Young Writers Society

(A/N: I made a club for Fortissimo so I don't have to keep PM-ing people. ;) If you're interested, here's the link - https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/clubs/2281 Thanks! )

We arrived at the church about five minutes before ten. Macy and I strode in, passing through a crowd of 'shaking hands', and 'hello, nice to meet you's'. When we finally found our seat a man, probably the pastor, was jumping up to the podium.

"Hello folks! How are y'all doing this morning?" He grinned broadly as the people said, in unison 'good'. "It's a wonderful day the Lord has created, isn't it?"

"Amen," the congregation boomed.

"Alright, let's turn on over to page 342," he talked as the piano began to play an introduction. "This is the day, that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Another 'amen' came from some of the men.

"This is the day," the entire song fillled up the cavernous walls of the church, taking me by surprise. Me and my friends back at my old home would always joke about how the 'choir can't sing' - and that of course, band ruled. There was no doubt about the latter, but sometimes singing can be almost as powerful. My heart thudded with the melodious song.

After a couple more ground-shaking songs of revival, the groups split up. The teens, grades 7th-12th, the children, grades 1st-6th, and then the nursery kids, ages 0-Kindergarten. Macy urged me up, motioning me to follow them. I gave her a worried look, but did as she said anyway.

I found a girl who looked about my age, so I followed her to the back of the auditorium. All age groups walked down the stairs, and then separated into different rooms. I followed the girl into a small classroom with two long tables.

I strategically took a seat at the edge of the table. My thinking was, that I would have to sit by less people if I sat at an end. I'm not really much of a social butterfly.

A while later, two shorter boys walked in, grinning and talking about something that had to do with "amazing" and "fart". I was relieved when they sat down at the other table. A few other kids walked in. Two or three of them sat next to the girl with bouncy blonde curls, and a boy with deep eyebrows and dark eyes sat across from me. Lastly, a taller boy along with a shorter one walked in, sitting a couple chairs away from my spot at the end. A young man with short golden hair, probably the teacher, followed them in.

"Good morning everyone," the man said, walking up to a podium.

"Good morning," the few teens said back.

The teacher smiled, looking around the room with bright curious eyes. His gaze finally rested on me. "We have a visitor today everyone!" He walked over to my table. "What's your name," he asked, leaning over.

"Alexandra." I did my best not to stumble over my own name.

"Nice to meet you, Alexandra." He looked up at the rest of the teens. "Why don't we each introduce ourselves? I'll start. My name is Mr. Elias. I teach the teen class, of course." He pointed to the girl I had followed in.

She stood, revealing her long white dress and moving her blonde curls behind her back. "I'm Lillith." One of the other girls smiled, without standing up.

"I'm Jessa." The other two followed in pursuit.

"Isabel." One of them said, without looking up from whatever she was reading.

"Kinsley," the other girl gave me what looked like a sincere smile.

The two boys, who I realized now were probably twins, each said their names - Matthew and Mark.

The boy with deep eyebrows raised them. "Noah."

The tall boy nodded in my direction. "Jackson," he murmured, looking at the other boy.

"I'm Daniel, but everyone calls me Danny," he said. I tried to remember if any of them were from band - some of them probably were, but I'm horrible when it comes to names.

Mr. Elias clapped his hands together. "Thanks everyone!" He looked back at me and winked. "-and welcome to life, Alexandra."

I didn't understand what he meant, but I went along with it anyway.

"Open your Bibles to I Samuel chapter twenty-four," Mr. Elias said, flipping around in his Bible. I didn't have one - so I just peeked over at Noah's as he read. After he was done, Mr. Elias looked up at us.

"David could've killed Saul then. He could've had revenge on him for all that he had put him through - but he didn't. Why didn't he? It's your turn to talk now." He looked around, waiting for someone to add on. When nobody did, he sighed. "Okay, let's change the question. Jackson, say Daniel hit you in the face with his history book. I don't know why it was a history book, or why he decided to hit you in the face with it, but he did. The next period, your face still hurting, he has your back to him. Luckily for you, you just finished Algebra, and the textbook is extra heavy. Do you hit him in the back of the head, or not?"

Jackson let out a long breath. "I don't know, it depends on the mood I'm in I guess," he winked at Danny who gave him a 'what was that for' look.

Mr. Elias shook his head. "Alright, say your in a good mood, or even an okay mood. Things haven't been particularly bad until he hit you in the head. Then what would you do?"

"I'd probably just shake it off and ignore him," Jackson answered.

"Good. Now say you're in a bad mood. You were just grounded for watching too much TV, and your pet guinea pig died that morning." Everyone laughed. "Then what would you do?"

Jackson hesitated. "The Bible says I should turn the other cheek...but, I don't think I would be able to do that," he said honestly.

Mr. Elias nodded, thoughtful. "Thank you for being honest. You see, David could have killed him - just like Saul had killed Abithiar the priest, someone who helped David. But he didn't. He had compassion on Saul, and knew that killing him wasn't what the Lord wanted." He looked at his watch. "All right, that's all I have. You're free to talk to your neigbor quietly until church is out. Noah scooted over to the other side of the table with Danny and Jackie, no Jackson.

I crossed my fingers, hoping that nobody would talk to me. The girl with blonde curls...Isabel, no, Lillith with Kinsley walked over. "Hey," Lillith said, sitting down with Kinsley across from me.

Apparently crossed fingers don't work in church.

"Hi." My hands were slicker than my valves after a good oil-ing.

"So, are you new in town? I haven't seen you in school before."

