**REVISED**
Chapter Eight
Fitting In
Science was taught by a large, cheery lady named Mrs. Newman who seemed to think she was hip. She was the kind of teacher that wanted to be friends with all her students, but didn't realize they didn't want to be friends with her.
Her red blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail at the back of her head, and her eyes searched for any eager faces behind square glasses.
She was the first teacher so far who had given us assigned seats, but luckily for me, Evelyn and I were in the back of the room, me in front of her. Later she told me this was the best position for covert note passing.
For now, Mrs. Newman was talking in front of the class, and Evelyn was analyzing everyone else.
When Mrs. Newman paused to get something from her desk at the back of the room, Evelyn gave me a play-by of the class.
"Those three are bad news," Evi whispered to me, gesturing to two jocks next to us and one behind us. "They'll bug us, probably, and get the whole class into trouble. And she," she pointed at a girl in the corner, "is going to complain about it."
"Who's that?"
"Laurie Sims. She's friends with Becca Nelson, over there."
I glanced at the two girls. Laurie had big glasses and thick brown hair with bangs. Becca was a few seats over, and she was very small and pale with light red hair. They seemed like quite a pair, I could imagine Laurie being the one who would talk and talk about everything, and Becca being the one who just listened and nodded.
"Hm...do you know their abilities?"
"Becca's is memorization, I heard she remembers everything she sees."
"Whoa. That would be cool."
"I guess. Anyway, Laurie's is astrology, she reads the stars. Sometimes she can predict the future, which she constantly talks about."
Mrs. Newman resumed talking at the from of the room. "Okay, so since it's the first day, and we have some new students, I'm going to let you all play a fun game."
Well, maybe Mrs. Newman wouldn't be so bad after all.
"In the game, we will go around the room, and everyone will tell the class some things about themselves and their ability. You will say your name, what your ability is, one thing you like about it, and one thing you don't like about it."
Oh, crap. I take back what I said. This would be bad.
Speaking in front of a group was something I did reluctantly at best.
"I'll go first," she continued brightly. "My name is Sharon Newman, my ability is to heat things with my mind. One thing I like about it is, I never have to use my microwave." She chuckled, but stopped when no one else did. "And one thing I don't like about it is, when I get something too hot, I can't cool it back down." She smiled and no one said anything for a few seconds.
It had never occurred to me that the teachers here had abilities, but I don't know why it didn't. I wondered what my other teachers' abilities were. Maybe Mr. Medina's was correct pronunciation. The thought made me laugh.
"Jonathan, why don't you go first, and we can go down the rows," Mrs. Newman announced.
Jonathan reluctantly stood up and began to introduce himself.
Meanwhile, my brain scrambled for acceptable answers for when my turn came.
After Jonathan, Laurie went. "My name is Laurie Sims. My ability is astrology, which means I can read the stars. Sometimes I can predict the future." She grinned. The jocks Evelyn talked about earlier snickered.
"That's the thing I like about it," Laurie continued, undaunted. "And one thing I don't like is that my ability won't work when it's foggy or when I can't see the stars." She sat back down.
People made their way down the rows and introduced themselves in the same way. Some reluctantly, a few eagerly, and Becca so quietly I could hardly hear. Out if the people that went, some memorable ones were a pale girl named Sadie who could "ghost" or walk through walls and solid objects, and the jock next to Evelyn who had X-ray vision and claimed that one thing he didn't like about it was when he "accidentally" saw a girl's underwear through her clothes. I almost asked to change to a new seat for both of us.
Then my turn came. I stood up and said "Hi, my name's Ariah Velox, but I go by Ari." Why did I say hi? No one else had said hi! I cleared my throat and continued. "My ability is speed, and one thing I like about it is running faster than a car." Some of the class had been talking but they instantly got quiet. I drew my lip into my mouth, had I said something wrong? Why was everyone staring at me?
"Um..." I struggled to remember the thing I didn't like. "One thing I don't like...is, uh, Mr. Pulcher didn't let me join the track team." The class remained silent.
Mrs. Newman said nothing, so I sat back down. A few seconds later, Evelyn saved me by standing up and introducing herself. The class seemed to snap out of it.
"My name's Evelyn Pulcher, and my ability is speaking in any language. Something I like is that I can talk to my dog, and something I don't like is, when I go to the nail salon, the Vietnamese people make fun of me and I can tell what they're saying."
