even though Gabi knew that most of these questions were really stupid, she couldn't help but think them. And she goes through this every time she moves. Every. Stinkin. Time.
But as always, she kept her head up high on her way to the main office. The moment they walked into the office Catalina, being her normal social freak self, walked right up to the secretary and said, "Hello ma'am, excuse me, but my name is Catalina Montez, and this is my sister Gabriella. We were enrolled last week. Can you please inform us of where we should go to receive our schedules? It would be a great help."
"Why yes sweetie. You will need to go across the hall to the guidance office, and tell them who you are." The secretary directed , impressed with her politeness.
"Thank you so much" Catalina answered with a sugar coated sweetness only she could pull off without sounding fake.
"It scares me how well you do that." Gabi informed her as they followed the secretary's directions
"What can I say? It's a gift." All of their lives, Catalina has been insanely good at lying. This combined with the fact that she is our Maria's favorite hands-down has caused everything to magically be Gabi's fault. Catalina breaks a bowl. Gabi's fault. Curtain gets pulled down. Gabi's fault. One time when Gabriella made her mad she ran into a wall to give herself a bruise and said Gabriella hit her! Evil much? Needless to say, she tries to stay on Catalina's good side.
Because of Catalina's charm they had their schedules in no time. Soon they were introduced their classmates who would show them where to find their homeroom. Gabriella's "guide" was a short African-American girl who looked like she couldn't stop smiling. Meanwhile, Catalina's guide gave off this snotty I'm-better-than-you -can-even-hope-to-be kind of vibe. Catalina gave Gabi a miserable look as she was taken to her homeroom.
Haha sucks for you!
Gabi wondered if she spoke, or thought, too soon as she and her guide headed towards her new homeroom. The last guide she had gotten expected her to know where everything was after one day. Gabriella may have been on the Scholastic Decathlon team, but to find her way around a campus with 1,600 students alone after one day? Um, no.
"I feel really sorry for you. Ms. Darbus in your first year at a new school? Whew that sucks!" Taylor sympathized
"Um, excuse me?" Gabi asked confused
"For homeroom. We have Ms. Darbus. Oh, I'm so sorry! I forgot to introduce myself! My names Taylor!"
Dang. Enthusiastic much?
"Oh...hi. My names Gabriella. Well, you probably already knew that." she added as an afterthought
Good job Gabi. You'll probably offend her with your complete unsociableness. Well now that I think about it...
"Haha it's ok. But still, Ms. Darbus's class is going to be real tough. Well not tough, but crazy. Yeah, very crazy."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see. We're here!" Taylor said excitably as she opened a door.
When Gabi stepped through the door her body was enveloped with sound. The whole classroom was buzzing with laughter and chatter. Color seem to come every direction on the room. Posters of various plays in all different genres covered the walls. A makeshift stage ,with squashy armchairs in the back corners, was set up at the front of the classroom. Rugs of many different vibrant colors were set all around the front desk. Comfy looking chairs sat in the back of the classroom facing each other, probably used for reciting lines judging that the teacher taught drama here at East high.
A woman, most likely Ms. Darbus, in flowy clothes got up from her place behind the desk at the front of the room when she saw Gabriella, and came towards her saying dreamily, "Welcome, welcome. You must be the new student I heard about. How are you today?"
Gabriella answered with the expected "Oh I'm fine" while giving the teacher a quick look-over. Just by looking at her Gabriella could tell that she was quite, um, eccentric. Her clothes were made of a very busy pattern, and she was wearing many scarves of different colors. The woman also seemed as if she were a traveling jewelry store! She had to have at least one ring on every finger along with bracelets piled on her arms. even with all of the scarves you could still see many long necklaces hanging from her neck. Her graying blonde hair was piled on top of her head.
"Taylor will you please show Gabriella where she is to be seated." Ms. Darbus requested after handing Gabriella her schedule.
"Yes ma'am"
Obediently, Taylor motioned for Gabriella to follow her to the back of the room next to a girl who was engrossed in her book. When she saw Gabriella and Taylor coming towards her she smiled and took her book down slightly. Taylor was about to speak when the warning bell rang. She hurried to sit two seats in front of Gabriella. Gabi noted that there was an empty seat in front of her before noticing that the book girl was watching her.
Please don't talk to me. Please don't talk to me. Please don't talk...
"Hello"
Dang it.
"How are you?"
