[Amity POV (1p)]
Admittedly, advanced math classes were difficult in eleventh grade
Even so, that was kind of the point. Only the best students were meant to succeed. If you can't handle it, you shouldn't be taking the class. That's what I told myself as I sat amidst the groans of the students around me. I myself feel no pity, they'd only done this to themselves.
Eileen, a Cosmo kid sitting next to me, didn't seem to understand the concept. Actually, it didn't really seem like she could understand much of anything. She sat hunched over her paper, a look of intense frustration on her face. She looked close to tearing the assignment up.
She wasn't the only one.
Ms. Bunker was clearly trying her best, but her efforts didn't seem to be enough. There were hands up all over the room, but the old women could only do so much.
I couldn't help but give out my own sigh of irritation, it was like these kids weren't even trying. I bent back over my own paper, trying my best not to be distracted by the students around me.
"Excuse me, Ms. Blight? Are you having any problems with the material? You're looking pretty tense." Ms. Bunker was standing over me. Looking around, I saw the countless number of hands waving in the air. I hadn't even asked for help, why had she insisted on approaching me?
Still, she was trying to be kind, that much was clear. Keeping back my frustration, I answered sweetly, "Thanks Ms. Bunker, but I actually think that I've got a pretty good handle on this. I was just concentrating is all." I smiled at her sweetly, praying that she'd just go away.
She bought it. Smiling back, she said, "Of course you do, I've no idea why I was even concerned. You've always been our top student after all."
I saw a flash of blue across the room as a frustrated groan rose up. Turning my head, I could see the top of a head slowly sink out of view. Cat was sinking down in her seat, with her hands raised above her. "I don't even remember what a polynomial IS!"
How'd she even get into this class?
***
Thirty long, frustrating minutes later, class was over and I soon found myself walking down the halls with Boscha and Skara, dreading what was to come next.
I used to really enjoy gym class, but honestly Boscha could be pretty... intense. She got pretty into it.
Once we got into the locker room, I stripped as quickly as possible, applying my deodorant liberally and putting on my gym clothes..
As soon as we left the locker room, we saw her, standing in the middle of the gym, rugby ball in hand.
Oh no.
Glancing beside me, I saw Boscha's widening smile. At least someone was excited.
Ms. Triggs had an identical smile on her face, as she tossed the ball from hand to hand. Without warning, she threw the ball at Boscha, who caught it happily.
"Boscha, you're a team captain. And for our other captain, we'll have..." She stopped and pondered.
"How about Amity?" Boscha had an insufferable grin on her face. Of course she wanted to face off against me. I readied myself.
Ms. Triggs' smile faltered for a moment. "I'm afraid it'll have to be someone else. I just got a call from the Guidance Office. Ms. Blight is wanted there."
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little relieved that the game was ending for me before it had even begun. Sure, I was good at the game, but she was ruthless. I was already sweating bullets at the thought of facing off against her.
I tried my best to seem disappointed.
Without looking back, I sped into the locker room as quickly as I could, attempting to not look too eager. I stripped again and changed back into my uniform. I stopped in front of the mirror to fix my hair, noticing that my roots were coming back in brown again. I'd have to fix that soon. I quickly folded my gym clothes and placed them into my locker with my deodorant before pushing through the heavy locker-room door and into the hallway.
What did they want with me?
***
I entered the Guidance Office and found a seat as far from the doorway as possible. I didn't know why I was here, but I didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea. What if people thought I was having problems with my classes? Or even worse, what if they thought that I need therapy? I shuddered at the thought.
Show no weakness.
I heard a voice coming from one of the two small counsellor's offices. From the sounds of it, Ms. Bloodworth was filling in a new student on some of the rules. Is this why I was here?
I perked up when I heard my name mentioned.
"Ms. Blight's our top student, and she's the head of the student body."
I smiled despite myself. I couldn't help but fill up at the praise, I'd worked hard to get where I'm at.
Ms. Bloodworth continued, "I'm sure she'll be here momentarily, then she'll be able to explain the rest of the rules and give you a little tour. I'm kind of up to my neck in work at the moment, but here's your schedule. I've left some spaces empty, as you obviously haven't had the chance to pick your track yet. However, Principal Bump will be here closer to the end of the day, you have a meeting scheduled. For now, Ms. Blight can go over the different tracks with you so that you can develop an idea of what to go into."
I heard the door creak open and immediately tried to act like I hadn't been listening. I quickly pulled out my phone and stared at my screen.
