Chapter 8

I wake up with my alarm clock, and shower.

I take extra care in blow drying my hair and getting ready for school.

The sun comes shining in through the glass doors, and almost makes me miss France.

I put on tan chinos, a blue collared shirt, a dark brown tie belt, and blue David Aaron's.

I grab my bag, containing spiral notebooks, a couple three ring binders, dividers, and pencils and pens galore.

Going downstairs, I find breakfast out on the counter, with milk in the fridge for cereal.

"Morning Sophie," Pearl says, giving me a kiss on the forehead.

I sit down at the table, and begin eating breakfast. Peter and Adrienne come down soon, closely followed by Mom and Dad.

"Excited about your first day of school kids?" Dad asks.

"Yeah ... sure..." Adrienne looks down at the floor.

Peter clears his throat, "I have to get going."

"But you haven't eaten any breakfast yet darling!" Mom calls to him as he heads out to the hall.

"I'll get something on the way! Sophie, come on!" he yells back.

I put my bowl in the sink. I give everyone a kiss and a hug, "See you all later."

I hurry out to meet Peter by the door.

"Why are you in such a rush?"

"Because, I just have to get out of this house. Come on, let's go to Starbucks."

Starbucks is a coffee place in town, they have really good coffee, almost as good as the coffee in France.

"Fine, but we have to hurry up, we don't want to be late."

We head outside with our bags, and walk to the Starbucks.

I get a mocha brownie Frappachino. Peter gets a caramel Frappachino.

Outside, we sit on the bench, and drink our frappes.

"Exciting about school?" I ask him.

"Who are you kidding?"

"Just asking..."

"Soph, we are in a new country, a new state, and a new city. That means new school, new people, new everything. Are you really excited about that?"

"Not really..."

"I didn't think so. And put yourself in my position. I am supposed to be a senior in Paris, but here I am a junior, because that is just the way it is. I was the youngest person in my grade in Paris, and am going to be one of the oldest here. Okay? I have it a lot harder and worse than you do."

"Okay! Just forget I asked. You don't have to get so tense about it," I get up, throwing away my cup. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"Right behind you."

We go to school in silence.

When we get there, I am really freaked out. Everyone seems to know everyone, and they are all talking excitedly in English. That really stinks, because my English is horrible. I understand snatches of conversation, but when I get to homeroom, things really take a turn.

My homeroom teacher is actually a French teacher, so she speaks to me in French. Everyone in homeroom becomes dead silent when they hear me carry on a complete conversation in French.

"Kids, this is Sophie Chapelier. Her family just moved here from Paris this summer. She speaks fluent French, and a little bit of English, so things may be a little bit difficult for her. I expect you all to do your best to help her out in anyway possible."

They all nod, and Madame Combal points to a seat for me. Next to the window, second row. I sit, feeling really weird.

A couple of girls come up to me.

"Hi, I'm Brittany, and this is Charlotte. You must be Sophie," they speak in French, even though their French is not the best.

"Yes. Nice to meet you," I speak in English, just to practice.

They switch to English. "We are supposed to be your partners, like looking after you and everything until you get the hang of things here in America."

"That's really nice."

"Well, let's start out with the basics, and the most important of course. Do they have a lot of cliques and popularity problems out in France?"