Butterfly Tattoo

Belle looked around the cafeteria that she'd had countless lunches in. It should've been comforting to be going to the same school for high school as she did for middle school, but it wasn't. None of her friends would be joining her in her new classroom. It wasn't that they had switched schools, they were just too young. She scowled mentally as she finally realized the downside to having friends that were all younger than she was. Her oldest friend was still a good two years younger than her as were the rest of her friends. They were all beginning their seventh grade year while she was starting over as a freshman.

She saw a familiar head of blonde hair walking into the cafeteria with her family. The blonde smiled and waved, whispering something to her parents before walking over to where Belle sat. Belle smiled at her friend. "Mind if I sit with you?" the blonde asked in a cheery tone.

"I don't mind one bit." Belle grinned, and the blonde plopped down in the seat beside her. The metal chair made a loud screeching sound as she pulled it out, and scowling at the chair she sat down. "How was your summer, Peyton?"

The blonde, Peyton, smiled as she told her that her summer had been amazing. Pausing, she then lifted her foot off the ground to show Belle her new sneakers. They were hot pink converse with turquoise laces. "I got the same shoes as you, Belle!" the blonde chirped with a rather large grin.

Belle nodded and was about to comment when suddenly the principal said, "Testing. One, two, three. Testing," in an obvious attention-getting manner. Belle flipped her dark brown hair over her shoulder and gave the speaker her full attention.

All the principal had to say was the same-old, same-old. As this being Belle's fourth year at St. Alphais Academy, she knew pretty much everything the principal was going to say before she even said it. The only thing different was the principal herself. The principal of the past three years had retired, and the former high school teacher of Alphais' was her replacement. With that being mentioned, I feel it is also my duty to inform you that Belle's former middle school teacher became the new high school teacher, and an entirely new teacher was hired in his place. Unfortunately, he would not be Belle's teacher this year. Mr. Blake, who was without a doubt Belle's favorite teacher, was not going to be her teacher for another year. Instead she had gotten Mr. Winslow, a strict teacher who was known to be quite the hard-ass.

As Mrs. Tanith finished with her speech and began to dismiss the parents by class, Belle hugged Peyton goodbye. Belle almost didn't want to leave her seat and go meet her new teacher. She'd had a few counters with Mr. Winslow, and most of them were unpleasant, save for part of the year prior when she had taken his history class. If she hadn't taken his history class last year then she probably wouldn't have come today at all, but she had hope that her new teacher wasn't as awful as the few high schoolers she had interacted with claimed. Mrs. Tanith called out Mr. Winslow's class to go to his classroom, and Belle looked back at her grandfather who was supposed to go with her.

"You go on ahead. I have a few things to talk about with that guy over there," her grandfather said.

Belle nodded and got up to leave, knowing very well where Mr. Winslow's class was without any directions. Almost immediately as she had entered the classroom, Mr. Winslow saw her and asked her to direct a family to Mr. Franklin's class. Belle smiled at the confused parents and led them all the way to Mr. Franklin's door, all the while answering the few questions they had about how she liked the school and such.

Returning to Mr. Winslow's classroom and smiling at him nervously, he decided to tease her by saying, "You're nervous, aren't you?"

Belle nodded, laughing slightly to try and ease her churning stomach.

"Don't be," he said. "This year will be fine."

That's what everyone tells me, Belle thought to herself.

Just then a concerned mother with two daughters came in and began to introduce herself and her daughter that was enrolled to Mr. Winslow. The mother then told the story of her stressed out daughter who was failing at her former middle school. The mother went on to asking questions about the school, and Mr. Winslow turned to Belle to have her discuss her experience and ease the worried mother. As the mother began talking academics to the teacher, Belle turned to her two daughters in hopes of making a new friend. She felt a connection to the girl she was talking about, an indescribable urge to know and help this girl in her transition to this new environment.

She started out by introducing herself. The girl with longer hair to her sister introduced herself as Danica and her younger sister as Joan. They talked for a while about various things. Joan was an artist whose canvas was mainly computers. Danica explained that her younger sister was excruciatingly shy, and Belle quickly realized that that was why Joan had her sister speaking for her. Joan eventually came out her shell and began talking to Belle, and they had exchanged cell phone numbers before the night was done. Joan's mother was thrilled that her daughter had already made a friend and it wasn't even the first day of school.

As Belle buckled in her seat, awaiting the drive home, she smiled to herself. Maybe I'll be alright after all, she thought.