The Challenge(49)

“Is there a dress code?” she whispered again.

“Yes, but they do what they want. The rest of the girls look normal, like you, only not as pretty.” He smiled at her.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. He looked nice too in a new sweatshirt, jeans, and new Nikes.

They had none of the same classes that morning, and she was in a different section, so he walked her to her classroom, and then went to find his. The school was unfamiliar to him too, but he had gone to schools like it, and navigated better than she did. She had gone to small private schools all her life, which were different. It felt intimidating on the first day, but she was sure she’d get used to it.



* * *



—

The classes were small, which she liked. They were roughly half female and half male. It was a geometry class, which was one of her weaker subjects, and she had to race to get to her next class. One of the girls made a comment as she sped by and referred to her as the Virgin Mary. She ignored it.

Her next class was algebra, which she didn’t like either. A few of the girls in that class had pierced noses and lips, eyebrows and tongues. All she had was pierced ears, and only one earring on each. The girl in front of her had disks in her earlobes the size of a fifty-cent piece and gave her a nasty look. She saw Tim sitting in the classroom and changed her seat to be next to him. She left the class with him, and she was looking dejected.

“The first day always sucks,” he reassured her. “I don’t know where all the freaks come from, but they’re out in force on the first day. They kind of blend in later on.” She had an English Lit class that afternoon, and biology. She was beginning to wonder if she’d made the right decision. Some of the girls looked nice, others were too racy. The classes were hard, and the teachers hadn’t been friendly so far. They looked overwhelmed on the first day too. Someone else had called her Goody Two-shoes in the hall. The atmosphere wasn’t congenial or welcoming on her first day of high school.

Peter was waiting for her in the cafeteria. It was a big noisy room, the lines were long, and there was nothing she wanted to eat except a yogurt and a banana.

“That’s all you’re eating?” He looked worried. He had helped himself to a burger and fries, but they looked tired to Juliet, who was used to private school, well-balanced, appealing meals. Everything was new to her here. “How were your classes?” he asked, as they found a table and Matt and Noel found them. Tim had a different lunch break.

“They sucked,” she told him. “Geometry and algebra, my two worst subjects. I didn’t understand a thing.”

“Tim does mine for me,” he said with a grin. “He can do yours too.”

“I’m going to flunk and I’ll never get into college,” she said glumly. The yogurt was warm and the banana was mushy.

“You won’t be alive by then if you don’t eat more than that,” Peter commented, and Matt and Noel heaped potato chips, half a sandwich, and some cookies on her plate. “Eat!” Peter told her, and she smiled. “I hate the first day. It’s always depressing. The teachers want to show you how tough they are. They shower you with homework, and all the freaks in the county show up for school. Everybody gets nice about two weeks later. What do you have this afternoon?”

“English Lit. At least I understand that.” He smiled at her comment. “And biology.”

“I have American History and sociology. I need a translator for those,” he told her.

“I do his history,” Matt volunteered. “He does my English papers. What do you do?” he asked her with interest, and she laughed.

“English. I suck at math and science.” It had cheered her up to have lunch with them, and they went back into the chaos in the halls. She found her next class more easily and promised to meet Peter outside after school.

“Play nice in the sandbox!” he told her and rushed off to his own classes.

She liked the English Lit class better and had already read the book they were discussing, which made it easy. She almost cried in biology when they told her they were going to dissect a frog in the coming weeks. She nearly threw up.

She saw Peter for two minutes after school, and then had to get into her father’s truck. She didn’t look happy and Tom asked her cautiously how it had gone.

“Is it too soon to get my GED?” she asked, slumped down in the seat as she put on her seat belt.

“It might be. What happened?”

“I had geometry and algebra back-to-back this morning, and you know how I am at that. The teachers weren’t friendly. English Lit was okay, and I know the book, and we’re going to dissect a frog in biology! I’d rather get an F. The food was disgusting, and some of the girls in my class dressed like freaks and they all have piercings and I’m starving!” she said, glowering at him as he tried not to laugh. She looked the way she used to when she was five and unhappy about something.

“Other than that, how was the performance, Mrs. Lincoln?”

“It sucked,” she said for emphasis. “Peter says it gets better, but I don’t believe him. I had lunch with him and Matt and Noel, and they made me eat.” She crossed her arms and stared out the window. “And I looked stupid in my pink Converse. Mom thought it would look cute. It didn’t. Somebody called me the Virgin Mary, and someone else called me Goody Two-shoes.” Her father poured her lemonade and gave her a plate of cookies when she got home. Peter called her as soon as he got to the ranch. He commiserated with her for half an hour, and she went to her room to do her homework. She was panicked about the frog in biology and had said she’d refuse to do it.