RiverdaleÕs New Student

by Dusk Delacour

 

Sam wakes in his seat with his fallen down head placed against the small dark window. Sam puts his hand out to feel the window. The cold temperature of the window fully awakes him. Sam stares through the window watching the dark grey clouds travel through the cool air. Sam looks back down at his watch, with one more hour left until the plane ride is over, Tired of his music and the planes commercial-filled magazines he tries going to sleep. He gets out a pillow and rips open the plastic wrapping around the thin dark blue blanket than places it over him and falls asleep. Sam wakes up and glances at his watch; he now has 15 minutes before arrival. Sam puts his shoes back on, puts the magazines back and puts his books back into his bag. Unbuckling his seatbelt, Sam gets up and stretches. Sam stands up waiting at his seat while everyone gets their carry on luggage. He walks through the pathway. In the pathway he looks at the people in front of him greeted by the flight attendants. The flight attendants would smile and say good bye and have a nice trip to the people who approached them leaving the plane. After getting all his luggage he spots his grandparents out in front of the airport next to a crowd of people. He gets in the car with his grandparents and they drive off to his new home.

 

Sam Vessel is new in town. Moving away was a big change from where he was before. Sam was 17 years old and a senior in high school. He moved from his original home to his grandparentÕs home. This was the first time he got to know his grandparents. The only relatives he knew of were in his own family, his mom and dad.

 

His grandfather Roger was 70 years old. Throughout most of the day Roger would

 

 

 

 

hang around at home. He would listen to the radio and read the newspaper all through the day and watch the news at nighttime. SamÕs grandparents had taken care of him before but this was when he was a baby. His grandparents could remember him but he couldnÕt remember them. Grandpa Roger was a calm person most of the time and was very healthy.

 

Sam had to go to school living with his grandparents. SamÕs grandparents put him in a new school called Riverdale High. Riverdale High School was one of the biggest high schools in the states. 5300 students were enrolled in the school. His first few of weeks were tiring since his body had to get used to waking up at 6:00 am in the morning. It took a while for him to adjust to this change of waking up. In his first period class he noticed that most of the kids were tired like him and the teacher also noticed this. He already had homework and it was only the first day. He couldnÕt believe it; he never was given homework for the first day of school. He had to write one page about what he could remember that was special to him when he was in elementary. Although he didnÕt like having homework the first day he knew it wouldnÕt be too hard for him to do because he thought about when he was in elementary a lot.

 

 

Sam had been to a school like the one he was going to, when he was younger. He was a senior now. His family moved to the city and he had gone to a whole new school .But he had only gone for a couple of years. His mom and dad had to move back because of him.. He got too influenced by the kids he became friends with. They got into trouble and Sam was becoming someone they never thought he would. He changed into a whole different person those few years he was in the city. So the family moved back to their old home where they had all the time to take it easy, using the money they earned over the two years in the city. Sam could not control himself in the excitement of the city; the farm was much more boring to him at the time. When they were back home everything went all back to normal for them.

 

Going to his house from school took about forty five minutes to an hour walking so he would take the bus most of the time. Although he could take Bart he liked taking

the bus more. He liked taking the bus because it reminded him of when he was in elementary school. Sometimes on the bus Sam would get the same feeling he had as a child. On the bus he would get the same feeling as if he was on a school bus that heÕd take for fieldtrips, this feeling gave him a thrill. Going on fieldtrips would sometimes take up to 2 hours giving him plenty of time to play on the bus with his friends. When they were riding up steep hills they would look out the window down at the ground with all the trees at the same time everyone shook back and forth as the bus sprang up and down.

 

 

 

 

Big dust clouds would cover the windows of the bus, sounds of branches breaking leaves, plants being blown by the wind would also brush right up to the windows for

everyone to see. Occasionally the bus would run over something that would give a big shake to the whole bus.

 

Sam would only take Bart for going places far away. On the bus he saw a few kids that he had seen before walking around the school. He did finish his homework but the next day no one turned in the homework. The teacher kept talking and never asked for it the homework.

 

On the weekend he found time to organize his room at the new house into which he had just moved. He found many old toys, books and movies in boxes that he had as a child. His TV and Bed were the first he setup. He opened up a box that has tons of old tapes he used to watch on his VCR, Hook, Sleeper, Babe, Mighty Ducks, Home Alone, Spiderman, The Lion King etc. He goes through his old books and finds The Berenstain Bears, OH BEANS!, Wembley Fraggle And The Magic Stone, The SorcererÕs Apprentice, Father Bear Comes Home, ArthurÕs April Fool, Franklin and a Big Batman Activity/Coloring Book.

