When I took out my phone, it was full of messages from my Dad:

-Good morning, honey, good luck on your first class, and remember, just ignore all those assholes, I'm with you, I love you-.

I think my lunch proposal lit a little spark inside of him, especially with that last sentence. It was the phrase that according to him he said to himself all the time when he was away from us. and, the last time I had seen anything like that was just before we left Boston. Then his last of his messages said:

Sincerely, "Professor McGowen". I must admit that he did know how to make me smile.

It was pretty clear that he had not told mom about that little "neighbors' party" yesterday, (but I don't blame him, I wouldn't have done it either, it wasn't worth it), or about those kids.

At those moments I assumed my mom would be taking care of Louisa, so I decided not to bother them.

At the door of my next class, there was a boy standing who seemed to be carefully analyzing the other students in that classroom. He looked good. I knew he was in the same situation as me.

-Hello-.

-Hi-.

-You're new here, aren't you?-.

-How did you know that?-

-it is quite noticeable in you-. I said, looking him up and down. I think he didn't like my comment at all, and he saw me as if I was strange. I was just trying to sound more confident than I actually felt on any of my first day. I quickly apologized and I explained to him that it was also new there. He seemed to relax secretly. It seems that he wanted to play the "tough guy" that day, but that generally didn't work with someone like me, and everyone knew that (or, at least, they learned it over time).

-Miguel-. He said although he didn't offer me his hand, so I didn't either, I assumed he wouldn't be a good beginner, so I decided to be a little more "professional" than how i did before.

-I'm Ann-.

-Where are you from?-.

-Boston-.

-Cool, I'm from Riverside-.

-That sounds interesting-. I said not really sounding convincing, I just wanted to sound nice to someone. We both stayed pretty neutral during class, (I don't think we became "friends" that day, we just acted like the "new kids") even when the teacher greeted us with her brightest smile. In that class there were no problems with how funny my last name could be for any of them, just a couple of telltale looks from my new classmates and even from Miguel, but nothing more, no stupid jokes or comments. That helped me relax a little; obviously, we didn't talk much during the rest of the class, just the occasional comment or two. I tried to say goodbye to Miguel with my modest "nice to meet you" but he left before I could realize that the bell had rung. I decided to stop by the gym, to see if Dad had already started with his classes. His methods almost always consisted of his students showing him their best skills, so that he could give the weakest ones everything they could need, and he was in charge of calming the strongest ones down, and always before they hurt themselves or others; sometimes It worked pretty well, no one got hurt with him, but in other kind of schools, the strong ones with a lot of muscle and little brains seemed to be multiplying every minute; But, from what I could see in that particular class, he had not yet lost his temper, nor had he come across anything unpleasant enough, and I was able to confirm his good mood when he saw me out of the corner of his eye and smiled at me, I greeted him discreetly and left for my next class.

Everything went relatively well until lunchtime, because I had no one to sit with, I ran into Miguel a few times, and I thought we could share a table as "beginners", but he sat down with other two guys and they immediately started drooling over Yasmine and her friends, and there was no way I was going to sit with those girls, even if that Sam was there. The good news is that my promise was still intact.

Just as I was leaving, dad came through that same door.

-Hey, is everything okay?-. He whispered to me, but no one there even noticed us.

-Let's go somewhere else-. He only needed to look at some kids who were trying to open a vending machine to agree with me.

-I think the other teachers can take charge of this-.

We ate nothing but pizza for the first twenty minutes, The silence betwern us never bothered me, but dad could tell he wanted to know how I had done in those first five hours; Finally, he asked me:

-Have you already found at least someone to donate some of our pizzas?-. My face reflected a resounding "NAH".

-Not even with the other new boy, just a nice girl, our new neighbor, Sam-.

-Are you talking about that girl who came home the other night in that beat-up car?-. Dad started again with his classic warning looks.

-At least she behaved well, I bet she didn't hit it, it was probably the plastic girl that-.

-"The plastic girl that"-.

-A girl who made some fun of our last name-.

His eyes relaxed a little, I could see that he understood me, and he laughed at the reason I called her like that. I knew very well that anywhere there were going to be those who would laugh at me even for the most ridiculous reasons, but I didn't have to worry, since I knew how to shut them up, I just had to wait for the right time. To try to change the topic, he told me that the other teachers were talking about a "Halloween dance", he told me that I could go to try make some new friends, I thanked him very cordially, but I just passed, I didn't have a costume and I didn't want to run into that girl again if it wasn't strictly necessary, she would probably be dressed as a barbie doll; besides, nothing else was needed to make me feel better. I decided to decline that offer and change it to being able to ride my van to school the next few days.

At the end of my day, I had to wait for my father during his last class, so I simply hid behind the bleachers, while a new group of kids walked in, I figured they would be too busy watching each other fight that they wouldn't notice I was there. After our lunch, Dad seemed more calmer, but his friendly smile faded as soon as that big idiot wearing a ponytail and his friend entered.

-Holy sh*t-. I whispered to myself and I could see how dad went into military mode, a mood that even I didn't recognize sometimes.

-Please, settle down and be quiet, RIGHT NOW-.

Almost everyone obeyed immediately, except those two who seemed to do it in a mocking manner, it was obvious that they were not used to being controlled. The atmosphere became tense quickly.

-Good afternoon-.

-Good afternoon- they responded.

-As you've probably already noticed, I'm your new wrestling teacher, Mr. McG...-

From my hiding place I signaled to dad so that he to shortened the last name, the last thing we needed was for that whole group of rich kids to share jokes about us.

-You know what? call me Mr. Mack-. He give them one last warning look although I don't think any of them were paying attention. He proceeded to give them instructions on what they were going to do next, most of the "strong guys" looked at each other as if they were getting ready to go hunting. After a few warm-ups, they formed pairs, because dad knew that if he faced any of them, at least someone would end up bleeding, It didn't matter if it was him or them, and that would be very unprofessional, especially, on the first day of job. I had to endure how all those morons boasted about their brute strength while the others were in charge of distracting the teacher. I thought that the worst thing they could do that day was bother the "weaklings", but they had no plans to waste a good opportunity like that one. I saw how they approached stealthily towards the boys who had lunch today with Miguel a, who were just chatting, and grabbed them:

-Hey, you shit-lip, Why don't you start practicing a little, can't you talk at tea time?-.

-let us go!-. one of them begged.

-What do you think if we help them a little?-. And they threw them against each other.

-C'mon, pussies, fight!-. The big guy said while he kicked one of them in the arm.

-Uh, how sad, we couldn't fix this one's lip-.

-Maybe next time-.

I felt terrible for not being able to help them, it went against absolutely everything they taught me, but I also knew that I could get my dad in a lot of trouble if I got involved. Fortunately, at that moment, he grabbed one by the collar of his shirt and the other by his ponytail and dragged them away.

-Son, are you okay?-. He asked as he helped him up, the boy just covered the scar on his lip with his hand.

-Yes, I think we're fine-. the other responded, but when he got up from the mat he looked right in my direction, I didn't stay to check it because I snuck through the emergency exit and ran to locked myself in the car.