4 - Where Are Your Shoes?

My dad answered the phone after the second ring.

"Hey, Hunny, you okay?"

No, I wasn't okay as I stood shaking in my wet clothes. I sniffled into the phone. So I guess switching schools is as bad as all the movies make it out to be.

"Dad, I want to come home." My voice was soft. I did not want anyone to hear me whimpering in the hallway.

He paused, and I heard him sigh, but luckily he is a great dad.

"Oh, Betty, I will phone the school. Are you okay to drive home?"

"Ya, I will drive home," I said, relieved that I wouldn't have to sit through two more classes while sticky and cold.

"Good. I will meet you there. See you soon. Love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

I hung up my phone, holding my tears at bay. A group of younger girls were watching me, and I did not need to end up in anyone else's Snapchat story.

I tried my best to ignore the curious stares of clueless students as I trudged out to my car. I wanted to yell at them. Tell them to look away or leave me alone, but I held my tongue. I had never felt this way before, so humiliated.

"Be nice," I whispered to myself.

I almost wanted to apologize to my car when I got in it, all sticky. I put my backpack down on the rubber mat to keep the sticky substance from rubbing off on my seats. Why didn't I clean myself up before coming outside?

Maybe I could have avoided stares if I had just made myself more presentable, and then the whole school body wouldn't realize that I was the one to get slushied on the first day of school. I put my head down on the dash of my car, fighting the urge to scream.

I felt like such a moron. I had tried to convince myself that I would be okay when deep down, I knew it would be this bad. I had tried to convince myself that the handsome boy had wanted to stand up for my honour or something, and he shoved that back in my face as well.

The tears came faster, the more humiliated that I convinced myself that I should feel. Why would someone do that to me? It seemed so cruel.

They didn't even know me.

But I guess that had been the point.

I drove home with blurry eyes. Luckily the roads were clear.

My face was stinging and bright red from the cold and the tears by the time I made it into the safety of my house.

My dad had been sitting waiting for me by the front door. He had a worried expression on his face when I walked in, but as he looked me up and down, he started to giggle.

I agree I must look a little ridiculous, but I don't know if I was ready to laugh about it just yet. I glared at my dad in response, and he just started laughing harder.

"I am sorry for laughing, but this is objectively funny. I am assuming these kids thought Glee was a good show to base their decisions off of." The more he looked at me, the harder he laughed and soon enough, I was snickering along to his joke.

He looked triumphant when my tear-stained face turned from devastation to laughter.

"Go shower and change! We will go out for drinks and get you a new backpack. That one is gross and old anyways. Put your clothes in the hamper... and Betty, where are your shoes?" he smiled.

I looked down. Crap. Guess those were still sitting at school. He laughed at me and motioned for me to head upstairs.

I smiled back at him and rushed up the stairs. My dad, even though he laughed at me, always knew how to make me feel better. There is no reason to whine about this situation forever, and at least it would make a funny story.

I stripped and placed my clothes in the sink so they wouldn't stain anything else. I would take them downstairs to the hamper on my way down.

I let the water wash away all that had happened today. My body heated up promptly, and I felt a bit better already. Luckily, the red slushie had missed most of my hair, but I was still worried about it staining the ends, so I used my purple shampoo to wash away the brassiness.

I hopped out of the shower after a few minutes and braided my hair, letting it drip slightly. I don't care if it stayed a little wet as long if it was from the shower and not some asshole from History class.

Before running downstairs, I put on a pair of small black yoga shorts and a big white tee that just showed the ends of my shorts. It was a cute outfit, but it was also comfy, and right now, I wanted to be comfy.

My dad was sitting where I left him, playing some game on his phone.

I slipped on my black slides and followed him into his truck. It was warm outside as it had been all day. Something that I had forgotten when I got hit with ice.

I hoisted myself into my dad's truck and strapped myself in.

"Let's go to the strip mall first! You can meet one of our newest hires, and we can get you a new backpack for tomorrow."

I smiled, "and maybe some class notebooks?"

That was something that I would have needed to by anyways. Enough with the loose paper.

"Sure!"

---

My dad's newest hire was a woman in her 40's who was going to be the store manager. Although he was excited about having the store, most of his time would still be spent finding and restoring new pieces. So, he needed someone to be his eyes and ears on the floor, and Abby seemed like the perfect fit. Today she was there with the builders who were doing some interior changes that my dad had requested.

The store was coming along very well, but there was not very much for my dad to do yet, so I had to chase him out of there before he became the worst type of micromanager.

Abby laughed with me as my dad started trying to 'help' the builders, who seemed annoyed at his presence. His suggestions were probably not very helpful, so I decided to save them and grabbed my dad, saying he had to help me pick out a new backpack.

He said goodbye to everyone in his store before I dragged him out. But once he was out, his attention flipped onto me, and we went on a search.

It took us about an hour, but I ended up getting a bag from Lululemon. We were probably irritating the poor cashier who was checking us out because I argued with my dad that it was too expensive. But eventually, he convinced me that it was a good investment because it would last me all year and next year. I stopped arguing when he explained it was waterproof. Maybe I did need something like that.

After stopping at a supply store to get notebooks, we drove back towards our house and stopped at a cute retro diner called 66 Diner that we had spotted earlier in the week. I was no longer cold from the slushie, and I was excited to get a milkshake.

The interior of the diner was very 50's/60's retro, and both my dad and I loved it. It was more my style, but I would like to style a room in the vibrant colours that were surrounding us one day. There was a lot wrong with that time in America, but they did this right.

I got a strawberry milkshake, and my dad got cookie dough. He was always trying strange things at restaurants. Sometimes I just liked to stick with what I know, and today I just needed that comfort of some familiarity.

We sat in silence for a good while.

"Do you want to change schools?" I wasn't expecting that question, and I almost choked on my milkshake.

My dad had a sincere look on his face like he had been thinking of this all afternoon. However, I hadn't actually thought about that.

I guess I could switch schools. This one was the most convenient, but I did have a car now, I could drive to another school. I didn't know anybody yet, but it seemed silly to leave after one incident.

I could turn things around, I thought to myself. I almost didn't want to admit to myself the other stupid reason that I wasn't too keen on switching schools. Am I just particularly keen on boys that want nothing to do with me?

After a moment of arguing internally, I finally gave my dad an answer. "No. I think it will be fine."

My dad nodded, "Did anyone help you?"

I nodded, "There was one guy; he helped a little bit." Sure, that was a little bit of a lie, but I had thought he was helping me before he told me differently. So, I didn't mention that he only helped because some of the slushies were on his white shoes.

My dad smiled, "See, there are some nice people. I am sure this is just some stupid thing they do to new kids. I can't imagine anyone will even remember it by the end of the week."

I hoped my dad was right.

My dad got up to pay at the front, and I pulled out my phone to check Instagram. My friends had posted a cute first day of school picture altogether. Mike had his head rested lazily on top of Carla's, and I felt jealousy rear its ugly head. I put my phone down.

Why did my parents have to move us away? I looked up at my dad, feeling my anger melt away as quickly as it had arrived. He was so proud of his new shop today as he showed me around. Not to mention, my mom loved her new position at the hospital.

She had told me she had always wanted to be a mentor, and now she was getting her dream too. My parents had never been happier.

I just needed to suck it up.

And I needed to make some friends.

---

1741

"They say that home is where the heart is

I guess I haven't found my home

And we keep driving round in circles

Afraid to call this place our own" - Ingrid Michaelson

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