“Beverty has COVID so you need to go to school for her so she can still get the credits.” My mom instructed me.

I didn’t oppose, but was utterly confused as I was dropped off at my cousin’s house for further instructions. My aunt arrived at the home. It was approximately noon.

“Where am I going? What school does she go to?” I asked my aunt.

“She goes to the CSULB high school. The bus normally picks her up at 1:00 PM. You can wait at your house and the bus will pick you up.” My aunt instructed.

Confused, I went back home to wait for the bus. 12:45 PM rolled around and I got dressed.

I waited outside of my home for the bus. The typical yellow school bus drove slowly through my neighborhood. I waved my arms to flag the bus down. “On Call” was written on the side of the yellow school bus, in place of where it typically says “_____ Unified School District.”

The bus pulled to the curb and I stepped inside. It was a fairly small bus, with only approximately three to four rows of seats. It seemed more like a van from the inside than a bus. I glanced at the few girls that were already sitting inside and took the first seat by the window. It was 1:15 PM.

“Who are you? Where’s Beverty?” One of the girls asked.

I turned around to respond and looked at the girl. All of these girls were young, whereas I, a twenty-six-year old, was attending their school as a substitute for another student. “She has COVID. I’m being sent as a substitute for her so she still gets her credits.”

The girl nodded in acknowledgement.

“I don’t even know what’s going on. What time do classes normally start? What’s the school called again?” I asked the girls. All I was given was a vague map of the campus.

“Classes start at 3:00 PM, and it’s called All Grades School.” One girl responded politely.

“Classes start at 3:00 PM?!” I asked, completely shocked. “Why so late?!” It was indeed an odd schedule for a high school. This school definitely appeared to be more high-end or privileged than most, though. “What do you guys do from 1 to 3?” I asked the girls.

The bus pulled up to the campus and we filed out of the bus. The girls led me to a small food center in the middle of campus. “We normally just hang out for a bit and eat lunch,” one of the girls instructed.

The next hour or so was spent getting to know the girls and the school routine.

I received a text message. “Aunt will send you money for each day depending on what the total is for the school. It costs twice as much to send you the money instantly, but she doesn’t care since you’re substituting for Beverty. Just let her know how much to send you at the end of each day.” I became even more confused. I received a text from my aunt almost immediately after, “How much do I need to send you?” The text read.

I checked different sources of electronic information from the school. I hadn’t attended any courses yet, so I responded, “I don’t think I’ll know until the end of the day.”

A test later, a few courses in, and I glanced at the school’s electronic portal. There was a guide bar at the top of the page that tallied the actions you took at school that day and their respective costs. A test and two courses attended were added to my total. It was approximately 5:00 PM already. “I think the total is $500.00,” I texted my aunt.

I was ready to call it a day, considering that I had no idea what Beverty’s normal school schedule was, and no one gave me any direction. I took the bus back home. I had a few more days of this chaos to go.