It was barely 6am, but I was already up from my bed and thinking about what to wear for my first day at my new school. My mum worked as a banker and she had just been transferred to the Calabar branch of her bank from Port Harcourt, where I had lived my whole life. I was to start a new school today and my tummy was already biting me out of anxiety; how was I going to face a whole new set of classmates and teachers in the middle of the term? "God please", I muttered under my breath. I picked out one of the new tops my aunt bought for me from the Uk in december and my black jeans, with my black flat shoes; brushed my teeth and had my bath and was about to start getting dressed when my mum called my name from her room;

"Mama, I hope you're getting ready. Today is my first day here too and I still have to drop you off before I go to work". I almost couldn't respond back because of the knot in my chest but i managed to answer her;

"yes mummy, I'm almost done".

" Thank you iyeh?" she responded and i proceeded to wear my clothes and head to the parlour to eat.

The ride to school was long and quiet, so I took out my phone and turned my data on, which I had been avoiding because of all the messages my friends from my old school must have left me. I opened Whatsapp and the message from the pinned chat made my chest even tighter. I opened it and started typing a response before tears started stinging my eyes; "

"I miss you too. I'll text you after school xx", I typed and struggled with the tears as I scrolled through other conversations. My mum heard my tiny sniffle and stretched her left hand to rub the nape of my neck.

"Is it your friends? don't worry you'll make new ones". I let out a sigh and zoned out till the car came to a stop in front of a tall gate. A man in a security uniform walked to my mum's window, and she rolled it down and brought out my ID card from her bag and gave it to him. He took it and looked at both sides, returned it and signalled to another man inside to open the gate for us. We drove in and I scanned around the big parking lot which was filled with cars dropping off students. There was a block of buildings at the end of the parking lot and from what I could tell, the building on the left was the assembly hall because students were running towards it and there were sounds of a band playing, coming from there. My mum parked close to the buildings, turned her car off and we stepped down and started to make our way to the storey building at the centre which she said was the admin block. There were cleaners everywhere, a receptionist and a few other staff standing and talking. We had to wait for the assembly to be over for the principal to come and attend to us while my heart beat kept growing louder in my ears. I almost threw up because it felt like reality was finally slapping me in the face; I was the new girl.

A tall, lanky man in a big suit that swallowed his whole frame came into the building, and my mum stood to greet him. He smiled widely and asked us to follow him upstairs to his office. We walked behind him till we got to the second floor, where we entered his office and sat down. He brought out some receipts and handed them to my mum, then turned to me and spoke in a very comical and light voice with a thick accent;

"Your mum was here last Thursday and Friday to sort everything out for you, and we've reviewed your results from your old school, which are very very impressive. You will start classes immediately..." he paused and shook his wrist and looked at the face of his watch which was also bigger than his wrist - "oh it's already first period o, let me.." he trailed off stretching his neck to look outside the door of his office as if searching for someone- "Eyoanwan", he yelled and a plump woman hurried in answering loudly;

"Sir?"

"Call me Idara Umoh from SS2A"

"Okay Sir" she answered and rushed back out. The principal turned back to my mum;

"Madam you can go. We will take it from here". My mum smiled and nodded to him in thanks then stood up and held my shoulder and I stood up and hugged her. "Be a good girl okay?". I nodded and turned back to see the principal smiling with all his teeth- "This one you're doing like mummy's girl. You're a big girl o" he said in what I was sure was an attempt to be funny. I rolled my eyes internally and turned back to wave bye to my mum who laughed and walked out.

Few minutes after my mum left, a small-ish dark girl uniform walked into the principal's office and curtsied as she greeted;

"Good morning sir. Madam Eyoanwan said you were looking for me"

"Ehen good morning", he responded. "This is Prisci.... Pame...la..... Precious, Precious", he nodded as if commending himself for remembering; "she's your new classmate. Take her to the class and during break, take her to home econs to get her uniform”. He pointed at me, then at her, and then at the door and she curtsied again and smiled at me in a beckon to follow her, to which I stood up, packed my bags and did.

She was walking a little faster than me and I wasn't really trying to catch up. She turned to look at me with a wide smile;

"What's your name?" she asked both excitedly and nervously. I looked at her, unsure if to fake a smile back or not before sluggishly answering,

"Precious", in a lower tone. Her smile grew even wider and her footsteps were little hops at this point. she looked at me shyly this time;

"I asked to be sure because the principal called you like three names". I chuckled and she continued;

"My name is Idara. I'm the class prefect of SS2A. You're lucky English madam has not come to school today so first period is free so that you can settle in. Don't worry, you'll like the class ihye? I'm your new friend" she finished, looking flustered by now. I smiled in acknowledgment and thanked God in my mind that there was no teacher in the class as we made our way to the class block.

