I had decided to wear the black t-shirt, Blue October, was written on the back side of it and a pair of faded old blue jeans. I sat in front of the vanity and carefully added some dark eye shadow and a layer of black eye liner to my eyes. The lipstick was dark red almost a shade of black that I smeared onto my lips. I pressed my lips together and then puckered up to blow a fake kiss into the air. I did not wear any other make-up and with the way my skin was almost ghostly like I looked like I was a vampire. If only I had the fangs. Too bad that I could still see my reflection in the mirror it would have been rather cool not to see it there looking back at me. I styled my hair, sweeping up the sides to make it flare out some. I scrambled through the drawer and found a pair of earrings with a shade of royal blue diamonds that hung gracefully down. Slid on a few bracelets and then jotted out the door before my Grandparents seemed to notice me. Brooke was waiting for me in the driveway.

"Let's go." I said in a hurry. I wanted to leave before they came out of the house. That's all I needed to hear this morning them rambling on about the way I looked. When I looked back up toward the house, my Grandparents were standing on the porch waving bye to the both of us.

"Wow, Shayla this isn't a club were going to ya know. Our school just doesn't dress this way. I'm afraid you are going to stand out from everyone else." She tried not to stare at me and turned the radio back up to the perfect volume.

"Brooke just go!" I rolled my eyes at her and then said, "I'm not like everyone else in your school. I don't care if I fit in and besides this is me and if they don't like it then they can just all go to...."

She interrupted me before I got out the last word, "Take a chill pill Shayla its only school." She glanced back over at me. "It's just that you have changed so much in the past few weeks, it's like you are someone else like one of those aliens came down and took over your body and soul. I'm just not use to seeing you this way. Heck for all I know you could be a clone of Shayla." She reached over towards me acting like she was going to pinch me to see if I was really real.

She was right in a way, I have changed a lot. Maybe my body has been taken over by some other entity that I was not aware of. Apparently she could also tell that I was nervous about going to the new school. Honestly I could care less if anyone talked to me or liked me. I really didn't want to have to talk about why I was going to this school now. I didn't want to face anyone and I can't stand the way teachers are. They always make the new kid get up and introduce themselves. JOY! Won't that be a blast?

Brooke was right though, when we got into the school I was standing out among all of the others. They mostly dressed casual, with jeans, t-shirts and so on. You could tell the different cliques in no time, the girls that wore the pastels with almost invisible make-up with all the matching accessories, rich little daddy girls, the cheerleaders, the jocks, the skateboarders, the country boys in flannel and cowboy boots. I almost forgot the geeks. O.K. surely someone here would be dressed a little like me but where were they? The Gothic clique. Maybe I am the only one after all.

I went into the office to get my schedule of classes. Unfortunately, Brooke and I had no classes together. The Guidance Counselor took me to her office and went over the schedule as if I was a freshman, but I was the new kid after all. Apparently she didn't think that I could find my way around this hillbilly school.

"I'm Mrs. Johnson; I wanted to go over your new schedule. The school had received your schedule from your other school and so we tried to give you the same classes that you were in. I am very pleased with the classes that you are currently taking and your grades are spectacular." She handed me a copy of my schedule. "Does it look alright?"

I looked at the list again.

1st period—Honors English Lit.

2nd period—Calculus

3rd period—Physics

4th period—Drama

5th period—Art III

6th period—Music (Choir)

7th period—Spanish III

I did not say anything about the list. It was like my other one just at different times; however I didn't smile or make any other gesture about the schedule. How thrilled I must have looked to her.

"If you want I can change anything before you get started. It's better to finish the classes that you already have to get an accurate grade though. I noticed that you were also on the cheer squad at your school. Are you planning on trying out here?"

"No." I took a deep breath and held it for a second before letting it out. "That's behind me now, as well as the choir. I won't be signing up for that either. Is there any way that I can take a different class? I no longer wish to sing."

"Would you like me to add a Study Hall in its place?"

"No, what else do you offer here?" I can't believe that she wanted me to add a study hall class, what a waste of time.

"Shayla, I really think that you would like the class. How about you try it out for the six weeks and if you must we will drop it all right." She put on one of those fake smiles. She really must think that I'm brainless.

"Whatever." What a joke. I want to scream!!! Why even bother asking me what I want if I can't have it anyway. I placed the schedule in between the plastic of my binder so that I could keep up with it easier. Mrs. Johnson pointed me into the right direction of my first class.

I walked down the now empty hall. I found the room number and the name of the teacher, Mrs. Payne, right outside the classroom door. I entered the room, looking around to everyone writing down in their notebooks. She looked as if she had taught for years. Her hair thin, gray, and pulled back into a tight bun in the back of the neckline. She had deep wrinkles around her mouth and under her eyes. She put me in mind of old relatives with an extra thick layer of lipstick on, you know the ones that just couldn't wait to kiss you on the cheek so that they could leave a smear behind. Gross. Not to mention her three piece wool suit; I think she is still stuck in the sixties or something. I walked in and she looked at my schedule and then told me to find a seat. She made a very quick introductory while I was on my way to sit down, and only said, "Class this is Shayla, she's new please welcome her to our school."

