The Adventures of A Fat Girl

4. Enthusiastic much?

"Hazel, honey you need to wake up. You don't want to be late now, do you?", comes my mom's sweet voice from the door. I let out a groan and answer something. 

"Hazel you better be up when I enter through this door which is just a few seconds from now", this makes me sit up in the bed as I am not in the mood to argue with her. No one can ever win an argument with her.

"Good morning mom. What time is it?"

"Its seven. you need to leave in an hour and a half. Go and take a shower and come down for breakfast", she tells me and kisses my cheek.

"Mom, can I go to meet Harriet after school?", I ask her though I know she wouldn"t mind.

"Sure thing hun. Dad will drop you both off today and we three can go and meet her after school as I will come to pick you up. I have taken the day off so we can get settled down.", this is rare. My parents don't know the concept of 'taking the day off'.

"Why did you do that? We both can take care of ourselves. You should have gone to the office", I say as I stand up from the bed and yawn loudly in a unladylike manner. She ignores that and takes my hand in hers. 

"Hazel promise me that you will tell me everything that happens in school and especially if people mistreat you or harrass you. I need your word on this. We don't want you to suffer anymore than you already have. Please promise me", mom says with her eyes watery and clutches my hand as if her life depends on it. I say nothing just squeeze her hand and look at her. Mom is the one person in this world who understand everything even if I don't say it out loud.

"What are wearing today? It's your first day here, wear something good".

"Yeah mom. I will wear something from what we bought a few days ago", due to my size, it's very rare for me get something good to wear. I could only buy three tops that were actually nice and worth wearing to my school.

I wore the maroon top that I got from the mall. It has lace pattern on the neck and ends up to me belly button. I don't usually wear these kind of tops but my mom insisted on buying this and now I seem to like it. I french braid my hair and go to the living room where mt dad is sitting with his green tea in his hand and the newspaper on the table. 

"Good morning dad", I greet him with a kiss on his cheek and his face brightens up. 

"Good morning sweetheart. You look beautiful", he always compliments me whenever I wear something new. He knows that I am self conscious about my weight and always tells me that it never matters because I am a good person with a good soul and a sharp mind, so if people don't talk to me because of my appearance then its not my fault, its their loss.

"Thanks. Mom chose it for me".

"Of course she did. Her choice is amazing, isn't it honey?", dad turns to look at mom and she winks at him.  These two are so in love with each other that they still seem to be in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. No one believes that they have two kids. I always wanted a relationship like theirs that would make me believe in love.

"Where's that pack rat? We need to leave in like ten minutes", dada asks me but before I could answer with my mouth full of food, Ace appears in the room, looking all freshened up which is so unlike him. I look at him skeptically and he gives me the innocent look.

"What? Its our first day here and I felt like cleaning up properly today", he says and I just laugh at him. I know he wants a girlfriend like his friends used to have back in our hometown. 

"Are you trying to impress girls already Ace?", dad asks him and I cannot hold it in and laugh out loud. Ace turns red and just leaves the room. We both continue laughing while mom just smiles looking at us.

"Ace have your breakfast. You guys need to leave in five minutes", mom hands him a plate full of pancakes and pours the maple syrup that he loves more than chocolate.

"Lets leave, shall we?", dad asks and we both kiss mom goodbye and hop in the car. Ace, as usual, jumps in the front seat while I sit back and relax. Our school is half an hour away from our house so I decided to check out the timetable and reread the map of the huge school and tried to cram everything that I possibly can.

"So, you kids want me to come inside with you to the office or you can manage on your own?"

"That's fine dad. We can manage".

"Are you sure sweety? I can come with you if you want".

"No dad that's fine. We will find our way around", Ace answers and he reluctantly nods his head. The reason he wanted to come was to see if the kids there are any different than the ones back home. He looks at me from the mirror and I smile and reassure him.

"Ace, take of your sister alright. Tell me immediately if anyone says anything to her. That person would have turned to a pulp by the end of the day", dad says and I just laugh. He is the type of the dad who is overprotective but not in a way to suffocate me. Because of the incident back home, I was sure he was going to up his game and he did exactly that.

"Don't worry dad. I will look after her", Ace nods with a serious face.

"Hey, I don't need a babysitter and I am elder to you. I should be the one taking care of you".

"I thought you of all the people would leave the stereotypes behind and let me look after you for once. I don't want a repeat of what happened back at home. I don't want you to suffer because I was too much of a coward to stand up for you", Ace says this looking at me in the eye and I couldn't control it. I reached across the seat and hugged him, quite awkwardly. 

