I moved to Pacifica, California last year. My mother had just moved here last year so I came with her. I live with my mom here only because my dad had die in a fire. When I had to leave precious Kentucky to go live in the foggiest city in the whole U.S. , I didn’t think I could be happy again. My mom was waiting for me at the airport when I arrived Sunday afternoon to take me to the house I hadn’t been to since I was six. When I got out of the plane my mom almost knocked me over from hugging me.

“Claire oh my gosh you’ve grown up so much since I saw you!”

“Yah Debbie I mean ‘mom’ I’m seventeen.” Her real name was Debra but I liked calling her Debbie more.

I wasn’t supposed to call her Debbie to her face but it was hard when she was acting so much like a child right now.

“C’mon sweetie lets go home. I’ll have to show you your new room, get you signed up for school, and help you unpack. It’ll be so much fun Claire!”

“Then lets go I’m exhausted from the plane ride over here.”
“Oh….yah I’m sure you are very tired.” She sounded a little upset that I didn’t want to talk longer but we got into her little yellow Volkswagen and drove off. She still seemed upset so I tried to talk to her on the ride to her house.

“What school am I going to tomorrow?”

“Pacifica High School. You start tomorrow so I would advise you go to sleep early.”

She still sounded upset so I didn’t say anything after that except that I was glad to see her after all of those years. I guess I wasn’t supposed to mention that because I saw a tear go down her cheek. We pulled into her drive after a few more minutes of silence. It was two-story with lots of windows and it was bright yellow like the car. Last time I saw the house it was grey with ugly red paint peeling off it. I thought I would mention that the house looked nice but Debbie was still crying. I walked up onto the porch and waited for here to unlock the door. She finally came after three minutes of me waiting. I walked in the house and everything was yellow and white. The paintings, furniture ,even the walls were bright yellow. I ran up the yellow stairs to my room. Luckily for me it was white with a white bed and desk. It had a green closet in the corner and a blue ceiling fan. My mom walked up the steps and into my room.
“You need to go to bed Claire.”

She walked down the hall to her room and locked the door. I went into the bathroom to brush my strawberry blonde hair that went down to my waist. I looked at my hazel eyes and sighed. I didn’t have beautiful blue eyes like my mother and father but ugly hazel eyes instead. I closed my eyes and put on pants and a blue Kentucky shirt. Getting in to bed I thought of everything that could happen in the morning. I finally fell asleep last night and woke up at the ring of my alarm clock. I almost fell out of bed turning the clock off. I heard Debbie close the door and screaming at me while she did it.

“Claire I’m going to work! Breakfast is in the fridge! You better get down here and get dressed or you’ll be late for school!”

I ran outside of my room and to the bathroom down the hall. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and threw on my jeans and pink T-shirt. I ran downstairs- two at a time- and ate some cereal. I grabbed my backpack off the coat rack and looked around for some car to drive. I spotted a black Dodge Charger with a red bow on it. I ran to it and ripped the bow off. I got in slamming the door behind me with enough force to break it. I started driving off to my new school thinking only about how bad I was going to screw up.

I almost ran two red lights while daydreaming about screwing up on the first day. When I pulled into the parking lot at Pacifica High School I could tell things would be different. Everyone was in shorts and T-Shirts like it was 80 degrees instead of 50 degrees with a breeze and light rain. I started to get out of the car and walked towards the school parking lot. I couldn’t see the school that much because of the stupid fog but I could tell that is was made of brick. As I walked to the office I noticed everyone staring at me. There was even a dog on the side of the road that was staring at me. I was so glad when I reached the office door and walked inside where no one could see me anymore.

The inside of the office was grey with a small desk and three chairs. I walked over to the desk and talked to the lady in the chair. She was short with rosy checks and brown hair in a bun. “Hello, I’m Claire Lamone and I’m new here.” The women at the counter stared at me the smiled.

“ Oh yes, Claire Lamone. Such a sweet little name. Here’s a map of the school and your classes.”

She handed me a roll of paper held together with a rubber band. It looked like something people would smack their dogs with when they were bad. I moaned at how silly I would look carrying a map and walked out the office. My first class was science with Mr. David. I handed a sheet of paper to him that he had to sigh. He had glasses and a grey beard and mustache he hade little hair on his head and frowned at me. He handed me the piece of paper and pointed to where I was supposed to sit. I walked over to where he was pointing and sat. I sat next to a short mixed girl with shiny black hair to her chin. She looked over at me and smiled. She had beautiful blue eyes like I should have had. I started feeling a little jealous.

