Identity

chapter thirteen

Even though he was smart enough to get in, he'd missed two and a half months and didn't want to risk being behind in anything.

He also told Mr. Delmar that he'd have to start coming in after school instead, but Mr. Delmar didn't mind. He actually looked happy for Peter. Confused why he hadn't been in school, but happy nonetheless.

All weekend, he thought about school. He'd even managed to convince Mr. Delmar to pay him on Sunday rather than on Monday so that he could buy himself school supplies. He wasn't sure if that was actually legal or not, but that was the least of his worries.

He bought himself a new backpack, a few notebooks, pencils, a water bottle, and a cheap calculator. He also bought some more food and some cheap clothes so that he'd have more than four pairs for school.

Finally, Monday arrived and he went to his first day of school as Ben Smith. When he walked in, there weren't a lot of people there yet, although it made sense being that he was early.

He made his way to the office to find Mr. Morita and another student. When Peter walked in, he seemed to stop their conversation. "And here he is. This is Ben, and Ben, this is Ned. He'll be showing you around."

A teacher stepped out of a room in the office and called Mr. Morita over. Before leaving, Mr. Morita turned to them. "Alright, well I'll let you get going. If you have any problems with your schedule or classes, you can come talk to me after school today."

Mr. Morita walked away, leaving him alone with the student, Ned.

"Alright," Ned started awkwardly, "I guess I'll just show you where your classes and locker are. What's your first class?"

"Oh, uh, here." Peter handed him his schedule.

After a second, Ned spoke again, nodding. "Okay, we have a lot of the same classes, so that's easy. I'll still show you where they are and where your locker is though."

He led them out into the hallway and started toward their first class. While Ned showed him around, he told him about the different teachers he'd have, their classes, how lunch was, and stuff Ned thought he should know.

They actually got along pretty well. Ned was easy to talk to and he was a lot different than Spencer and Adam had been.

Ned even offered for Peter to sit with him. He admitted he only sat with one other person, but Peter gratefully accepted the offer. He wouldn't mind sitting alone, but it would be nice to have somewhere to sit on his first day.

They actually had their first three classes together, so he got to talk to Ned a lot. After the initial awkwardness, he had a feeling they'd end up being good friends.

It was awkward at the beginning of each class though. He had to stand up and introduce himself, and tell the class a few things about himself. It was nerve-wracking, to say the least. He hadn't fully prepared what to say about his past, and obviously, the truth wasn't an option, but he figured it out.

After his third class, he was talking to Ned while on the way to his fourth. Ned had a different class, but it was still in the same direction.

While on their way, Peter turned to look at Ned but accidentally bumped into someone. The guy had dark, combed-over hair, and looked at Peter with disgust.

"Watch it, nerd." He turned around fully and met eyes with Peter, before he continued, "Oh, so you must be the new kid. Look, don't go running into people who are actually important, got it?"

The kid turned back around and laughed at something with his friends. Peter just rolled his eyes; he was used to dumb school bullies.

"Who was that?" Peter asked Ned, breaking the silence that had settled between them.