When I walked in, about half of the kids in the room stared, the other half seemed to still be stuck in their conversations. I was about to walk towards who I assumed was the teacher when a kid in the back of the room cleared his throat, he wore a plain black shirt, black skinny jeans, red converse and two jackets, the bottom one being a regular red hoodie and the top one was a black leather jacket, he might as well have had a sign that said 'Bad News'.
"Mrs. Daniels? We have a visitor." Once he spoke the entire room looked at me, trying to decipher who I was. Either he was highly recognized in this school, or people just love to observe new kids.
The teacher, Mrs. Daniels, stood up from her desk and walked over to me, face palming. "Oh! How could I forget? Class, this is our new student Jonathan. Say hi." the entire classroom greeted me with a range from 'hey' to 'hi' to 'Sup', it was almost overwhelming, that never happened at my old school. Mrs. Daniels, the teacher, signaled for the class to be silent.
"Jonathan, why don't you go sit by Lui and Marcel? Boys, raise your hands."
I looked around the room until a spotted a couple of kids near the front who were raising their hands. I walked over and sat down next the shorter one, who greeted me immediately.
"Hi! I'm Lui! Nice to meet you!" The boy spoke cheerfully, he seemed nice.
"I'm Marcel, how's it going?" The boy next to Lui greeted, his greeting was much calmer than his friend's.
"Good, it's nice to meet you." I said shyly, talking to new people was never really my thing.
"Same to you. And just so you know, the two kids in the back of the class staring at you are Tyler Wilde, he's wearing the gray hoodie, and Evan Fong, the one in the leather jacket. If I were you, I'd stay away from them, especially Evan." Marcel said, glancing at the kids he was talking about. Apparently 'Evan' had been the one who had cleared his throat earlier to get the teacher's attention.
"Why? What's so bad about him?"
"Stay away from him, he'll trick you, lie to you, and use you until you have nothing he wants. He is bad news." Lui said, he sounded serious.
I just wish I had listened to his advice.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Hey Evan, did you hear the good news?" Craig asked as him, Evan, Tyler, David, Brock, and Brian walked to school. Evan stopped walking and turned towards Craig, his eyes lit up with muted excitement and curiosity.
"What good news? Did the principal get fired?" Evan asked, trying to think of any news he had picked up from several conversations at school the previous day. He couldn't think of anything, what was Craig talking about?
Craig shook his head. "Nope! We're getting a new student!" He exclaimed excitedly.
Evan got a little less excited, what was so special about a new student? "Oh." Was all he said, turning around to continue walking, leaving the guys in confusion, what was so wrong with a new student?
"Ev? You ok?" Tyler asked, jogging to keep pace with his best friend. Evan shrugged.
"Of course, I just don't see why a new student is so exciting." He replied as he continued to walk to school, meanwhile his friends were in shock, Evan always got excited about new students....
"Seriously Evan, what's wrong?" Brock asked, making Evan stop and turn to look at his friends.
"For the last time, nothing is wrong with me! Just because I'm not excited about a stupid new student doesn't mean something's wrong with me!" He growled at his friends, spinning around and storming off once again.
Evan slowed down once he could no longer see his friends and sighed, taking a seat on the grass next to the sidewalk to wait for them. He didn't mean to snap at them like that, he didn't even know why he did in the first place. He put his head in hands as he waited to hear his friend's footsteps come up the sidewalk.
Tyler was the first to spot Evan, sitting on the grass with his head in his hands. He looked miserable.
"Ev?" He said quietly as he approached Evan, who raised his head once he heard his best friend's voice.
"Hey Tyler." Was all he said, getting up as he saw the guys behind Tyler. "Guys, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled." Evan said, shifting his gaze to the ground.
"It's ok Evan, we know you didn't mean to. But remember, if something's wrong you can always talk to us about it, ok?" Tyler said, wrapping his arms around Evan to give him a hug, the guys doing the same.
"I know." Evan said, then he got an idea. "Hey guys," he started, his eyes lit up with mischief, "Race ya!" And he took off down the sidewalk, his backpack bouncing against his back as he ran, his friends yelling 'No fair!' behind him, Evan laughed.
Everyone except Evan was panting by the time they reached their school, Vakill High, luckily they had arrived before the first bell, which was actually a bit unusual. Maybe Evan was excited about the new student after all.
Evan and Tyler were one of the first people in the classroom, which was very different from their usual fifteen minutes late to class routine every day that ended with 'y'. The teacher had just gotten so used to it she had decided to wait until fifteen minutes had passed by in class to take attendance.
Mrs. Daniels, their chemistry teacher, walked into the class a bit after the second bell, surprise crossing her face as she saw Tyler and Evan sitting in their seats.
"Well, what kind of trouble have you boys caused that made you come early today? Running from the police or something?" She asked playfully, sitting at her own desk. The boys laughed.
"No, that was last week, Mrs. Daniels." Tyler joked, taking out his notebook. The teacher laughed as the third bell rang, signaling to any students still left in the hallway that they were now tardy. After about a minute, the bell rang once more indicating that the announcements were about to start.
"Good morning boys and girls," The voice of the assistant principal said through the intercom. "Please stand for the pledge of allegiance." Everyone stood and began to recite the pledge.
"I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all." The class said in unison, bored from having been forced to say that everyday since kindergarten, yet still not having it entirely memorized.
"Please be seated," and the announcements droned on, stating which clubs will be meeting after school, sports practices, band recitals, and other school related activities that both Evan and Tyler had just decided to tune out as usual, they didn't participate in anything, so why should they care?
"Alright class, I did have day two of our 'Structure of the Atom' lab, but since Tyler and Evan decided to come to class early you all get a free period, but if anyone comes in pretend to be working, ok?" Mrs. Daniels said, turning to her computer to take attendance before grading a small stack of papers next to her.
"I can't believe we get a free period for being here on time." Tyler said as Evan took out his phone to text one of the guys, hoping to get them in trouble.
"I know, I really wasn't looking forward to another lesson in atomic structure, didn't we already do that in seventh and eighth grade?" Evan replied, getting a nod from Tyler in response.
"Yeah we did, what else is there to know honestly?"
"Maybe that the nucleus is actually neon green."
The two boys erupted into laughter as the classroom door opened and a boy shuffled into the room. He wore a light blue hoodie and faded black skinny jeans with a pair of light blue converse. Evan stopped laughing and looked at him, clearing his throat to get the attention of the teacher.
"Mrs. Daniels? We have a visitor."
The teacher looked up and took notice of the boy, face palming.
"Oh, how could I forget? Class, this is our new student, his name is Jonathan. Say hi." The class greeted Jonathan with 'hey's and 'hi's and other various greetings until the teacher signaled for the class to be silent.
"Jonathan? Why don't you go sit by Lui and Marcel? Boys, raise your hand!"
One of the students near the front raised his right hand as did his friend next to him.The class continued to go back to their free period as the new kid made his way to his seat. Evan watched as he sat down, curious to know about him. It's not everyday a new student waltzes into your chemistry class, right?
Evan thought back to when him and the guys had walked to school that morning.
Craig was right, having a new kid was definitely exciting.