Survival Of The Fittest

Alba Reyes tightened her grip on the straps of her backpack as she entered through the door. A large grin appeared on her face as she looked around at all the students passing by her. It was finally here: her first day of high school. This was the beginning of the best years of her life, and she was so excited to get started. She chuckled to herself and started to walk into the hall.

She looked around at all the students around her. She could see upperclassman greeting their peers and underclassman looking around for their classes. She could hear the melody of lockers closing and opening all around her. She could see flyers for after school clubs and events posted on the walls. With all of this around her, Alba couldn't help but squeal quietly.

Alba had spent the entire night before figuring out how she should prepare for the day. She made sure she had all her school supplies ready, even ones she wasn't sure she'd need today. It wasn't enough to put a few pens in her bag, she had to put the entire pack of pens inside. Sure, that made her backpack a little heavy, but Alba felt she had strong shoulders, so she could handle it.

Choosing an outfit was slightly more difficult. She was fourteen and about to enter the arena of judged appearances and quiet scrutiny, so she couldn't look too foolish. At the very least, she wanted to look passable, and not like her mom chose her clothes. She chose a dark orange t-shirt, jean shorts, and sneakers. It was still hot outside, so she wanted to be comfortable above all else. Alba was going to wear makeup, but came to realize she still wasn't prepared enough to put makeup on herself, so she was fine letting that slide until she was more comfortable.

Alba was all ready to go. All she had to do now was walk to her homeroom class and get ready for her first day of high school. But as she walked down the hall, she came to a stop. That's when a thought came to her.

"Where am I supposed to go?"

Alba started to look around the halls. She had no idea where she was supposed to go to find out where her class was. She stood in place, turning around to see if she could get some idea for where she was supposed to go.

"You can go on in and find your friends or something," Raina told Cameron as they approached the front doors of the school. "I don't want to look like I'm following you around."

He grinned at her. "Aw, embarrassed to be seen with me already?" He reached over and ruffled her hair until she slapped his hand away, looking scandalized.

"I'm not embarrassed. I can find my own way around, that's all." Raina reached up to adjust her ponytail from how Cameron had mussed it. "I'm not a little kid, you know."

"Uh-huh." He was clearly trying to suppress another grin, but he just gave her shoulder a pat and made his way to the doors. "See you at lunch, don't get in trouble!" He called back over his shoulder.

Raina rolled her eyes at her brother's retreating back and slid her bookbag off of one shoulder to root around in it for the copy of her schedule that she'd printed out the night before. It was pretty packed, between honors classes and the notes about clubs that she'd decided she wanted to try, but she felt confident that she could manage it. Cameron had all but breezed through his first two years of high school, so how hard could it be?

This mindset lasted for all of the ninety seconds that it took her to get through the doors and realize that she couldn't remember where her locker was. Crap. She shuffled to one side of the hallway to glance at the numbers on the lockers nearest to her, and to avoid getting run over by everyone milling around. A quick look around confirmed that at least she wasn't the only one uncertain of where to go, if the way that girl nearby was spinning around meant anything.

The girl looked a little familiar, so after a moment's deliberation Raina called out to her. "Hey, are you a freshman? Do you remember which hall our lockers are on?"

Alba hummed mildly to herself as she continued to look around the area. She wasn't yet at the moment of panicking yet. She still had a smile on her face, even though it was starting to falter. Maybe she was getting slightly dizzy, but she seemed to be holding up well aside from the fact that she was blanking already.

Fortunately for her, someone came up to break her out of her daze. She heard someone ask her where the lockers were. She looked at the girl. She seemed nice, and she had two different eye colors, which Alba thought was pretty cool.

"Uh, no idea," Alba told the girl. "I still can't tell where I'm supposed to go for my first class."

Alba scratched the back of her head. "So yeah, it's kind of a mess."

"Yeah, I feel that." Raina was relieved to know that she wasn't the only one lost. Cochise wasn't even that big, and here she was without any idea of where to go after she'd shooed Cameron away. "Do you remember the numbers at all? I'm totally drawing a blank here."

She was still drawing a blank on the other girl's name too. "I'm Raina, by the way." Maybe she could get through introductions quickly without admitting that she'd forgotten somebody who might recognize her. And hopefully the teachers wouldn't fault them too much if they ended up being a little late on the very first day. Raina was sort of banking on Cameron's good standing in school and her record of high grades to shed some positive light on her during this vital first-impression time, even if she slipped up here and there.

"Uh, numbers...good question..." Alba said.

Alba paused and tried to think about if there was a room number given. The girl introduced herself as Raina. Alba thought that was a pretty name.

"Oh, I'm Alba. Alba Reyes," Alba replied.

Alba tried to continue searching her brain for the room number, but was drawing a blank. Alba could remember what she had for dinner last Sunday, but not what room she was supposed to go to. Maybe it was because her mom's tostadas were the best, but this was bad.

"Okay, I've got nothing," she said. "I guess I should go to the office or something."

