School

I was awoken by Annie as she tried to shake me awake from on the ground. I slowly opened my eyes, "Huh? What are you doing?" I asked letting her know I was awake and that she didn't need to try to wake me anymore, which I think she was relieved about. "Come on, we have school, you need to get up and get ready and come down stairs for breakfast," she said, pulling the blanket off of me in the process.

I'm extremely lucky that I'm wearing my pyjamas, or that would have been just pure awkward, and disgusting. I climbed down from my bed and looked loathingly at the uniform hanging in my cupboard and in my drawers. I pulled it out and quickly got changed in whilst Annie headed downstairs as she got changed before waking me up. I slipped on the uniform and headed downstairs to the kitchen/dining room.

Set up along the kitchen counter where all sorts of foods. There were all kinds of cereal, toast and bread. There were also toppings for the toast and bread like butter, jam, Nutella, egg, beans and also a bunch of fruit, most of which look like they are tinned. I grab a piece of toast and some Nutella and sat down at the same table as Annie. As we ate, we talked about different things, like what sort of people are at school, and what the classes and teachers are like. After about ten or fifteen minutes, Annie and I head back upstairs to finish getting ready.

I brush my hair and gather my school things. Apparently we have to leave at about 8:00 so we will get to the bus stop by 8:15, so the bus can take us to school. If we are running late, we have to run, there's no easy alternative. You only ever get a lift if you're hurt, have something big or heavy to take home that can't fit in your bag or if you have afterschool curriculum things that you need to stay back for.

We head back down stairs and I see Max playing with another Child downstairs. As he was in pre-primary and it was still only the start of the year, he only had half days which started at lunchtime. I ran over to him, gave him a hug goodbye and kissed him on the forehead, something our mother used to always do. I smiled at him as he playfully rubbed the spot trying to get rid of whatever 'cooties' I gave him. (A/N that or girl germs, not sure what they use nowadays.)

I walked out the front door with Annie, we were leaving earlier than others as I was new and needed to learn the way to the bus stop, seeming as I might have to find my own way from time to time and I couldn't rely completely on Annie. We reached the bus stop within 10 minutes and sat on the bench. Apparently whenever the bus was late, you would be waiting 5 or 10 minutes, so it was best of you get here first so you had a seat.

She also warned me that from time to time, some guy named Samuel would come and if you didn't give him a seat, you would be asking for a death-wish. What a pleasant way to start the day. After about 5 or so minutes of Annie and me chatting, more and more people began to turn up. All the orphanage kids and a few others who lived nearby got on the bus here, as it was closest to most. Suddenly, a shadow stood over Annie and I, I could see the fear in her eyes, as she continued to look down. "My friends and I want to sit down, so move your ass," said an intimidation voice in a threatening manner.

I looked at Annie, there was pure anger in her eyes, it looked as if she could kill this guy in a second, I decided to test that theory, which I had to admit, was a stupid idea. I looked up at him and looked right in his eyes, "No, we were here first so go sit on the floor or something if you want to sit down." Okay, big, BIG mistake, if looks could kill, well, I should start handing out invitations for my funeral. "What did you just say?" He said, steam almost coming out of his ears and nose, ha-ha, that would be funny to see… back on topic, his face began turning red with anger.

"You heard me, look a nice spot of grass right there," I retorted, I really did have a death wish didn't I? I had a really bad habit of doing this, I even had a scar to prove it, and I may or may not have done this to one of the most short-tempered people at my old school… Meh, I had Karate and Rom Tai Kwon Do classes, I would last.

In fact, the short-tempered girl came off way worse than me, she had a couple of bruises after that, it took about two people to pull me off her, I was so mad, but she hit me first… it think. He reached down, to pick me up and throw me at the floor, well, ok I did hit the other girl first, but she was about the punch me.

I threw a punch at his arm, causing him to retreat back a couple of steps. He would have killed me if it wasn't for the bus that turned around the corner. It stopped outside our stop and everyone got on. Before I left, Anna, the house parent from yesterday, gave me a smart rider. It's like this card that you use on Trans Perth, the common bus name that does routes all day, and you scan it, ours is a student one so it means it only costs 50c instead of 80c.

I sat down next to Annie in one of the seats, the bus was almost full now and we headed off to school. The whole drive I sat silently in my seat, staring out the window.