I glanced up nonchalantly when the two walked out, but my attention was caught by the latina girl, casually dressed, stepping out of the room behind the counsellor.
Her short, feathery brown hair looked immensely soft. She wore gray ripped jeans with a purple and white shirt tucked into them. She was also wearing white vans which she had somehow kept clean. She had her hands clasped behind her back as she followed the shorter women in front of her.
Her eyes were quick to land on me. I don't know why, but I felt myself flush. I looked away quickly.
Ms. Bloodworth brightened, "Ms. Blight! I hadn't realized that you were already here. We didn't keep you waiting too long, did we?"
I shot out of my seat and shook my head. "No, it hasn't been long at all."
"That's good then. This is our new student, Luz Noceda, she's just transferred. If it's not too much of a problem, I'd like you to take her on a little tour, explain the rules, and go over the different tracks. I would do so myself, but I still have a lot of paperwork to do."
Luz Noceda.
"You can take this from here, right?"
I nodded.
"Excellent, then she's all yours."
Something about how she had worded the sentence made me nervous.
[Luz POV (1p)]
"Excellent, then she's all yours." I watched with dread as Ms. Bloodworth walked away. I was raising my arm a little, as if to stop her.
Hearing someone clearing their throat, I turned around. The green haired girl Ms. Bloodworth mentioned was standing awkwardly, with her hands at her sides. "Okay, so if I'm going to give you a tour, I'll need your schedule."
"Um, yep! Here" I quickly handed her the paper I've been holding.
As she read my schedule, I noticed that her eyes were growing wider and wider. She glanced up at me in what seemed to be disbelief before looking back down at the paper. She was, however, quick to regain her composure. "You're- you're in all advanced classes, huh?"
"Y-yeah?" I answered, confused. What's so surprising about that?
"OkAy," her voice cracked. "I'ma show you were to go then." She walked ahead of me, looking over her shoulder to make sure I was following her.
I was following her physically, but I wasn't really following her words. I was still pondering why she had seemed so surprised.
Ms. Bloodworth had said that she was a top student, so she'd obviously be in a lot of advanced classes. Maybe she was upset because her and I were in some of the same ones. Does she not like me?
As we were walking, the front of my shoe was caught on the tile of the floor, causing me to fly forward.
How. Do I keep. Tripping. Over nothing.
I brace myself for impact with the floor, but before I knew what was happening, I stop falling. I look up to see her, holding me by the waist.
This is so embarrassing.
"Hehe, sorry." I say, as Amity helps me stand upright.
Having gotten past my near death experience, my thoughts returned to where they were. If she didn't like me, she probably wouln't have caught me, so I guess I was wrong.
I sped up my pace so I was walking beside her. "So... Ms. Blight." I said, putting emphasis into the "t."
She cut me off with a small laugh, "It's actually Amity. The teachers here are just really formal. It gets annoying sometimes, but you'll get used to it, trust me."
"All of them?" I asked.
"I mean, there's our counsellor, but I don't even know when you'll get to meet her."
"I thought Ms. Bloodworth was the counselor?" I questioned, confused.
"Oh, well, she is. For the 9th and 10th graders. But Ms. Clawthorne is supposed to be our counselor, she's been out for a bit though."
"Ah." I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to say, or why I had brought up the topic in the first place. I wanted to talk to her, but this wasn't really all that interesting.
We stopped in front of a door. Amity gestured towards it as she spoke. "Okay, so this is where you'll have English..."
***
Amity had shown me all of the main classrooms and was now leading me towards the dorms. She explained the rules to me as we walked.
As Amity and I exited Ms. Bunker's room, a loud scream filled the air, causing me to yelp in surprise. I looked around for the source of the sound anxiously.
Amity laughed as I stared at her, dumbfounded. Why was she laughing? This is serious!
"Chill Luz, it's just the bell."
"Why was it SCREAMING at us?!!" I yelled hypocritically.
"Some kid, or kids messed with the bells and alarms. They've been screaming for a couple months, every time they try to fix it and heighten security, they still end up screaming. Staff has been investigating all the computer tech kids." Amity was looking at the floor angrily.
She was acting weird. I looked at Amity in suspicion. "Do you know who did it?"
Still, with her eyes glued to the floor, she muttered, "Yeah, I have a hunch."
"Who's this?"
Standing in front of us was a girl who looked to be in around the same grade as us. Her hot pink hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a varsity jacket over her uniform.
Amity stepped away from my side quickly, as if she'd been burnt. "Oh, hey Boscha."
1,927 words