Camisado

I walked into a dark, silent house. My mom wasn’t even up yet, and it was already 6:45. I walked into my room and threw the duffle bag into a corner. I walked over to my bed and sat on it. With a sigh I looked down at myself. This had to be the ugliest uniform ever. The wool knee length skit was the color of a bruise, half grey and half blue. The crème knee high socks were itchy and gross, as was the blue wool jacket that was proudly showing the school’s crest. Plus a tie, colored the same ugly color on the same scratchy wool material. It has to be the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever worn. Ever.

I really should have taken a shower this morning, but I’m already dressed and everything, so what’s the point? I covered myself head to toe in deodorant anyways, so it’s not like I smell bad. I already brushed my teeth, so that’s done. There’s nothing else I can really do except sit here, and wait. I heard footsteps, a door shut, and the shower turn on a few minutes later, and I assumed that was my mom, getting ready. Finally. She usually doesn’t wait this long to start getting ready, because of her issues with her outward appearance, but maybe she was extra depressed last night, and drank extra amounts of vodka, so she’s extra hung-over. Sucks for her.

Eventually I became tired of just sitting on my bed, so I went into the kitchen and raided my aunt’s cabinets. I found a twenty-year-old box of pop tarts and so I ate one and a half of them. When I was munching through the second half of the second one, my mother appeared out of the bathroom looking like a first lady. Her hair was perfect, make-up was perfect, and her clothes were ironed and clean. She smelled like roses and cherry blossoms. It almost looked like this was who she was, but then I noticed her tired red eyes and dark circles. She smiled toothlessly at me as I stared at her. I tried to return it, but it was extremely difficult when the only thing I wanted to do was cringe. I wondered how a person could be so deceiving. She walked out of the house, leaving a confused me in the dust. My mother didn’t tell me we were leaving right then, but I figured it out when I heard the car start. I dropped the pop tart on the table and ran to the car before she could leave without me.

Oh, how I love my mother.

The car ride to school was completely silent. Thankfully, it was a short one. We got there in about five minutes. I probably could’ve walked there. In fact, I probably should have. I thought I saw Ryan and Spencer walking to it, but I figured it was just my mind playing tricks on me.

I had mixed feelings about getting out of the car. It was either stay in the awkward silence with my mother until I saw someone that looked familiar, or go out there and give myself on a silver platter to the catholic school wolves. I decided that my mother was more likely to kill me, so I hopped out of the car, muttering a timid goodbye.

I closed the door behind me with a loud slam, but the sound was muffled by the hundred, maybe even thousand Teenage voices arising from around me. I hoped my mouth was closed, because it sure felt like I was that mortified to be standing there in that moment.

There was so many people, I hardly noticed my mother speed away. I turned around so I could jump back into the car and drive all the way back to Washington, but the car was gone. I turned back around and gulped. People were starting to stare now, at the weird girl who seemed to be glued to the edge of the grass. I took a step forward from the pressure, and then another and another until I was briskly walking across the campus. I did my best to ignore stares and curious glances, but it was difficult. I needed to focus. ‘Find the office,’ I thought. Yeah, that’s good. Find the office. So I continued my walk across campus until I reached the safety of the inside campus, but I was disappointed when I opened the door to find even more roaming the halls. I desperately tried not to widen my eyes, but I wasn’t sure if I accomplished that or not. I clutched my book bag desperately. I’ve never been this afraid before; well accept on the day my dad died. It wasn’t a fun emotion to relive. I felt so uncertain, so alone.

I didn’t make eye contact with anyone, but I didn’t need to look to know they were staring at me. I only looked up once, and to my relief there was a sign above a teal door that read “office”. I openly sighed in relief and headed for the room. In the room was a true office. It had cubicles, a coffee machine, and a water cooler. I headed towards the older woman that sat at the very front desk. She seemed to be very engrossed in her work and didn’t see me walk up. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me with fierce blue eyes. She scared me. “Can I have my schedule and locker?” I asked her, simply. I wasn’t into talking to new people. In fact, I think talking is immensely overrated. She gave me a glare and asked for my name. “Genevieve Gosling,” I said. I averted my eyes down and noticed a nameplate on the top of the desk that read “Mrs. Jean Leabury”. I wondered how you would say it. Maybe “Lee”bury, like you would say sea. Or maybe literally “Lea” like those Hawaiian things. I stopped wondering when she looked up.

“Here you go Ms. Gosling,” she said. Oh great, it’s one of those schools. The ones where first names might as well not exist because no one calls each by them. I took the papers and walked away, very glad to. I gazed down at the paper on top. It was my locker number and combination. My number was 817 and the combination was 33-11-47. I started my search for it.

Twenty minutes later and I was very happy I had gotten there early. After taking the time to actually find my locker, it took me another ten minutes to make my combination work. I eventually got the hang of it. I took some time to look at my schedule a moment later and studied it.

Period 1: Chemistry, Room 26
Period 2: PE, Upper Gym
Period 3: World history, Room 42
Period 4: Art, Room 17
Period 5: English, Room 33
Period 6: Algebra 2, Room 27
Period 7: Theology, Room 19

Nothing looked very exciting. I was unhappy that I didn’t get to choose my elective. I guess my mother decided that art would be a good experience for me. I’m sure she figured it would be some sort of benevolent outlet for me. I should paint a picture of my jumping off a building and bring it home. I’m sure she’d get a kick out of that. She probably wouldn’t pick my electives anymore. I resisted the urge to snicker and shut my locker closed. I turned around and was about to continue to look for these rooms, since I had no idea where they were, but I heard someone calling my name. I didn’t look up at first because there was probably a hundred “Genny”s at this school, but when the calling persisted, I looked up again to see Brendon running up to me. His smile was wide and gleaming. I smiled back. I was relieved to see a familiar face. At least now this whole experience wouldn’t be so bad.

He came up to me and said, "Hey Genny! How are you? You left Spence's pretty early, huh?"

I shrugged, "yeah, I guess. My mom wanted me home early.” Brendon nodded, understanding.

“Hey! Is that your schedule?!” he exclaimed pulling the piece of paper from me. I blinked in surprise, but composed myself after a moment.

“Yeah….” I replied.

“Awesome! You have two classes with me!” he said excitedly pointing to two items on the list, Theology and Algebra. I smiled.

“Oh great!” I replied in a sarcastic voice. He scowled, even though he knew I was joking.

“OOH!” He suddenly said as he continued to look at the list. “You have Art and PE with Ryan!” I laughed sarcastically.

“Even better!” I said, being seriously sarcastic. Brendon laughed. “I figured that class would be bad and that was before I knew Ry-” I stopped in mid sentence when I saw him and Spencer approaching us, smiling toothlessly. Ryan waved at me. I waved back timidly. It was nice to see another familiar face. Brendon quickly turned around to see whom I was waving at and he began to grin.

“Hey Ry! Guess What!” He said as he ran over to him.

I stayed in my spot and laughed. Spencer came up and smiled at me while Brendon was grabbing Ryan, the two of us leaning against the beige wall. Maybe this school wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to me.