Waves

CHAPTER 19

--

Thirty five minutes, two wrong turns, and a whole lot of stress later, Nora found herself staring at the white brick building of New South Wales High.

Kids were already filtering in through the doors, the girls mostly dressed in crop tops and short shorts, and the guys with their basketball shorts sliding down as they slouched in their tank tops. It was a typical first day of school appearance.

Nora took a deep breath and released it in a heavy sigh, before joining the flood of students as they worked their way inside.

Since she was part of a foreign exchange program that had already sent the students their schedules and maps, Nora didn't need to stop by the office. Instead, she trickled in with everybody else and went to her locker, number 168.

Nora put in her pass code and opened the metal door, wincing when the hinges creaked. She stuffed her bag inside and then checked her schedule for what she would need. Each class period was the same amount of time as America's; 45 minutes, and she had a 2 minute break in between classes.

First class was mathematics, and then there was English I, Spanish, cultural studies, lunch, choir, and two periods of P.E. Nora had also already chosen the sports she wanted to do. Swim team would start the next morning, and cheer leading would start after school on the second day of school as well.

"What's your first class?" A voice beside Nora made her jump, and she whirled around to find a boy around her age staring at her.

"Uh, maths. You?" Nora responded.

"Ha! You talk funny. I have math, too. My name's Keitan," The boy introduced himself.

"I'm Nora," Nora responded.

"Nice to meet you. Wanna walk to class together? You look lost," Keitan told her with an infectious grin.

Nora laughed at him and then nodded, "I would like that a lot, thanks, Keitan."

"We're gonna be good friends, I can already tell," Keitan turned and led the way through the crowd of students.

The two reached their math class just before the bell rang. Keitan opened the door for Nora, and she grinned thankfully at him as she walked inside.

"Nice of you two to join us," A voice sounded at the front of the room right as the bell rang.

Nora whirled around, staring apologetically at the young guy in front of her. It took her a moment to realize that he was the teacher, since he didn't look a day over some of the year twelve's that she'd spotted.

"Keitan, I expected more of you, especially on your first day. And you," The teacher jabbed a finger at Nora and she jumped, "You don't look familiar to me at all. What's your name?"

Nora blinked, and then said, "I'm Nora, uh, sir."

The teacher laughed, "Mr. Hayler. It's nice to meet you, Eleanora."

Nora blushed. It had been a long time since anyone had called her by her full name. Even her profile on the foreign exchange page had her nickname instead of her real name because it was so strange for her to be called Eleanora.

"Just Nora, Mr. Hayler, please," She told him.

He nodded, "Well, Nora, take a seat and we'll start the lesson."

--

It was lunchtime when Nora finally met the rest of Keitan's 'gang'. Adam and Xander were two boys, as nice as Keitan but both drastically different in personalities. While Adam was more of a relaxed, possibly slightly high surfer dude, Xander was a championship swimmer with a fiery attitude and a spunky sense of humor that made Nora spend the whole lunch period in tears of laughter.