21 Chapters of Childhood, Chapter three.

Children are cruel.
Especially when you are extremely short, have frizzy, curly brown hair and serious social ineptitude.

My first day of school was traumatic. This is fairly evident in the fact I still vividly remember it.

My primary school was made up of several buildings placed in two rows to kinda look like a giant equals sign. Each building had two classrooms back to back and it's own toilet block

So I arrive on my first day and my Mum takes me to my classroom to meet the teacher.

Then something awful happens, while I'm utterly bewildered by these strange, feral creatures my Mum calls "other children" the crafty tart sneaks out and ABANDONS ME!!!

                               

                               

I was very quickly shaken out of this clearly terrified state by the teacher turning to me and demanding I "Stop being such a baby!" I very rapidly became a pro at disguising fear among elders. 

The next onslaught came at lunch time when I no longer had the teacher to act as a buffer and security blanket between my self and The Others.

It was days before I was able to work out some sort of rudimentary communication system with these strange beings. I couldn't understand a word they were saying except that it seemed to be a jarbled mix of English words but at 10 times the normal speed.

                               

But back to my first day. The key thing that was missed out on my first day was a tour of the school and an explanation of where things were.
One thing I most definitely had not expected was multiple options when it came to toilet choice. Most homes have one kind of toilet and usually only toilet one per room.
This wasn't helped by the fact that the toilets, while separated into Male and Female, did not having signs on the door indicating which was which.

When lunch time came it was followed swiftly by the call of nature and I sought out the place to do my deed.
I found what appeared to be the communal bathroom and went in.
On my way I noticed that the toilet was in a stall and the wall by the door was covered entirely in shiny metal which had a trickle of water running down the center.

I though there must be a broken pipe or something.
I went into the stall, made my sacrifice to the tinkle fairy, washed my hands in the sink and walked outside where I was met by a circle of The Others, all giggling and staring at me.

The one wearing purple seemed to be their leader.
She pointed an accusatory finger and me and yelled amidst a fit of giggles "She went in the boys toilets! She did!Are you boy or a girl!That's the BOYS toilet!"
"N...no...it's... it's boys and girls..." Foolproof defense Jepha, foolproof.
Despite my excellent defense the taunting continued.
"The new girl goes to the toilet in the boys toilet!What a weirdo!"

At this point I start to cry, just a little (I lie, I was bawling my eyes out.But wouldn't you?)
"No... see...that part is for boys *points to shiny wall dripping water* and the other one's for girls..."
Another solid defense from future Wonder-Lawer, Jepha.

Needless to say the horrendous taunting continued until lunchtime ended and I was once again safe under the watchful eye of the teacher until the end of the day or they forgot about the whole thing, whichever came first.
At the end of the day I decided was NOT fond of  this whole school thing.