Alicia woke up the next morning, butterflies still in her stomach. Today was her first day, and she was still very nervous about it. She looked at the clock. 6:11. She had about an hour to get ready.
She pushed off her covers, and then grabbed her brush. She usually wasn�t much for getting all dolled up for school, but she figured today would be the exception. For an outfit, she put on her favorite pair of jeans and white tank with a stripped over shirt, and put on enough make up to enhance her looks. As she did this, many thoughts were running through her head? What if no one liked her and she won�t be able to make any friends? And what if she wasn�t able to finds her classes and they would be to hard? �Goodness, Alicia,� she told herself �You need to relax. You�re in a new environment. Sure it�s scary, but it�ll be a nice change. There will be more people like me and less of those stuck preppy popular people�
That was true. She hated those types, those �popular� people who thought they were superior to others just because they had more money or something superficial like that. It was definitely not true and she could not see how they took pleasure putting those people to make themselves look better, because it didn�t. But since it was an art school, maybe there wouldn�t as many of those people.
She went downstairs to see just Jeremy at the breakfast table �Where are the kids?�
�They�re getting ready. That�s Katie�s responsibility to get them ready in the morning. Sit down and have some breakfast, Leesha�
�That�s ok. I�ll just grab a granola bar and eat it in the car. I want to get there as early as possible so I can find any many of my classes as I can.�
He nodded �I don�t blame you. I�ll be ready a few minutes�
20 minutes later, they were at the school. �Well, here we are. Have a great first day. And try to make some new friends, ok?�
Alicia managed a smile. �I�ll try�
�Remember, it�s about looking confident and friendly, but not arrogant� Jeremy smiled.
�Ok� Alicia got out and shut the door. She then turned to the building and examined it. I was big, with a huge staircase leading to it, with two great stone lions next to the gate, and the actual building looked huge as well. Needless to say, it intimidated her a bit. �Well, here we go�
She arrived in the school to see a huge hallway with so many different doors and hallways; it seemed to lead so many different directions. �Oh goodness, this is so scary�
�Hello, can I help you?�
Alicia turned to see a friendly looking woman looking at her. �Yes. I need to know where my locker is�?�
�You didn�t go to freshman orientation?�
�No, I�m a sophomore who transferred. Actually, this is my first day in Cincinnati�
The woman smiled. �Bless your heart, you must be so overwhelmed today. What�s your name?�
�Alicia Carter�
�Welcome, I�m Mrs. DeWitt, assistant principal. So, what your locker number?�
She looked at her course schedule. �1348�
Mrs. DeWitt gave her directions to her locker and she sound it without getting lost.
There was another girl there at the locker next to hers. She was petite, with long brown hair that went to the mid part of her back, and friendly brown eyes. �HI� She said, smiling.�
�Hello� Alicia said, giving an awkward smile.
�You�re a freshman, aren�t you?�
Alicia shook her head. �No, but I�m new and a sophomore. Why, is my nerves that obvious?�
�I�m a senior here, so you could say that I�ve seen all those looks and figured it out by now. � She laughed. �So how come you�re new as a sophomore?�
�I moved here from Pennsylvania. Actually today is my first day in Cincinnati�
�Wow, stressful. What�s your name?�
�Alicia Carter� Alicia extended her hand. �Yours?�
�Leslie Campbell, but my friends call me Les� The girls shook hands. �Well, since this is your first day, can I show you around a bit before class, so you know where your classes are?�
Her eyes widened in surprise. �Really? You would? Thank you, it would make this day so much easier�
�It�s nothing, I know this building back to front, being here for 4 years� Leslie smiled. �What�s your 1st period class?�
Alicia couldn�t believe it. She hadn�t been at school 10 minutes and she already had a new friend. This was unheard of for her. �History�
�Come on, this way� The two girls headed down the hall together.
They spent 20 minutes walking around the school, showing her around and finding all her morning classes. �Thank you so much Les, this has made today a bit easier.�
�Your welcome, anytime, Alicia. Hey, you wanna sit with my friends ands I at lunch?�
Alicia nodded �Sure, I guess. See ya at lunch�
�Ok�
History went off with nothing to write home about. But in French, something notable
did happen Or rather, she noticed someone notable. Alicia had never seen a more handsome guy in her life. He was about 18, so she figured he was a senior. He was about 5�11, with shining blue eyes and brown hair. His build was also slightly athletic, so he figured he played sports. �Oh goodness, that guy is so hot� She sighed dreamily.
Class started and the teacher, Madame Drake, was taking attendance.
�Madame Kelly Carter�
�Bonjour. J'aimerais aller par Alicia� (Translation: Hello. I would like to go by Alicia)
�Alicia?�
�Oui, c'est mon deuxi�me pr�nom.� (Yes, it is my middle name)
Madame Drake smiled. �Tr�s impressionnant� (Very impressive)
Everyone was looking at her like she was crazy. And that made her a bit nervous, but she was doing only what she knew.
She began to listen to she got to her new crush.
�Monsieur Nick Lachey�
�Ici� (Here) The guy said.
