Nicolette (The New Girl #4)

Chapter 9

Nicolette's POV:

I woke up the next morning and there was a girl about my age in the bed next to mine.

I got ready for the day and noticed she was waking up.

"Hey," she said, "I'm Candace."

"Nicolette."

"What are you in here for?" she asked.

"I tried to kill myself."

"Welcome to the club. Wanna get breakfast together?"

"Sure," I shrugged.

"Cool," she said, "let me get ready real quick, I'll meet you out in the hallway."

I went out to the hallway and I started drawing in my sketchbook while I waited for Candace.

When she joined me, we walked to the cafeteria.

The food actually looked decent. I got some pancakes with maple syrup.

"So, what do we do after this?" I asked.

"School," she said.

"School? I didn't know I'd still have to go to class."

"Yeah, we have class everyday just like everyone else. It's only 3 hours though."

I shrugged and ate my breakfast.

Afterwards, I followed Candace to our classroom. They seem to have divided us up by age groups. I was in a room full of people my age, about 12-13 years.

I sat down in the back of the class in a desk next to her.

"Let's begin," the teacher said warmly, "we will start by working on some math problems. Afterwards we will do silent reading so I hope you all remembered to bring your books, then journal writing, a map activity, and an assignment on your understanding of the scientific method. As you finish each assignment, come up to show me and I will give you the next one. As always, working with partners is encouraged. You have three hours, so work at your own pace and ask for help if you need it. If you finish early, you can go to the cafeteria early. Let's begin!"

She handed out the math assignment.

Candace started flying through the assignment as soon as she got it.

"Woah, how are you so good at math?" I asked.

"This stuff is easy. At my real school, I tested into high school algebra. This is nothing compared to that."

"Could you help me out then? I'm not very good at math," I said shyly.

"Sure."

She helped me work through each problem and when we finished, we handed in our assignments.

After that, I picked up the book my mom packed for me and I started reading it. It had a really sad start. It was about a family who lost their father in a tragic accident. It reminded me a lot about my own situation. I decided to put in my bookmark so I could continue tomorrow.

Next, I wrote in my journal. We didn't really have a prompt, just to write what we felt. So I wrote about my dad and how badly I want to see him again.

After that, I flew through the map activity. We just had to label all the states, pretty easy third grade stuff.

At the end, Candace and I worked on the science assignment. We had to read a procedure and identify the different parts of the scientific method.

We turned everything with half an hour to spare.

Next was lunch, the cafeteria was empty and we were the first ones there.