It was as if God Almighty decided to shine His light on me that day because my first steps into the class were not what I expected them to be. I was nervous all the way because I felt all eyes were going to be on me as I had witnessed with new students at my old school. Rather, this class was in complete chaos and only a few people noticed when I walked in. I tried not to be obvious and find a seat immediately but everywhere seemed filled. I turned to Idara who had started rambling about something which turned out to be her introducing me to her friends. They were all smiling at me; about 4 girls who had the same smallish statue as Idara herself and I smiled back politely even though I just wanted to sit. Their desks were right in front of the class and that was already a 'no' for me because I was much taller and generally hated the front seats.

"Won't you sit down? I've shifted for you”,one of them said. I almost laughed to her face as I saw the small space she made. I really wanted to ask her if she wanted me to sit down and hang halfway but I declined instead and tugged at Idara who was now seated and had probably forgotten about my existence as she was carried away in a new discussion.

"Where can I sit?"

"Oh sorry i forgot", she stood up and started to scan around. "errrrr....." she turned around and turned back to me, "just manage here first, this space Ada made for you; I'll find a better seat for you later, please" she smiled. I nodded and sat down because even though half bread was better than none, I was going to faint from anxiety if I kept standing. I hadn’t even dropped my school bag when i heard a boy from the back of the clas say;

"ah ahn, who be this fine babe for our class?". Thank God I had already sat down but I was pleased at the compliment. Idara turned and rolled her eyes at the person and turned back to me

"Don't mind all these foolish boys, in fact if they talk to you don't even answer them". I nodded in acknowledgement and started unpacking my books. It was going to be a long day in this class and I could feel it.

The remaining periods before break were not as much of a blur as I would've wanted them to be, because imagine being a new student, seated at the front of the class when you're taller than everyone seated beside you, and you're wearing mufti. I had to stand and give my personal history to all the teachers while I could feel the eyes of the rest of the class on me. Break period finally came and Idara stood up and tapped me;

"Precious, let's go to home econs lab and collect your uniform". She backed out of her desk and bumped into another girl who was making her way out of the tight spaces between the desks.

"This early morning you won't look at where you're going", the girl said in a high tone

"You too won't you look at where you're going? Do I look like I have eyes at the back of my head? nonsense" Idara responded sharply in an even higher tone.

"Abeg shift", the girl responded back and rolled her eyes as she walked out of the class. Idara clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes back at her and beckoned to me as she made her way out too. The home economics lab was locked and I was told to come back the next day for my uniform, so Idara took me to show me around the school canteen and tuckshop, where she got some snacks for herself.

"Do you want anything?" she asked

"Nah, thanks i'm fine"

"Not even meat pie? this woman has nice scorns o". I was trying to make out what scorns were as I searched through the vendors at the tuckshop and my eyes landed on a woman selling scones out of a showglass. I had to hold in my laughter again because the intonation was new to me. I finally gave in and bought a bottle of coke and we walked through the crowd of students at the tuckshop who were all stealing glances at me of course, but I was already feeling a little at ease so I wasn't really bothered. We got back to the class and Idara dragged me to sit down immediately;

"Ehen, let me tell you how it is in this class", she stood back up, straightened her skirt and walked to the front of the desk, facing the class. "You see those boys at that side of the class?" she pointed to the third row at the other end of the class- "Those are the avatar boys. They don't really know anything other than to draw cartoons and talk about action films. That whole row sef, just count them out" she said condescendingly. She moved her focus to the row at the centre- "and these ones, these ones are the formers. especially those ones sitting at the back, they like to feel like big boys and girls so they only talk to themselves". I turned to face the pack of mostly boys and a few girls talking, laughing loudly and eating their snacks; they seemed to be the only people in the class having fun. I recognized the girl who had an encounter with Idara earlier in their midst and as I was taking my eyes off them, my eyes landed on a dark boy with a really nice side profile. I didn't realise I was staring until he turned and held my gaze, and smiled. I could immediately feel the blood rush through my cheeks as I looked away immediately and back to Idara whose voice suddenly became clearer;

"madam are you even listening to me?'' She looked over my head to where my gaze was and looked back at me with a sour face - "that's Joshua, assistant leader of the formers association. At least he's even better than that other one they call Ebuka", she gestured at another boy in the group. I was too shy this time to turn around so I tried to change the topic by popping open my bottle of coke to remind her that we had to eat. She turned back to take her seat and grabbed her snacks and continued;

"Anyways, this is the best row for you o. Leave all those people with their wahala" she said with a hint of irritation and delved into her snacks. The bell went off and the last three periods went by quickly.

It was closing time and my mum was already in the parking lot by the time I walked out. I hurried to her and hopped into the passenger’s seat.

"So, how was school baby?"

"Meh", I shrugged. I reached into my bag for my phone and turned on my data to check for the message I was expecting, but there was nothing. I locked my phone in disappointment and tossed it back in my bag. There was still time, he was probably waiting to get back home before texting me. I extended the back rest of my chair all the way down and plugged in my headphones. I just wanted to get home and rest, and think about what seemed like the longest day of my life so far.