Today, I decided, was the worst day of my life. Just a week ago, my parents had uprooted my entire life, forcing me to leave Savannah, the city I had lived in since I was born, and move about 800 miles up the Eastern Seaboard to a little two-square mile town in Suburbia. I already hated it. Lawn mowers or leaf blowers were constantly causing a ruckus, half of the restaurants were awful, and it was so boring! I slammed the door as I stomped down the stairs. Since I was in eighth grade, the middle school didn’t start until 10:27. How inconvenient! It was 8:27, and now I had to wait two whole hours before I could go. What on Earth was I going to do with my time?

“Alexis, don’t you need to be at school?” my mother asked, hastily grabbing her purse. 

“No. For some unfathomable reason, school doesn’t start till 10:27 today.” 

“Mmm, how nice,” she said. “You get to sleep in.”

“10:27?” my dad asked, walking in. “I have to be at the office at 9:30.” 

“Well I told you last night that I have to leave at 8:30 to catch my train. Which is now! I’m going to be late. Have a great first day, Alexis!”

“Alexis,” my dad started. “I have my first in-person meeting with my clients this morning. You know where the school is, right?” 

“No! But I do have google maps.” 

“Thanks for understanding, Alexis. See you for dinner. Have a great day!” With that, my dad grabbed his computer and practically ran out the door. 

Great. Now I had to walk to school alone. I opened google maps. It was a twenty-five minute walk!  It was about the same time it had taken to drive to Savannah Country Day, my old school, but that was 12 miles away. Pelham Middle School was barely over one. I slung my backpack over my shoulder. I didn’t have anything else to do, and I’d probably get lost on the way to school. This town was a maze. 

It was cold for September, in the low seventies. I’d never understood why northern schools started in September. The rest of the country started in August, they just insisted on making it confusing. I felt a pang for my hometown, the hot weather, beautiful live oaks, and gorgeous homes. Here the homes all looked the same, with their cheap siding or faux Greek columns. And then there was the occasional home that looked out of place, moderns or Italian renaissances. At last, I arrived at my destination, glad I finished navigating this stupid town. The school looked almost as big as my old school, which gave me a little hope, but I quickly shoved it down. So what if they didn’t have to wear uniforms? They probably were still on addition and subtraction in 8th grade. Or maybe they only read picture books.

“Hey!” I spun around and saw a girl waving at me. “Are you new?” 

“Me?” I asked.

“Yeah! I’ve never seen you before.”

“Unfortunately,” I muttered, but was surprised when the girl laughed. 

“Are you in eighth?” 

“Yeah,” I said, averting eye contact. Why did this girl have to be so nice? Suddenly her phone rang. 

“I have to go,” she said. “See you around!”

I pretended to call my mom so I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone else, until the doors finally opened and I followed the herd of kids. I half-listened to the principal, Ms. Sabia, and Mr. Llewellyn, the vice principal, while they talked for 20 minutes. 

After the assembly, I hurried out of the gym, and came face to face with the girl from earlier.

“Need help finding your first class?” she asked. Ugh. She was so nosy. 

“What? No. It can’t be that hard.” I turned and ran up the first flight of stairs I saw, quickly getting lost in the crowd of kids.

I had to find room 155 for Algebra. The bell had already rung, and I was alone in the hallway. I hurried up the first flight of stairs, past the 170s and 160s. I ran up the next flight of stairs, 270s and 260s. I saw double doors at the end of the hallway and pushed through it, and the hallway became an ugly shade of orange and beige. Still the 200s. I turned down the next flight of stairs, into the 110s. My heart rate sped up, and I broke into a run. I ran through a hallway with paintings, and I pushed open a small door.

It was dark, and hard to see. I almost tripped over a ladder before pushing aside a curtain and finding myself on a small stage. There was no one there! I felt a scream building inside me-then my phone buzzed.

“Have you heard?” It was from my old grade-wide group chat. I clicked on it, remembering that my friends were going on a field trip to the Everglades. 

Lucky them. They were going to have the time of their lives while I was stuck here. 

“It’s so unfair!” I rolled my eyes. Whatever the problem was, it couldn’t compare to mine.