Nick Lachey. What a great name. �Man, how am I to get this boy crazy?� Alicia usually never paid as much attention as she was to Nick. But he probably would never give her the time of day. And he was likely to be taken; any girl would probably LOVE to go out on a date with him.
Trig and Biology also went off without anything really going on. Then it was lunchtime. Les and Alicia got in line together and picked out a table. �Dani and Desiree should be coming here in a minute� Les told her
�All right� She sighed.
�So, how was the morning?�
�Good, actually. I like my classes so far� mostly. I think I�m gonna like it here. Yours?�
�Fine, basically. What do you have after this?�
�Chorus�
�I do, too. Dani, Desiree, and I are in it together, along with our boyfriends�
Then two girls came towards them, one was blond haired and blue eyed and one was brown haired and green eyed. She recognized the blond haired one form her French class.
�Dani, Dez, this is Alicia. She�s new�
�Hi, I�m Danielle but I go by Dani� The blond haired one said.
�And I�m Desiree� The other one said.
�Nice to meet y�all� She kinda sat back in the conversation till Dani asked her, �So, do you like it here?�
�Yes. I think it�ll be good.�
�Got any crushes?� Desiree asked teasingly.
She had just met these girls two minutes ago, so she really didn�t feel comfortable telling them that she did have a crush on Nick. �Not really. So, who are your boyfriends?�
�Jeff Timmons, we�ve been dating since sophomore year,� Dani said.
�Well, mine�s not really a boyfriend, we�re just really close friends. His name is Justin Jeffre.�
Desiree playfully rolled her eyes. �Whatever, Les. You know you�re crushing on him.. real bad�
�And mine�s Drew Lachey. And I�m her friend Justin�s little sister
Drew Lachey? Could that be any relation to Nick, the guy in her French class?
�Drew�s older brother is kinda hot, too� Dani remarked.
�Yeah, he is. But he�s taken. Him and Sara Reeves, the �it� couple of the school.� Desiree rolled her eyes. �She�s such a bitch, though. I have no clue what he sees in her�
�Well, she�s kinda a drop dead gorgeous blonde� Les said.
�Looks get you nowhere in relationships though. You can�t date somebody just by staring at them. You have to talk to them too� Dani said.
Alicia was trying her best to keep a straight face. She knew she had no chance, and she really wasn�t surprised that he was taken. Any girl would be crazy to not want to date him.
She sat back in the rest of the conversation, and then the 4 headed to Chorus.
There were approximately 65 people already in there. This choir was definitely bigger than the one in Ackensburg. And Alicia hoped that the choir director was nicer, because she wasn�t a big fan of the one there, she wasn�t very nice.
She sat between Desiree and Les as the bell rung. Then a friendly looking man, who looked to be in his 40s with a huge smile on his face, came into the room. �Hello, my students, welcome to another year at the arts school. I�m Mr. Havenworth�
The choir gave a murmur of greetings.
�Ok, here�s how I call role. For you people who have heard this time and time again, you may tune me out for a few minutes. When I call your name, you will have to do a couple scales. Nothing fancy, just to see what your range is.�
Alicia�s stomach sank. Great, in a way she already had to perform for the class. And Nick was in the choir too. Hopefully she wouldn�t make a fool of herself.
Before she knew it, it was her turn.
�Kelly Carter�
�Please, Mr. Havenworth, I go by Alicia.�
�Allrighty, do you have any other nicknames from that like Ali or anything like that?�
Alicia shook her head �Alicia�s fine�
�Ok, Ms. Alicia, let�s test your range�
As Mr. Havenworth tested her range, she just forgot about every one watching her. And she was able to go up in a range of Soprano 1 down to the top of Alto 2.
Then she watched everyone else and she realized there were a lot of talented voices there, a lot more than at ackensburg. She had a feeling that this would be a good year for Chorus.
After uneventful English, came Theater. This was the period Alicia was the most nervous about. Mostly because before, she was mortified of even the THOGHT of getting up on the stage. But she knew she needed to do something different and since everything was going to be different this year, she signed up.
The theater director, Ms. Collins, an energetic woman, called role. And Alicia noticed that Nick, and his girlfriend Sara were in the class. The girls were right about Sara. She did look like a bitch and all preppy. She wondered why Sara was even enrolled in Art School.
�All right, class. Here�s what we are going to do. I�m going to pair all of you and groups and you are going prepare a monologue for me. We are going to do this couple of times. And then you will present it in front of the class. And, it�s not for a grade. At least not the first or second one. This is just see what kind of actor you are and what kind of roles you are strong and weak in. And then we will star preparing to audition for our play, which should start in about three weeks.
�Three weeks� wow that is quick� Alicia thought.
She got paired up with another girl named Hannah and they worked pleasantly together. Hannah was kind of like her, had talent but needed to come out of her shell. Before they knew it, the 45 minutes were up.
Alicia was pleased with the way her first day went. Actually, quite surprised. This had probably been the best first day of her life. She had 3 new friends, her classes were pretty good, and she had a crush already. Yep, this year was definitely be one of change.