Some people giggled. Evi sat back down.
By the time everyone was finished, the bell rang. "That was boring," Evelyn sighed.
"Why did the class get so quiet when I said what my ability is?"
"Oh yeah."
I waited for her to say something else, but she didn't.
"Did I do something wrong? Did I suddenly become possessed up there or something?"
"Ari!"
"What? Is there something I should know?"
She sighed. "It's really nothing."
"Then tell me!" I practically yelled.
"Okay! Okay!" She sighed. "I didn't tell you that day in the woods, but some abilities are...more rare than others. Like speed. I was really surprised when I saw you in the woods, but when I learned what it really was, I was even more. Speed is a rare ability because it's so-" she trailed off.
"How can I explain this? It's so old, basically. If you read the history of people with abilities, it's one of the first ones. A lot of times abilities evolve with generations, and to see one like that that's so archaic.."
"Archaic?!" I cried.
"No! Not like that. I mean, sort of pure and powerful. It's just rare, basically."
"Oh."
We walked on to history, I stayed quietly cranky and nervous. Even among these people, was I going to be an outcast? It just wasn't fair!
In history I saw a lot of familiar faces, but it didn't cheer me up like it probably should. Evelyn pulled me over to sit by Josh, and Chaste sat by us as well so we made a square. I also saw Tara, Becca, and (to my dismay) Carlos. He wasn't glaring at me now, but I figured it was because he hasn't noticed me yet.
"Looks like everybody knows everybody," Evelyn said matter-of-factly to the square. "Except me. Hi, I'm Evelyn." This introduction was to Chaste. He introduced himself too and we all sat down next to each other. Josh caught my eye and winked. I couldn't help smiling shyly in return. He didn't think I was weird. At least, not yet.
I tore my eyes away and looked behind me awkwardly. Tara met my eyes. Was she sitting alone?
"Hey, Tara," I said. "You can come sit over here."
She looked up and after a moment's pause said, "Oh, uh, that's okay."
I frowned. "Are you sure?" I didn't know why, but I wanted her over here to put a fracture into the weirdness I was feeling.
"Yeah," she said and returned to her book.
"Have any of you guys had Smith before?" Josh asked.
"Ari and I are new," Chaste pointed out.
"And I haven't, but I heard he helped the police find and arrest a Russian mafia leader. I doubt it's true," Evelyn said.
"But still, that's pretty cool, especially for a teacher," Josh says. Chaste and Evi agreed.
The bell rings seconds after Mr. Smith steps into the room. He's tall and fairly young looking with black hair and smooth dark skin.
"Hi, everyone. I'm glad no one is skipping class on the first day." He called roll and then began talking.
"On your schedules, it says my name is Mr. Smith. And as much as I love overly formal titles, it's never felt right to me. So just call me Smith. I probably won't answer to Mr. Smith anyway."
Evelyn and I looked at each other. She grinned.
"Okay, I'm just going to quickly go over some rules. First, don't call me Mr. Smith. Which I've already addressed. Second, unless you're excused, please come to class. My ability is locating, which means I can find the specific location of anyone I've ever seen or met in some way. I will know of you skip."
There were a few whispers among the kids.
"And the usual rules, be on time, be respectful, all that which you already know."
So far, I liked Smith. At least, he seemed like a good teacher.
"Now, we'll be doing several history reports this year, nothing you can't handle, but you will have to use some books from the library to help you. Today we'll go to the library and I'll let you guys look around and see where things are, so please follow me. Leave your stuff here."
The class trailed down the hall. The four of us stayed in a group. "Hey, you never showed me the library," I accused Evelyn.
She crossed her eyes. "Oops."
"Is there a fly on your nose?" Josh teased her.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Hey, Ari?" Chaste asked, suddenly beside me. He hangs back a little from the other two before saying "I need to tell you something, do you know a private place where we could talk?"
I don't know why, but whenever someone says something like "I need to tell you something," it makes me nervous.
He continues "I don't wanna be overheard."
"Well, we could go to an empty classroom," I said hesitantly, not wanting to get in trouble on the first day. "Will Smith notice we're gone?"
"Oh, I don't mean now. After school? You could come to my dorm."
