I Learned It By Watching You :Chapter 2:

                                                     I couldn't find anything that sharp or fancy in the selection of clothing that I had with me. Most of my clothes were ones that were made for the spring and summer. The closest thing to that was a denim crescent skirt, a ruffled purple blouse, a pair of black tights, and a pair of blue Mary-Jane shoes with ribbons on the outward side of each shoe. I brushed my hair in the mirror that was inside the bathroom, making sure that no extra hair got in my face. I finally used a hairclip to pull some hair back from the left side of my head. I took one last evaluation of myself, making sure that I looked presentable, not only for the Nimitz family, but for my new second grade class as well.                                                    

                                                    "Jianna!" Irma called downstairs from the living room. "It's almost time to leave for school!"

                                                     I quickly ran into my room, where it was painted rose pink with a vanity, a closet, and a bed that was parallel to the mirror, which was vertical to my door. I grabbed my school bag that was laying on my bed, filled it with my new school supplies, and rushed downstairs. When I got to the rest of the family, I stood up straight, while also straightening out my clothing. Then, I waited for the verdict. Irma overlooked my outfit, straightening out some parts that I missed. Irma made a 'tsk' sound about two or three times, and shook her head lightly. "Well, it's just going to have to do for now, I guess." Irma gave me my school lunch, which was placed inside a pink and yellow lunchbox with Princess Belle on it. With a black marker, it was labeled "Property of Jianna Nimitz" on the back.

                                                         Irma led me and Gunter to the rickety old car while Aldrick took a dark green truck, in which he drove off to work in. Gunter sat in front with Irma, while I had to sit in the back. On our trek to school, I looked out the window to see other children getting on school buses leading to different directions. Some were even in school uniforms, heading to private school. When I wasn't looking out the window, I ended up dozing off here and there because of how early I had to wake up in the morning.

Whenever I would doze off, they were usually small cat naps at best. I tried to prevent myself from falling asleep, and Irma did a good job of keeping me awake by smacking me in the leg while she was talking to me. Gunter was already at the middle school by the time she smacked me. From what information I got from her, the elementary school I would be going to taught kindergarten through fourth grade, and was just another five minutes away. Gunter was dropped off at Bayside Middle School, which taught fifth through eighth grade, were I would be in three years.

                                                              Irma pulled up to a parking lot of a large, light brown building. Up near the entrance, I could see a brick sign with text that had the words "Stormonth Elementary" plastered on it. Irma parked the car right where the front entrance was, and I got out of the car with my bag and lunch as soon as she let me. I turned around to see if Irma had anything to say to me before leaving, like where my class was or how to find my way around the place. All she said to me was "Good luck. You're going to need it." before starting up the car once more and driving away. I imagined that she would be more motherly in this type of situation, but then again she didn't seem to be that motherly towards me to begin with.

                                                               As I looked up at the school, I heard myself gulp. Well, it was now or never. Make an impression or not be there at all. I clutched the straps of my backpack, took a deep breath, and slowly made my way inside the building. When I entered the building, I found myself being caught in an invisible cloak of peace and serenity. I watched all the smiling faces of the children that passed by me, and the parents telling their children how amazing they were. If mamma were here, she'd say I was more than amazing. That I was perfect. The other adults had cheerful vibes to them, making them seem less frightening. There were also some pleasant and motivational posters posted on the walls, such as "Keep Up The Good Work!" and "Go For It, And Do Your Very Best!" I smiled at the designs of the posters, which gave me a sense of balance and harmony. I was hardly here for a day, and already the school gave me peace of mind, a place where I could get away from all the troubles of the Nimitz family. I felt bubbly inside, wanting to start anew here.

                                                      But then the bell rang, and soon students from every angle started piling into the building, making the once open and free building feel restricted and crowded. Amidst the crowd, one of the teachers noticed me and pulled me over to the side of the hall. "You're Jianna Nimitz, aren't you?"

                                                      I nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

                                                     "Well, I'm Mrs. Bailey, and according to my list, you're the latest addition to my class. So why don't you come with me and we can got to class together?" Her voice seemed kind, and sounded southern. Like Irma expected, I wanted to make a good first impression. I nodded, and followed her over to the very last room in the hall to the left. When we entered the room, some warm colors popped out at me, along with some decorations that I'm guessing that the teacher and the other kids made themselves. The room was painted green, my favorite color.

                                                          The school bell wrang, and after reciting the Pledge of Allegance, the students all sat two to a table and Mrs. Bailey stood next to me in front of the class. "Class, we have a new student joining us today. This is Jianna Nimitz, and she's from Farmington."  

                                                         "Hi, Jianna!" The class announced to me in a chipper tone.

                                                         "Jianna, is there anything you'd like to say before we get started?" Mrs. Bailey looked to me.

                                                           I scanned my eyes throughout the classroom. The students seemed like a friendly bunch, and they seemed to be interested in my presence. I bet they wouldn't mind if they labeled me Jia. I smiled, and said, "You can all just call me Jia if you'd like."

