III
The first day of school. My first dreaded thought when I woke up. It felt like I barely slept for two minutes and now I had to get up. I opened my duffel bag and pulled out whatever decent clothes I pulled out first. I would unpack that eventually, after a couple of arguments with my mom. I brushed my short, brown, more black than brown, hair and decided that I would never know whether it was black or brown and whether it was straight or curly. I stared at my plain, ugly face and reluctantly walked down the creaky redwood stairs. In the kitchen I smelled the strange smell of eggs and for a short amount of time contemplated on jolting out the door.
"Lizie, you're up," my mom sang cheerfully. "Ready for the first day of school?" I mumbled noises under my breath and poured myself milk. "You're not eating?" she asked, standing with her back turned to me and all her attention on the scrambled eggs. Just the thought of putting those wet, soft eggs in my mouth made me gag.
"No mom, I'd rather not start the day with feeling sick on the bus." I replied.
"Oh there's no bus honey, you can walk there." she sang, almost more cheerful than she was a few seconds ago.
"No bus..." I said.
"Nope, but don't worry I know you'll find your way there, we talked about it in the car." she started humming.
"Yeah ok, bye mom" I replied quickly. But I was not quick enough, she turned around to inspect me before I left.
"Oh you're gonna wear that? But I bought you all those nice clothes, and you could of at least done something with your hair. You know you could look really pretty if..."
"Mom, it's fine, I have no time now anyway, I'll be late." I interrupted.
"Okay... be good." she said as she leaned over giving me a kiss on the forehead.
I mumbled and walked out the door. I looked down the street and suddenly felt like Dorothy stepping out of her black and white house to see a color filled world she's never seen before. I took baby steps toward the direction of the school, wishing I had ruby red slippers to send me back home anytime I wanted. Not here home, Chicago home. I spent all my 16 years there and it was Kansas to me. As I neared the end of the block I noticed the only way to get to my school was to go through a winding path in the forest. My stomach churned and even though I didn't eat my mom's breakfast, I felt like anything inside me right now was going to come back up. The trees overhanging the path seemed like teeth hanging from the roof of a lion's mouth and with my every step the lion was opening his mouth wider. Suddenly I pictured the lion deciding I was taking too long and soon after that overtaking me and ripping out my throat. I felt my airways constricting and my muscles tense. What if I get lost in there. What if I end up like those kids in the Blair Witch Project. With my luck I'd find the Blair witch, or the witch of New Jersey whichever comes first. It isn't real. I told myself. There's no such thing as monsters, there's no such thing as monsters. I repeated feeling more childish than I usually feel.
"Hey! New girl!" the shout scared me and I jumped, immediately feeling stupid for the fast motion. "Whoa didn't mean to scare ya, sorry" the boy speaking ran up to me with a smooth gait. His blonde curls bounced on his forehead and I could see his chest breathing in and out steadily. When he came closer I noticed his bright blue eyes and his boyish features. He smiled and I saw the charming half-smile that every girl has fallen for. "I'm Eli," he introduced himself. Don't wake up Dorothy, never wake up. I thought, noticing I've just been standing there with my mouth open, no thank God my mouth was closed. "And... this is where you tell me your name," Eli laughed. What do I tell him? Elizabeth, or Lizzie? Maybe Liz? Liz sounds cool.
"Oh, my name's Ell.. Luh.." I stuttered.
"Ella?" Eli interrupted. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. I reprimanded myself. "That's a really pretty name. Suits your pretty face." There goes me telling him what my real name is. I felt my cheeks flush red.
"So attending April Woods High this year?" he asked, still smiling that half-smile.
"Yeah, if I don't get lost and eaten by something in the woods first," I laughed obnoxiously. Stupid, stupid. Hopefully I do get eaten by something and I won’t have to embarrass myself in front of this guy who has extremely cute eyes.
"Wow, you have a nice laugh too, and don't worry I could be your escort." he reached out his arm. I stood there perplexed, not knowing what he wanted me to do. After a few seconds, I decided just to link my arm with his. Thankfully it was what he was going for.
"So where you from?" he continued.
"Chicago, big change right," I let out an airy laugh.
"Yeah, must be hard, this place is very nature-y," he added. "I'm guessing you came from a bussling city?"
"Yeah, my mom wanted to get away from her family and everything," I told him too much. I thought.
"You didn't want to come here?" he asked while I watched his eyes grow bigger and more boyish by the second.
"No, I left all my friends and memories behind," I answered, wondering if that was still too much information for someone I just met. He could be a psycho, contemplating on killing me and dragging me down to his basement right now.
"I understand," he replied glancing down at his feet. I decided to look straight ahead. What do I say now? No one like him has ever talked to me before. This guy is probably the topic of every conversation at school and here he is with my arm linked through his. Hopefully my arm won’t sweat and leave  big stain on his shirt.
"We're getting closer," Eli interrupted my paranoid thoughts. "Getting butterflies yet?"
"I've had them for a while, and they feel like they're tearing my stomach apart." he chuckled and I immediately thought he might think I meant I was nervous because I was with him.
"Don't worry, everyone's gonna love you. You've never been in a strange little town have you?" he laughed. "Everyone knows everyone and everyone likes getting in everyone's face. And if there's something, or someone knew, everyone's all over them." I laughed nervously.
"I'm in for a treat then?" I asked, sheepishly staring into his eyes. I couldn't help myself, this whole time I've been wondering what his eyes look like when I'm this close to him. Up close they seemed more sea green than blue. As soon as I asked I saw the school out of the corner of my eye. It was small compared to the one I attended in Chicago. In the front yard a few trees guarded the door, and a few benches were placed under them. About a dozen kids were crowded around the benches, and the rest were sitting on the walls, or they were leaning against them.
"They're waiting for you human," Eli said with a wicked smile. I almost let myself think they were really not human and I was the feast and their hunger was the reason they were all crowded around and watching me. There's no such thing as monsters. But then Eli laughed and I made a little nervous chuckle feeling more idiotic then I usually feel. You're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy. I told myself as I walked down the pathway leading into the school realizing Eli slowly slipped out of my arm. My eyes longingly followed him and I saw him running up to one of his friends who was staring at me in a strange way. I couldn't tell how he was staring at me but it was making me really uncomfortable. I smiled, as I tried to do to everyone, praying for all of them to just stay there and not say a word to me. Sadly, God didn't answer my prayers and a few of the brave ones stood up, with their fangs flashing. No such thing as monsters! I yelled at myself.
"Hey, your name's Elizabeth right?" I turned to see who said that.
"Ugh.... yeah... how do you know my name?" I asked trying extremely hard not to be rude.
"Oh Eli told me, he asked around," the girl replied looking over at Eli with a proud smile. She had blond hair that curled just the right way and smiling, green eyes. She‘s probably his girlfriend and he knows my name isn‘t Ella. I'm so stupid. I told myself. "I’m Steph. You know your roster?"
"Ugh, yeah," I fumbled in my pocket and handed the small slip of paper to her.
"Oh awesome, we have three classes together and lunch, that means I get to show you around," she clapped her hands.
"Do I have any classes with Eli?" I wondered why in the world I asked that question.
"Oh... probably chemistry, but I wouldn't know," she didn't seem too happy to answer me. "Come on let me show you to your home room." I reluctantly let her take my arm and lead me into the school, does everyone in this town like linking arms? I was sort of thankful she was leading me away from the bloodthirsty crowd that was starting to gather too close for my liking.