There were two desk; one was off to the far right side and the other right in the middle, naturally I took the one to the far right. I could feel them talking about me, whispering. I was however use to the whispering, especially after the funeral and the rude remarks and even now they were just as rude. They were in the middle of Greek Mythology. I was a little shocked considering at my other school we studied this our sophomore year. So this was going to be an easy A.

Calculus was alright although the class was filled with mostly geeks. There was only three other girls in there and they looked like the very smart intelligent kind. The teacher, Mrs. Swan was shocked that I was in there as well. I guess appearance does make a difference after all; who would have thought a girl dressed the way I was would be good at calculus. However, Mrs. Swan was about thirty and just a little overweight but she had a kind smile to her. And when she walked back and forth along the white out board her hair bounced with the rest of her body. What she didn't know was that I was really good with numbers. My father had taught me a lot when I was younger. Before I was even in high school I was doing Algebra and some Calculus. She wrote out problems on the overhead. I had them done in no time and was waiting on the others to finish. When she looked up and noticed that I was just sitting there she thought that I was lost and came over to ask me if I needed some help.

"Do you need any help with the problems Shayla?" Her voice did not match her. O.K. maybe that was rude of me, but sometimes you can just tell how the person's voice is going to be before they talk and boy was I wrong, she talked through her nose, squeaky like.

"No." I handed her my paper. She looked over the answers, smiled and handed it back to me. I guess I shocked her. She walked back up to the front of the room and left me alone after that.

Mr. Dawson taught Physics. Right off I knew that this was going to be so boring. He reminded me of that guy that does the dry eye commercials. You know the one that never changes his tone while talking. He was bald on the top of his head and wore a white shirt with a tie and a pair of kakis. Not to mention his outdated Penny Loafers. The class as well was mostly the kids who looked really smart. They were all sitting in pairs and since I was new he asked me to sit with this guy who was in a group of three to start with. I overheard him mumbling to his friends. "Great I get paired up with the dumb new chick." I just bit my bottom lip and kept quiet, sitting down at the table in the back of the room. He didn't offer me his name so I didn't offer mine. We had to work as a team and that was very difficult considering that he didn't talk to me the whole time and he did all the work which by the way was wrong. It felt as if the class had lasted way over the hour. I was so glad to hear that bell ring.

I found the theater with no problem; the school had made sure no one would miss that room if one were new to the school. The walls on the outside were painted with two large mask and characters were painted singing, dancing, and doing magic and so forth. When I opened the door, the class was on stage going over parts to a play. I found a seat and watched some of them acting out their parts. It didn't take long to figure out that they were going to do the play, West Side Story. It had been a favorite of mine. I liked the way it resembled Romeo and Juliet. Such a tragedy. The main two characters from different parts of New York fall in love at a dance and in the end the two gangs fight and there is a death. Tragic...

A man walked up to me and asked me to leave, but I explained that I was new and I was supposed to be in this class. I handed him my schedule. He looked at it and then scanned down the list of the other classes. His glasses slid on the edge of his nose. He seemed so tall standing over me. He was not like the other teachers though, he had on a buttoned up shirt, the first two buttons undone and he had on a pair of faded blue jeans. He had looked younger than the rest of the teachers, so far. Actually he was rather cute. "So you are in Spanish III as well?" he asked.

"Si."

"And music?"

"Si."

"Great. I am looking for more auditions for the play. Here is the script, look it over and pick out a scene to show me what you got."

"But, I don't want to audition."

"Are you in this class?" He asked again a little impatient.

"Yes."

"Then you're auditioning. I will see what you have on Friday. For now you can just sit back and watch." He didn't let me get out another word. He was already back up on the stage working. I looked down at the script in disbelief. I had no intensions on trying out for a part in the play.

I felt someone sit down beside me. "Hi, I'm Kylie." She smiled with a small giggle. She looked plain to me at first, except then I noticed that she was hiding inside kinda like me. "So you're new here; do you like it so far?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I think you look cool, it's good to be different. I wish I could be that way. I take Drama because it makes me feel like I am someone else. Like I am not me, you know. It makes me feel like I am one of them, loved, breathtaking, and admired. Is that why you are taking this class as well?"

"Actually no, I just happen to like Drama or at least I use to. I don't know what I like any more. I'm use to all the attention at my other school. I was one of THEM." I stressed out the last word. "But now I don't know; I just want to be .....no one, invisible."

"Wow, really."

"Really."

"What's your name?" she asked curiously.

"Shayla." I answered.

"It's nice to meet you Shayla; maybe you would like to hang out sometime."

"Maybe." By that time the bell rang and I was off to my next class. "See ya later Kylie."

