Peace Sign

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?" Mom asked as I picked up my bag that was sitting at the bottom of the stairs and slid it onto my shoulder. I could tell Mom was trying to sound calm and nonchalant but, deep down, she was panicking.

I grabbed the car keys from the kitchen counter and turned to face her. "Mom, it's okay," I replied. "I'm capable of driving myself to school."

Mom sighed and walked over to me, running a hand through my hair. "I know that, Angie. It's just..." her voice trailed off and the look in her eyes made me understand why she was so worried.

I gave her an understanding smile. "Mom, I'm going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine, trust me."

Suddenly, Mom pulled me into a tight hug. "I can't believe you're already starting your last year of high school," I heard her whisper in my hair. When she pulled away, I saw tears forming in her eyes. "I remember your first day of kindergarten and how you refused to let go of your dad's hand."

I smiled at the memory before looking at the clock. "Mom, I really have to go. I don't want to be late on my first day." I hugged her quickly one last time before rushing to the front door.

"Have a good first day, sweetie," I heard her say right before I shut the door and walked over to my car.

- - - - -

I turned off the engine of my car and just sat in the driver's seat, silent as I stared at what I would now call my school for the next year. There's a part of me that wanted to turn the car back on, drive back home, and request to be home schooled. But, before I could convince myself to do that, I grabbed my bag from the passenger's seat and stepped out of the car.

I tried walking confidently toward the school's main entrance doors, ignoring people's confused stares. I forced myself to not make eye contact with anyone and just focus on the large billboard above the doors that read in bold red block letters: CLEARVIEW HIGH SCHOOL. Below the red block letters read: Welcome Freshmen!

Right as I approached the double entrance doors, I faintly heard a voice, which sounded like it came from a female, whisper, "Is she new here?"

I sighed to myself and walked through the doors. And so, let the suffering of being the new girl begin.

I pulled out my schedule from my bag and searched for the room number for my first class, which was English. Clearview wasn't that big of a school, yet it wasn't that small, either. So, it wasn't that difficult for me to find the 200's hallway.

Thankfully, I found the classroom before the bell rang and found the English teacher sitting at his desk reading a book with his legs resting on the table. I then looked around the classroom, trying to find an empty seat. Through my search, I noticed a couple of students stare in my direction, probably trying to figure out if they've seen me in this school before.

I eventually found a seat across the room and near to the back. After I got settled into my seat and set my bag down on the floor, I noticed how almost the entire classroom was divided into small groups who were happily talking to each other ("How was your summer?", "Have you applied to any colleges yet?", "Did you know Jake dumped Ashley right when vacation started and is now dating Becky?").

I looked to my left and saw a girl with light brown hair and glasses glance at me. She smiled at me as she lifted her glasses farther up her nose, not saying a word. I smiled back and was about to say, "Hi" before the final bell rang and I heard the teacher in the front of the room say, "Hello, class. Welcome to another fantastic school year. I could already feel how excited all of you are to start learning again." Almost everyone in the classroom groaned and sighed, but I knew the teacher was being sarcastic. "Yeah, yeah, I know you don't want to go through another ten months of absolute torture but, for most of you, this is your final year so enjoy it while you can. Anyway, my name is Mr. Scott and I'll be your AP English Literature teacher. Let's start the day off by taking exciting notes---" Mr. Scott was cut off by another set of groans.

- - - - -

When it's your first day at a brand new school where no one knows who you are, lunch has to be the worst part of your day. I looked around the huge cafeteria, hoping to find at least one empty table. I know I probably looked like a lost little puppy trying to find a seat in a large gathering of people who all seemed to know each other.

"Excuse me?" I heard a small, quiet voice say near me. I turned to find where the voice came from and came face to face with the girl in my English class, who had the light brown hair and glasses. "Would you like to sit with me?" she asked.

I found myself hesitating, surprised that someone actually came to me. I nodded my head and smiled, "Yeah, sure. Thanks."

As I followed the girl to the table, she turned to me and asked, "What's your name?"

"Evangeline."

"Oh, that's a really pretty name. I'm Emily."

"Nice to meet you."

"You too," she replied and smiled wider. A couple of seconds later, I saw Emily sit down at a table where there was also a girl (I came to the conclusion she was Emily's twin) and a guy who was skinny, pale-skinned, and looked extremely tall. "Hey, guys," Emily said, even though the both of them were already looking at us, "this is Evangeline. She's in my English class and she's going to sit with us. Evangeline, this is my sister, Emma and our friend Ryan, who we've known since elementary school."

"Hello," Emma said to me as I set my lunch tray on the table and cautiously sat down. I noticed she and Emily looked exactly alike except for the fact that Emma didn't have glasses and had straight, short hair unlike Emily's long, curly hair.

"Hi," I replied quietly.

"Evangeline," Ryan said, smirking. "That's a nice name."

"Thank you." I took a small bite out of my sandwich.

"So, are you new to Vegas or just new to this school?" Emma asked.

"I'm new to Vegas. I just moved here last week from Chicago."

"Wow, that's cool," Emily said, fascinated. "I've always wanted to go to Chicago."

"How long have you guys lived here?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, our whole lives," Emma replied, shrugging.

"How is that unfortunate?" I asked.

"Well, after a while you just get bored with being in the same place," Ryan replied. "Sometimes, you just want a change of scenery."

"Exactly," Emily said. "Why did you move here?" she asked me.

I quickly tried to come up with something, anything but the real reason. "My father's company transferred us here," was the best I could come up with. Thankfully, they all bought it.