                                                         "Alright, now that we have that little bit of information out of the way, we can now start todays lessons. Jia, you can take a seat over there next to Liu." Mrs. Bailey said as she went back over to her desk.

                                                            I went over to the boy that was alone at his spot, and sat on the right side of him. Liu had slightly long brown hair and innocent blue eyes, and wore a navy blue polo shirt with beige shorts and white shoes. When I looked over at his paper when we were given our first worksheet for the day, at first I thought he spelt his own name wrong. It was spelt L-I-U instead of L-O-U. I didn't want to make a big deal about the issue, so I just continued on with following the lesson. I also noticed that he seemed to be quite shy, and would speak a little quietly when called to answer a question.

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                                                       Recess came by at around three hours or so, and we were let out to play with the other second graders and the third graders in the school outside. There was plenty of space to roam around within the area, so I decided to see what there was to play with or explore. Of course, there were different kids around off with their own groups, but I didn't have anyone to hang around with. I hugged my homemade rag doll, Tesoro, and nuzzled her against my chest.  I then noticed Liu, who was tagging along another boy like a lost puppy. This boy had brown hair that was darker than Liu's, and wasn't as long. He appeared to also be a little bit older than him, possibly by either a few months or a year. Maybe Liu has some trouble making friends, and only sticks to him. I thought. It made a bit of sense, seeing how he'd been so timid in class today. I then decided to walk up towards the two boys. Maybe we could become good friends. I smiled optimistically as I walked in their direction. But then, I heard a new voice nearby me.

                                                       "Hey, you! With the doll!" A girl called out in my direction, walking towards me. Seeing as though I was the only girl available with a doll in their possesion, I put together that she was talking to me. I turned around, seeing one of the girls from my class. Dominique, I think it was.

                                                         "Yeah?" I answered.

                                                         Dominique stood in front of me defiantly, with her hands on her hips. "You're the new kid, right? The one who's adopted?"

                                                          The way she said that word, adopted, made it sound utterly disgusting, as if being adopted was a bad thing. And how did she know that I was adopted?

                                                         I nodded, feeling uncomfortable around this girl. "Yeah…"

                                                         Dominique snorted. "Guess your mommy didn't want you, huh? I wouldn't blame her. Look at your weird clothes. And that thing." Dominique pointed to Tesoro.

                                                         "But... my mamma did want me... she never wanted anything bad to happen to me..." I looked down at my attire. "And these were the only fancy clothes I had on me at the moment... and what's wrong with my doll? She's very special, you know. My mamma made it for me."

                                                           Dominique snorted again, sounding like a pig. "Your doll is ugly, your clothes are ugly, and your mommy didn't want you~." Dominique turned her last statement into a chant, and I saw a few of the other girls starting to join in.

                                                           "No! It's not true! It's not true! She said we would be together again one day! And Tesoro is not ugly! And neither are my clothes!" I began to feel my heart sink, but I tried to stand my ground. But instead, their chant grew louder and louder. I put my hands to my ears with my hands on my knees, wanting them to stop. Tesoro was in my right hand as I covered my ears and shook my head.

                                                            "HEY! Leave her alone!" I heard a voice along with some footsteps. I looked up, and saw the boy that Liu was hanging out with had stepped in between me and the relentless group of girls taunting me.

                                                            "Leave him alone!" I said, as I got up off the ground with Tesoro in my possession as I stood beside Jeff. I figured I might as well return the favor, seeing as though we now both had a common enemy.

                                                            Dominique's sneer only grew wider. "What are you gonna do about it, Little Miss Adoptee?"

                                                            Jeff grew visibly frustrated hearing this and stepped forward again. "You better back off, or I'll bring Crazy Eights in for pet day again! Remember last time, when he crawled into your lunchbox?"

                                                           Crazy Eights? I thought. Sounds like a game for toddlers…. I looked over and saw two girls with scared faces. Jeff smirked at their terrified expressions.

                                                          "Y-You better not….." Dominique said, afraid.

                                                          "Oh, I will. And he will crawl all over you and get webs all over your clothes and in your hair!" He put his hands up and waved his fingers like a spider. Dominique and the other girls shrieked and ran off.

                                                          "Heh, bunch of chickens." Jeff chuckled.

                                                          "Hey… thanks." I got up the courage to say, lifting myself from off the ground. I swiped off some of the gravel dirt and nustled Tesoro into my right arm.

                                                          Jeff turned around and stuck his hand out to me.

"We haven't really been introduced. My name's Jeffery, but everyone calls me Jeff. What's your name?" He asked.

                                                          I brought out my free hand, and smiled shyly. "I'm Jianna.... but everybody I used to know called me Jia."

                                                          Jeff looked puzzled by this "Don't your ... um, foster parents call you that?" He seemed embarrassed for saying the word 'foster'.

                                                          "Umm... yeah. They call me Jianna..." I said, looking down a tad.