I nodded. "I just moved here," I said lamely.

The other girl, Kinsley, smiled at me. "Whose classes do you have?"

I struggled to remember what Mr. Spield had told me the other night. "Mr. Topper, Mrs. Una-"

"I have Mrs. Una first period!" Lillith smiled warmly. Actually, I was glad she cut me off. I couldn't remember any others besides Mr. Connor, but I decided to hold off on telling them I was a total band geek... Didn't want to scare any of them away.

"Alright class, church dismissed. See you later tonight," Mr. Elias announced, his loud voice cutting through the chatter.

As we made our way through the hallway, everyone, except me, talked with each other about school the next day. I kind of liked it that way. Though the shorter boy, Danny, had to ruin it. He caught up with me.

"Hi! You new here?" His voice was lively and energetic.

"Yeah."

"I just moved here last year, but it was easy getting to know people." He motioned to Jackson. "He was really nice to me. Jackson's my neighbor." I nodded slowly, like I had known that. Sensing my tension, he smiled. "Trust me, it'll be alright." With that he ran up to talk to Jackson.

I blinked, my head spinning. How could he be so sure? He hardly knew me. My clammy palms hung loosely at my sides, and my vision became cloudy. I had to get out of here before anyone else wanted to strike up a conversation with me.

When I found Macy through yet another sea of handshakes, I breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was so friendly here - but too friendly. I hated being singled out...it normally never happened to me back at my old school.

Macy smiled at me after shaking an older woman's hand. "You ready kiddo?" I only nodded, wanting to get out of the sea of people.

As soon as we made it to the car, I actually relaxed. For the first time that morning. Macy must have noticed by the concern written all over her face.

"You alright?"

No. I wanted to shout. No. I wish we people would stop asking me if I'm 'new here'. I wish that we never had to move here. I wish that my mom never would have died. I wish my dad wouldn't have gambled so much and lost our money.

"Just a little light-headed," I lied, drenched in sweat.

Macy started up the car. "You'll feel better after we eat." She pulled out of the church parking lot, and headed for the Wellsdon Cafe. Once we were there, I was feeling a little bit better. I had stopped sweating, and all I had now was a minor headache. The cafe, much to my fortune, was nearly deserted. Apparently all the people I had seen at church had gone home to have lunch with their families.

I, surprisingly without stuttering, ordered a chicken salad sandwich, a soda, and a bag of chips. Macy ordered a grilled cheese, along with a blueberry scone.

We took a seat at a table in the corner, and Macy prayed for us. No more than five minutes later, a waiter came out with our food. We thanked him, (well, Macy did) and we ate. The sandwich did help - and it was delicious. I had only ever had one other chicken salad sandwhich in my life, but that was at a fast food restraunt. This homemade one was much better.

"How's the sandwhich," Macy asked with a mouth full of grilled cheese.

I nodded slowly. "It's really good - tastes like they put a little bit of chopped onions in mine, and it really seasons it well," I commented, hoping I didn't sound like an idiot. Really all I knew about food was that it was meant to be eaten. That's it. "How is yours?"

"Really cheesy," she said, nodding in appreciation. I just can't wait to try the scone! If you share some of your chips, I'll half it with you."

"Deal," I said, sliding the bag over. After we were finished, Macy thanked them, left a tip, and we left.

"That scone was delicious, don't you think?" Macy turned onto the main road back to the apartments. I only nodded, my thoughts on tomorrow. I just wish everyone would leave me alone - at least for the first week. I could evaluate everyone, so I could know how to act. Being yourself didn't always work in a new school. I could be myself in band, but around other people, that probably won't work,' I decided as Macy parked in front of the apartment.

"Are we going to night services?" I stepped up to the door as Macy fumbled with the keys.

"Probably not. You have to get ready for school, and I have to get ready for an interview! You may be looking at a future employee of The Supermarket," she announced with fake enthusiasm.

"Nice," I said walking into the cool apartment. "I'm going to go change and get ready for tomorrow." I said heading for my room. Once inside, I shut it. For some odd reason, I liked the privacy and 'aloneness' of a closed room. After I changed into jeans and a shirt, I took out my backpack from one of my suitcases. It was a grey, white and pink one, with a charm I had attached that read "Band Geeks Rule". I unzipped it, checking that I had everything in there (not that I had much to pack in it anyway).

'Notebook, calculator, and a couple of folders', I thought. 'Check. Pens and pencils, check. Warm-up packet for band, check.' That was pretty much all I needed. I added my wallet, which held about ten dollars, and my phone to the front pocket.

'There,' I thought to myself, 'all done.' I set it down next to my trumpet case, and then sat on the window seat. It was pretty spacious, so I wasn't scrunched up. Despite my efforts to keep the negatives of school out of my mind, I started forming the worst scenarios possible...

1. There could be fire, caused by me in science class, thus ruining my reputation (that I still needed to make).

2. I could choke on a piece of chicken tomorrow at lunch and a lunch lady would have to give me the heimlech manuever.

3. I could totally gak all the notes tomorrow in band.

4. I forget to wear pants.

5. The bus crashes into a telephone pole and I alone am hit by said pole. I die, of course.

Okay. I admit that 4 and 5 probably wouldn't happen, but 1-3 were definitely possibilities! I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. What about positive scenarios...

1. I have a good first day at school.

'Why do the negatives always outweigh the positives?' There wasn't really a 'perfect way' to tell if tomorrow would be good or bad. I guess how it would go was up to pure luck. Luck, and remembering to wear pants.