I really had no desire to see the boys' dorm. "Oh. Good." Yeah, great. Now I'll be nervous all day on top of everything.
We all went into the library and looked around. It was a large space with polished wood on the walls and floors. The tables were white and the shelves were gray. Everything looked fairly modern and very clean, including the books.
"I will be here talking to Mrs. Melton. I'll leave you all to it."
Everyone scattered into groups with their friends. Evelyn and Josh joined Chaste and me, but I backed out to rope Tara into our group. I didn't know why she didn't want to sit over by us, but I wanted to be her friend.
"That's okay, I'm just gonna look over here," she said when I asked her.
"But why not?"
She shrugged. "I'd just rather be over here. I might later."
Somehow I doubted she would later, so I gave up and rejoined the three.
"Ari, how about I introduce you to everyone now?" Evi said happily.
"Um-" my stomach twisted at the thought of more people who I was going to be forced to talk to. Being alone in the bathroom suddenly seemed more appealing than this bright, clean library.
"Maybe later," I said.
I think Chaste and Evelyn noticed i was being quiet, maybe even Josh, too. I guess they assumed that I was spacing out, but that was hard when my mind wouldn't stop racing. What bugged me was that I couldn't figure out why Tara was so nice and friendly when I was with just her, but avoided my company when I was with a group.
***
The most stressful thing about drama was that I knew no one in that class. Just great.
The teacher was Mrs. Young, who had bright blonde hair to match her cheerful and outgoing personality. I had the feeling that the boys' opinions of her were affected by the fact that she was....well, hot. Half of the class was spent with them asking her stupid questions just so she'd look at them. It was really starting to get on my nerves.
After several dumb questions she said politely "And THAT is enough, if anyone would like to add something that is not related to this class, you'll be sitting on the Stool of Shame for the rest of class."
We all looked at the Stool of Shame. It was a normal looking stool sitting towards the front if the room. There was a light above it that would've pointed directly at the person sitting under it.
"What's so bad about that?" a boy asked.
"My rule is that whenever anyone sits on the stool of shame, they must also wear the fairy costume." She pointed again to a rack of costumes on one side of the room. The fairy costume stuck out, it was a bright pink shirt and a skirt made of tulle. There were also pink fabric wings and a little pointed hat to go along with it. "Oh, and believe me, it's one size fits all."
All the girls cracked up. I made eye contact with Mrs. Young and she shot me a grin with a slight nod. I didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but I liked her.
Drama had been a nice break from the rest of the day. After it was lunch. I went with Evelyn, who promised to save me a seat while I waited in the lunch line. The cafeteria was normal looking except for the buffet-style area. The food was all healthy, too, none of the chicken nugget crap I used to put up with. Sadly, a salad just did not provide comfort that a slice of pizza would've.
It would've been neat to have huge windows in the cafeteria, but we were underground so that was impractical. Instead, there were square panels on each of the walls that cast a light around the large room. Radio music played but everyone was talking, so it was easy to tune out.
Evelyn, Josh and I were in the middle of a conversation when I felt it. A tingling, my pulse rate increasing, signs I was getting a rush. Oh, no.
My reflexive impulse was to did a quick excuse to flee and pray no one saw, as I always did. But was that wise? This was an entirely different school, what if someone saw me? Would they stare like the kids in science had? Would they make fun of me in their head,, thinking that this would be a great story to tell their friends? The hyperactive new girl, speeding around during lunchtime when she was supposed to be eating lunch like everyone else.
The tingling was getting worse. I couldn't stand it. "Evi! I'm getting a rush," I blurted out and hopped away from the table. It was to the point where I was running (normal human speed) out of the cafeteria.
As soon as I was out the doors I gave way to the rush. The intense buzzing died down as I ran, whipping around corners and gliding through the halls. The stresses if the day disappeared, which helped me to be optimistic. At least if someone saw me, I wouldn't be locked up by the government. Which, as you can imagine, is always a relief.
Minutes later, the buzzing left completely and I slowed down, barely breathing any harder than I would had I just been walking. I even smiled. I could make it through today!
I made it all the way to the cafeteria before my smile slipped off. An aching feeling settled into my chest. No! I had been hopeful that I wouldn't get an emotional crash this time. I ducked into the nearest empty classroom and shut the door behind me. I slid down the wall as the tears began. My breath rattled out in gasps as I cried, and instead of getting it all out, it got worse after a few minutes. Now I could hardly breathe, it was like the walls were closing in on me.
