Even in small towns, the first day back to school is a big deal. There are always a few exceptions, but nearly all of the kids and teens take a little more time getting ready; wear their favorite and best new school clothes; and even get to school early to hang out and talk with friends that they’d seen regularly, if not daily, all summer anyway.
When you think about it, the whole annual right of passage custom is a study in human oddity – but it’s also one that I’m not immune to being a fairly enthusiastic participant.
My day started out as usual with Tai Chi by the river, but then I spent way too much time getting ready – mostly because it took over a half hour for Mom and I to get my hair done up in curls; four thin strands of braids; and have it all cascading in a tumble down my back. Mom earned bonus hugs for that, but that extra play time meant that I needed to hurry up with getting dressed; having breakfast; and then grabbing my book bags and heading out to meet up with Rowen at her house.
We hadn’t picked out clothes to match, but Rowen and I had decided to wear sundresses, and she and her Mom had put some extra time into her hair too; so I think we both looked great today. Owen needed some pictures before we were able to head off to school; and Patrick went with us; including for a little detour to my Grandparents’ house. Grandpa was having fun with what was becoming an annual front porch tradition of teasing some of the kids about being stuck going to school while he got to play all day. That had been the main reason I’d wanted to stop by to see them; but the hugs, kisses, and best wishes from Grandma and Grandpa were nice too.
Once we got to the school, Patrick had to be cool and go hang out with Scott and the rest of their buddies; and Rowen and I went in search of Dillon. I had a little gift for him, and a hug that had Jake teasing me that I’d just been waiting for Violet to go home to make my move on her boyfriend. That wasn’t exactly the kind of joke I wanted to start the new school year with; but I’m not sure if I helped myself or not by assuring him that if I was the kind of girl who would steal boyfriends – which I’m not – I’d be trying to steal Stephanie’s boyfriend. That might come back to bite me sometime, but at least it made Dillon and Stephanie laugh; and Dillon really needed some cheering up today.
After that little cameo, it was time for Rowen and me to hang out with our own friends and classmates where we belonged – in theory. Reality can be something completely different, and when you’re the only two members of your class at a different social level than the rest; even being friends with everyone doesn’t save you from those moments when you just don’t quite fit in.
It’s still been a really good day, but there were quite a few of those moments too. Before first bell, one of those moments was when Rowen and I were confronted with the reality that there’s apparently a big difference between still being little girl cute and developing young woman hot. Even the usually dense boys around our age can tell you the difference. Being upwards of six inches shorter than the other girls isn’t the most appreciated difference by anyone except us, and the couple of girls who are only a bit taller than we are; but it was something that was even more pronounced than when school ended in June. The fact that we still had a slight height advantage over a couple of the guys, and weren’t much shorter than even the tallest boy in our class wasn’t much consolation.
The next moment of the day came when it was time to pick our desks for the year. Last year, there was still an obvious division between guys and girls. Today was the launch of the boy-girl group phase; and Rowen and I were once again the only exception. We chose two front-row desks right away, and then watched the action as boyfriends and girlfriends paired up first, and then surrounded themselves with pairs of best friends. Since Aunt Leanne already grilled me on this during dinner, and will razz me some day if she finds out I didn’t include it in my journal; I’ll add that though Michael and Tim aren’t among the guys with girlfriends; they were paired up too; and were sitting with Vanessa and Nora. Since Rowen and I aren’t playing those games, which leaves ten guys and nine girls in our class that are; at least they’re not the two odd guys out who are both chasing after the same girl. That kind of thing can be bad for best friends.
Anyway, moving along, Mrs. Warren is back in her usual Grade Seven class; and Rowen and I are both really happy to have her teaching us again. There are big changes that come with Grade Seven at our school; with the biggest being a two-day class rotation. We can’t have the same course options that bigger, city schools can; so we have twelve subjects; and six classes each on the two days. Day One classes are Mondays and Wednesdays; Day Two classes are Tuesday and Thursday; and we rotate between the two schedules on alternate Fridays. We’ll be doing this from now until the end of high school; though we’ll be able to have some spares if we want them in Grades ten, eleven, and twelve.
