The classroom

Chapter one

 "I hate first days. Gosh, why do we even have to have them if all we do is sit and listen to our teachers rant about the same things every damn year?"

  "Well, I could say the same thing about you."

  "Shut up."

  It was the first day of school, and although fifteen-year-old Amalie absolutely loved school, first days were always somehow so devastating. Maybe it was because of the stupidity of sitting in a classroom for three hours straight listening to teachers with blank words, or then the pressure and nervousness she had to handle when the timetables were handed out for she hated having to get new teachers when the old ones were pleasing enough and she knew them very well.

  She was sitting extremely uncomfortably legs crossed in her homeroom, staring at the empty white walls and wondering what would cheer them up. She had done the same thing now for thir year in a row; planning how she could decorate her biology class to get it to look more inviting and, well, green, as in her mind biology classes were supposed to look. Now it was white walls surrounding her and the other 16 students in her class. Seemingly no one else was listening to Mrs Carol preaching in front of the chalkboard and last year's posters about photosynthesis; the noise of students chatting wasn't to cease for in a while before the very badly aged lady finally lost her nerve and sent silence to everyone's words by shouting about every single reason why it was important to listen at this point.

  But all Amalie could care were now her clipped fingernails. Nervousness had cracked them and in a hurry in the morning she didn't paint over the worn black nail polish. She eyed her wrist watch and patiently counted how many minutes she would be spending in this classroom until the bell rang; twenty-five... no, the bell is three minutes late, i assume. That makes it twenty-eight. This made her sigh deeply. She tried to think something to pass the time - but she didn't have her books with her or a notebook to doodle in... Ugh. She turned to Emma who was sitting beside her going through her Instagram feed trying to make it look more decent. She frowned to every other picture and deleted it. Sometimes Amalie couldn't quite understand why she was friends with this school-hater, who was basically her mirror image; irrational, impatient, easily irritated and obsessed with how her imaginary life looked on the internet.

  "What are you doing this afternoon?" she whispered, trying not to get unwanted attention from Mrs Carol, since they were sitting on the first row of cool grey tables, as they always were. 

  "Umm I have a football game, i guess. Mom makes me go again, sorry", she replied and sighed. She always had games or practice so her time outside school was very limited. They barely hang together which bugged Amalie. 

  "Okay then, well we'll need to figure out a date someday."

  "Sure." Amalie moved her blonde bangs behind her ears and leaned on the table with her elbows. Heat was creeping up her light-wash denim jacket which she had covered all around with rock/alternative band pins. She took it off and placed it on the chair's back and started guessing which teachers remained same on her last year of lower secondary school. Gosh, black sweatpants were such a bad choice for such a hot day; the sun was roasting her thighs and she tried to slip them under the table's shadow but it felt still too warm and sweaty. Luckily she had her hair on a braid so it would not be irritating her like her navy blue velvet choker was around her neck.

  Mrs Carol, in her pointy flesh red heels and a grey suit sat down and Amalie could see the relief in her face - it must've been an arduous job to be standing with those heel-killers for twenty minutes straight. She announced that students would now get their long-waited timetables and the chatter began to conquer the classroom again. Amalie felt slight soreness in her legs and fluster while she walked to the teacher's wood table and searched a paper with her name on it - and before returning to her seat she grabbed Em's too since she was too lazy to get her butt of the chair and take a few steps to reach it.

  "Here your Dumpness", Amalie grinned to Em while she handed out her timetable, but it didn't really seem to bother her. They started comparing each other's classes and teachers in the hopes of getting in as many classes as possible together, and in their relief they did. Amalie felt the stiffness slowly ceasing from her legs as she eyed through her classes and teachers. Most of them were the same - she had her absolute favourite, Ms Marian in History and Cody (everyone got to call him by his first name because he himself hated his last name) in English. But there was a couple names she didn't recognise.

  "You have Mr Chale in Chemistry too?" Em asked, seemingly as surprised as Amalie. She nodded firmly. "I heard there was a new teacher, but i didn't suspect i would get them. He's reputedly hot", she smirked, "oh wait, there's another too. Mrs Parker. You have her too?" Amalie checked. She was teaching her in Maths, which she found actually quite exciting as her old teacher wasn't as good. 

  The bell rang. Amalie and Emma ran through the classroom door following the others who tried to squeeze through all in the same time. "If they would have even the slightest of common sense they would know to go through that in smaller groups", Amalie uttered in boredom. "You're right, but then they would be all waiting for someone to pass the door first", Em went on. They laughed a bit as they headed downstairs and greeted some teachers in the process. It was extremely hot outside, and the sky had put its light blue shades on again. There was no puffy cloud in sight, only the trees with thick leaf blankets hugging one another in the distance. The breeze of air tasted like vanilla. Perfect.