My mom always said that I have a strong arm, but I always thought it was just one of those things that moms say to their sons .... at least before I punched the local school bully through the cafeteria wall with one blow after I lost my temper.
Maybe I should back up a bit and explain how I got to this point. Maybe something happened along the way that gave me superpowers, that would explain how I got here. Dad always says that,whenever you find yourself in a mess of a situation retracing your steps can help you figure out how you got into it in the first place so, I'll do that.
My name is Kevin Jake Jason and I am seventeen-years-old and an only child. Earlier today, I started my first day at my new school, John Smith High School, located in Silvers, Texas, whitch is a pretty small, obscure town that no one seems to know about. My parents and I moved here from New York City during the summer because it's supposed to be cheaper, but I think Dad just wanted to get as far as away from my mother's parents as possible. I didn't really want to move , but I dedicated to roll with it because I've always liked cowboys and Westerns and thought Texas girls might be cuter than New York girls
(or that's what one of my New York friends who has family in Texas told me, anyway)
Anyway, like I said today was my first day at my new school. It was a lot smaller than my old school back in New York; just few hundred students versus a few thousand. Even so, I still felt awkward, because I was the new kid and I literally didn't know anybody. It was pretty easy for me to figure out who the jocks were, who the popular girls were, who the nerds were, and so on, but I still found it hard to approach anyone, and I'm not introvert--Dad was, though, but that's because my Dad is a software developer.
But it wasn't all bad. I got through the first period okay without running into any real harassment or bullying. Most of the students and faculty were a lot nicer & friendlier than the students and faculty back in my old school in New York, But it just seemed like a sort of obligatory friendliness, like Texans where supposed to be polite to strangers. And that was what I was, really, because like I said, I didn't know anyone and no one knew me. That was why I dreaded lunchtime. Back in my old school , I always sat with my friends David and James , but David and James were still in New York. I was facing the real possibility of sitting myself at lunch today. Which was something I hadn't experienced since first grade.
So when the bell rang and the students went to lunch, I found myself briefly debating whether or not I should just skip it. But I was so hungry that I went to lunch anyway, deciding that I could suffer a little embarrassment if it meant getting something to eat. And when I got to the cafeteria, I quickly discovered that pretty much everyone--including the nerds--had their own cliques that they ate with. With my tray in hand, I stood in the cafeteria, looking for an open table I could sit at, but it seemed like every table was full and no one looked eager to invite the new kid to sit with them. No one even seemed to notice me, although a few of the popular girls sitting at the nearby table kept glancing at me like they were afraid that a loser like me would try to sit next to them. Not that I thought I was a loser, but I knew they probably did, based on the way they looked at me.
Every table, that is, except for the one in the upper right corner of the room. A black guy sat there by himself, seemingly without any friends of his own. Of course, he might have just been waiting for his friends, but he didn't really look like he belonged to any of the other groups. He wore a long-sleeved shirt and baggy jeans, but he didn't look much like jock or a nerd. I noticed he had some kind of necklace tucked into his shirt, which made it impossible to see what was attached.But the guy didn't look very judgmental, so I made my way across the noisy cafeteria to him. I accidentally walked into a big guy with dark skin and blond hair, who glared at me as I walked around him apologizing for not watching where I was going. He didn't follow me, but I felt like his eyes never stopped following me as I walked over to the guy sitting by himself at that table in the corner of the cafeteria. As I approached the table, the black guy looked up at me. He seemed surprised that someone was coming up to his table, which confirmed to me that he always seat by himself.
'' Hi,'' I said, stopping at the table. ''Anyone sitting here?''
The guy shook his head. ''No, it's open. Sit where you like.''
''Thanks,'' I said. I sat dawn opposite him and put down my tray on the table between us. ''By the way, my name is Kevin Jason. What's yours?''
''Malcolm Rayner,'' said the guy. ''You're the new kid, right?''
''How did you know?'' I said.
''Because I've never seen you before,'' said Malcolm.''
