Chapter 4

Marla woke up feeling nervous. Today was the first day of school after the Christmas break. A whole new year, a whole new school and new friends to make. For once in her life, Marla had trouble eating breakfast. It's just first day nerves. Marla thought as she finished her toast and packed her backpack, ready to go to CSC. She was taking the bus, even though Dad had said he wouldn't mind taking Marla. Marla insisted that she would be fine and even convinced her parents to let her get her Learner's driver licence when she turns 16 in a few months. "We'll see." Mum had said to her.

Once the bus stopped off at CSC, Marla sat on the metal bench near the basketball courts, waiting for the bell to ring. Year 10 were supposed to meet the year advisor in the gymnasium to go over what they would be doing during the year and be given their timetables. Once that was done, they would go to their classes. Fifteen minutes later, the bell rang and Marla headed off to the gymnasium with all the other Year 10 students. In the gymnasium, their year advisor Mrs Sutherland (who also happened to be Marla's new English teacher) went over everything that Year 10 would be doing during the year before handing out their timetables by calling out their first names in alphabetical order.

"Marla Briggs." Mrs Sutherland called out.

Marla went over to Mrs Sutherland and got her timetable. This is what Marla's timetable looked like:

Monday: English, Maths, Visual Arts, History, Science, Home Ec

Tuesday: Science, Geography, English, Music, Maths, Spanish

Wednesday: Music, Science, Home Ec, Geography, English, Visual Arts

Thursday: Spanish, History, Maths, English, Home Ec, Geography

Friday: Visual Arts, Music, Science, Spanish, History, Maths

Because it was Wednesday and towards the end of Period 1, Marla's first class would be Science. When Marla walked into Miss Ridley's room, she saw that only one girl was in the class. Marla walked over to the girl who was wearing a black leather jacket that covered her yellow crop top.

"May I sit here?" Marla asked the girl.

"Sure." The girl said. "Are you new?"

"This is my first day at this school. I'm originally from New South Wales, but I moved to Alawa a few weeks ago."

"I'm from Nightcliff. Dorothy Williams is the name." the girl said.

"Marla Briggs. Nice to meet you." Marla said, smiling.

"All the students in our year went to Dripstone Middle School." Dorothy said.

"What was it like at Dripstone?" Marla asked Dorothy.

"Boring. I preferred Nightcliff Middle School better because it was closer to home."

"Why did you stop going there?"

"I got expelled for fighting." Dorothy said.

All Marla could do was smile.

A few minutes later, Miss Ridley walked in.

"Good morning class." Miss Ridley said.

"Good morning." The class said

"Welcome to Year 10 Science. Today, we are going to go over the topics we are going to learn throughout the year." Miss Ridley said.

"Interesting lesson." Marla whispered to Dorothy.

"It's always like this on the first day." Dorothy said.

"I just hope the people are nice." Marla said.

"They are, except for Jasmine Reeves and her bitchy friends." Dorothy said.

Jasmine Reeves turned up in Marla's Home Ec class with her friends Sarah Cooper and Melissa Aceglav. Marla looked towards the room and saw that only four boys were in Home Ec while the other twelve (Marla included) were girls.

"Hey, new girl?" Jasmine called out.

"Yeah?" Marla said.

"Come sit with us."

Marla got up and sat with Jasmine and her two friends.

"Where are you from new girl?" Jasmine asked Marla.

"New South Wales." Marla said.

"I've got family up there." Jasmine said "So, what's your name?"

"Marla Briggs. And I presume your Jasmine Reeves?"

"Correct. You've heard about me aye?"

"Yeah I have."

"Are you enjoying Darwin so far?" Sarah asked Marla.

"Yes. I've made a friend in Science already." Marla said.

"Who?" Melissa asked.

"Dorothy Williams."

Jasmine looked like she wanted to vomit.

"You can't be serious? She is the bitchiest girl in school."

"She thought you three were bitches and told me to keep my distance."

"Is that right?" Melissa said angrily.

"We don't bully unless someone bullies us first." Jasmine said.

"She's going to be sorry she said that to you!" Melissa said to Marla.

"Don't worry. I'm sure I can be friends with all of you." Marla said with a weak smile.

Unfortunately, Dorothy and Jasmine both wound up in Marla's English class after lunch. That would've been okay, but their exchange of dirty looks raised Marla's eyebrows. As Mrs Sutherland was going on about their work, Dorothy whispered in Marla's ear. That caught Jasmine's attention rather quickly and in response, she threw a pen at Dorothy.

"Ow!" Dorothy whined.

"Sorry, I meant to aim for the bin." Jasmine said with a huge smile on her face.
Dorothy grabbed Jasmine by the hair.

"ARGH!" Jasmine yelled out.

Mrs Sutherland looked straight at the girls.

"How dare you behave like this in my class!" Mrs Sutherland snapped "You will both report to me after the lesson!"

"Thanks a lot." Jasmine said sarcastically

"No problems darling!" Dorothy said with a huge grin on her face.

That meant Marla had to go to Visual Arts class on her own. Dorothy was supposed to walk with her.

As soon as the siren sounded, Marla walked quickly into Miss Fitzpatrick's VA room and sat up the back. Marla saw the students enter and noticed a guy wearing a blue varsity jacket. He also wore an Orlando Magic snapback.

He's got a great body. Marla thought as she got out her sketch book.

Marla had her eyes fixated on the guy that she didn't notice Dorothy sit next to her.

"Who are you checking out?" Dorothy asked giving Marla a nudge in the ribs.

"That guy over there." Marla said.

"Oh that's TJ Maiava." Dorothy said. "One of the nicest guys you could ever meet."

"You like him?" Marla asked Dorothy.

"Only as a friend. He has such good qualities. He goes to the gym, he plays rugby league and from what I hear, he's very family-oriented."

"Maybe I should talk to him." Marla said. "I haven't seen him in any of my other classes today."

"Music, Science, Maths and History." Dorothy said. "I don't do Music and I'm in your Science and History classes."

"Not to mention VA and English." Marla said smiling. "By the way, what's his nationality?"

"Samoan." Dorothy said.

"Neat." Marla smiled.

This has been a great first day at Casuarina Senior College. Let's see what tomorrow will bring.