Almost There

- 5 -

"Tess!"

Balancing her lunch tray carefully as students milled around her, Tess turned at the sound of her name. Jacqui was waving energetically from a lunch table near the center of the room. Smiling, Tess headed in Jacqui's direction. Noting that the table was anything but empty, she hesitated a few paces away.

"Come on, girl! Everyone, this is Tess. She's the other new kid on the block," said Jacqui, scooting down on the bench to make room for Tess.

"Hey," Tess said, looking around at a number of new faces. She felt like a deer in headlights. Meeting people was not her favorite thing.

"This is Amy, Mackenzie, Tisha, and Zechariah," Jacqui said, gesturing to each of the table's occupants in rapid-fire fashion.

"Zack," said a boy near the end. He was good-looking, with a tanned complexion and smattering of freckles.

"Zechariah is such a cool name, though," Jacqui said, grinning at him.

Rolling his eyes, Zack threw a crouton from his salad at Jacqui. The toss was half-hearted, and the crouton fell harmlessly to the table. Turning his attention to Tess, he said, "Really, Zack is fine. It's nice to meet you, Tess."

Smiling, Tess replied, "Nice to meet you, too. I get it. I'm a Theresa."

"Tess fits you better," said the girl sitting next to Zack. Tess sorted through her memory of Jacqui's quick introductions for a name and found one: Amy. Amy sipped her milk, threading one arm through Zack's. "Forgive him for the food-flinging, Jacqui. He had a pop quiz in Government this morning and is a bit moody."

Zack wrinkled his nose. "I'm just saying that a pop quiz on the literal first day of class was cruel and unusual. 'Knowledge check,' my ass." He leaned in to kiss Amy, and Tess, blushing, looked away. 

Mackenzie, a pale girl with a round face and short, dark hair, smiled at Tess. "Welcome to Eagle Point. Where you from?"

"Minnesota."

"Really? I have an uncle in Minnesota," she said. "Y'all turned him into a die-hard Vikings fan. My family basically disowned him."

Tess laughed. "A Virginian Vikings fan. I imagine that doesn't happen often."

After exchanging some pleasantries about Mackenzie's uncle and how Tess was liking Virginia, it was easy to allow others to take charge of the conversation. Tess was content to listen, drifting in and out of the conversations to either side of her. She had somehow survived Spanish, Calculus, and her semester electives, SAT prep and Sociology. After all that, she didn't have the mental energy to engage with so many people, but it was good not to be alone.

She ate her chicken nuggets and chocolate pudding—Tess took every opportunity she could to eat processed junk food when her mother wasn't making something unpronounceable—as she considered what the rest of her day would look like. Next up would be Chem, and then it would be English Literature and Senior English. Before she knew it, the bell rang, and Tess's new acquaintances began to disperse.

"Nice to meet you, Tess. See you tomorrow," said Mackenzie.

"See you, Tess!" called Amy, walking away hand-in-hand with Zack.

"Bye—have a good day!" Tess called in response. She hadn't realized how much of the lunch period had passed, and now she was anxious she'd be late to her next class. Taking up her lunch tray, she went to clear it.

"How was your morning?" Jacqui asked, walking with Tess toward the tray station.

As she cleared her tray and stacked it with the others, Tess said, "Um. Intense."

Jacqui laughed, following Tess back down the hall toward their lockers. "Yeah?"

"My Spanish class is about a million steps ahead of me. Calculus was good, though. The teacher has a great sense of humor."

"Thank God for that. It makes a difference when the teacher's down to earth."

"How were your classes?"

"Good so far. Hard to tell on the first day, but I think I'll like my French teacher. He is kind of a character. He was wearing this houndstooth blazer and he has a beard. Like, a beard beard, Tess. That thing has to be two feet long."

Tess laughed as she opened her locker. She grabbed a fresh notebook and folder for Chem. "Beards are a thing now, Jacqui. They're in style."

"I mean, yeah, but there's a difference between some neatly-trimmed facial hair and something out of a Lord of the Rings movie." Jacqui closed her locker, a color-coordinated notebook and binder under her arm and her pencil bag in her hand. "If I see him I'll point him out to you so you can see what I mean, but maybe I won't have to. He's really hard to miss."

"I'll keep my eyes open. Do you know which hallway we're in for Chemistry?"

"Yeah, I actually think it's right next to where my Anatomy classroom was." Jacqui nodded. "C'mon."