The First Day

• Jemima Longworth, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2011

The First Day
I wake up to the sound of an alarm and hear my sister saying, ‘Emelia wake up, it’s time to get up.’ So I eventually get up and get dressed, then my sister reminds me it’s my first day of high school (like I didn’t know). I hear my dad thumping around the kitchen. I don’t think he is fully awake. I think he is up early for my big day. I feel special. By this time it is 7:30am and I am packing my lunch into a lunch-box. My dad is awake now and so is my mum. They won’t get over the fact that I am in year seven. ‘Will you be okay, are you sure you don’t want me to drop you to school?’

The best thing ever happened to me when I was walking to school. I know this really funny guy (Finn, he’s my neighbour and crush), and he leaves his house at the same time I do. What a coincidence. I see him walking on the side of the road, so I cross the road and I speed up so I can get on his heels. Then he turns around and says, ‘Hey Emelia, what’s up?’ ‘Urgh, nothing much,’ I stutter. OMG he remembers me from one whole year ago! Wait. He must have just guessed my name. I don’t mind, he got it right. When we got to school he asked me if I wanted to go on a date with him. ‘YES!’ I squealed with joy.

Well, I wish that all of that had happened, but no. My dad insisted on driving me to school. I gave in and let him drive me to school. How embarrassing? I told him to drop me one block away. He said he didn’t want me walking. ‘It’s only a two minute walk; I think I can do it,’ I established. Anyway, he never pays any attention to what I have to say. He drops me right out the front of school, and then says, ‘Bye-bye, sweetie pie. I’ll see you at the end of school!’ At that humiliating moment Finn decides to turn up. ‘Oh damn,’ I say aloud.

Finn starts walking up to me and I’m sure he’s thinking how lame I am. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ he says instead. ‘My parents do it to me all the time. At least you don’t have your mum giving you a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek in front of all your friends.’ Then Finn and I start walking, and then we move onto laughing, and that turns into a date. I’m so happy I can’t remember a better time in my whole life. Finn really knows how to make a girl feel lucky. Next Monday I go to my first class and Finn is there. So he and I sit at the back of the class and figure out how to say ‘I love you’ in French.