Plaid Skirt

Wiping my sweaty hands against the plaid skirt, I try to dry off the sweat that has formed because of how nervous I am. Looking in the mirror, I run my hand through my long brown hair hoping that it stays looking fresh throughout the entire day. Inspecting my uniform for any pieces of lint, I smile when I see there are none. Walking out of my room, I go into the kitchen and sit down as my mom puts a smoothie in front of me. “Are you excited for your first day of school?” she asks as she turns back around towards the stove.

Am I excited for my first day? Nope, not at all. Can I tell my mom that? Nope, not at all. She doesn’t need any more stress, she already feels bad for moving us away from everything we ever knew but she couldn’t pass up the opportunities here either and I understand that. “I can’t wait,” I lie as I give her back a small smile.

“Kaylee, thank you for being so understanding, it means the world to me,” she says while giving my forehead a kiss before she starts walking down the hallway. “We leave in ten minutes so hurry up, I forgot we needed to get there early for me to sign some last-minute forms!”

Nodding my head, even though she can’t see, finishing my smoothie fast, I hop off the stool and go to brush my teeth. “One minute and we are leaving,” I hear my mom shout from the front room. Spitting out the water in my mouth, I smile at my reflection in the mirror. I got this, I hope.

Following my mom out the door, we hop into her car before she starts rushing down the road to make sure we are on time.

I watch as the scenery turns from houses to grasslands to a huge school that looks more like a mansion than what I thought my new school would look like. As soon as my mom turns off the car, we are both rushing out making it in the doors the second that our meeting is supposed to start. Smiling at the front desk lady, she tells us that the admin is waiting for us in the second room on the right. Following her instructions, we walk into the room to find a tall bald man sitting in a small chair with a silver-haired lady with light brown eyes next to him. I smile at the welcoming grin that is plastered on her face.

As soon as the admin starts introducing himself to the lady whose name is Ms. Lane, she starts to look weary at the admin, when she looks back at me the grim face is gone and the smile takes over her features again. “Now Kaylee, you can go with Ms. Lane for a short tour while your mom signs these last few papers,” the admin, Mr. Baines, says while passing another paper towards my mom’s sitting figure.

Nodding my head, I shuffle to where I can give my mom a huge, “You got this,” she whispers before she winks at me and looks back down at the papers. Following Ms. Lane out the doors, she doesn’t say anything until she thanks the lady at the front and walks out into a massive courtyard.

Turning around she points towards the building in front of us, “That building is the English building, basically each building is a different subject. According to the schedule that Mr. Baines gave me, you have English for your next block. So I’ll show you to your classroom.” Following behind her, I have to take huge strides to keep up with her fast pace. Walking to the end of the hall she explains how she will have a student help me to my other classes for the rest of the day.

“Is there a restroom in this hall that I may use?” I ask while trying to look for a bathroom sign on the walls.

“Yes, of course,” she replies while showing me to the bathroom. “I have to go back to the office, but after you are done you can just head to the class and get settled.” Giving her a quick thanks, I go into the restroom and do my business.

After washing my hands, I head into the hallway to be met with a tall blonde girl with green eyes staring at me. “You must be Kaylee,” she says while striking her hand out for me to shake. The minute I shake her hand she pulls me into a hug, making me try not to laugh at how tight she is holding me. “I’m Claire! Ms. Lane asked me to make sure that you get to our next class.”

“Well thank you,” I say while I start heading towards the classroom Ms. Lane had shown me.

“No problem, one piece of advice, we don’t wear plaid skirts on Monday. Oh hold on I have to text someone,” she says as she stops her feet and starts looking down at her phone. Shrugging my shoulders, I start walking towards the class again.

Click.

Turning around I see that Claire is still looking down at her phone, I must be really nervous if I’m hearing things. Ring. Instantly the hallway is filled with students, shuffling past them. I run into the classroom and take the only seat that doesn’t have a name taped to the desk. Getting my notebooks out, I smiled at the girl who sits next to me, but she only smirked before ignoring me and watching her phone. Rude. Before I know it, all the seats are taken and everyone is giving me sideways glances.

Tapping the back of the seat in front of me, Claire turns around with a questioning look. “Sorry, I was just wondering if people were looking at me all weirdly because I am wearing a plaid skirt? I didn’t know because I’m new and when you told me that you guys don’t wear them on Monday I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” I state.

“That’s one reason, the other reason could be because of this picture that I just posted on my story,” Claire says while turning her phone for me to see. There on the screen is a picture of me from behind, my skirt stuck up in between my body and my new backpack. My bright pink polka-dotted underwear is there for anyone to see. “You know what, it’s a half and half situation. But both situations are terrible for you and great for us. Happy first day, new girl,” she snides before flipping her hair and turning around again.

As soon as I feel a cold tear roll down my hot cheeks, my legs are running until I find a bathroom. Shoving myself into the stall, I try to calm my now rapid breathing and tears but instead my body betrays me and I just start crying more.

My problem started with this damn plaid skirt.

A/N

Hey everyone, I hoped you enjoyed this very short story.

- Xcele04