“Hi I’m Mikayla Reed. You can call me Miki though like Mickey Mouse. Welcome to Pacifica High School.”

“I’m Claire.”

“Claire……” She paused like she was letting my name soak into her brain. “That’s such a pretty name! Claire. Claire. Claire.”

“Thanks…..” Science class was horrible. We took a pretest and watched a boring movie about all the animals in the region. It scared me at how many wolves were in the region even though I thought they were all on the U.S. Canadian border. It worried me a lot. When I was little I always was scared of getting attacked by wolves. Even though there were no wolves any where in Kentucky it still scared me. When science class was over I walked over to math.

I gave the same piece of paper to a black haired lady who was extremely tall. Her name was Mrs. Monroe and she didn’t look that nice. I sat in the back of the classroom next to a tall blonde girl with curly blonde hair to her shoulders. She had green eyes that looked at me as I took my seat next to her.

“ I noticed that you caught everyone’s attention this morning.”

Her tone sounded bitter like no one was supposed to see me walk in the school.

“Yah I guess………” I tried to answers as politely as possible. I could already tell I was on her bad side and she hated me.

“ No one was supposed to see you. They should have been paying attention to me. Well I guess you didn’t mean to catch their attention you just did. I’m Catherine and you are….?”

“ Claire. I just moved here from Kentucky.”

“Hillbilly!” At that point I was wondering if she was bi-polar or just plain crazy. “Stop staring at me! I know I’m beautiful but staring is really rude.”

“Oh sorry.” I could feel my cheeks getting hot from embarrassment. Math was better because we took a ten minute pre-test then got to talk for the rest of the hour. I was at first amazed at how quickly Catherine changed her emotions but the I got pretty used to it. Class went by faster and I walked down to the cafeteria for lunch. I sat by Miki who was best friend with Catherine. I couldn’t imagine them two friends. Miki was so sweet and gentle and Catherine was bitter and stuck up. Catherine looked up at me.

“You know Claire I’m the second richest person here.”

“Wow, who’s the first?”

“Some group of kids named the Pattinsons. There’s too many of them and it scares me. And to add on they’re really weird and never talk to anyone but each other.”

“How many are there?”

“Last time I counted there were eight of them all brothers and sisters.”

“What do you mean last time you counted?”

“Well last year there were only seven now there are eight. I guess they are adopted. There is a rumor going around that they just live with each other and don‘t have any parents. But they‘re hot so no one cares.”

Lunch went by slower then the other two classes and I was extremely glad about that. Me and Catherine talked more about the mysterious Pattinsons. I walked out of the cafeteria and to social studies. My teacher was very tall and skinny. She had curly brown hair to her shoulders and brown eyes. Her name was Mrs. Maine. I almost forgot to give her the paper until Miki reminded me. Miki and Catherine were both in this class with me and sat together in the front of the room. I walked up to the front of the room to give her the paper.

“ So your Claire?”

“Yes, I am.”

I was wondering at that moment how many more people were going to ask me that before I turned around and hit them.

“Well please take your seat next to Hunter Riley. Hunter please stand up so Claire knows where to go.”
Hunter stood up. He was tall with short blonde hair and freckles. He had caramel skin and green eyes that stared at me. I took my seat next to him feeling a little nervous.

“Welcome to Pacifica Claire. You shouldn’t be so nervous everyone’s first day is rough. I’m Hunter by the way.”

I just stared at him. How did he know I was nervous? Was it that obvious?

“Hi Hunter.”

It was the only nice thing I could say without calling him a freak. Class was over in what seemed like five minutes because I was thinking about Hunter. Class was out for the day so I walked to my car.

“Hey Claire what’s up?” I recognized Miki’s squeaky mouse voice. I was about to get in my car when she grabbed my arm.

“What is it Miki?” I shook my arm free of her hold.

“Do you want to go to San Francisco with me and Catherine?”

“ Sure when?”

“ Tonight-eight pm-don’t be late-and meet us…here!”

“Ok I’ll be there.”