A Place to Call Home

A Place to Call Home

Sunlight danced off the walls of Chrissie’s bedroom, playing over the unpacked boxes by her dresser. She lay in the bed staring at her reflection in the dusty mirror. Her family had only moved to Phoenix six days ago, her stuff was still in boxes and it was already the first day of term. Having not even moved from her bed, she already knew the day ahead would suck.

It was always the same. The one thing Chrissie hated most of all was the first day at a new school. Even before she moved to a place, she knew she wouldn’t fit in. she couldn’t work out what it was that made people pick on her, avoid her, or simply just ignore her. Maybe other kids just couldn’t accept that she was smarter than them. Chrissie liked to think that, but knew it was probably the strange haircut, geeky glasses and unusual clothes that let her down the most. The fact that she declined to dress slutty and plaster make-up on her face had constantly singled her out from all the wannabe Homecoming Queens in her previous schools. Why would Greenway High be any different?

“Chrissie! Wake up, wake up!”

“Oh man, not again,” she tried to hide her head under the bedcovers.

It was her kid brother, Madden, ready to create havoc as usual. He came bounding unto her bedroom, easily skipping over her barricade of cardboard. Jumping onto her bed with a grin like a mad hyena, he pulled the duvet off, ripping them from her grip.

“Hey, you’re not even dressed yet. Get out of your PJs and get ready!”

“No! Can’t be bothered.”

“Aww come on. It’ll be fun”

“For you maybe…”

Grudgingly she sat up, ran her fingers through her black hair and wiped her glasses on the hem of her pajama top. Placing them on her face, Chrissie stood up and stumbled wearily to the bathroom. As usual it was engaged, most likely with her older brother Jake. She leaned on the wall and sighed, the wait would mean she would be late on her first day… again.

Chrissie dashed down North 41st Avenue, book bag bumping against her back. She noted that wearing black today had maybe been a bad idea. The hot Arizona Sun saturated her skin. God, it felt like she was baking from the inside out! A haze of heat rose from the sidewalk and she glared enviously at an open-top Chevrolet as it breezed past. If only she had passed her driving test.

Exhausted and thoroughly fed up, she passed through the main gates only to hear the bell ring. Chrissie cursed as she crossed the car park and ran into the building. Up a few sets of stairs until finally she reached her classroom. She edged open the door, trying to sneak in to a seat at the back of the class.

“Ah, Miss Christine Richmond. Nice of you to join us, we were wondering when you’d turn up.”

Wishing she could retreat into a shell, Chrissie blushed as a sea of inquisitive faces turned to stare.

As she had predicted, class time went badly. First period in Science she ended up sitting next to a fat blond girl who seemed to glare constantly. The kid vaguely reminded Chrissie of a Chihuahua she had seen trying to gnaw off the tyre on a paperboy’s bike. The bulging eyes were defiantly the same but the sizes didn’t quite match up. Chuckling at the comparison had only brought on another round of glaring. Typical.

Later in Math and then again in English, she noticed that no one really cared she was there. All the popular girls hung around chatting to guys from the football team, whilst the nerdy kids huddled in their scientific frenzy, jotting down notes. Others sat with notebooks open, laughing with their pals. Just like in all the other high schools she’d been to, she was left out because she was different.

The bell went for lunchtime recess and the pupils flocked from the school buildings, scattering like disturbed pigeons. A few chose to eat in the cafeteria but most sat on the benches or lounged round on the lawn in the balmy heat. Avoiding the deep fat fryer and its queue for greasy chips, she picked up a burger from the rack and found a vacant spot on the grass.

Pulling at a strand of her unevenly cropped hair, Chrissie closed her eyes and raised her face skyward. Sunrays played across her eyelids. The chatter of pupils faded away and everything seemed peaceful. A slight breeze blew wisps of hair from her forehead. Chrissie was in heaven; she could have relaxed like that all day.

Twang. The sound of a guitar tuning up broke the silence. Unsure what to make of it, she shielded her eyes from the sun and looked in the direction of the noise. A group of students were gathering in the center of the lawn. Intrigued, Chrissie crept over and sat down at the back of the small crowd. She nudged the kid in front and asked him what was going on.

