The First Day

• Thomas Hughes, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2016

Rachael walked into class shyly, it was her first day at a new school: St Catherine’s Melbourne. As she walked, people stared at her like she was an alien from the planet Mars. Boys would throw and kick balls about in the corridors outside and girls in colossal groups would whisper and giggle in her direction. Little did she know, these girls would become her best friends.

The bell swiftly came at 9 am and everyone gathered into classes. Rachael noticed three of the girls from the ginormous group she saw earlier. They seemed to watch her, as if she were a new species of human they’d never seen. “Okay everyone, in your seats!” said a tall, blonde, fair-skinned woman. “Alright, good morning everyone.”
“Good morning Miss Saffron.” The class replied, sounding as if they had just woken up.
“You must be still asleep!” exclaimed Miss Saffron. “Well then, I hope you all had a great summer and welcome back. Now before we start, I’d like to introduce you all to Rachael Harriott. She's new here from Perth, so I would like you to be friendly towards her and show her around if she gets lost, okay?” She paused, as if expecting Rachael to say something, and eventually she managed to get out the word: “Hello.” Everyone had their eyes on her, she felt like she was being cooked by lasers streaming out of her classmates’s eyes. The bell rang not long after. “Well alright then,” said Miss Saffron, “lets get started.” And from there, school began.

It was recess when the girl approached her. She had long brunette hair kept in a ponytail, and dark brown eyes. “Hello,” she said politely, “my name’s Georgia. You are new here, right?” I replied back with a, “Yes.” From there we hit it off. She said a little bit about herself and I did the same. We went from absolute strangers to friends in nearly ten minutes, it was incredible. Just before the bell sounded for classes, she introduced Rachael to her friends, the girls from the group. Their names were: Ally, Megan, Jessica… there were a few more, and it turned out, that they were actually really nice people! They greeted Rachael with cheery faces and a great attitude. The rest of the day was a breeze for Rachael, she’d already tackled probably the biggest issue in moving to a new school, finding people to share your experience with, and she found it in that group of girls.

When Rachael got home, she was a whirlwind of smiles. “You’re in a good mood!” stated Rachael’s mother. “How’s school? Was it good?” Rachael’s grin stretched wider. “It was great!” She said. “I can’t wait for tomorrow!” Rachael was ecstatic for the rest of the day.

The next day, Rachael walked into class differently, she walked in with a smile on her face while friends waved and greeted her. School was beginning to seem great.