Tired. Worried sick. About to jump up and kill you for talking to me.
"I'm doing good."
"Oh, that's good." she said, and then turned back to her book.
Doesn't talk much... I like her!
Ms. Darbus clapped to get the classes attention as the announcements started. They basically consisted of club announcements and the pledge of allegiance. When they were finished the teacher stood up and started addressing the class.
Oh God, please no Gabriella prayed
"Ok class, now, as you may have noticed, we have a new student here today. Gabriella will you please stand and tell us about yourself and where you came from?" she asked nodding her head in encouragement at Gabriella's nervous look.
Ok Gabi, now you can do this. Just remember the story.
"Um... hi...my name is Gabriella Montez, and I recently moved here from Birmingham, Alabama. My family moves a lot because of my mom's job so.." Gabriella's little speech was interrupted by the door opening, and possibly the hottest guy in the world walking through it. He had shaggy light brown hair with the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. He looked as if he came out of an Abercrombie and Fitch magazine.
"Mr. Bolton that is your third tardy. That gives you yet another detention after school helping set up the stage. I don't want to give you another understood?" Ms. Darbus lectured him in front of the whole class.
"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." The hot guy answered as he turned to walk down the aisle and glanced at Gabi quickly before sitting down on the empty seat in front of her.
"Anyways, as you were saying Gabriella..."
"Oh yes, um... yeah ,so it was no surprise when we found out we were moving again. I also have two sisters. One is a senior here, and the other is 1 month old. So...yeah that's me." Gabriella concluded sitting back down. Looking down at her schedule, Gabriella wondered what electives they managed to put her in. She was happy to find that there was room for her in Medical Professions! Usually they hand-picked the students at the beginning of the year. She nearly laughed when she saw that they put her in Parenting and Child Dynamics. Like she didn't learn enough at home. P.E., so typical.
Suddenly she heard a lot of scrapes and rustles as everyone started to get their stuff together. Taylor magically popped up next to her saying, "Get your stuff together, we're about to leave."
Just then the bell rang and everyone rushed to get out of the room. Gabriella craned her neck to get a last look at the hottie who came in late. "Come on I want to introduce you to everyone." Taylor hurried her As she was led out of the room Gabi went over her loverly checklist. Ok let's see; Freaky weird teacher-Check! Taylor practically dragged her over to a group of people that she recognized from her homeroom. There was, of course, the book girl who sat next to her in home room, a dark-skinned boy with a fro, and a petite girl with glasses and brown hair.
"Come on" Taylor encouraged as she walked towards the intimidating group that seemed to grow as she got nearer. Two other boys had already joined the boy with the fro looking frustrated. Gabriella could only hear parts of the conversation like, "He won't" and "got him upset".
Unfazed, Taylor walked right up and announced "Hey guys, you know Gabriella right?" A chorus of yeah's and what's up's were echoed around the group.
Everyone then proceeded to introduce themselves. Chad, the guy with the fro, immediately high fived her like they were best friends. Zeke and Jason settled with just smiling and nodding, which, truthfully, was the way Gabi preferred. All of the girls started comparing schedules with her immediately after introducing themselves. She found out that book girl's name was Enid, and that she had the next period with both her and Taylor. The girl with the glasses, Kelsi, had History with her. They all started to walk away in all different directions after the warning bell rang.
The math classroom was buzzing with excitement when Gabriella walked in. She went ahead of Taylor and talked to the teacher about what she would have to do to catch up in the class. When Gabi turned around to go to her assigned seat she saw that the hottie was in this class also. Confused as to why this made her so happy, Gabriella hurried to her seat. The rest of the class was basically Gabriella trying not to fall asleep from boredom. She sighed in relief when the bell rang for class to end.
Looking at her schedule, she saw that her next period was Medical Professions. Finally a class that she enjoyed! Gabi loved learning about the human body and all that medical stuff. It was one of the easiest classes that she took at her previous school because she paid such close attention to what the teacher said, she just hoped that it would be the same at this school.
Taylor hurried and directed her to the classroom so she could get to her next class. After assuring Gabi that she would be there after class to take her to her next class she left. Gabriella hurried to talk to the teacher before the bell rang.
