4 Chapter 4

During the next 20 minutes, Mia and I talked about everything. I figured out that we have a lot in common. We are both creative and like art. We also came from public schools and are scared of what Catholic school has to bring. Lastly, we both have an older sibling. I was ecstatic when she said she had an older brother, CJ. Paige and Elizabeth are only-child, so they don't know about having another sibling is like. "Don't you hate it when your parents always compare you to them?" Mia said. " Of course, all the time!" I replied. "What do you do when they talk all that crap?" I said. I was curious. Usually, when my parents start talking about Jamie in a comparable way, I just ignored them. She replied, " I just ignore them. I don't want to live the rest of my life in someone else's shadow. I want to be my own person and stand out, ya know?" I nodded my head in agreement. I am never too keen to stand out, I like standing in the crowd than being up on stage. Even though I don't want to BE my sister, I want the respect I deserve to be, well, me. Our conversation was cut by the sound of bell ringing and a man speaking on the loudspeaker.

"Good morning ninth-graders and welcome to St. Helen High School!" said the cheery man. " My name is Mr. Miller and I am the principal of this school. You may have seen the vice principal, Mrs. Cafaro, greeting all of your lovely faces." So that is who she was, I thought. I wasn't completely listening to what he said but I remembered him talking about our journey to adulthood, and their goals for us at St. Helen. While Mr. Miller was talking, students were passing around rosters for our schedule. "Who did you get for homeroom?" I whispered to Mia. "I got Mrs. Lane," she whispered back. "Same!" I said. At least I have someone that I know who is in the same homeroom as me. "You will now be going to your lockers before you homeroom." Mr. Miller said. We then ended with Our Father and got the keys to our lockers. They had different shapes and sizes of lockers around the school. I got a rectangular locker, which was bigger than most of them. I didn't have too much stuff to put in, just a couple of books and my lunch. Mia waited for me and we both walked our way over to Mrs. Lane's room.

Since we made it early, we were the first two to come in. "Ladies, come in!" Mrs. Lane said. She was a tall woman with blonde hair and the palest skin I've ever seen. Mia and I decided to sit in the middle row next to each other. Once everyone arrived, we said the Pledge of Allegiance and Mrs. Lane introduced herself. "Hello everyone and welcome to St Helen!" she said. "My name is Mrs. Lane and I am your homeroom teacher and your English teacher." "I have been here since 2000 and loved it ever since." She later talked about the importance of ninth grade and opportunities at St. Helen. I was intrigued when she talked about the annual art contest. "Every year we have our annual art contest," she said cheerfully. " The winner gets their piece in the art museum downtown." I was excited. The only time the public saw my art was for my scholarship. I don't show anyone except my family because I'm afraid of what people might think. What if they don't like it? They could think it is ugly. All of these thoughts are through my mind as I make a piece of art. "What I like to do on the first day is to do an icebreaker." Mrs. Lane said. "So you will say your, name, where you from, and an interesting fact about you." "So let's get started!" We started with the girl in the front. Her name was Alex and she's from Alabama and she has 3 dogs. That was the only person I concentrated on. I was mostly just biting my nails. It's a habit I do when I'm nervous, in this case, for my turn to come. After every person went, it was one less person to wait for, so I could go. It felt so quick that I didn't realize it was my turn.