What was happening? I was probably more miserable than I'd ever been before. I was so embarrassed by myself that I started crying harder. What if someone walked in now and saw me?
Not five seconds after that thought, I heard the door open. I wiped my eyes and stood up in a desperate attempt to look less pitiful, but froze when I saw who it was.
Carlos.
I barely had time to react before he disappeared, leaving the door swinging on its hinges.
I slid down the wall again, buried my face in my arms and began crying again. I hated it. I hate that him seeing me like this made me cry even more, it really wasn't worth it. But at the same time, I felt like I deserved the right to cry.
Eventually I felt better, but I waited in the classroom until my eyes didn't look so red.
People were already roaming the halls when I stepped out, so I quickly found Evelyn. "Lunch ended and you still weren't back, so I got your stuff for you," she said.
"Thanks," I said, grateful. I was just tired after all that, and didn't feel like going back to get everything.
I sighed. "Am I always going to get a major crash every time I use my ability?"
"You got a crash?" she asked worriedly as I took my backpack.
"Yeah. It was terrible this time, worse than all my other ones!"
"Oh no, are you okay?" she asked, displaying concern.
"I guess. I'm kind of just tired of today. Can I go home?"
"Aw, come on. You can do it. You're the fast girl, different from everyone else."
"Don't remind me."
"Sorry. But seriously, you can need to stay. It's all over now, right?"
"I guess. Except for the fact that someone saw me."
She sucked in a breath. "Oh no. Who?"
I looked to make sure he was nowhere near. "It was Carlos."
"No!"
"Yeah. He walked a way before I could say anything. Ugh, it was so embarrassing. He hates me already."
My eyes widened. I whispered, "Wait, his ability isn't, like, super hearing, is it? Or mind reading or something?"
"No. Actually, I have no idea what it is. He's never been in my CA class."
"I hope he's not in mine. In fact, I hope I don't see him for the rest of the day. Or ever, but that's not gonna happen."
We split up after going to our lockers, me going to gym and her to Spanish. Gym was the class I was most anxious about. And I didn't want to deal with it right now.
Reluctantly, I went into the gym and set my backpack on the bleachers. We had been told that we'd be provided with uniforms, so I hadn't brought any gym clothes.
I found out Josh was in my gym class, as Evelyn had said might happen. I was glad for the company but nervous about embarrassing myself.
We got our uniforms which were basically T-shirts and shorts. The guys' shorts were longer. After changing, we lined up to play....dodgeball.
I thought some obscene curses in my head. The gym teacher was a short man named Mr. Bosley. The first thing I noticed was his hair. It was thick and dark and really pretty. I may have stared at it a little.
Mr. Bosley had an easy face and didn't look like your typical gym teacher, his voice was high for a man's and he buzzed around eagerly like a bee. He picked two people for captains and told them to take turns choosing.
Josh was picked quickly, naturally.
I bit my lip as people lined up into teams, but then realized that no one was going to pick me if I looked like feeble, nervous wallflower.
Most of the athletic people seemed to have been chosen already by the time I was, but at least I wasn't last.
"You, what's your ability?" asked a skinny guy who was a captain.
"Speed," I said quietly. A few people whispered. Most were all looking directly at me. Great.
"Right! On my team!"
Attention shifted off of me as I joined the team. At least I was with Josh. He wasn't the kind of person I wanted to go against.
After everyone was chosen, we played ball. I hung in the back mostly, giving balls to the better people and trying to look like I was playing. It was a while before I got out.
Josh was the star. He won for our team easily. I smiled at him, grateful that nothing went horribly wrong.
Everyone got changed out and put their things into their lockers. I walked with Josh to CA, the last class of the day. As we walked side by side, our arms were almost touching.
__________
Well, I hope that was a long chapter. This is mainly to give you an idea of what the classes will be like ^_^
I'm getting more motivated to write now that it'll be actually getting interesting! 🎉🎊🎉🎊
P.S. I apologize for the fact that I'm not funny.
P.P.S. REVISION!! Yay, stressing out my characters! I felt like this chapter was kind of strained. I like it better now.