“Oh, this? Its only Anarchy Factor. They sometimes play out here during extended lunchtimes and stuff.”

“Are they any good?”

“Meh, s’pose so… not really my kinda music. But its fun watching anyway.”

As the kid turned away from her, ignoring her as per usual, Chrissie contemplated asking him more. But, losing her nerve, she turned away. He would only get annoyed with her. She craned her neck to see around him. Through the crowd, the band was preparing their equipment.

At first glance, the members of the band didn’t look like much. There were four of them; two were tuning up their guitars whilst the vocalist fiddled with the height adjustment on the mic. Chrissie remembered the bands in her previous schools; none had been very memorable. She expected this band would be more of the same static pop or cheesy rock she had heard so often.

However, as soon as the lead guitar played the opening chords she knew this was something entirely different. The lyrics were meaningful and evocative, the singer singing the words so captivatingly. Chrissie gazed up at him. It wasn’t like he was amazingly handsome or anything, in fact he looked kinda geeky. Quite thin with round glasses and a mass of brown curly hair, he wore a long brown trench coat and baggy gray pants. It was his eyes that really grabbed her. They were dark brown and so deep that she could have fallen into oblivion. At some moments she was sure he was looking directly at her.

Chrissie sighed, hearing the bell go in the background. People around her got up to leave but she lingered, savoring the moment. The bell stopped and she reluctantly clambered to her feet. She would have happily sat there trough the next lesson but it seemed pointless now the band were gone. Making her way to Theatre Arts class, Chrissie looked at her watch.

“Oh Crap!”

She arrived in the greenroom behind the stage just in time. Letting the book bag slide off her shoulder, she slumped down into a chair. The teacher hadn’t seemed to notice her. Good. The last thing she wanted was to be chucked out for tardiness. As if reading her thoughts, a voice came from beside her.

“Wouldn’t worry about Old Huntley, he’s half blind anyway.”

Chrissie turned ‘round and her breath caught in her throat.

“Hey, didn’t I see you on the lawns at lunch?”

“Um… yeah.” Chrissie said, trying hard not to blush, “You were really good by the way.”

“Thanks.” He grinned.

Self-consciously, Chrissie wound a lock of hair around her finger. She cursed herself for having nearly hacked it all off in angry defiance last weekend. She must look a state!

“Seth Turner! Is that you chatting?” Mr Huntley yelled, “I may be blind but I’m not deaf! Now open your notebook.”

Seth winced and smiled guiltily. Giggling to herself, Chrissie tried to appear like she was working but secretly glanced sideways at him. It seemed his smile was contagious and she had to hide the huge grin spreading across her face.

The rest of the lesson went surprisingly well. Out on the stage, Mr Huntley got the class pairing up to practice readings from ‘See How They Run’. Most of the students, having been at Greenway High long enough to form close relationships, immediately moved towards their best mates. Fearing she would get left out, Chrissie cautiously tugged on the sleeve of Seth’s trench coat. Hesitantly, she asked if it would be all right for her to be his partner. He nodded.

From the start of the exercise, things started getting out of hand. One tall brunette called Mel started a fight with another girl over who got to be Penelope, they started a shoving match and everyone laughed when she nearly fell off the stage. Mr Huntley yelled at a few kids but couldn’t keep it up. Other kids simply rejoiced in going over-the-top with their parts overacting them to the limit. Seth was one of them. Chrissie had to restrain herself from bursting out laughing every time he pulled a funny face.

When the final bell went, she was kind of sad it was all over. She pushed through the crowds to the front doors. Stepping outside, she noticed Seth standing on the steps with his mates from the band. He looked up as she walked down towards them.

“Hey Chrissie,” he smiled, “see ya tomorrow then?”

“Sure thing!” she replied.

Happily, she strolled through the school gates and took a deep breath. The air had the distinct taste of summer: cut grass, cool breeze and comforting warmth. She expected that she would see Seth again tomorrow. Jauntily, she wandered along the sidewalk and thought about how life really wasn’t that bad after all.

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