The Skylar Experiment : Beginnings

Chapter Six - Making Friends

BY THE TIME the secretary dispensed my class schedule, my locker number and called a monitor to escort me to class, I was twenty minutes late and starting in trigonometry. The monitor knocked on the door, and the teacher opened.

"Come in."

I followed the supervisor inside. Silence fell over the class. Immediately, a swarm of eyes goggled to the front, and I found it hard to stand while wondering what went through all those minds.

"Everyone," he called, "we have a new student. Her name is Riley Addison. I expect you all to give her the usual warm welcome and any help she may need."

He smiled down at me. "I'll be leaving now. Riley, you'll be sitting in the free seat next to Karla." He gestured at a desk next to the windows, left from a girl with short brown hair and an orange shirt. "Have a nice day."

The man walked out of class. I made my way to the empty desk, focusing on the wide windows to avoid any eye contact. I settled with my books and blocked out the whispers running through the classroom.

Next, I had English period. The school was rather easy to navigate through once you got the hang of it. The whole building seemed to be already aware of a new kid. Heads turned everywhere I passed, making me want to bury myself six feet underground. I stopped at my locker to change books when an unpleasant, condescending voice addressed me.

"Just the person I was looking for. I didn't think it'd be that easy."

I jumped inwardly but somehow knew who it was beforehand. "Seriously? Of all the places, I run into you here?"

The disturbingly hot boy with bright emerald eyes and dark brown hair closed his locker. It dawned on me that we were right next to each other. Oh, hell to the no.

A lazy, slightly annoyed brow lifted. "There is one high school in Oakwood. Where else did you expect to find me?"

"I don't know. Out in the woods doing your creepy watchdog game or in some private boarding school along with other kids who own land," I answered above the ambient chatter. I turned to him, clutching my books. "Not in an ordinary, mundane school with the rest of us commoners, at least."

That only seemed to please him.

"Playing watchdog has its perks, such as finding that thing you were looking for the other day. That thing you need to take new phone numbers around here. Ring any bell?"

No way. My phone in the woods was a needle in a haystack and... Did he really have it or did he somehow figure out what I'd lost?

The distrust must have been obvious on my face, because he slipped a hand in the front pocket of his jeans, and there it was. My phone with the sassy sun wearing sunglasses case.

"Where was it?" I asked, in shock.

"Just on the side of a trail. It's flashy and stands out." he said. He smirked widely. "I'm giving it back on one condition, smart mouth."

I became apprehensive. Who knew what someone like him would ask in return, for simply being a decent guy.

"Oh yeah?"

"You have to apologize for being such a bully," he stated. "For drawing a knife when I was just on my property, and for making me feel insecure. Then you have to thank me for helping you when you were lost, and for getting your phone back. Think you're capable of that, Sunshine?"

Unbelievable.

I felt the urge to walk away or at least put some distance. He'd thrown the first insult. I was looking out for my safety because I didn't know him.