                                                          "Wow, that's... weird. Hah…. Well, looks like I'll have to call you that from now on Jia! From here on out, you and I are friends."

Jeff gave a thumbs up and smiled.

                                                            Feeling safe by his prescence, I smiled back, officially cementing our friendship between me, Jeff, and Liu. We've been pretty good friends throughout the next couple of days, usually playing outside during recess and having lunch at the same table during lunch. We shared a few common interests, particularly things that most people would find very unusual, especially with me and Jeff. We would also ride the same bus together home from school, and both our houses were directly across the street from one another.

                                                            That is until Jeff had to stay home because he was sick with the flu. I decided that it would be in my best interest to make him a "Get Well Soon" card, and drop them off at his house after school. I started getting to work on it during recess, with some creative advice from Liu. We both sat on  the smooth asphalt of the playground, crayons and colored pencils strewn about us.

                                                         "Jeff is gonna love this!" Exclaimed Liu, which received a smile and an "Uh-huh!" of approval from me.

                                                        "Aww, what's wrong with your back-up freak adoptee?" Asked Dominique smugly as she went over to us, and still playing the adoptee card as usual.

                                                         I looked over at her. "He's sick with the flu, so we're making a card for him." I stated honestly.

                                                         Dominique stepped closer so her shadow fell over the card. "Humph, and I thought freaks didn't get sick. Let me see it!" before either of us could move, Dominique snatched up the unfinished card.

                                                        "Hey! Give it back!" I exclaimed as I turned around. "That's for Jeff!"

                                                        "Does it look like I care?" She held the card up as Liu stood, mustering up his courage, and lunged for the card.

                                                       "Give It BACK!" He shouted.

                                                         Dominique held the card above Liu's head, waving it around before crumpling it into a ball and throwing it over the fence. "Oops! Look at what you did. Guess freaky isn't gonna get his precious little card now huh? Hahahaha!"

                                                          I growled, feeling myself tense up. I clenched my fists. I felt a untamed anger grow inside of me. "You had absolutely no right to do that!"

                                                          Dominique stood triumphantly, pushing liu onto the ground "I can do whatever I want to, and you freaks have no say in it!"

                                                        The principal stepped up behind her and bellowed, "Is that so Dominique? I wonder what your parents would have to say to that!"

                                                         Dominique jumped and turned quickly. "P-P-Principal Murray! I- I-"

                                                        "I don't want to hear it Dominique. I saw what you did to these poor kids and you should feel terrible. To my office." He said sternly. His giant like figure sent a shiver down my spine, and I could tell that Dominique was obviously nervous.

                                                        "Bu-"

                                                        "NOW!" He exclaimed in a deep vioce.

                                                         Whatever anger resided inside me died a little when the principal escorted Dominique to his office. I smiled a little bit, knowing that Dominique would get her much needed punishment. But still... I had a strange feeling inside of me... I couldn't quite tell what it was like.... It was like I had a strong feeling to pursue Dominique on my own. I looked back over to Liu, who was still on the ground. I helped him up while asking, "Are you okay?"

                                                        "I'm not sure... I can just make the card back at my house, and you can sign it when I bring it over to school tomorrow." I suggested.

                                                        "Sure, that sounds good." Suddenly he winced and looked down at his arm. There was a small cut there from when Dominique pushed him. "Aw man! I hope she gets detention."

                                                             "Yeah! Maybe even for the rest of the year!" I said. I saw the cut on his arm. "And nobody deserves to get treated like that!"

                                             I was still mad at Dominique for destroying the previous card me and Liu made. She's been on my case ever since I first showed up to school. Maybe she's like that towards everyone. At least the principal found out about her latest escapades, but I wish I could have done something about it myself. I remembered the feeling that she had when she crumpled up the original and flung it over the fence. It was like an angry sort of pain, the type of anger that should have been released in some way. I felt that it should have been used on Dominique. After all, everyone at school was either tortured by her on a constant basis or on her side. I felt like proper justice hadn't been done here, and it should have been up to me to end her reign of terror on the school. And the other girls she hangs around aren't much better…

                                                 "Jianna! Get your lazy ass down to the kitchen! It's time for dinner!" Aldrick called from downstairs. I sighed, wondering if he'll ever truly accept me as being part of the Nimitz family. I felt more like an unneeded accessory than a daughter. I hid the card in my backpack and quickly headed downstairs, as I didn't want to dissapoint the Nimitz Family. As I ate dinner with the others, I let my mind wander, as the others didn't want to hear a word from me, other than me asking to be excused after my portion was completed. Not once did they ask me how my school life was, or if I had made any new friends. They just talked amongst themselves, not even bothering me to include me in any of their conversations. Whenever Waldo tried to include me in something, Irma and Aldrick would just give him a death stare, Waldo kept silent for a few seconds, and then they would continue with their talk.

                                                     While delved into my thoughts, I tried to figure out why I had the feeling to do such horrible things to Dominique. I wasn't sure why… but it felt…. Good…