FREAK SHAKE (The Hollens Book 5)

Blossom's POV "And stay away from boys!" my mama called as I quickly ran down the steps to catch the school bus which should be approaching any minute now. Today, I was a ball of wrecking nerves. It was the beginning of a new year and a new life for my mother and myself. Two weeks ago, we migrated from Africa to the US for my mother's new job opportunity and my scholarship education at one of the most prestigious high school in the California state. It was an overcast morning with no one in sight but me waiting on the bus stop for the bus. After five minutes, the bright yellow school bus with the name 'Pacific High school' displaying above its windshield. I outstretched my arm and the bus slowed down before coming to a halt in front of me. The doors opened automatically. "This is it," I told myself as I clutched onto my backpack tighter and boarded. Rude stares and small laughter met me when I saw the other students and they saw me. I quickly found a seat, close to a window, and tuned everything out by opening one of my textbooks. "Who's that?" I heard someone asking from behind me. "I've never seen it before," someone else answered. There were more giggles and I slumped in the seat, wishing I could disappear or this bus would turn around and drop me off where it found me. After thirty minutes of pretending to be invisible, the bus pulled into the highschool's parking lot. The doors opened and everyone started filing out like sand being emptied on a beach. I was the last grain of sand to get off. I slowly followed the others into the opened hall which I quickly regretted because the stares were more and the comments were getting ruder with every student I walked pass by. 'What could they be looking at?' I asked myself as I tried to find my assigned locker from the sheet of paper the Head Mistress had given my mother when we applied three days ago. 'Locker 26T, Locker 26T,' I mumbled as I counted. '23, 24, 25,...' "Hey!" someone yelled at me and I was instantly shoved against my very locker. "Why don't you watch where you're going, new girl!" other hissed, coming to the aid of the first girl I accidentally stumbled into. "I'm....I'm sorry," I apologized. Both their eyes blazed at me before they flipped their hair and walked away. I opened my locker and placed my books inside that I wouldn't be needing for first period. The bell rang and I headed to my first class, or at least I thought I was. I got lost and I knew I was going around in circles when I orbit at my locker for the second time. "You there! Why aren't you in class?" a woman called from behind me. It was Mrs. Tisdale, the Head Mistress. "Sorry ma'am, I'm new and I'm a bit lost," I managed to speak although I was shaking with fear. "Ah! The new girl from Africa. What's your first class?" "Geography with Miss.." "Miss Harris," she filled. "Follow me." I did exactly as told and followed Mrs. Tisdale. She was a stern looking woman with a built body and light skin complexion. _______ "Good morning," Mrs. Tisdale spoke when she entered the classroom. All the students stood until she gestured for them to sit. "Miss. Harris, this is Blossom Wright. She's a new student this senior year and she'll be joining your class," she said to the teacher and left with me standing there feeling more vulnerable than ever. "Hello Blossom and welcome to Geography. You can have a seat next to Sophia. Sophia is in the first row on the right," Miss. Harris told me. I put on a smile. I felt comfortable. Miss. Harris seemed nice and she pointed to a girl with similar skin complexion like mine. I quickly sat next to her and pulled out my textbook to catch up. "Who can tell me the names of the Seven major bodies of water found in the world?" Miss. Harris asked. "Malibu Beach!" someone shouted from the back and the class laughed. I joined in the laugh to feel included. "No Zac," Miss. Harris said. Then her eyes fell on me. "Blossom, do you know?" I knew but I didn't want to show up myself on the first day. "Y...not really," I answered. "If you know the answer, it would be wise to speak up," Sophia whispered. "The Gulf Of Mexico. The Caribbean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea. The Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic and Indian Oceans," I spoke up. "Excellent," Miss. Harris complimented and wrote my answers on the chalk board. "Now, we're going to in pairs. You'll pair up with the person sitting next to you and you have exactly twenty minutes to choose any one of the major body of waters and find out as much about it as possible in terms of geography. For instance, what lies beneath? Any underwater volcanoes? Have a tsunami ever occurred? Have a hurricane ever formed? Let's make it exciting with a topic as well. Understood?" "Yes Miss. Harris," the class answered and we got to work. _____ "Which should we pick?" I asked Sophia. She was very pretty with black hair and brown eyes that matched her skin tone. "The Atlantic. It got more activities such as Hurricanes every year. We can call it, 'Birthplace of The Winds.' We can research the hurricanes, the strengths and which countries were affected." "Sounds good." We set to work and within the next twenty minutes, we had two file pages of information. The bell rang shortly after and Sophia disappeared before I could even ask to be her friend. I pulled out my class schedule for my next class. English Literature with Mr. James. Room 102. I set to find room 102 and again, I was lost. Why there wasn't a tour guide person to take new students to their classes? At last, I found it and quickly walked in. The door slammed after me, alerting everyone of my entrance. I froze. The room fell silent and everyone stared once again. "Who are you?" Mr. James asked. "Bloom.. Blossom," I said, feeling as if all the blood was draining from my body. "Well Bloom Blossom, welcome to English Lit. I'm Mr. James and you're late. Have a seat wherever there's a free seat." "Yes sir." I found a seat next to a guy this time, but oddly, he had his head on his desk and covered up with a grey hoodie so I couldn't get a good look at him. Mr. James had the class do work from the textbook. There was a paragraph filled with errors and it was our job to correct it. It took the whole period to do so. _________ Finally, it was lunchtime and I was dreadfully hungry. I ran into the washroom to do my business before heading to the cafeteria. I took my place in the line and selected the food most appealing to the eyes. To drink, I had a juice box and I made my way over to a table but was cut short by the same girl who shoved me into my locker this morning, only this time, instead of our school uniform, she was wearing a cheerleader outfit. "Remember me?" she asked with a smirk. She then took my juice box and squeezed the content all over my food, ruining it. "Don't ever mess with us," the other said and I watched them leave and sat down at a table with a group of guys. Tears caught in my eyes as my stomach rumbled. I joined the long line again and picked the unappealing food since the yummy ones were all gone now. At the end, I had to rush into the bathroom again because the food wasn't settling right. ___________________