Nevaeh Darden: A Short Story

I remember the first day I walked into my kindergarten class, I clenched my mother’s hand with all my might to prevent her from letting go. The kids around me, whom I supposed were my classmates, had long let go of their mother’s had and were playing together, and even as a five year old, at that point I felt like an outsider. I pleaded my mom to not leave but my attempts failed as I found myself alone yet surrounded by complete strangers. As I stood in the center of the room while pushing back my tears and eyeing my mother make her way out the door, I heard the teacher call my name. I timidly walked towards the spot on the yellow carpet she was signaling at for me to sit on. I heard Mrs. Ross’s soothing voice but no matter how much I concentrated

The five-minute warning bell goes off. I rush to my first class of my junior year, eager to see my classmates, who I was going to spend the rest of the 9 months with. I find myself stumbling into a classroom plastered with decorations of Denzel Washington with a Dr. Seuss book in his hand, a t and college flags galore. My AP English 11 class suddenly seemed so appealing to me. As a beautiful, curly haired short lady stood in front of me and said “Welcome to AP English 11,” I knew that I had found a treasure so much greater than just a pretty classroom. Little did I know, that short lady was going to inspire me throughout my challenge filled second-to-last year of high school.

The classroom set up was very different than what I was used to back in Nepal. I didn’t know anyone in there. I didn’t know what to do, so I just managed to sit in the chair that was nearby the door. All the other students were staring at me like something was wrong with me. In reality, everything felt wrong to me when I was in the situation where it felt so bad that I just wanted to quit. It seemed like I was on a one-way street, and I couldn’t figure out what I should do and how I would get out from it. It was almost the end of that class. The time passed just by watching a documentary on the literature’s time period. After the bell rang, all the students left the classroom; then I walked to my teacher with the problem I was having. I was lost in every other class as the hallways get crowded and the buildings were huge. He helped me solve the problems that I had, and my first day of the new school passed in the same way as it did first three hours of that

I glanced up at the clock. It was 12:18. Mrs. Ewert exclaimed, “One or two problems guys.” My heart sunk to my toe. I had langage arts next. Mrs. Berntson was coming back to school after her son went missing. My friends say that she is seeking revenge and locking up kids. I tried not to think about it and did a math problem, I knew they were exaggerating. The bell rang and Mrs. Ewert excused the class. I slowly walked down the crowded hallway. I turned the corner and could see her crusty, burnt door. Now I could believe my friends, Mrs. Berntson has gone crazy! I looked across the hallway and could see my friend, Will. You could tell by his face that he was scared to go in.

It was a peaceful and normal first hour. Well, at least for the people in it. Everyone was yelling, and the teacher had just given up on trying to stop them, and now was just browsing for a retirement home in Key West. I looked up at Jordan, who was my best and only friend. Her spiked blond hair was never put down, even in the toughest rain. Her tan legs sat on top of her desk, and her pine green eyes scanned the school newspaper.

Mr. Ells room 476. I walk in and see only two students in the room, a very tall kid in a trench coat, and a average sized kid also wearing a trench coat. I awkwardly sit down in the closest seat I could find avoiding any contact with those boys. Time passes by and the rest of the kids come in and sit down. Last of all to come in was the teacher. "Keith and Riley, please take the sunglasses off in class, I am 110% sure there is no sun in here" The class laughs as they take them off. I glance at the tall one who I think is Riley, he looks at me back with a terrifying but somewhat friendly smile. An hour passes and I am off to my second class. While I'm looking at my schedule in the hallway, Riley and Keith approach me. "Hey kid, are you new?" asks Riley. "Yeah, I just moved here from Jefferson" Keith chimed in saying "Jefferson? Really? That school sucks ass dude, sorry you had to go there". Before I could even get a word in Riley followed up with "I'm sure you know our names already, but I'm Riley Watters and that is Keith Johnson, my brother from another mother" I quickly reply. "Nice to meet you guys, gotta go" and I speed down the hallway into the void of

"Tasnim, can you please stay after class? I need to talk to you." I let go of the door handle and whip my head back to face my third grade teacher Mrs. Russell. She said my name correctly for the first time all year, though her voice was stern. I realize that my jaw has dropped by the expression on her face as she peers over her laptop. As I walk slowly towards her, my classmates whisper, "Ooh she's in trouble" as they sprint out the door for recess. I stand near my teacher's desk waiting for all the students to leave and when the room is silent, Mrs. Russell says,

I walk in with my heart rate skyrocketing, and stomach is churning. It’s a new start to my sophomore year. That is what I need, a place where no one knows me or what I have done. I walk into the office to get my locker number and schedule. “Hi, I, uh am here for my schedule.” The lady at the desk gave me a strange look “Oh you’re the new kid Philip right?”. I nodded, I hate when people call me Philip it makes me sound like an old guy, like old people are nice but I’m not old, now I feel bad for old people. “Alright deary here you go.” She smiles while handing me my combo and schedule. “Thank you.” I walk out and head to the my first class. I walked to my class, I was standing in front of the door to scared to open it, I’m just so nervous what if no one likes me. I decided to open it and within a second all eyes were on me, but only one stood out. They belonged to this boy who had a fringe like mine and eyes that can make anyone melt. “Class this is the new student Philip” the teacher said taking my attention off the boy, “Oh ya hi, but I go by phil not Philip, sorry it just sounds like a

