Page 2 of From Me to You

“I am your only niece, Aunty M.” I rolled my eyes.

“Are you excited for school?”

“No,” I moaned. “You know how much first days make me jittery.”

“You will be fine, darling.” Aunty M gave me a warm smile.

“I hope so,” I mumbled as I got up, placing the mug in the sink—having already finished my coffee.

I grabbed a handful of apple slices as I rushed out the door. “I need to leave, Aunty M. I can’t be late on my first day.” I picked up my bag and donned my jacket.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?” Aunty M called out.

“Yes, I will be fine. It’s just a few minutes away. I have to go now. I love you!”

“Bye, honey! Good luck on your first day. I love you too,” she said, waving me back while she stood on the front porch.

“Thank you,” I hollered as I walked toward school.

We moved here over the weekend, so I didn’t know much about Bellevue, but I explored a bit yesterday trying to navigate my way to school. I didn’t want to get lost on my first day. Because that would suck, it wasn’t hard, though, just ten minutes away from where we lived.

I sighed nervously. I was supposed to meet Katy Evans, the student counselor, at the principal’s office.

I hated meeting new people, the introvert in me screamed a big no. I wouldn’t call myself an actual introvert more like a selective one. I talked my mouth off to Aunty M and Grandma because I felt comfortable around them. But when it came to new people, my mouth either blurted out the wrong things or involuntarily shut itself.

I arrived at school in no time. ‘Bellevue High’ was the only high school in town. It was a lot more beautiful than any public school I had been to. It was like they renovated an old church to be a school. The walls were made of stone with ivy creeping all over them, and the occasional morning glory made it seem like a long-forgotten medieval castle. A tall willow tree stood by the entrance almost taking up half the space, it looked too enchanting to be in a school’s entryway.

My anxiety came crashing back again as I entered the school. The inside was completely different though, very modern and clean—nothing luxurious, more like a typical high school. I walked into the hallway sweating, because I was so nervous even though it was freezing cold outside. I had a bad habit of thinking that everyone was staring at me for some reason. But no one seemed to notice me at all, so I guessed that was a good thing.

I made my way up to the principal’s office, following the sign in the far-right corner. A lady with a stern face and glasses perched on her nose was typing away on her computer. Her desk had the sign ‘secretary’.

“Good morning. I am Evelyn May, the new student who got transferred here,” I said, approaching her desk.

She looked up and nodded. “Good morning, Ms. May, I am Elizabeth Walters. I already have your timetable printed out. Welcome to our school. Katy will be with you shortly and help you get settled in,” she said as she handed out the timetable and a small piece of paper. “That will be your locker code. If you have any questions or need any help, you can contact me or Principal Higgins at the number printed on your timetable. Principal Higgins is away this week on official business. I will make sure to arrange a meeting next week with him so you can get acquainted,” she said, dismissing me.

“Thanks, Ms. Walters,” I murmured, taking a look at my timetable.

For my first period, I had biology. That sucked. I skimmed through to find the class I actually wanted. Creative writing. I had it for my last period today, so at least that was exciting. I had something to look forward to. I loved the fact that this school offered creative writing classes because I loved writing and hopefully one day I would become an actual writer.

“Hello! You must be Evelyn! Sorry, I am late.” I looked up at the cheery voice to find a beautiful girl with wavy strawberry-blonde hair framing her heart-shaped face wearing the cutest red summer dress. God, wasn’t she freezing? She had the palest shade of green eyes that I’d ever seen, somehow it was so beautiful with her olive skin tone. She was standing near the office door, waving toward me.

“Hi, that’s okay. I am Evy. You must be Katy. Nice to meet you,” I said, suddenly shy in my old hoodie in her presence.

“Great, then, Evy, come on. I will show you around. It’s so nice to see a new student at our school. Don’t worry, you will love it here,” she said, waving her hand at Ms. Walters. “Morning, Ms. Walters, I will see you around later.”

“Morning, Ms. Katy,” Ms. Walters mumbled already back to her computer.

I walked alongside Katy as she showed me around the school. It was a lot different than what I had imagined. The people here seemed friendly, which was a far cry from my last school, where people didn’t even know I existed. I guessed that was the difference between living in a city and a town.

My last school in Seattle wasn’t that great. If you didn’t know your place, the other students made sure you were reminded where you belonged. And being almost a year older than the rest of the class didn’t help. So, I mostly kept my head down and blended with the crowd to avoid being bullied. And thankfully it worked. I sighed internally—in a couple of weeks I would be seventeen already.

It looked like everyone here knew Katy, everywhere we went people greeted her. It made sense given her welcoming personality—she literally could light up any room she walked into.

Soon, all my pent-up nervousness faded away as I warmed up to her presence. This school wasn’t that bad, I mused.

“Did you just move here to Bellevue?” Katy asked as she showed me the football field outside.

“Yes, I just moved here two days ago from Seattle.”

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