Flashback: Freshman Year
I didn't sleep much last night, I'm so nervous. I've lived in Australia for my entire life, but all of a sudden, I have to live with this new family in America. My parents signed me up for a foreign exchange program without even talking to me about it. They said that if I didn't like it after six months, I could come back home. It's only been six days. I've just been settling with this new family.
My sister, Dorthea, came with me. Unlike me and my mum, she has an American accent. She's always been closer with my dad, so I'm not surprised. The family I came to has a son my age, Jonah. My sister went to a different family with no other kids. So far, Jonah has been a blessing. He's so kind and soft, I couldn't have asked for a better person to live with. He's also my age which makes everything better.
"Hey, Lexi, are you ready?" Jonah asks, knocking on my door.
"Yeah, almost," I reply.
"I made you some lunch, so don't worry about that." I smile to myself.
"Thanks, Jo," I say, earning myself a small giggle from behind the door.
I run my fingers through my bright, blond hair, and sigh. This is as good as it's gonna get. I wore a caramel sweater vest with a white button-up underneath and a white pleated skirt with my doc martens. I didn't wear much makeup, but enough to make my eyes and lips pop.
I walk down the stairs and grab my bag that Jonah, bless his heart, got ready for me. He even gave me a tervis with some coffee in it. We're the only coffee lovers in the house, so he lets me use his coffee maker in the morning. By now, he knows exactly how I take it in the morning and in the afternoon.
I grab a white brown blazer that matches my vest and walk out to Jonah's car.
"You don't need to be nervous," Jonah says softly, placing his hand on top of mine. I give him a small smile.
"I'm not nervous. I'm gonna beat the shit out of this school," I say, feigning confidence.
Jonah just gives a small chuckle, not believing me. "Whatever you say."
~ This school is a little bit bigger than I thought. I swallow thickly, shoving my nerves down.
Jonah puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Hey, I know it's big, but you'll fit right in. I promise." He takes me to the front office and then heads to his class.
"Excuse me?" I try to get the attention of the older woman standing at the front desk. I clear my throat loudly to see if that works.
Her icy blue eyes snap up at me. "Yes?" she asks, rudely.
"I'm sorry, but I'm a new student and I don't know where to go."
"Alexis?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She gives me a slip of paper without another word.
Mrs. Blunt is my first hour, teaching theatre. Theatre has always been my best subject. That is, along with English.
I walk into the classroom just before the bell rings. Thank God I'm not late on my first day, that would be so embarrassing.
"Oh!" A young, pregnant woman says. I suspect she's Mrs. Blunt. She might have the most perfect facial structure I've ever seen. "You must be Alexis, our foreign exchange student!" She even has a British accent. I think I'm going to like this teacher.
I shyly nod my head and smile at her.
"So, Alexis, where are you from?"
"Sydney, Australia, miss. And you can call me Lexi." I give her a polite smile.
"Well, it's nice to have you here, Lexi." She puts a hand on my shoulder and leads me to a spot on her risers. "Are you alright with sitting next to this young lad?" She asks me.
I nod my head and place my bag on the floor next to the seat and sit, my hands under my thighs. "Hi, I'm Corbyn," the frost-haired boy holds out his hand for me to shake. I shake it politely.
"I'm Lexi."
"Hey, what does your schedule look like? I wonder if we have any more classes together." It turns out our schedules are almost identical. We both have Mr. Krazinski, who just so happens to be Mrs. Blunt's husband, teaching history, Mr. Corden teacher English, Mr. Tomlinson for P.E., and Mr. Payne for maths. I only have three other classes, Mr. Malik for art, Mrs. Hadid for fashion and design, and Mr. Styles for music. Corbyn, of course, has a different hour of music than me, but it's okay. I still get to see him most of the day so it doesn't bother me that much.
