“I can’t imagine walking into a school where I don’t know anyone,” says Reilly O’Hara, who has attended the Falls Church City School System his whole life. Reilly is otherwise known as a “lifer.”

Well, walking into a school where I didn’t know anyone is precisely what I did in September. To tell you the truth, after that first day, I did not think I was off to a good start.

Tiptoeing to the bus stop through the puddles, I saw a mass of black umbrellas clouded by a gloomy gray haze. I walked deliberately on every red brick, constantly reminding myself that all I had to do was remember everyone’s name and smile. The bus pulled up with its windshield wipers working furiously while its flashing headlights gave every thing an eerie glow. Everyone boarded the bus without a word, like somebody had pressed the pause button of an old murder mystery film.

When I stepped onto the bus the lights were still flashing, which gave me only a glimpses of full seats with sullen faces. Quickly scooting into the next available seat, I attempted to make small talk with the person next to me, but failed miserably. So this was high school.

The day continued in the same ominous but dreary manner. My most interesting conversation consisted of, “Hi I’m Rebecca Gomez, I moved here from Herndon, I’m new.”

I quickly solved the infamous dilemma of where to sit at lunch by making hasty alliances with other new kids in my same situation. We sat at a nearly empty table in the corner of the otherwise bustling cafeteria. I remember telling my dad my own twisted rendition of my first lunch. “Dad! Today at lunch I sat with only four other people, only four!”

In the midst of our idle new kid chatter a fellow newbie, Claire Sedmack, and I resolved to just try out for every single club and sport available. This included auditioning for the school musical, even though neither of us could sing, and trying out for the fall lacrosse team, even though neither of us could play. While we didn’t exactly make the cuts, just trying out did make us feel a lot more at ease in the unexplored grounds of George Mason High School.

The novelty of George Mason soon wore off but that didn’t mean I felt completely comfortable here, in fact, more often than not I felt pretty uncomfortable. This discomfort amassed in the attempt to make new friends.

Now I want to take the opportunity to give you a peek into “girl world,” or more specifically, how girls become friends. Entering school where the majority of kids have been together for some while, each new student attracts attention to some degree. Almost all of the girls I have come across in this school have approached me in relatively the same manner. First, they kind of scope out the new kid, the “target,” or “prey,” to see who they might consider associating themselves with. In this case, the target was me. After deciding whether or not they wanted to be friends, they finally introduced themselves and the slow process of becoming friends began. It’s at this time when you feel constantly self-conscious and start to really miss and appreciate the great friends you left behind when you moved.

At this point, I thought I was all set. I had at last made some new girl friends but, oh no, it is not that simple. After many sleepovers, mall trips and lengthy phone calls, then the friendship becomes concrete at long last.  I doubt the male population has a “system” as complicated as girls do. For guys, it’s more like, oh you’re cool, let’s be friends. Forming friendships is something Claire, and all the other new girls and I are quickly learning doesn’t come easy.

On the outside, I appear to be completely welded to GM life, but I still have the “new kid” aura looming over me. Don’t get me wrong, I know a good deal of teachers in the building, I never get lost and I even know how to get to the TLC thankyouverymuch.  All I can do is wait and look for what the future has in store for me.