I can't believe summer vacation had been over, it was gone within a flash. I had so many things that I had planned out during my school days, but things were not going the way I wanted. Anyway, now that school had started again, I would try to reap the most out of it and try out everything that I have never tried before.

Just as I was heading to the bathroom, I could hear the muffled words of my mother calling, "Baby, you should hurry. You didn't want to be late for your first day of school"

"I am not your baby anymore", I called back to her tersely, I often told her that I am not a baby anymore and that she should give me another nickname or else she should call me by my name. But as they said that old habit never gone away. She still called me by the term 'baby' to this day. I'm not going to lie that I was quite attached to the name, but my friend Faye could not stop teasing me about it and I hated that.

Looking in a mirror one last time, I headed downstairs. Faye was already in the kitchen trying some soups that my mother was making with a new recipe. We are close friends since we were a child and Mom was accustomed to Faye's child-like behaviour.

"I see Miss Faye is already here", I said as I take a chair before the table. As if on cue, Faye turned her back and stuck her tongue out at me.

"I hope you will be punished today", I shot back at her while sticking my tongue out. I was not fast enough because Mom caught my repulsive behaviour and chided me, "Enough, Clarissa. Manners." Now that I am not on my best behaviour she dropped the nickname so easily. Maybe I should act silly like Faye all the time.

Just as I was about to take a sip of juice, the main heading of the newspaper caught my eye. It read: A dead body found near the 'Magnolia' river. I wonder what could that be, our town was a small one and as far as I could remember, peace prevails here and many people knew each other.

Before I reached the newspaper to take a better look at it, Mom distracted me by saying, "Faye, I heard that your father is finally home. Your mother used to tell me how much you've missed him. You must be delighted to hear that"

I know Faye had a hard time because of her father, she often took refuge in me, but I did not know how to comfort her, I was bad at those things. Maybe that is why she looked particularly bright and cheery this morning. I wish she could always be this happy.

"Ladies now that you are done with the food, shall we head to the school", my mother said as she pat her mouth delicately with the tissue.

"I barely eat anything, only a sip of the juice", I complained.

"That is exactly why you shouldn't drift off this early thinking about something.", my mother said lightly, it was as though my health doesn't matter to her.

"And that is exactly why you shouldn't wake me up too early this morning. My brain could not function", I said to her sheepishly. Faye was unusually quiet right now. It was about time she was taking my side.

I looked at her sharply and as if in 'I got you' mode, she turned to my mother and said, "How about we go now, Mrs Ray?" cheerfully.

"9 years of telling you to call me Erica", my mother said, sighing.

"Okay, Erica let's go", I said, urging her.

"Not you, naughty child. You should call me Mom", said my mother, glaring at me.

Just as we are about to leave, I swear I caught Faye staring at the newspaper on the table.

Faye and I were in front of my locker when my mortal enemy Sally walked by. I could see her side-eyeing me as she walked confidently along the hallway like she was on a runway show. I am not going to deny that she was pretty even though she thought that the world revolves around her. I know would fall for her if I was a guy too and it doesn't surprise me that boys flock around her like piglets but for me, her mean vibes ruined it all.

"That girl got a nice 'bombastic side-eye' ", Faye exclaimed as she watched the receding Sally. I could still hear the faint clicking of her shoes. Sometimes I wish I could be as confident as her, I would be able to express myself clearly and things would be so much easier.

"You better not praise her girl. I'm your friend here", I said, feigning to clutch my chest as if I am hurt.

"I should run to her and end our friendship here. Not going to lie, she's babelicious", said Faye. She was blabbering again and half the time I don't know what she was saying. What does babelicious even mean? I need to enrich my vocabulary ASAP.

"I don't know what you mean, but I knew that you had Maths class this morning, and you don't want to be late", I told her as I took my notes out from the locker, but strangely there was a crumpled paper placed between the stack of books. I hastily put the paper in my pocket and closed the locker door.

"Oh, my God! Clare, you should tell me sooner", Faye complained as she hit me lightly on the shoulder.

"You better be running", I said, but Faye was already running towards her class. I smiled as I watched her running wildly, it was always fun teasing her.

After making sure I was away from people, I take the crumpled paper out of my pocket and read, it said: You should not trust her. I wonder who would slip the paper inside my locker. The writer must be thinking that they could be intimidating me by writing this type of letter, but I am not easily shaken. I throw it into the nearby dustbin as I head off for the class.

"Today we will be learning about the social infrastructure of various societies. As you have well known, there are lots of examples to draw from and many topics to dissect. But today, since it is the first class we will approach a lighter subject and focus on the social infrastructure of our little town.", said Miss Hailey enthusiastically. She was one of the youngest staff in our school, and I was quite fond of her. I like the way she explained and described things clearly to us. Besides, I love her soothing voice, it made me sleepy even during the day. And even if I dozed off she never scolded me which made me like her even more.

"Miss Hailey, I don't even know what social infrastructure means. Can you explain it a little bit", said Mike from the back. As Mike was too big and gnarly, he was forced to sit on the back even though his eyesight was poor. Despite his big structure, he was quite a nerd and for that, he was targeted by the Bullies. But luckily he was a tough guy and fought them off. Nobody messed with him again after that besides he got a hot girlfriend who was none other than Sally. I mean, they are both hot, they deserve each other.

"Take your eyes off my man", Sally whispered to my ear. Perplexed, I turned my head immediately to her. I did not register that she was sitting behind me which was quite abnormal since I could always get the whiff of her expensive perfume.

"He's a boy, not a man and he's not my type either", I said as I turned my head back to Miss Hailey. Due to Sally, I missed the meaning of our topic. She tried to distract me because I always did better than Mike. Sometimes, she used petty moves on me just to make her boyfriend stand in the first place in our class.