All The Lies We Tell

Chapter 2: Who am I to you?

I had to go straight to the office so that I could get my schedule and locker number. It took me a solid five minutes of wandering around, but I managed to stumble upon a door with a golden plaque that read Office in old fashioned lettering.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside. The office was a large boxy room, cut in half by the secretary's desk. At the far end of the room was a door that led to principal Choi's office. At the front desk sat Mrs. Doris. A pleasant white woman who had rosy cheeks, dull blue eyes and a head full of short grey hair.

"Hello dear," she said to me as I stepped inside.

"Um, hi. I'm here to pick up my schedule."

She nodded and offered me a smile. Her teeth appeared yellow against her red lipstick covered lips. She reached into one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out my file. She slipped me a paper and pointed to the top.

"This is your student number. Memorise it, you'll need it for the computer lab. This is your locker number. It on the second floor of the main building. It should be close to your homeroom class," she explained, stabbing the paper with a stubby finger.

"Ah, your first period class is with Mr. Archer. Count yourself lucky, he's an easy marker."

I nodded and smiled. I don't happen to think there's anything lucky about me.

"When you get to his class, he'll assign you a schedule buddy to help you navigate through the campus. And with that you should be set."

"Thank you, Mrs. Doris," I said as I took my schedule.

"If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask."

I bid her goodbye and then stepped out of the office. As I was pushing open the door, someone was standing in the way and I accidentally smacked into them.

I peaked door and saw an Asian girl with a very angry expression, rubbing her forehead.

"What the hell?" She hissed.

She had dark hair that had been bleached and dyed grey on the ends. Her face was small and heart shaped. The fates had blessed her with high cheekbones and a small button nose. Though she wore quite a bit of makeup, it didn't look cakey. Her eyebrows were painted and carved to perfection and her smoky eye would have made professional makeup artists jealous.

"Can I help you?" she asked sharply.

I shook my head and stepped out of the way. "Sorry," I muttered.

She rolled her eyes like I was biggest inconvenience.  As soon as I was out of the doorjamb, she brushed past and disappeared inside.

I sighed. I was off to a great start.

***

It took me much longer than I'd hoped to find my homeroom class. The main building was composed of two section, bridged by a wide glass walkway on the second floor. I'm pretty sure it's the only part of the school that was constructed in this century. Everything else looked straight out of a Shakespearean play. My homeroom class was in main: B and I had to travel from the office on the first floor of main: A. Needless to say, by the time I made it to class, everyone had already gotten there.

I stepped inside. Our classroom was shaped in a large ascending semi-circle, with the teacher desk sitting front and center. Along the wall behind him was a floor to wall black board. It was the nicest classroom I'd ever been in and it easily put the public-school classrooms I'd come to know to shame.

"You! You must be the new student."

Mr. Archer pointed at me. He was a tall man, with salt and pepper hair, tanned skin and green eyes that sat behind thin wire glasses. As he pointed, I caught the wedding band wrapped snuggly around his ring finger.