I found out that we ate lunch right in the middle of Art Class. That was a joke. If you were in the middle of something you would have to stop, clean up and then go to lunch. Then come back and start again to only clean up again before the bell rang. So it seemed like you were cleaning the whole time. Mrs. Long had a table set up in the middle of the classroom, with objects on top of it. She turned out the lights and turned on a small light to the side that gave the different shades of darkness to the objects. The chairs were placed around the table in the middle. Each of us had our own drawing board and she gave us the first twenty minutes to get the objects drawn. I had managed to draw the roll of paper towels, the box of tissue and the vase with the three flowers, with just a few seconds to spare.

"After lunch we will work on the shading of the objects. Make sure that you sit in the exact same place when you come back." She said cheerfully. She was different. She wore a dress with multi colors on it and a scarf around her neck to match. She was lightheaded. Zany.

I had looked for Brooke in the Cafeteria, but she was nowhere to be found. Kylie motioned for me to come over and sit at her table. She introduced me to her friends. "This is Shayla. Shayla these are the girls." Simple enough. I said hi and popped open my drink and opened a bag of chips. I watched as people came in and out of the Cafeteria, while they rambled on about the Christmas break. It's amazing how quickly you can place where that person is going to sit just by looking at the way they are dressed. Then in the corner of my eye I saw him. At first I thought that he wouldn't notice me, then again I was wrong. He walked right over to the table and sat down beside me. His hair curled just a little. Today he was wearing a pair of faded jeans with a white Slipknot t-shirt.

"Why Shayla, I didn't know you were going to come to this school. Are they treating you well?"

"Isaiah, you didn't tell me that you came here and yes I'm managing alright."

"Are you free for this weekend?" He asked loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.

"Why, are you asking me out?" I mumbled under my breath.

"Something like that." He cheesed.

"I have something to do Saturday but maybe afterwards."

"Sounds great, see ya then." He got up and went over to another table with a group of guys.

When I turned back around all of Kylie's friends were looking at me as if I had lost my mind. "You know Isaiah?" Their eyes were wide just as much as their mouths were.

"Yeah."

"Then you know that he is a total psychopath. He is like so weird. You don't need to be alone with him."

"Yeah, I heard last year that he took a girl to the movies and she never returned home."

"Well, I heard that he killed his own mother when he was fourteen and to this day he likes to put on her clothes and wear then around the house." The girl laughed.

Kylie then said again, "Shayla its best that you stay away from him."

I didn't say anything as I got up and walked back to Art class. I thought about our date. He had been so kind to me. I couldn't image him being the way that they talked about. They didn't know him the way that I knew him. But I didn't know why he had been in therapy. I never asked him and he never told me. It made me wonder if his mother was alive; could she have been dead? Did he have something to do with it? I thought about him for the remaining of the Art class as I shaded in the objects.

Music was no better. The teacher was out and we had a substitute that had us watch a video. Boring! I raised my hand and asked to be excused to the bathroom. But when I got out into the hallway I had no inkling to where the bathroom was at. Two girls walked right past me, both with long blonde hair that dangled to their waist. They almost looked like plastic right out of the doll factory. They were cheerleaders in their uniforms. I asked, "Where's the bathroom?" But the two of them looked at me and sneered, walking on past me as if I didn't exist, as if I was a spitball splattered on the sidewall. And to think that I was one of them or was I. I can't recall a time that I had been that rude to someone. I always helped those who had asked. I knew right then that I would absolutely, unquestionably not try out for the squad here.

By the time I found the bathroom, it was time for Spanish. "Gracias." I said to myself, the day is almost over. However, just when I thought that all was well, Mrs. Lopez wanted me to introduce myself. Not only introduce myself, but in front of the whole class. "Names Shayla. I'm new but I guess you figured that out by yourselves."

"Puedes contamos un poco acerca de ti?" She said, which says "Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

"I'm seventeen. Living with my Grandparents on a farm. What do you want to know?" I rambled in English.

"Well for starters this is Spanish III and we only speak Spanish in this classroom can you repeat everything you just said in Spanish?" She had requested in Spanish, however this time more sternly.

"You're joking right?"

"No."

So I took a deep breath, out of nowhere I rambled off everything that I had said in Spanish plus a little more. She froze, dumbfounded maybe she didn't even know what all I had said. The class as well looked at me as if I must have come from a different planet. I think they understood some of what I said. Maybe not. Another tidbit about myself, my mother was not a good housecleaner, either that or she just didn't want to clean and cook. Anyway we had a maid, Katarina, who was Hispanic and I learned a lot from her. Maybe more than what I should have. Anyway, she was a great tutor for me when I started taking Spanish in school.

By the end of the day I was so tired that by the time I got to Brooke's car I just plopped down in the seat, throwing my backpack and purse in the floor board.

When Friday finally came, I was so relieved. I can't recall any dreams this week. Maybe that was due to all the homework that I had. Now I had butterflies swimming in my stomach, because Mr. Foster had requested for me to audition for the play. There was also going to be a pep rally today so I knew I would miss Music and Spanish today. Oh! Well.

I texted Andrea: I HATE THIS PLACE. WISH U WERE HERE. TAKE ME AWAY!!!