As we arrived, I got off the bus, rescanning my smart rider to let them know I have finished my travel and followed Annie to the front office. I purposely avoided Samuel, not wanting to get into a fight before I even started at the new school. I walked through the door and followed Annie to the desk. "Mrs Welkin's, this is Charlie Veil, the new student," Annie introduced me. "Well, hello Charlie, I believe you will be in class 5F, Annie is in the year above you but I'm sure she won't mind taking you to your class.

Your teachers name is Mr Fields, I'm sure you'll have a great day, he'll be waiting for you in his class I believe," Mrs… Welkins, I think, explained as she handed me a piece of paper with my class, year, name, all that kind of stuff. I took the paper and followed Annie out back to the large basketball courts that were outside. She led me to a 2 storey building and started heading up the stairs with me close behind. There weren't many classes upstairs, there were about 4 or something, but they all seemed very spacious.

We entered one of the rooms with a poster on the door saying, '5F, and welcome'. Annie knocked on the door and waited for the door to be opened by a youngish sort of teacher, maybe in his late twenties. "Hello Annie, you must be Charlie, I'm Mr Fields, welcome to our school, come in," He introduced, standing aside so we could enter the classroom.

It was extremely spacious; it had about 8 desks for four people all spaced out through the classroom, except for a large area in the middle where I assume we sit down at. There was a bookshelf in the corner with many different sorts of books and the walls were covered in work done by other students. I like this classroom, it was nice and bright, not boring and didn't make me feel like sleeping.

He went over to his desk and started packing some things away, "Annie, thank you very much for bringing Charlie, but I believe the bell will be going in a minute and you need to get to your class, perhaps you can come and find Charlie again at recess." Annie had explained the whole system here to me last night. The day started at 8:30 when the bell rang and you lined up outside of class until the teacher let you into class, you then stayed in class until 10:30 when you would have recess, break one, morning tea, whatever you call it.

That would then end at 10:50, when we would go back to class. We would then stay there until 12:30 when we would have lunch, then go back in at 1:00, staying until 3:10. All in all, it was pretty simple to understand. I put my bag where he told me too and put my books in my designated tray, it had my name on it. I was looking around the class when a sudden noise made me jump. I think it was supposed to be the school bell because Mr Fields stood up and started heading towards the door.

"Well come on, you get to meet the class," Mr Fields said in a, well, too, umm, excited? Yeah, I'll go with excited, in a too excited voice than what a school teacher should sound. We excited the door, me making sure I closed my tray properly. I followed him out the door and downstairs, on the way he pointed out the bathroom and library, also where some of the other classes are like Italian and music rooms.

We walked to the basketball courts where everyone was lined up and I followed him to a line of people who all looked about my age. Mr Fields introduced me and took the class upstairs to the classroom. A girl with long blonde hair and green eyes walks past me, "Hi, my name is Niamh (Irish way of spelling Neve), your Charlie right?" She asks, with a genuine and welcoming smile on her face.

I smile back at her, "Yeah, it's nice to meet you, I don't really know anyone, except for Annie, but she's in the year above or something." "Oh, her, she's strange, she only started here a month or so ago, apparently she was seeing the councillor or something a lot, I don't know, I don't live at the home, I live a couple of blocks away," she says, I don't think she realises what she said was a little mean but anyway, I'm sure she didn't mean it. We walked into class and she put her bag away and then sat down at one of the desks, completely surrounded by other girls who I assume are her friends. I hang back, too shy to walk up to them.

Niamh continues talking and laughing to her friends whilst I hang around on the outside. "Hey, Charlie right? I'm Josh, I only came here a month or so ago. I guess we can be new kids together hey," He says in a poor attempt to make me laugh. I nod and follow him to one of the desks that have 2 other people at it. "This is Allie and Jack, my friends, guys, this is Charlie, she's new," Josh introduces.

Allie is small, with short black hair and piercing blue eyes. Jack, however, has long, for a boy, blonde hair and light brown eyes. He's tall and looks like someone who would beat everyone at sport. He's not that bad looking either. "Hello, nice to meet you, I see you've already met Niamh," Jack says, obvious distaste in his voice when he mentions her name. "Yeah, I did," is all I say in reply, too shy to say much else. "Don't trust her; she's like the bully of the school, as long as they are younger than her.

She never says nor does anything to any of the year six's, watch out for her," Allie warns, I don't know why but she reminds me of a mouse… that's not normal is it? "Hum… okay, sure," I reply. Before any one can say anything else, Mr Fields walks to the front of the class and tells everyone to sit down so we can start the class. I sit down next to Josh and across from Allie; this is going to be an interesting day.