We started with the Day Two rotation, and that’s Geography, History, and Health for us in the morning; lunch is at the same time for everyone; and then we had Social Studies, Art, and Computers in the afternoon. Our class schedule didn’t matter at all to Rowen or me, but most of our friends seemed to like ending our mornings and afternoons with easier classes for both days. One other thing that’s different in a small school is that we don’t move from classroom-to-classroom for most of our subjects. The only exception for our Day Two schedule is Art class. Everything else is taught in our home room; and Mrs. Warren teaches us everything except Computers and Art.
Since the academics are all an act for me, I can do the work while letting my mind wander. Today I spent a lot of time thinking about our Magi project. The dynamics in Grade Seven make for some interesting observations. I’ve mentioned the fluctuations in the aura ranges for Magi, Latents, and Normal people before; and on a super-charged day like today, those fluctuations are pronounced. A new note that I’ve added to that archive is just a suspicion right now, but I think that there might actually be a suppression of aura – and of power, for Magi – in cases where those connecting auras don’t mesh. In other words, perfect matches augment both people; while mismatches diminish them. That might seem obvious, but I also think that it may be quantifiable; and might affect every part of you. Imagine, for example, if a diminished – or augmented – aura affected the genetic choices being made during something like conception. Something like that could be a factor that explains such varied power levels within the Magi families in Witch Falls. It could explain why Ethan and Ehlana are so extraordinary too.
Deep thoughts didn’t fill up my entire day. Lunch was a weird-fest filled with new dynamics. In our school, the grades are lumped together in four groups – five if you include the Kindergarten. The seventh and eighth-grade classes are one of those groups; and end up lumped together at lunch time. That meant that hanging out with Rebecca and Jenny again was an option for Rowen and me, but while we did talk with them for a few minutes to see how their classes were going so far; we didn’t do that. They were hanging out with a group of girls and guys that included some of our classmates, and we just didn’t fit in on any level. Both of our friends seemed to be enjoying the attention from some of the boys, and I was only a little surprised that Jenny seemed to be completely over Martin already.
Fast-forward through an uneventful afternoon, and we were set free with more homework than we’d ever had on a first day so far. I went to the computer store with Rowen first, and did the daily update with Owen and Patricia before leaving Rowen there and going home. With last-minute back-to-school shopping, Rowen was working at the store, and we were both getting started on our usual school days routine – which meant work nights on Tuesday and Thursday.
I repeated the daily recap for Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana; and then once more at dinner for Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne. Between story times, I did my homework; spent an hour on the family business; and helped Mom with making dinner. We’d just done the big family meal at the Inn yesterday, but tonight’s visits weren’t just so we could talk about my first day back at school, or the Grade Nine studies and Magi lessons with Naomi that kept Ethan and Ehlana entertained all day. That kept us entertained during dinner, but when we moved into the living room after the kitchen clean-up was done; it was time to talk family business and future plans.
The ground-breaking for what will be the main street of the new residential part of town was the top news story everywhere in town except at the school; and I’m sure it will be number one there tomorrow. While construction on the new houses and apartment buildings won’t start until spring, and even finishing the roads and services will take years; everyone can feel that it’s the beginning of big, exciting changes for Witch Falls. I haven’t been involved much in the day-to-day work that got us to here; mostly because Dad, Aunt Leanne, Grandma, and Grandpa were able to handle all of the legal and political issues. For some reason, they don’t think anyone will need me to help build roads; lay sewer, water, or electrical lines; or do any of the other heavy lifting.
It’d be cool if Ethan, Ehlana, and I could, though; and it’d make for some awesome Magi lessons!
Since I’m not in on the daily work, I also didn’t contribute a lot to tonight’s meeting. Dad and Aunt Leanne led the discussion; and went over the timetable for the next few years; going into more detail for what they were coordinating during the next few months. We spent nearly two hours doing that, and then Mom did a short healing lesson with Uncle Adam and me before we finished up with a bedtime story and snack that wiped out a few Olde Bakery treats that were left over from the weekend.
I’ve been in bed with Mandy since Ethan and Ehlana went to bed and our grandparents, aunt, and uncle went home. While I didn’t get much family business done earlier, I did still want to get back to my language studies too. Next up on my list was Portuguese; and I’ve spent an hour and a half reading tutorials and listening to the corresponding audio files. There were email to deal with too, and the nightly news, sports, and entertainment checks; but it’s after midnight, and I’ve had enough fun for today.
Say ‘Goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
