Tragedy ✔️

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Breaking Down On The First Day
Sophia Crawford

Cole and I managed to survive the chaos in the hallways as he escorted me to my class only because he took it upon himself to use his body as a shield to prevent me from getting shoved out of the way from the opposing sides.

He was so kind to lead the way. I would have gotten lost if it wasn’t for him showing me the way to my class. I have a map of the school, yes, but reading it was like reading a language you didn’t know. It was confusing and it would’ve caused me to get lost even more if I used it. I didn’t take the map out again after this morning when I looked for Mr Yuri’s class. I don’t think I need it anymore, thanks to Ana for sending Cole to my rescue.

Cole and I come to a stop in front of a classroom, and by the looks of the vocabulary posters on the walls; I could tell that it was my English class.

Cole turns to me and flashes me a smile. He was holding his books underneath one arm and clutched his bag’s strap in the other. “We’re here.”

I could see why Ana fell in love with him. Cole was kinder than any other boys I have ever met—except for Daniel of course. Cole also used his own body to shield me from peering eyes and the gossip I still hear in the hallways, and even though I still heard their whispers and feel their eyes on me as we walked, he made me forget about all of them by making small talk.

I smile at him. “Thank you for walking me to class, Cole. I really appreciate it a lot. I’ll make sure to thank Ana for asking you to walk me, too.”

He returns the smile and dips his head in a quick nod. “Ana also told me to remind you that her locker’s number is a45. We’ll meet you at the lockers at lunchtime and then we’ll walk the rest of the way to the cafeteria together.”

I nod, clutching my school bag in my hand.

Cole waves at me and turns on his heels to make his way to his class.

I was standing in the doorway to my English class before I finally decided to sail inside. Most of the students were already seated and when the door clicked shut behind me, all of them looked at me. It felt like I was standing before all of them naked, like in a terrible nightmare.

“In and out.” I chant inside my head. “In and out.”

I mutter an apology to the teacher who had her eyebrows raised toward me, but she didn’t scold me like I thought she would, but when I made my way deeper into the classroom, I realised why: most tables were still empty—there were still a lot of students who had to arrive and it wasn’t just me who was late to class.

I ignore the stares and the gossip as I made my way toward the back of the classroom where desks were still empty.

I plop down in my seat and take out the things I would need for the class before placing them on the desk in front of me.