watsonma@hotmail.com
First Day
I woke up the next morning on time, for the first time in years. I got dressed in my Uniform. It consisted of a short dark blue plaid pleated skirt with a White shirt and black shoes with white socks. It was slightly chilly out, so I put on a dark blue sweater over my shirt, brushed my hair and went down stairs. This uniform was very different than the one I had worn before. Those sailor outfits were severely overrated.
I wasn't as nervous as I was before but I was still slightly worried about my English and the people I'd meet and whether or not they'd accept me. I had time to eat breakfast before I went to catch my bus. My dad complimented me on the way I looked and I was naturally grateful but I hoped my fellow classmates would be similarly impressed.
Richard drove me to my new school. Sometimes I wasn't sure what to call him. All my life I'd lived with Kenjii and I'd called him Dad. It felt a like I was betraying the man who had raised me as his own, (and he had thought I was) by addressing another man by the same title.
Speaking of names what was I going to call myself. Would I be Serena Tsukino or Serena Chandler? All this thought only served to make me nervous. I looked up to see my dad looking over at me.
He gave me a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you'll like it there. It's a good school. CeCe went here." We arrived at the school building that seemed to be older than it really was. Despite the fact that it was built in the twenties, the building appeared to have been styled in the manner of older catholic schools over a century old. It even had ivy on some of the walls and gave the impression of a prestigious Ivy League school and I suppose in its own way it was.
"Where did you go to school dad?" I asked.
"I went to a private boarding school for boys on the East Coast. I only saw my parents on holidays."
"That doesn't sound too cool." I said frowning. "Didn't you miss them?"
"Well I didn't like it at first, but I got used to it. It was what all the families of my parents social standing did at the time. Besides I hardly saw them when I was home so it didn't take too long to make the transition."
"I don't think I could ever do that to my own kids."
"I couldn't either," he said smiling at me.
I sighed as the car came to a stop.
"Have a nice day Serena, he said as I got out of the car."
"Are you sure I'll fit in here?" I asked. Did you take a look at my high school transcript?"
"You'll be fine," he said. "Just try your best." With that he drove off leaving me staring longingly at the taillights of his disappearing BMW.
"That man has not looked at my transcript," I muttered.
I turned to face the intimidating school building. Milling around on the lawns in front of the school were dozens of girls dressed like myself, and guys in dark blue pants, white shirts and dark blue blazers. I walked towards one of the buildings where many of the students entered.
I stood in the hallway, completely lost with the sounds of the many students hanging around talking in the hallways. It all sounded like a big blur. They were all talking so fast and animatedly. I was wandering around, in search of the principal's office, looking very lost, when a girl with mid-length blonde hair walked up to me and said hi.
"Hi! You're new here right?"
"Hai." I replied in Japanese, nodding. "I'm looking for Principal?" I said with a heavy accent. Somewhere in my mind it told me that wasn't correct and before I could think, I opened my mouth and repeated. "I mean, I'm looking for the principal's office." Whoa where and when did I learn that?
She looked at me oddly as if to say what was that about?' "Ok." She said. She gave me directions and I thanked her. I got to the principal's office and they looked over my transcript from my old high school. I knew it wasn't very impressive but they were very nice and I was complimented on my English, which shocked even me. I think it had everything to do with what happened to me last night.
Then I was directed to my guidance counselor's office. I walked up to a wooden door with a glass window pane on which was printed in big bold black lettering: Mr. J Lukach, Guidance Counselor. I knocked on the door and a cheery male voice answered "come in." I walked in nervously and found a tall slightly plump, balding blond-haired guy with very kind light brown eyes, smiling at me. Instantly all my worries faded away with his infectious smile and I returned his smile, instantly feeling more relaxed. He introduced himself to me and gestured for me to sit down. We exchanged niceties and he welcomed me to the school and told me that he'd be arranging my schedule.
"Normally we'd put foreign students in an English as a second language class but from what I've heard you seem to have an excellent understanding of the language for someone who's been here for such a short time. It's actually quite amazing. Have you been to the U.S. before?"
"No but my parents used to live here so I knew a bit and I learned a lot from my English classes in Japan." I wasn't really lying now was I? Except for that last bit about learning a lot of English in school. Had he been looking at my transcript at the moment he would probably ask how did I learn English and manage to get a D+ in the subject, mostly from not being able to pay attention and not doing homework.
"That's quite impressive. Well, I am sure you will do fine in our regular English class. If you have any difficulty with any of your classes or just want to talk, you know where my office is. Stop by anytime. I have a feeling you will do just fine, and I will make sure to check up on you, but if you need anything please don't hesitate to come to me."
I smiled at him, grateful for his acceptance and concern. It was rare to meet such a kind-hearted man, or anyone, who seemed so sure of my abilities. I couldn't understand why, I have over the years, grown used to the lack of confidence people have in me, but I was grateful for his confidence. It still took some time getting used to though. It helped me get some confidence in myself. I still felt a small stab of pain, when I momentarily thought about the lack of faith my friends at home had in me. I quickly reminded myself of the promise I had made to my parents. I would do my best here.
I thanked him for his help and started to leave. He stopped me when he saw another girl walking into the office. The girl was a blonde like me with beautiful sea green eyes. She came up to me and introduced herself to me as Faith. I recognized her as the girl who gave me the directions to the principal's office. She flashed me a radiant smile before giving her attention to Mr. Lukach, who was waiting patiently for Faith to give him her attention.