"That's my boy", dad patted him on the back and I could see the pride in his eyes. I am in awe of my little brother who has grown up into a fine man within a span of a few days just so that his sister doesn't suffer. I am the luckiest girl to have a brother like him.

While dad was telling Ace how to throw a punch, I looked out of the window and thought about the people that I would meet in just a few minutes. Yes I am scared and I have every reason to be but I wouldn't let them know about my fears. I will not let them break me as I did previously. I will become a strong girl who doesn't need to be protected or be treated as a fragile doll. I will stand up for myself and will never let anyone run over me.

"We are here. Have an amazing day guys. I will see you at home in the evening. Let Harriet know I said hi and that I will come and see her very soon", dad says and I nod my head and get down from the car.

"Hazel, can you come here for a sec?", dad calls for me.

"Yes dad?"

"Hazel, I just want you to know that I am just a call away if you need me. I know you are a very strong girl who can take care of herself but sometimes we need someone to just hold us or just make things right that we can't do on our own. Just know that me, your mom and Ace will always be there for you no matter what happens. We love you sweetheart. Now, off you go", saying so he kisses my forehead and drives away and I just stand there for a minute and just look at car until it goes so far that I can't see it anymore. I know my family is always there for me no matter what happens and I am glad for that. 

Ace and I enter the school premises and I am taken aback. The school is huge just like dad had told me. The corridors seemed to never end. The students were bustling out various doors and I am not sure I remember anything from the map. It seems like the map and the pictures on the internet don't do justice. 

"Come on Hazel, lets go to the office first", Ace takes my hand in his and leads the way. He seems to remember exactly where the office is and I am so glad he does. I wouldn't want to start making conversations with these people by asking them the way to the office.

"Hi. How can I help you both?", the girl sitting behind the desk asks us. She seems to be pretty young to be working here but who am I to judge.

"Hello Miss. Lanter. Its our first day here so we just wanted to ask about the locker system", I answer. She looks at me with the big doe eyes and a beautiful smile and I smiled back. She seems nice to me.

"Sure thing. Can you please tell me your names?"

"Hazel and Ace Campbell", Ace answers and starts typing on her computer.

"Okay, here you go. These are your locker numbers with the passwords. You can change the passwords whenever you want", she hands us both a sealed envelope. 

"The locker room is the first door down the hall. There you will meet Leo Parker, who is the head of the student council. He will guide you both to your classes and will accompany you today to help you get settled. Have a nice day you both", she smiles at the end and we smile back. At least the start of the day was good. 

As we get out of the office, the students start to notice our presence. They kept looking at us as if we were aliens who came from another planet to destroy them. Ace took my hand in his again and we go towards the locker room. 

"Hi. You must be Hazel. Its nice to meet you. I am Leo", the boy introduces himself and I just keep staring at him. His eyes are the best part of his face. They are absolutely mesmerising. 

"Hazel, you need to keep your things in the locker. We need to go to the homeroom", Ace brings me out of my embarrassing thoughts. I just look at him sheepishly and open up my locker. Leo stares at me while I do so and something tells me this year is going to go way differently.

"This is our homeroom. Its a good thing that you guys are with us, it will be easier to show you around".

"Settle down class", a teacher in his mid-forties enters the room. 

"He is the meanest of them all", Leo whispers in my ear and I laugh silently.

"So, today we have two new students with us. Hazel and Ace, why don't you come in front and introduce yourselves?", as he says this, all the students turn to look at us and I start sweating.  Ace gets up first and gestures for me to follow him.

After the humiliating introduction on my part and amazing on Ace's part, we leave the room where Leo and some of his friends are waiting for us. After he sees us approaching, everyone turns to look at us. 

"Guys, this is Hazel and her younger brother Ace. Hazel will be with us for the remaining of the classes and Ace, Tom here will take you to yours. We will wait for you guys in the cafeteria during lunch,okay?", Ace nods his head at everyone and gives my hand a squeeze and leaves with Tom. 

"Hazel, this is Nina, Mark, Priya, Linn, Jason and John. Priya and Linn are members of student council as well", Leo introduces me to everyone. The girls hug me while the boys shake my hand. These people seem really nice. I am not used to this treatment as you can tell by my past experience. 

Nina comes to my side and holds my hand and drags me to the classroom. She seems to be the most enthusiastic in the group. We all talk about anything and everything. I get to know that Nina and Mark are in a relationship since five years now and Linn has a boyfriend who lives in California and is set to be back this summer.

These people are really amazing and I hope this year and this school proves all of my stupid theories about not being able to make friends and s**t wrong.