When I got to New Hope Manor the next day, the first thing I noticed was that everyone was meeting up with their friends in the courtyard, except me. I could instantly feel anxiety bubbling up in my stomach, reminding me that I had no friends.

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The private school is extremely prestigious, it’s over 100 years old, but it still looks brand new with clean white bricks on the outside and tall wooden doors to every room. All of the floors are the original oak floors preserved by some wood coating. The school was beautiful, everything looked new and clean, unlike my old school.

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As I walked into my first period class, everyone stared at me. I was a little late because I had to stop in the office in get a paper with all my classes, so all of my classmates were already in their seats.

“You’re late Mia,” The teacher said without looking up from her papers.

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“Oh, it’s my first day here so I got a little lost.” I said, instantly feeling my face turn beet red. Even though we were all freshman, the girls here had many tours and visits, while I had only been here for my sister’s graduation a couple years ago.

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“It’s everyone’s first day. Take your seat please,” she said.

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With my tomato cheeks ripening, I took a seat towards to the back of the classroom. All of the girls stared at me for a few more seconds until they went back to their own conversations. It was humiliating to know that they were all whispering about me and not very silently either. 

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“Gosh, how can someone get lost here? There are signs everywhere,” said a girl sitting right in front of me to three other girls.

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“Yeah, at least we know now that she is certainly not at this school from a scholarship,” another girl said loudly. I could feel my tears starting to fill up my eyes from embarrassment.

I really wanted to defend myself, but bringing even more attention to me would cause even more problems. As they kept talking about me, I felt anger pooling in my stomach, but not at the girls. I was angry at myself for not saying anything.

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“M..Mi..Miss?” I said raising my hand.

“What do you want? And no stuttering in my classroom,” she said.

 

“Oh, okay. Well, may I go to the bathroom?” I said more clearly.

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“Sign out and take a pass.”

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I did as she said and rushed out. The school was big, but I remembered a bathroom on the way here so I retraced my footsteps to find it.

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“Woah...” I whispered.

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The girls bathroom was as big as the classrooms, but with long granite counter tops and separate glamorous mirrors for each sink. The walls were painted a light shade of pink, with the sink’s wall a brown tile. Each stall had their own rooms, but that stuff was not what shocked me. In the middle of this unnecessarily big bathroom, was a gorgeous chandelier right above a long cream colored ottoman.

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“Of course this would be just as nice as the rest of this school.” I said to myself. As soon as I
sat down on the ottoman, I could feel the tears fall and hit the ottoman as fast as a rain storm and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The door squeaked open and instantly I tried to stop crying. I ran into one of the stalls so who ever was in here wouldn’t be able to tell it was me.

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“Hello? Is someone in here?” I heard a girl say.

 

I tried hard to stop crying and making noises but the tears just wouldn't stop. The girl’s footsteps trailed to in front of my door and panic bubbled inside me. The girl knocked on the door softly and quietly.

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“Uh, hello?” The girl said again.

“I’m busy right now.” I replied. Even to me, my own voice made it sound like I was crying.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked after a few moments.

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“I’m fine. Can you leave me alone please?” I knew it sounded rude but I didn’t care.

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“Please come out. I promise I won’t make fun of you or be mean,” she said.

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I slowly unlocked the door and opened it to reveal a girl around my age. She was dressed in the uniform, like everyone here, and had a light lavender hair band keeping together her messy braid.

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“I’m Rachel, a freshman this year. What about you?”

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“I’m Mia, also a freshman. I’m new this year and I don’t really know anyone,” I said looking down at the white tiled floor. I walked over to one of the mirrors and wet a paper towel for my eyes. I began to wipe my face with cold water so it would be less obvious of what happened a few minutes earlier. The lighting was bright, and showed how puffed my usually pale cheeks were and the redness in my grey eyes.

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“Why were you crying?” Rachel said to me from my left. I was surprised she was still here, most people would have left and gossiped about me to their friends.

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“It’s none of your business,” I said.

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I knew Rachel was just trying to be nice and help me out, but from what I’ve seen so far made me a little more cautious than I normally was. Rachel looked offended, but didn’t leave.

“Fine, I’m just having a hard first day here,” I said but I didn’t look away from the mirror.

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“Why?” I don’t know what made me trust her but she gave off this feeling that made me feel safe enough to tell her what happened.

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“I got lost to my first period class because all of the signs were taken down and none of the office ladies wanted to help me find it. Then when I get there there the teacher is rude to me and all of the girls were talking bad about me right in front of my face. So I came here hoping for some privacy and then you came in and now I am regretting the decision to tell you.”

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She seemed a little shocked at first but then looked at me with sympathy.

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“And now you feel bad for me. Which is not what I want. At all.” I said and turned around to the door.

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“Wait!” Rachel said and stopped me in my tracks. “I didn’t fit in when I first came into their grade either. A lot of girls were mean to me and teased me everyday and I did nothing about it. If you don’t tell them to stop now it’s just going to get worse. Don’t let them decide how your life is going to go.” Rachel said.

 

I felt really bad for her now because she was just trying to help me and I was being rude.

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“I’m sorry for snapping at you. And for what happened to you when you moved here.” I said finally turning around. She smiled at me, and I knew I was forgiven for my behavior before.

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We both left the bathroom when the homeroom bell rung and we didn’t have any classes together for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I had most of my classes with at least two of the girls who were making fun of me in homeroom. The whole class period they would look at me and then laugh. I thought about what Rachel said, how she didn’t fit in and how she stuck up for herself, and I wanted to do the same thing. I tried, but no words could come out of my mouth and I got tongue tied.

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At lunch, I had no idea where to sit and the same four girls were still laughing at me again. I guess their little game never got old. I felt a small hand on my shoulder and turned around to face Rachel.

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“You can come sit with my friends and I if you want,” she said, pointing back at her table. to her table. There were already a few girls there and more were sitting down.

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“I will, but there’s something I need to do first.” Seeing Rachel and how she was so confident and had friends, it gave me the courage to talk to the four girls.

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When I walked up to them the stopped talking and looked stunned that I would come up to them.

“Look, I have no idea why you guys are so mean to me, but I want you to stop. It’s really rude and unnecessary. If one of you were new you wouldn’t want people to be mean, you would want welcoming people,” I said. They looked shocked but quickly snapped out of it and the leader took over.

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“Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how sensitive you are.” They all laughed, and I could feel my bravery wavering, but I didn’t back down.

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“You know what? You’re just a terrible person. I don’t care what you think. You can keep laughing at me, but you don’t always have to be so obnoxious about it.” I turned around without seeing their reaction and went to sit next to Rachel.

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“I feel so great!” I gushed to her when I sat down.

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“Defending yourself always does that to you," she said. "I wish you could have seen their reaction! They were all so shocked and had no idea what to do!” 

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The world I had hoped would become reality became real that day. I just never would have suspected that I would make a new friend who would change my life for the better.

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