Christie
I sighed happily and smiled to myself as I walked into my homeroom and took a seat near the front. Who cares that I got grouchy Mr. Naset for homeroom or that none of The Fabulous Five were with me? I was just so HAPPY to be back at Wakeman! Good old, super-friendly Wacko. No more dark, musty halls. No more stupid uniforms. No more lunch periods with your TEACHER sitting with you and your friends. No more weird lunches. (Well, okay, nevermind. Scratch that one.) I just felt so free! Honestly, if I wasn't such a conservative person, I would have gotten up and danced around the room.
Ok, yeah, I did miss some things about England. I mean, I *had* made good friends there. Phoebe, Eleanor, Nicki... Connie. I had even grown to like my incredibly strict teacher at St. Meg's. In fact, this past summer, when we had been preparing for the move back to Connecticut, I had felt so torn. Half of me was dying to be with The Fab Five again, but I also felt heartsick about leaving my London pals. I mean, they were my best friends there. It was scary to think about how long it would be before I'd see them again. If I ever did! Fortunatly, Pheeb, El, Nicki and Connie had all been able to assure me of how we'd all still be friends and would definitely see each other again in the future. And that helped a lot. I had started getting optomistic about being back in the States again. Because really, no matter what great things came into my life, nothing could replace The Fabulous Five. We'd been the absolute best of friends for soooo long. Yeah, we had had our share of rocky times together, but through it all, we've remained super close and do anything and everything we can for each other. Just knowing that I could run to them at any time made me feel so *secure*.
I leaned back in my seat, daydreaming about all the fun things I could do again now that I was back in Bridgeport. Bumpers, the mall, Mama Mia's, movies at Cinema 6... just getting to hang out with The Fab Five and all my other friends... like Dekeisha, Alexis, Mona, Mandy... Chase. I sat up straighter at that thought. Chase Collins. He had been, like, my sort of boyfriend last spring when we had moved to London. Boy, had that been tough. Just when I find a guy I really like, I have to move across the ocean. Then once I get to England, there's Connie Farrel. He had been sort of like a boyfriend over there. And I liked him a LOT. But Chase was different. Chase makes me feel like NOBODY else ever has. Ever since the minute I'd learned we'd be moving back to the U.S., I'd been wondering how things would be between us when I was in his area again. Would we just kind of pick up where we left off? I knew he liked me, and he knew I liked him. At least, that's what we'd gotten across in our letters to each other. In fact, I had thought that I'd see him right after we moved back to town a couple weeks ago. Like, maybe he'd come to see me. But he hadn't. I hadn't even glimpsed him at Bumpers or around town. Which was kind of weird. I knew he was still around. Maybe he wasn't as enthusiastic to see me as I had thought. (Or hoped.)
Oh, come on, Christie, I scolded myself. Be fair. You really haven't been back here THAT long. He was probably just getting ready for school himself. You'll see him soon for sure. I couldn't help smiling at that. Yes, I'd probably be seeing him REALLY soon. I'd have at least ONE class with him. Maybe he was even in my homeroom! I sat up straight and glanced around the room. I didn't see him yet. But kids were still coming in. And hey, if I didn't get to talk to him at school, there was always Bumpers later on.