Riley’s dad had gotten a giant promotion that came with the catch of relocating to a new city. Riley wasn’t too happy about moving and leaving all her friends behind but the opportunity was too good and her parents insisted on it. On top of which Riley’s mom had way too much time on her hands and came up with the idea of putting Riley in a public school. She had been in private schools all her life and her mother thought it was a good idea for her to get some experience with public schooling, even if it was just for her last year of high school.
Riley stepped through the threshold of the front door and was immediately disappointed. No longer were there the clean white tiles and spotless rows of lockers with neatly dressed students. The tiles were white but they seemed to have a thin layer of permanent dirt on top of them. There were rows of lockers but a lot of them were chipping paint or mangled in some way. The students were all dressed haphazardously in all different colors and shapes, which would normally be a good thing if half of them didn’t look like hooligans. The slight scent of mildew hung in the air and tickled her nostrils. She knew she would not be having a fun time here and cursed her mother for this stupid idea. It was too late to make a change so she’d just have to stomach it and keep her head down for the year.