After a few more minutes of small talk, I sat up to throw my trash in the garbage can. I looked up and noticed a guy sitting at the table across from us looking right at me. I'm just going to be straightforward and say that this guy was extremely cute and out of all the girls in this cafeteria, he was looking at me. When I looked at him, he immediately gave me a friendly smile. There's a likely chance he could've been smiling at some other girl behind me, but I risked the possible embarrassment and smiled back.

After I sat back down, I noticed Emma and Emily looking at me strangely. Ryan was just continuing to enjoy his burrito. "What?" I asked, getting a little freaked out.

"Did we just see Derek Montgomery smile at you?" Emma asked quietly, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you mean the guy sitting across from us?" They both nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

They both started giggling. "Wow, you've definitely made a huge accomplishment." Emily said, smiling and shaking her head.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you know how many girls work their butts off just to get Derek to even glance at them?" Emma noticed my confused look and sighed. "Okay, I'll give you a little background. Derek Montgomery is the school's typical hot popular boy who plays guitar and is wanted by almost the entire girl population."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ryan asked, his mouth full.

I noticed Emma give Ryan a look. "No," she said a little loudly and slowly.

Before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang, indicating that lunch was over.

- - - - -

My last class of the day was Physics. I walked into the classroom and easily found an empty seat in the middle of the classroom. After I sat down and set my bag on the floor, I heard a deep voice say, "Hey."

I quickly looked to my right and saw the guy I smiled at during lunch. I couldn't believe that he was actually in one of my classes and I was actually sitting next to him. I replied, "Hi."

"I saw you at lunch today," The guy - Derek? - said.

"Yeah, I'm Evangeline."

He raised his eyebrows and smiled. "That's a beautiful name. I'm Derek." He held out his hand and I shook it, smiling widely. "So, I'm guessing you're new here."

"You guessed right."

"How's your first day so far?"

"It's alright. Of course, being in a new city and a new school is not easy, but it's not horrible, either."

"Oh, you're new to Vegas, too? Where are you from?"

"Chicago."

"Ah, the windy city. Did you like it over there?"

Tough question. "Um, most things I did like. Other things, not so much." Thankfully, before he got the chance to ask me to elaborate, another guy walked past my seat and sat on the other side of Derek.

"Hey, man," the other guy said to Derek, slapping his shoulder.

"Where have you been?" Derek asked him.

The other guy groaned and rolled his eyes. "Where do you think? I was ending it with Marie. I tried to do the whole distant, ignoring phone calls and texts thing but the girl just would not take a hint. So, I had to tell her flat out that it was over and she actually started crying."

"Yeah, some girls tend to do that when their boyfriend of just two days breaks up with them in the hallway in between classes."

"Hey," the guy said pointing a finger at Derek, "in my defense, she was way too clingy and would call literally every hour of the day asking where I was."

Derek just shook his head in response as the other guy noticed me. He slowly smiled at me and nodded his head. "Uh, Derek, I don't believe you've introduced me to your gorgeous friend here."

"Oh," Derek mumbled and gave me a look that said, 'I'm so sorry'. "Evangeline, this is my friend Chris. Chris, this is Evangeline. She's new here."

"Why, hello there, Evangeline," Chris said flirtatiously, holding out his hand. I shook it but before I could pull it back, he covered it with his other hand. "Welcome to Clearview, if you need anything, anything at all, you just come find me." Chris winked and I let out a nervous laugh.

"Whoa, okay, Chris. Don't scare her," Derek said.

Chris finally let go of my hand and looked at Derek. "I was just being friendly."

"Sure you were," Derek said slowly and sarcastically. "Sorry," he mouthed to me.

- - - - -

After school. it was time for me to start my first shift at the daycare center. I quickly grabbed something to eat at home and changed into my uniform before heading to the center.

A middle-aged woman with curly black hair smiled at me when I walked inside. "Hello, you must be Evangeline. I'm Carrie." Carrie and I shook hands before she introduced me to the little group of kids that were in the play area.

Several minutes later, as I was helping a kid build a castle out of blocks, I noticed a little girl sitting on the bench, looking upset. I told the kid I would be back soon and walked over to the little girl.

"Hello," I said as I kneeled down in front of her. "Is everything okay?"

The little girl shook her head and wiped her eyes. "I lost my doll," she said quietly.

"Oh, don't worry, sweetie I'm sure it's here somewhere. Do you want me to help you look for it?"

The little girl looked at me and nodded her head. "Yes, please."

I smiled and grabbed a tissue to wipe her eyes. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Mia."

"Hi, Mia. You can call me Angie."

She waved and said, "Hi, Angie."

Mia and I looked for her doll for a few minutes before I found it under one of the chairs. "Mia, is this your doll?" I held it toward her.

Mia's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Yeah, that's Elizabeth!" She took the doll from my hand and held it close to her. "Thank you," she said happily.

"You're welcome, Mia. Do you have a lot of dolls?"

Mia nodded. "Uh huh. I have about twenty of them at home. But, Elizabeth is my favorite."

Mia and I continued to talk about dolls until I heard Carrie call out, "Mia, honey, your dad is here."

"Daddy!" Mia exclaimed as she ran off and I froze as I saw her run to Derek Montgomery.

I saw Derek smile widely as Mia jumped in his arms and he picked her up, spinning her around. "There's my little girl," I heard Derek say. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too, Daddy," Mia replied.

Daddy?