Our Love is Born

Awestruck

My mind had been manifesting a scenario of fear and anxiety for my first day, expecting attention, too much attention. But, to my delight nobody seemed to care.

"Shit parking, Josh," Danny commented, gesturing towards the car which sat out of place between the white park lines. Josh only smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.

"At least I got you guys here in one piece," he joked, before joining his brothers in sauntering off towards the front doors. Swallowing heavily and trying my hardest to not think too deep into his comment, I followed in suit, through the front doors and into the building.

There were two long corridors separated by a row of lockers, leading to a large window, where the isles branched off to the sides. Some teens stood by their lockers, taking out books and stationary, and others filed past us towards classroom doors.

Kindly, Josh offered to take me to administrations office to get my timetable, where he would then show me to my classroom. I couldn't describe my gratitude for him, knowing that if he wasn't there to help me, I probably would have chickened out and gone home by now.

After a short walk, we reached the office, a comfortable room with couches and a coffee table in front of the large desk at the end of the room. The heat of the room mothered the ache in the tips of my icy fingers. Two office ladies sat at the desk, looking down at papers and scribbling furiously.

I walked up to the front desk nervously. "Hello I'm new here, my name is Layla.. I was wondering if I could get my timetable?" I chirped politely, my voice coming out an octave higher than I'd anticipated.

The lady, who had to be no older than 50, peered down at me above her spectacles, "Last name?"

"King," I replied, shifting on my feet, which were getting sore from my tip-toe position.

Without another word, she turned to her computer, the clicking of her acrylics against the keys being the only sound in the room. Josh, who stood beside me, stifled a laugh at the akwardness.

"Hmm," she drawled out. "Wait here." I watched as she waddled off to an extension room and out of sight.

Giving my feet a rest, I dropped them flat onto the floor and turned to Josh. "What if we don't have any classes together?" I asked nervously.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Plus, Jake and I have barely any classes together so you're likely to be put in his if not mine," He said tightly. 

I watched a muscle in his jaw tick, before he turned back to the desk where the receptionists was emerging, holding a folded piece of paper. She only spent a moment explaining the abbreviations and room numbers to me before handing it to me fully and returning to her work.

"Thank you!" I said before walking out of the room, Josh close behind.

We spent the next few moments in the hallway, reading and matching each others timetables to see which classes we had together. It turned out I had three out of six classes with Josh, one with Jake, and the remaining two by myself. We had history together first, so Josh showed me the way to our classroom.

"Mr. Marmos is kind of a dick, so don't take anything too personally," Josh warned me, as we turned the corner into the empty classroom. 

We took two seats across from each other near the middle edge of the classroom, and I anxiously took out a notebook and pen. Josh plodded a textbook on my desk too which I thanked him for, while watching the rest of the class file in through the front door.

Eventually, a man in his mid-fourties wandered into the class, placing his briefcase on his desk and addressed the class.

"Welcome back everyone, how was your winter break?" He asked. There was a hum of responses while he opened his briefcase and took out a few essentials, squinting and readjusting his glasses as he looked at one paper in particular.