“The field trip is canceled!!!” What? The field trip to the Everglades was the only one my grade went on this year. For a second, I was glad I had moved here. I shook my head. I couldn’t be glad! I couldn’t like Pelham. I was worried it would be betraying Savannah and my friends. The bell rang overhead. I had officially skipped my first class ever. I checked my schedule again. I had study hall in room 170. 

I remembered where that was! If I could find my way out of here. I left the stage and had to shield my eyes against the bright light, almost slamming into the girl from before. 

“I’m so sorry!” I said. I looked around, but I had no idea where I was. I didn’t want to ask for help, but I also didn’t want to miss another class. “Do you know where room 170 is?” 

“I’m headed there now,” she said, “I’ll show you.” 

She hurried through the hallways, until we finally reached the one from earlier.

“Thank you so much,” I told her. 

“Of course,” she said, but I watched as she disappeared down the hall. She hadn’t had to come to 170. She did it to help me. 

There were two empty desks left, one by itself, and one next to a kid typing on a computer, chewing gum. I passed the empty desk, and sat next to the gum chewer. I hopefully wouldn’t be here long, but while I was, I could try to make friends. 

“Hi,” I said. “Um, I’m Alexis.”

“Rick,” he told me. “Are you from Georgia?”

“Huh?“ I asked, taken aback. Was Rick a psychic? 

“Your bag has a button with Georgia on it. I just assumed you were from there, since you seem new.” 

“Oh,” I said, relieved. “Yeah, Savannah.” 

”Cool,” he smiled. “Is it hot?”

“Well, I’m used to it,” I shrugged. “But Pelham is not.”

Rick laughed, and asked me about my old school. The rest of the period passed quickly. When the bell rang, he asked, “What do you have next period?”

I checked my schedule. “English, room 152.” Great. Another room in the 150s. 

“Same,” he said. “Do you know where it is?“

“I wish,” I sighed. “But I’ve got no clue.” 

“Follow me,” he said, but it was hard as he expertly weaved through the masses of people. He led me into a little green hallway I had overlooked before, and disappeared inside a classroom. I checked the sign above the door. Room 152. 

The teacher introduced herself as Ms. Pinsker, and she gave us assigned seats. Rick was one of the first people called, and slowly she told everyone their seat until only three others and I were left. One of them was the girl from before. 

“Okay, at this final table, we have Louis, Maria,” the other two kids went and sat down. “Alexis, and Ava.”

So her name was Ava. 

“You’re Alexis?” Ava asked. 

“Yeah,” I sighed. Why couldn’t this girl leave me alone! But then I remembered how Ava had shown me where my study hall was, even though it meant she would be late for class. “You’re Ava, right?”

“Yep!” she said, smiling. 

“What did you do this summer?” I asked, and she leapt into a full-blown description of her hotel in Iceland, and the terrible food at her summer camp, and only stopped once Ms. Pinsker started talking about English. I started to tune her out, until I heard Ava whisper.

“My sister said this was the hardest class. I’m a little scared.” 

I looked up, but Ms. Pinsker didn’t look scary, and unlike Ava, the work didn’t look too hard to me. It looked challenging, but also fun. I was reminded of my English last year, but I was surprisingly glad for that. My biggest fears about Pelham were that I wouldn’t make any friends, or the work would be too easy or hard (although I would never admit to myself that it was hard), and that it would be cold. I couldn’t do anything about the weather, but I thought I was making a few new friends, and the schoolwork seemed fine. For once, I started looking on the rest of the day as being fun, and it was! During lunch, Ava introduced me to her friends, one of whom was Rick, and during Spanish (in room 152 again), I laughed so hard I almost cried. When the final bell rang, I realized I was smiling. My phone buzzed again, but this time it was my mom. 

“Sorry we couldn’t take you to school. How was your first day?” 

I typed in, “Awful. What did you expect?” but then deleted it. I thought about my classes, and Ava, Rick, and my mini field trip to the auditorium, and wrote “It was…good!”

I still missed Savannah, but maybe this year wouldn’t be so bad after all.