I looked away to see all of the faces that everyone was making. Mostly shocked, but some scared. I saw a girl named Aria who just looked frightened. She was sitting alone. I felt the urge to get up and sit with her, until the bell rang. Everyone got up and pushed through each other to get to their lockers. I lost Aria through the complete chaos. I thought to myself, I’ve never actually spoken to her before, but I feel really bad for her.

“Run, Jade!” I said, as my friend came out of the cold and dark forest and entered the long grass-filled plains. The wind was howling like a lone wolf, and you could hear the cries of the shoreline. Jade had grabbed my hand in panic, for there was a large creature stalking us. Jade did not know where we were going, only why we were going, but I just said we were going to meet Nonah.

I pushed my way through the crowd and stood next to them - the sign above the classroom read “Room 402.” A series of thoughts clogged up my head. Was this the right classroom? I think I remember the number 402 somewhere on my paper? Yeah, I think so. Oh well, screw this, I am going in. I put all of my books underneath one arm and yanked the door open. Michael and Ayush followed me into the dark room. When I looked around, I whispered to Michael and Ayush, “Why does everyone here look so old and appear to be mega tall?” It was a bit funny except for that the entire class heard me, including the teacher. Yeah… We took one last look at the extremely quiet classroom and slowly backed out of the room. Those people seemed to know their way around the school - unlike us. Oh well. We carefully shut the door and realized that we were the only people in the hallway. Dang it. I took another look at my schedule and read some small print underneath some irrelevant text, “Third Period, Lutthans, Math, Room 402.” MY GOSH! WE WERE JUST IN THAT CLASSROOM!

All the students collected their bags and began to file out of the classroom. Malik trailed behind not wanting to spend unnecessary time with Clark.he did however have to climb on to the metal contraption they like to call a school bus. Malik scanned the area for the best possible seat and decide sitting behind Alex and Noah would be satisfactory.They were his friends, but they were kind of annoying.Malikimmersed himself in a sketch of the teenage boys attempting to capture the moment they shared as they sat across from each other, smiling widely as they spoke.just as I finished the sketch the bus rocked to a stop causing me to go face first into the seat in front of me.Everyone laughed, although I didn't mind. it was sort of

I looked down at my schedule to see my locker was number 2903. I made my way over to my locker to see two very familiar figures “Andy, Katherine!” I beamed as I greeted my friends, “Ryan, it’s been way too long!” Andy exclaimed as she brought me into a hug, followed by Kath. “Guys…..can’t ...breathe….” I muttered “Oh, sorry” They both let go of me so I could breathe again. “So what classes do you have today?” Kath questioned “Looks like first block is History followed by PE then Art and finally English” as I finished reading my schedule Andy looked like she got hit by a bus, “Dang it we only have art together; but hey we could always meet up at lunch” she

Once school was over the girls and I made our way back to the Kellogg Center where once again I fell asleep immediately after arriving back. Once I woke Anisha, Sam and I went to go get coffee and sat in our usual outdoor spot to work on homework. As dinnertime approach and we made our way back to the center I noticed one of my students was walking with his mother. He called out to me and I stopped to say hello he introduced me to his mom and we began talking. His mother was a very nice woman, she reminded me a lot of my mom. She mentioned how grateful they were to have been awarded a scholarship for Oscar to attend ABSS. It was an eye opening experience to hear her talking about how much the scholarship has helped her and her husband. Once I said my goodbyes the girls and I walked to dinner. Following dinner we all waited until nine o’clock to split up and continue on our quest to get invited to a BBQ. That night after our failed attempts, Sam, Trinette, and I made our way to the snack shop where we heard Olivia call out to us. Olivia was sitting alongside some of the other girls and two Zamorano students. We sat with the two guys as they talked about their wild adventures in the city during the weekends. They also mentioned all the rules they have to abide by while on the university campus. I found it incredibly fascinating the amount of time the students spend on school grounds. I was also surprised by how strict the school is

I noticed a sharp fast glare, almost like needles, injected from my teacher to the two people dressed in black. My teacher knelt down to my level so we were both eye to eye. She stared at me with her big marbles and said, “Josh, these people are going to take you out to lunch. You need to go with them, OK Josh.” My teacher’s eyes were getting wetter, “You need to be a big boy, OK Josh. You be a big boy now.” Before I knew it, she had engulfed me into her chest, wrapped me neatly into her arms, and covered my head with her chin. Warmth and love surged through my body as if I was hit by a bolt of lightning cupid had mistaken for an arrow. I felt a warm drop of water hit my head.