She gives me a nod of approval. “Good. I’ll call your roommate to the office so she can show you around. She’ll be your guide as you’re learning your way around here.”
Ms. Mason picks up the phone and I look down at my schedule, expecting the worst. It’s not as bad as I thought. I’d be in most of the same classes at my old school. She’s behind me a year in French, and I’m going to absolutely kill it in remedial algebra … but otherwise, the schedule isn’t as bad as I expected. Except for one thing.
“Uh … Ms. Mason?” I ask, looking up at her as she hangs up the phone. “I wonder if there’s any way I could opt out of sailing for phys ed.”
Sadie might be a little sailor, but I’ve never so much as stepped foot in a boat in my life.
She frowns a little and reaches towards the phone again. “Last-minute changes are highly discouraged so we’ll need parental consent. But if you’re set on changing it …”
A flash flood of panic washes through me.
“No, no that’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Thanks.”
The corner of Ms. Mason’s mouth lifts into a half smile. I imagine she’s probably used to a bunch of spoiled brats insisting on getting what they want. I just want to stay out of the way.
For once, I feel like things are really beginning to work out for me. It’s strange and amazing. I might actually let myself get excited
about this opportunity. I never let myself get excited about anything that seems too good to be true. The bottom always drops out and things go wrong, but I feel different here.
Even though it’s the very beginning, I feel like this time it might just actually work out, and I am going to do everything I can to make sure that happens.
I wait in awkward silence for a few minutes, trying to avoid any small talk with the secretary until the office door opens, and I look over my shoulder to see a girl just a little younger than me standing there. The first word that comes to my mind is mousey. She has long, straight, brown hair and big brown eyes. I know right away that she’s the quiet type.
She spots me too and tilts her head a little as if she’s figuring out a puzzle.
Ms. Mason looks up at her and waves her over to the counter between us. “Dana Rutherford, this is your new roommate, Sadie White. Sadie, this is Dana. She’s going to be your ambassador for the week, to show you around and get you settled in.”
She glances at my baggy, black, itchy dress, and I find myself wishing that I had already changed into my school uniform.
I stick out my hand to her.
“Nice to meet you.”
She looks at it funny, and just for a moment I think she’s not going to take it. She looks at me once more, then slowly, hesitantly, shakes my hand.
“Likewise, Sadie.”
And just like that, my new life begins.
Chapter 4
Dana’s first concern is that I don’t seem to have any earthly possessions. She looks around the floor for any bags, but I shrug and hold up the small bag from the drugstore where I bought bleach. I picked up a few other essentials there to help me transform into Sadie, but the bag isn’t even half full.
“I didn’t bring much. I guess I’m kind of a minimalist.” I can’t think of what else I could say that might justify me standing here in this ridiculous oversized sack of a dress without anything else.
“Sure. We’ll see how long that lasts,” she says. As soon as she says it she looks mortified by her snappy reply and quickly snaps her mouth shut, eyes wide. “Sorry. I’m just used to the kind of girls that go here. They’re usually a lot more …” she looks me over again, “Concerned with looks.”
Right. At least try to fit in, Teddy.
“Oh—right. I’m having some more stuff shipped up this week, it just got lost in the mail.” This response seems to satisfy her curiosity. The look of concern smooths away from the spot between her eyebrows. Now I just have to pretend it gets lost for the rest of the year … or possibly two.
More likely, though, I just made myself one more problem.
I follow her out and down the hall.
“What’s your schedule?” she asks, looking over at me curiously.
I hand her the schedule that Ms. Mason gave me, and she skims over it. “Oh good. We have some classes together. You have good teachers for the most part, too. This semester won’t kill you.”