“Gretta, get down here right now or you’ll miss breakfast.” screamed my mom from downstairs while probably eating her food without me. She can because I will never have time to eat. I can’t seem to know what to wear on my first day. I’m usually in uniforms so this whole choosing your outfit for school thing is not usually a problem. The first day of school can’t even be compared to school previously, and I have no memory of it. I have gone to the same school, with the same kids, and the same uniform since I started going to school. That leads me to my current conundrum. I was admitted into the most prestigious high school in my county. It was a gateway into anything you wanted to do in the future. Government, fine art, acting, finance and I’m not even exaggerating. It is like this because it gives amazing connections from alumni dinners to internships at amazing places. It gets you into any college of your choice. I just can’t believe I got in.
“Girl, I gave your breakfast to Petey. I’ll be in the garage waiting for you. If you don’t hurry you’ll be late for school.” My dear mother said as if it was so easy. I cannot even deal with her right now, quickly moisturizing because I will not be ashy on my first day. Then I threw on my fifth outfit choice I had thrown around my room, quickly checked in the mirror to make sure there was no remaining twist from my twist out, grabbed my backpack, and then ran to the car with my mom holding an apple for me. I kissed the apple with a quick “mwah”. Between bites, I say a thank you to Mom. Then I get all in my head about this first day. What if it was a mistake, they didn’t accept me, this is all just one big “F you” from the universe.
“Honey, I can see you thinking hard over there. Everything is going to be alright, you know I was just as nervous when I was your age and applied for Soaring. When I got the rejection letter I was so disappointed. I was depressed for days and only Grandpa’s impromptu plane tickets to New York City brightened me up. Sweety, I was rejected and you have acted the same way I did and you got accepted.” For a second she looked at me and caressed my cheek. I continued looking at her and then looked ahead at traffic. Seeing it all just moving along. Everyone going their own way to continue their day. I nodded to myself then gave my mom a small smile.
“You’re right Mom I should look forward to today. It is just my nerves getting to me.”
“That’s my girl. GPS says 15 more minutes. Just get ready to face school and I’ll make sure we don’t crash.” Mom says and then gives me a wink.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I laugh off her very Kim joke and put on my headphones dramatically. My mom can be dark sometimes. I pull up my favorite alt playlist and the 15 minutes go by quickly. Then we’re at the front gate of the school. When I see the archway of the school's front gate, I can’t help but be awestruck. In the intricate wiring of the gate in clear letters, you can see “Soaring School For The Gifted”. I was really here, I made it. It hit me all at once and all I wanted to do was jump up and down, hug my mom, and scream to everyone that Gretta Love had made it to Soaring High. Once we were parked I jumped out of the car and ran off toward the front gate. Almost forgot to hug my mom, almost. I quickly went back, gave her a big hug, a big smooch on her cheek, and frantically waved goodbye. Fortunately, I was not the only one who was acting like a kid at a candy store. Every kid in this parking lot was so excited they couldn’t help but behave like little kids.
Once I passed the gate, I felt my heart rate quicken, all the excitement must have been causing my adrenalin to pump. They must have been expecting that because there were I guess older students and faculty handing out water to all the incoming students. There were a lot of us here. They were quickly separating students into two groups Legacies and Neophytes. I knew I was a neophyte because it was explained in the handbook which I read cover to cover. It was to explain things to do with the school setup that legacies are usually a part of during 6th grade and on. It was explained that legacies did have an advantage, but they also couldn’t fall below certain grades and if there were any character problems spotted during their middle school years they would be kicked out and never allowed back into Soaring. Which apparently gets a lot of legacies kicked out. Why they choose to be dicks over staying in Soaring, who knows.
Once I’m in the correct line for one of the trains that bring you to Soaring Proper. Today they are bringing the Neophytes to the East side of campus and the Legacies to the West side. I must get on to get to Neophytes orientation and I am super excited. The closer I got to the train the more I felt my heartbeat quicken, my palms sweat, and little beads of sweat on my temple. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I decided to just focus on the orientation. The trains must have been running at an extreme rate. Once on train was gone, another would come to take its place. Once I had almost gotten on the train, I realized my water was gone, I didn’t even notice when I had finished it. Then the empty water bottle in my hand was replaced by smiling upperclassmen.
“The first day at Soaring can be rough, but you’ll be okay.” I barely registered what he was saying and it seemed as if I was going on autopilot. I don’t know how much time had passed between that upperclassmen handing me water and me being lead into a building and into some kind of pod. I was oddly calm, but I could feel my heart pumping, my body heating up, and my head pounding. Then i was in the pod and I sighed as I felt a cooling liquid slowly covering me giving me massive comfort.