Her apprehension was palpable as she neared the front door of school. Already she had caught the sideways glances of the students lingering in the cold of the front steps. Her heart was heavy with anxiety, and seemed to pound all the harder to compensate. With a deep breath and a sigh, she flicked her bangs out of her eyes and pushed through the front doors. Immediately the quiet of the late Autumn air was replaced with the raucous noises of highschool. What was once familiar had become intimidating, and she hugged herself tightly as she bee lined for her locker.
Nothing much really seemed to change, and pleasantly, a couple of her acquaintances even greeted her in the hall, But it wasn't quite the same. Maybe she just imagined it, but there still seemed to be a certain carefulness about their friendliness, as if she carried a pariah contagion that they didn't mind, but didn't want to catch themselves. After retrieving her books, she shuffled on to her 1st period Pre-Cal class and waited for the bell.
It wasn't long before their ancient homeroom teacher filed in and began calling roll. Karen tuned most of it out, when something the teacher said caught her ear. "Kaden? Kaden Black? Kaden pay attention!" The teacher snapped at Karen, bringing her out of her stupor. "What?"
She heard the snide comments from her class mates. "just say here" "Say here!" "K's right there Ms.Teage."
"H-Here..." stammered Karen as she realized what had happened. Did the school not call her Karen?. Even if she had only started recently in this new world, she was still passing, and had boobs for gods sake! Surely that counted for something, right? Maybe it was just the old crone of a teacher. Ms.Teage was such a rules nazi from the prehistoric era. She practically reveled in giving odd and unique students a hard time. Her thoughts were interrupted.
"Kaden class is starting now, so pay attention. Your grade's suffering enough."
WHAT? Karen immediately sat up at that one. Sure the class was hard, but she had worked hard to keep her A. Did the change to her body really change this much of reality? Her eyes squinted. Or was Ms. Teage just that much of a bitch. She set her jaw as she took studious notes, utterly dedicated to proving this bitch wrong... Besides, studying distracted her from the everything else...
