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While Eric walked along the sidewalk and the music quietly played out of his headphones, Sara balanced on the edge of the sidewalk like a circus ballerina on a thin rope. Again and again, she had to swing her hands to maintain her balance. The cars drove past her without decreasing their speed.
"Could you please stop it?! This is dangerous."
"What's supposed to happen? It's not like I can die once more!"
Eric responded by turning up the volume of the music his headphones played
He entered the school building alone and passed a few dozen fellow pupils until he reached the first level. As it had been usual in the recent past, he went straight to his place at the window without greet one of his classmates. While looking out of the window, he sat down on the chair. Meanwhile, Eric, a really good student, started to consider school as something he wanted to get done as quickly as possible to be able to go home to Sara. However, the schooldays nowadays seemed to stretch endlessly.
So they did today too, the class had not even begun, and Eric already didn't want to be here. The sound of the bell announced the beginning of the first lesson. His classmates, standing around the desks and talking to each other, fell silent and sat down comfortably to their seats. Just a few minutes later, their class teacher came into the room and stood in front of the blackboard waiting for the boys and girls to give him their attention.
Eric was one of the last to turn away from the window and towards the teacher.
"Good morning, class."
"Good morning, Mr. Jorsen," replied the class in chorus.
"Before we start today, I have to make an announcement," directed their teacher to those present. "From today onward we have a new classmate. I hope you will kindly welcome her and help her whenever she has problems. Please welcome Alice."
The classroom door was opened again, and a young girl of about 16 years entered. With a smile that took almost half of her lower face, she stood next to Mr. Jorsen and glared at the class. Her hands were nervously crossed before her belly.
"Hello, I'm Alice, and from now on I'm in your class. I hope we can all be good friends," she looked at the round that stared at her like she was an exotic animal. Her shoulder-length, black curls swung gently back and forth.
"Alice, please get seated, and then we can finally start."
Alice only loosened her fingers to grab the straps of her small, black backpack. In search for an empty chair, she looked around the classroom, and especially the boys, who sat alone at a table, hoped that she would decide to sit next to one of them. Only Eric didn't look at her during Alice's search. Already after a short glance he had turned his face away and back towards the window. A movement beside him caught his attention and made him turn around. Alice pulled the empty chair next to him back and pushed it back with her on it. When she noticed that Eric was staring at her, she smiled at him.
"Hello, I'm Alice," she reached out her hand.
"Eric," he shook it out of politeness, and so their contact was over for the rest of the day.
While the rest of the class came towards their new classmate and interrogated her during the break, Eric went outside to the small bench under the oak tree to be alone with the headphones and his sandwich. Even when he went back to the classroom, he quietly sat at his table and hardly paid any attention to his neighbour.
At last the ringing of the bell finished the lessons of the day. Glad to be able to go home again, Eric collected his things from the table and put them inside his backpack. Alice did the same next to him and left the room with a crowd of fellow students. Eric followed them out, then turned left. He passed the basketball courts where some of his school friends played.
"Hey, Eric, do you play a round with before you go home?" asked Gu, one of his oldest friends.
"Sorry, no time," Eric replied while walking.
This answer didn't surprise any of the players on the pitch. For a long time he had stopped playing with them and refused to do so whenever they asked him to join.
"Why don't you play a game with them?" asked Sara, who walked next to him. "You used to love it so much."
"I'm just didn't feel like it," he gave a short answer and quickly changed the topic. "Where have you been during the break today? Normally, we always meet at the bank under the tree.