Gabriella cleared her throat to get the young woman's attention before speaking "Hello ma'am, I'm the new student Gabriella Montez." she introduced herself
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot you were coming. Let's see, I already checked and it seems that we are near where your other class was so with a little extra work you should be caught up in no time. Do you have internet at your house hun?" the teacher asked
"Um, no ma'am. It hasn't been connected yet, but it will be soon" she promised
"Ok, well when it is you need to do research on the development of children from birth to seven years of age, got it?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Okay, well then you may take a seat anywhere that's free." the teacher said with a smile
"Thank you, um do you mind if I go to the bathroom real quick?"
"Oh no, go ahead. It's the door to the left over there by the entrance."
"Ok, thank you." Gabi thanked politely
When Gabriella opened the door she saw that the bathroom was already full of girls. One in particular that was fixing her make-up in the mirror caught her attention. She was wearing a gold sequined shirt with a cropped jean jacket over it, and high heels that made Gabi's feet hurt just by looking at them. When the girl caught Gabriella looking at her she stared right back and asked, "Didn't your mom teach you that it's rude to stare?"
"Oh yeah, sorry." Gabi apologized
"Yeah, you should be." the girl answered rudely. She then snapped her purse shut and strutted out of the room with her little groupies following closely after.
"What! Did she just? No." Gabi said to herself
Um, let's see...snobby classmate, CHECK!!!
Gabriella hurried and went to the bathroom so she could get a seat far away from the mean chick. When Gabriella came out of the bathroom she saw the girl turn around and whisper to her friends. Feeling extremely annoyed, she started on her quest for an empty seat.
"Sharpay, will you please come up here and take roll for me. I have run an errand." Mrs. Clark asked the girl
"Of course Mrs. Clark!" Sharpay answered with a smile only teachers believe to be real. She continued to call roll after the teacher left. Gabriella looked around for an open seat, but only found one past Sharpay's table. She looked up to Sharpay to see a creepy little smile on her face. With a shudder, Gabriella started walking to her seat. When Gabi walked around one of Sharpay's friends chairs that was sticking out a little the girl stuck out her foot and tripped Gabriella. Losing her footing, Gabi started wobbling and waving around her arms so she wouldn't fall. After she had regained her balance she looked over at the girl and gave her the meanest glare she could muster. With her luck it probably just looked like she was squinting to get a better look at her face or something. When Gabi looked up at Sharpay and saw that she was all smiles and had to suppress the urgewalk over and slap the mess out of her.
Sheep. I go to school with a bunch of sheep, and Sharpay is the shepherd. But not in the Jesus way. In the freaky I want to control your life until my dog grows thumbs and we can rule the world together kind of way.
Sharpay finished roll and went back to her throne in the center of the room. When she sat back down Sharpay turned around and gave Gabriella the most degrading look she had ever seen. Then, she turned around and whispered something to her flock of sheep that made them giggle behind their stupid manicured fingers.
My favorite class has officially been demoted to the worst class of the day
Mrs. Clark then arrived and started talking to the class. Of course Gabs had to stand and make her little speech about herself. All through her talk Sharpay was making comments to her friends. After it was over the class basically proceeded to be the same as any other. Boring.
Finally, Taylor came in to relieve Gabriella of the aching pain of her boredom. She had to stop reading books on child development or she would start sleeping in class. They made small talk as they made their way to Gabriella's Chemistry class.
"Now I'm going to go ahead and warn you, Mrs. Hall can be a little mean at times, but if you're nice to her you should be fine." Taylor advised
Gabriella chanced a glance at her. She looked a little peaky.
"You're lying"
"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed with a huge breath "Just...don't talk to her when it isn't necessary. Oh look we're here."
Taylor stopped suddenly next to a door. It was eerily silent on the other side of the door compared to the buzz of millions of conversations in the hallway.
"Well, I'll be seeing you." With that, Taylor turned on her heel and just walked away.
"Taylor wait!" Gabriella called after her "I'm scared!" she whisper yelled down the hallway
Not stopping, Taylor turned around, gave Gabs a sympathetic look, then turned back around and kept walking. Gathering as much courage as she could muster, Gabriella opened the door and crossed the threshold into possibly the bleakest class she had ever seen.
TADAAA!!! Haha jk, but I am really happy that I finally finished the chapter!
I had to split the first day of school into two parts because it was so long. I promise the story gets better, I just really wanted to go ahead and introduce each of her classes. I'm sorry if it was really choppy if you get what I mean by that. Anyways I already have the second part written so be looking for that :)
Review please !!!