 

 

 

 

 

His parents were smart and kind people. Their farm had 10 sheep, 18 chickens, 3 gooses, 8 sheep and 1 dog that herd in sheep. His dad was also a very skilled person. He was good at fixing things .His dad worked fixing peoples homes in many ways, but he mainly was a roofer; He fixed and built peoples roofs. Most of these roofs he fixed were metal. They lived in a small village where everyone knew each other. Since there was a little amount of people in the village the cost of certain things were more expensive than the city. Internet and cell phone cost a lot more in the village than in the city.

 

Every morning he would see the same group of kids on the bus all the way in the back where you would usually see a kid sitting and sometimes he would see them in school. On the bus they barely noticed he was there, being busy talking to each other.

 

There were about five of the usual kids and sometimes a couple different ones now and than in the group. All of them wore jackets, jeans and some sneakers and one of them would have a hat on a lot of the time. .In this city Sam became quite curious. In class he was very observable from his farm look but he looked at everyone else just the same. In class he would look how the kids acted and around school. The kids had a lot of common phrases, most were sarcastic. They listened to the same music that was on the radio and media. In class the students

 

 

 

 

would be continuously laughing a lot of the time. When he would come home he let out a lot of what he got from school. He would take in all of the kidÕs behavior around him and when he got home he would let it out. Most of what he let out was Sarcasm that he would always hear everyday. Copying what the other kids would do, while talking or doing things with his grandparents. His grandparents thought he was crazy when they would hear this, he was not aware he when he was doing this.

 

One morning on the bus he finally meets this group of kids. One of the kids from the group with the hat was in his class and lived right across the other side of the street. The boy with the hat introduced himself after seeing Sam walking outside past his house on the weekend. ŌHe put out his hand and shook SamÕs hand, ŌSup man IÕm Will welcome to the neighborhood, and this is my little cousin NickĶ. Nick was sitting on the porch right behind Will with a blank expression. The next morning on the bus Sam saw Will and Nick. A lot of the time Sam spent with his 2 new friends was downtown, where they would hangout and meet other kids.

 

Many times he was on the bus he would think about the life he had before when he lived with his parents in the peaceful quiet village. Sometimes the teacher or women on the bus would remind him of his mother in someway. Not seeing his parents again,

 

 

 

 

 

especially at his age affected him. He didnÕt let his teachers know but his grandmother sent them an email saying to give him a break.

 

He stayed busy throughout his days through the school year. This was good because being busy kept him from thinking about his parents and other situations he had to go through in school. Many of the kids knew what was to come for them in their future lives so they expressed this feeling they had in themselves in many different ways. The teachers felt the same way just as stressed as the students.

 

After a couple of months of adjusting to the school he became much more comfortable with everyone, especially the kids on the bus that he would see. But getting comfortable and trustworthy with everyone was not always necessarily a good thing.

 

Being with his grandparents, he found out a lot about of his past family. He had family in many different places in the world he hadnÕt ever known about. The stories his grandparents told of his great grandparents fascinated him. Through understanding his families history, helped him understand the reason for his own problems and what was

 

 

 

 

going on and went on with his own family. Throughout his family history there seemed to be some kind of curse as he saw it that got to his family. His family members would be doing well than would all of a sudden have a tragic death .Where the family would be doing very well. As smart and well it was, but after a while it would hit a state of depression and atrocities which would leave his family to worrying even more. He remembered his father as a perfect person and a hero, someone he looked up to. But he also could remember at times his father would have this worry about him, worry was his middle name. His father recognized his worrying himself and tried not to show his worrying to Sam or his wife to much but they could see it in him every now and than.

 

In school he always liked history and this related to many parts in his life. In history he found the most understanding. A lot of the stuff he learned in history class related to what happened in his family at the time period they were living.

 

SamÕs friendship grew with the kids on the bus. These new friends he was with were similar to the ones he had before. The devastating car crash that lead to the death of his mother and father made him even more vulnerable to get into trouble. But he did not get into much trouble with these new friends of his.

 

 

 

 

 

Sam was still young and didnÕt understand everything, but he still was doing

better than when he was in the city before. He was doing better in class and appreciated having a nice home with his grandparents. He settled in the house of what he had now, a family with his grandparents, with new friends and a new school in the city. Living in the city he was to have a whole new future. But In this future he now could stay the same farm boy and handle the new life that he lived in the city.

 

Sam got on a quest to find more family members. Through a 2 week research on his family and history, he did manage to get enough information. Sam finds out he has cousins. He gets their number and has a good conversation with them. He finds out that they live in a village similar to the one he lived in. This got him very excited. Sam planned to visit them and the next day he gets ready and heads out to the airport. On the plane while Sam thinks of what will be of his future he looks out the window into the dark sky. It was a full moon.