Teenagers stared at our red Jeep pulling up to the pavement. "Ok, out you get," Joey said hurriedly. I stared at him with a look of disgust on my face. "I'll pick you up right here at 4:00pm, ok?" Joey asked. I nodded my head and reluctantly got out of the Jeep and looked around at the transfixed teenagers. "Break a leg kiddo!" Joey yelled as he pulled away from the school, causing me to feel even more embarrassed. I lowered my head and put up my sweatshirt and jacket hood to protect my curly, deep chestnut hair from the wet snow.
I lowered my hoods as I walked through the front doors of another new school. As I raised my head to search for the main office I was greeted by the stares of a group of blonde, skinny girls wearing cheerleading uniforms. "Great," I mumbled. I walked over to the group of girls, took a deep breath and asked "Excuse me, do you know where the main office is?" I didn't get a reply from the girls they just turned away and walked off down the hallway.
"I could show you if you'd like," came a voice from behind me. I turned around to find a tall boy with dirty blonde hair and sparkling brown eyes.
"That would be nice, thank you" I said. I let a slight smile form and followed the tall boy through the hallway. I kept looking around at the unfamiliar walls trying to take everything in.
"Oh, I'm Ryder by the way," He said, looking back towards me.
"I'm Alex," I said shyly. "Is everyone here always so... um..."
"Mean? Rude? Weird?" Ryder added.
"Well, yeah." I replied.
"Not all of the time," Ryder began. "You just have to get to know them and not do anything too, obvious." I shot him a confused look. "I guess it helps if you build your way up to things, like joining clubs, or sticking your hand up every time you know an answer. The kids here are very big on labelling people." I nodded and listened intently to the young man guiding me through the hallways giving me advice, and before I knew it we were at the office.
"Ryder, thank you," I said.
"I can wait for you if you want," Ryder said as I opened the door to the office.
"Ok," I replied. I turned away from Ryder and walked into the office, greeting the ladies behind the counter with a smile.
A few minutes later I came out of the office with a stack of paperwork and a confused look on my face. "Is it really necessary for all of this paper?" I said. Ryder chuckled as a bell rang through the hallways. Ryder laughed again when he saw the look of fear upon my face.
"Don't worry that's only the first bell," Ryder said with a smile on his face. "You have to be in class by the second bell, so we have five minutes to get there."
"My locker number is 187, where is that?" I asked.
"Really?" Ryder questioned. "My locker is 174, right down the hall from yours. Oh, it's down by the auditorium, quite hard to miss."
I pointed down the hallway like I instantly knew where the auditorium was, it was almost as if the stage was calling my name. Ryder nodded and smiled in my direction. I turned away from his smiling face trying not to read too deep into it; after all we had only known each other for half an hour. "So, do you happen to know where room 206 is?" I asked.
"Ooh Advanced Math, follow me." Ryder replied with a smile. I followed him down the hallways and up the stairs thinking about the promise I made to Dad. Could Ryder be my first friend in Ohio, or is it all too good to be true?
If you want more soon then review and tell me to get a move on, ahaha. TBC...