It turns out fashion and design is probably my worst class. I love what we do there, but Mrs. Hadid sucks ass. I hate her. She is just some moody old lady who's daughters just so happen to be models. She actually liked my design for a dress though. It was a teal, satin dress with gold details throughout. She said it was slightly boring, but beautiful. One of the girls in that class, Jordyn, said Mrs. Hadid never compliments anyone, much less a new kid.
It turns out Jordyn has a bunch of classes with me, too. She's in most of my core subjects, and my fashion and music class. She's really nice. Not to mention the fact that she is so fucking pretty. I don't know why she would be nice to me, she could literally be friends with anyone.
"So, Lexi, what was Australia like? I've always wanted to go," Jordyn asks me on our way to Mr. Styles' room.
"Well, there's lots of spiders and it's hella hot," I laugh. "But it's beautiful. There's so many green plants all year around. Not everything is the barren lands of the desert."
Surprisingly, there's a lot of British teachers here. Coach Tommo, Assistant coach Horan, Mr. Payne, Mr. Malik, Mrs. Blunt, and Mr. Styles. It's actually quite funny because they actually understand me when I'm trying to talk. I think Mr. Styles is my favourite. I think he's the most down to earth teacher I have. He talks to his students like we're actually human beings and not children. I may be a freshman, but I light being talked to like I deserve the air that's being used on me. Really, all of my teachers talk to their students like that, as I've observed throughout the day, but Mr. Styles has a way of making it known that he cares. I like that in a teacher.
As we walk out of Mr. Styles' room, Corbyn runs up to me and Jordyn. "What up, Jordi?" he says, dabbing her up.
"I'll catch you later, Lexi, I've gotta go find my brother," she calls from behind her, running to her brother's car. She told me she likes to beat him there. I laugh at her antics.
"So..." Corbyn starts, "How was your first day?"
I sigh, making Corbyn laugh. "American schools suck." He lazily puts his arm around my shoulder and rests his head on mine.
"Is this okay?" He mumbles.
"Yeah," I reply, leaning my head on his shoulder.
"I see you've met my new sister," Jonah laughs from behind us, putting his arm over my other shoulder.
Corbyn chuckles along with him. "Sister?"
"Well, she's living with me isn't she? She's basically a sister now," Jonah explains, earning a smile from me.
"Glad to see you actually enjoy my company," I cheer, jabbing my fingers into Jonah's ribs.
He giggles, doing the same to me. "How long have you been here?" Corbyn questions, looking over at us with a soft smile.
"Six, maybe seven days?" I look over at Jonah with a questioning look.
"Sounds about right," he answers.
"CORBYN!!!" a voice barks from down the hallway, followed by three sets of feet running with it. "JONAH!!!"
Corbyn rolls his eyes fondly, "What, Zach?"
"I'm just here to see my bestie-westies," the brunette, Zach, exclaims innocently.
"Yeah, Corby Worby!" exclaims another brunette. "We love you! Don't we Jack?"
The curly headed one nods, jumping on Corbyn's back, nearly knocking him over. "Oh, my bad," he laughs.
"No shit, Jack," Jonah barks with a cheerful tone.
"Who's this charming young lady," Zach stops in front of me, bowing with a smile.
"This is Alexis," Jonah explains. "She's the foreign exchange student that's staying with my family. She's basically my sister so don't try anything," he says, sternly.
Zach puts his hands up defensively. "I wasn't gonna, jeez." He winks at me. What a weirdo. He's kinda cute though.
This was the first day of a lifelong friendship.
This was 1473 words damn! I don't usually post chapters this long, but this is just to preface the story. Maybe I'll start posting longer chapters, who knows? In the meantime, I hope you like it! It's my first Why Don't We story and it's under quite a bit of construction. The cover will be changed soon depending on whether or not you guys like it. I might also change the title depending on the same things. Anyway, let me know your thoughts and/ or opinions! I'm open to constructive criticism, so don't be afraid to be mean. I'm sure not a lot of people will read this, but I just want to post it because why the fuck not. Enjoy!
-Meg