"I guess there is no need for my introductions." He said in a good-hearted way. "No there isn't Mr. Lukach." Faith said still smiling. Mr. Lukach then turned to me "Faith is going to be your guide for the week. Both of you have the same schedule except for your History class fifth period. After that both of you have lunch and then gym. Hope your first day here is enjoyable." He said smiling. I stood up and thanked him.
Faith and I left Mr. Lukach's office and walked down the hallway to my first class. I looked around me in curiosity and amazement. Even with the uniforms the students manage to look so unique. I got a few glances and a couple of stares and some smiles from guys and girls in the hallway but nothing offensive. At first glance everyone around seemed pretty nice.
It all seemed somewhat chaotic and served only to make me nervous. "I can tell you're nervous," Faith said to me, smiling gently. "You don't have to be at all. The teachers are all pretty nice around here, except for Mrs. Sachs. She's the history teacher, I had her last year, and she can be really mean sometimes. But don't worry about her too much. She's nice enough as long as you do what she asks."
Her speech did little to allay my fears. If anything I was more worried than ever and definitely not looking forward to history. "I didn't help much did I?" She asked. "I'm really sorry. You'll get used to everything soon enough. I've heard school is a lot harder in Japan so this should be pretty easy for you." I smiled at her, appreciative of her attempts to comfort me.
"If half the people here are as nice as you, then school here will probably be fun," I said to her. Saying it actually made me feel a lot better. This might just turn out well after all.
I glanced around the light blue colored hallways that vaguely reminded me of a hospital waiting room. Listening closely I confirmed my suspicions that there was classical music being played in the halls. The first time I had heard it I thought I was hearing things but
"Is that classical music I hear playing? I asked.
"Yeah, it is. They play it a little louder in the mornings when everyone's in the hallway. They turn it to a lower level throughout the day but it's always playing."
"Why?"
"It's a kind of social experiment that a few liberal educators are trying in some private schools in this county. You see, they've been doing studies that show that classical music is very calming and it also increases one's receptiveness or ability to process and understand information. They hope the results will be a less stressful and less violent atmosphere as well as better test scores and overall academic ability."
"Wow. I never knew that. It sounds like a good idea."
Yeah, I suppose so, after a while you hardly notice it anymore. My friend Lexie thinks it's kind of funny."
"Why?" I asked.
"Well you see, they also play this kind of music in mental hospitals, psychiatric wards and nursing homes to keep the patients calm. It confirms her theory that we are all going crazy."
I laughed at that. "I can't really disagree with her there."
"Oh a word of warning," Faith said. "The teacher's probably going to ask you to introduce yourself and tell a little about where you're from. In fact they'll all ask. This school's pretty small and they're really into these new education methods. At one of my friend's high school they didn't even notice or just didn't pay much attention to new students."
"Just great. I hate speaking in public," I said.
"Don't worry, the classes here are small and people are friendly, you'll be just fine."
We got to class and sat down. The teacher hadn't come in yet so the students were all talking to each other. I took my seat next to Lexie near the middle. There seemed to be only about fifteen students or so. Faith introduced me to her friend Lexie who sat directly behind her.
Lexie was a pretty black girl slightly taller than Faith and me at 5' '7', with shoulder length straight black hair, flipped up at the ends. She smiled at me and said: "welcome to Rose Park High." She had large sad eyes and she seemed very different than anyone I'd ever met. She was so reserved, but not shy, and her speech had a careless tone to it as though nothing was of any true importance. I liked her.
The teacher came in and everyone took their seats. This was also a change for me, seeing as how I was used to standing when the teacher came in. The teacher turned out to be a short olive skinned man with a shiny baldhead and dark hair on each side. He uttered a lively good morning, to which everyone replied in a similar fashion. I see we have a new student today he said smiling at me. Amazingly I didn't feel very nervous. His smile was so warm and he was so lively. He gave me the sense I had nothing to fear.
"Why don't you introduce yourself to us young lady?" he asked.
I stood up and watched nervously as everyone's eyes turned towards me. Somehow I found my voice and I began to speak. "Hello. My name is Serena Tsukino and I just moved here a few days ago from Tokyo."
"Tokyo? That's a long way from here, he said. Now that you've introduced yourself to us, I think it's our duty to do the same. I'm your English teacher Mr. Masiello. He then pointed to the student in the first row who introduced himself as Jordan. Faith whispered in my ear that she thought he was cute. He was cute but not half as good-looking as Darien. The next student then introduced himself and soon I knew the names of everyone in the class.
From then on the day went relatively easy. I had fun talking to Faith and Lexie. They introduced me to all their friends, who all turned out to be really nice. I really liked this school. Rose Park High was the site of my new beginning.
When I got back home, CeCe was home, amazingly enough. Usually she was busy at her office. She had a friend with her whom she introduced to me as a Mrs. Scott. She was a very regal looking lady with pale blonde hair pulled back into a chignon, wearing a Navy blue business suit and dark blue pumps. She was very nice and she invited me to the country club to meet her husband and son.
I can't believe it. I get to go to a real country club! I ran upstairs to do my homework. Surprised? I plan to work hard, although so far, American high school doesn't seem like it's going to be torture the way it was in Japan. I met some really cool people and my teachers seem pretty nice. Everyone is so relaxed here and not nearly half as strict as back home.
I am so excited. Saturday I would go to the country club with CeCe. I had no idea what to wear and just what do people do at country clubs except play golf like I see them do on TV. I asked CeCe and she suggested comfortable pants and a nice shirt. I picked out my clothes and reserved them for Saturday.
The rest of the week was great.
I learned a great deal of American slang from Faith and Lexie. They are
both so great. School's going very well and I feel less and less homesick
with each passing day. I really love it here