"Alba, got it." Raina nodded, committing it to memory. "Yeah, I guess the office would be our best bet now. Unless you've got an older brother or sister or a friend around who might know better than us?" Hunting down Cameron was out of the question, but maybe Alba had some potential helpers up her sleeve.

"I kind of remember what classrooms are where, but not lockers. What's your first class?"

"No, I'm the oldest in my family, so I don't know anyone else who might be here," Alba said.

"Oh, first class," she continued. "Now I remember. I made way to remember the order of classes. Let me see."

Alba began to mutter to herself. She got the idea from her younger brother last night. He had just learned about acrostics from a book he was reading, and had been trying to make some for the names of people in his house. The one he made for Alba (Animal Lover Before All) was cute, so she thought of making one for her classes. At the very least, it could help her remember the order.

"Right, it was 'Every Man Shows Luck, Proving Himself Always.' Okay, I think I got it. English, Math, Science, Lunch, P.E., History, Art. That's what it was."

"Okay. Now I just need the office."

Raina nodded along with Alba's recitation. "I should come up with one of those for my schedule, that's pretty good. And hey, we have some classes together! I've got history first instead of English, but I have math second period and P.E. after lunch." That was good, she'd at least have someone sort of familiar in a couple classes in case she ended up stuck with a bunch of people who had gone to different middle schools or something.

"Okay, office... I feel like it's somewhere near the cafeteria? Or maybe that's the library." Or maybe she was getting mixed up because she knew that Cameron often ate lunch in the library - technically against school rules, but he had never been in trouble for it that she knew of.

"You know, maybe we should just pick a hall and search. I'm not coming up with anything standing here."

"Oh, that's great," Alba said when Raina mentioned that they shared classes. "It'll be good to be familiar with someone on the first day."

Alba took another glance around the hall.

"Yeah, I agree with walking until we find the office," Alba said. "They can't punish us too harshly on the first day."

Alba spun and pointed to the hall on her left.

"I vote we walk down that one. Let's go."

"Lead the way," Raina said, nodding in the direction Alba had indicated. "For a school that they say needs more space, it sure seems big, doesn't it?"

She heaved her backpack further up on her shoulders as she followed Alba. The books in it were starting to seriously weigh down on her, a constant reminder that everything would be better off if she found her locker as soon as possible. She didn't want to spend the first week of high school with a pulled muscle or something.

"So what kind of things do you like?Are you gonna join any clubs?"

"Yep. Here we go!" Alba declared as she and Raina began to walk down the hallway.

Alba continued to look around the halls. Even though she completely botched the start of her day, it was still kind of fun. The atmosphere was exciting, and she had already found a compadre. Maybe it would all work out.

"Oh, clubs?" Alba responded to Raina's question.

"Yeah, I definitely want to join the golf team. I've got a mean swing, and I hear this school has a good team."

"How about you?"

"Mm, I don't really do sports, but I've been thinking about robotics or the anime club... maybe Mathletes, even. Depends on how they seem when I check them out, I guess. And I might get interested in something totally out of left field too, you know?" For such a small school, Cochise had an impressive amount of clubs and teams. Cameron had pretty well established himself in debate and dabbled in a handful of other things, but she was going to try for no overlap between their activities at least for the beginning of her high school career. Raina wanted to get by on her own merits in things she was interested in, rather than getting a pass from older students because she was Cameron's kid sister. It was one thing with teachers, but quite another with her peers.

"So golf, huh? I've never met anyone who played that. Seems like it'd be kind of boring, I guess." Oh, that didn't come out right. Even if she did think golf was probably the most boring sport imaginable next to, like, competitive staring contests. "I mean, if you don't know how it works. What do you like about it?"

"Wow. Anime Club and Mathletes. That sounds like a neat combination," Alba told Raina.

Alba wasn't much for either. She liked cartoons, but hadn't ever really been drawn to them. As for math...well, at least Raina liked it.

"Eh, golf's not so boring if you're just playing at a driving range. It's a little more dull in a game, but I like it," Alba said in response to Raina's comments on golf. "It's all about precision and timing. Plus, it's kind of fun to see how far you can hit the ball."

Alba looked around.

"Do you think we're getting close?"

Just going to a driving range to practice hitting golf balls sounded like the exact opposite of fun, as well as being opposed to the point of most sports, but whatever floated Alba's boat. As long as she got something good out of it, Raina couldn't hold that against her. Not everyone got the fun of robotics or things like that either.

"That's it right there, isn't it?" Raina indicated the door at the end of the hall. She couldn't quite tell from back here, but it looked like the placard on the door read "Administrative Office". Unless they'd started labeling random supply closets, she was willing to bet that was it.

She strode past Alba and straightened her posture before knocking on the door. Still vital to make a good first impression, even if they were about to ruin it by admitting they'd gotten lost in a tiny school.

((Minor timeskip approved))

Alba walked out of the office with a slight bounce in her step. Now she knew where her first class was. Turns out the little saying she made up was accurate too. Now she just had to get to her English homeroom in ten minutes and she'd be able to adjust to her first day of high school easily.

"Alright," Alba said to Raina. "I feel so much better."

Alba chuckled. "So, shall we head off?"