Hi, Sorry if these chapters are only small.
Hope you enjoy
EDITED 26/06/2015
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Chapter 3 – Acquaintances
I was looking forward to my Spanish class. I knew it would be a lesson that I could easily ace and considering the amount of catching up I had to do in other classes, it was a good job.
The teacher stopped me at the door with a smile. "Hello, I'm Senora Rodriguez. You are my new pupil am I right?" she asked in a thick Spanish accent. "Yes, I'm Alex" I admitted.
"Well as this is an advanced class, there is a rule that all conversation during lesson is to be in Spanish." She explained and I replied my understanding and smiled enjoying the idea of being immersed in the language. She moved aside and I entered the room. I was happily surprised to learn that there were only four students in the class, two of which were transfer students from Spain, however seeing that Nick the other student, turned my good mood sour. I now had three classes with him. Someone had it out for me. We all sat on the front row, me in the middle of Nick and one of the Spanish boys.
Senora Rodriguez explained to the class that due to the fact that they had a new student we would spend the beginning of class introducing ourselves. It took me a moment to process her sentence as her Spanish was very fast and it had been a few years since I had spoken the language properly. The brown haired boy at the end of the row stood from his seat and began to explain in perfect Spanish that his name was Carlos, he transferred to Green Hill High school two years ago, he told the class that he volunteered at the animal shelter and had two younger sisters.
Next the boy sitting next to me stood, he was wearing one of the school's football jackets, showing that he played for the school team. He began by explaining that his name was Maxino and Carlos was his cousin, he transferred two years ago and likes to hang out with his friends. He ended by proclaiming that he was currently single and winked at me before sitting back in his seat. Senora Rodriguez scolded Maxino and then smiled at me signalling that it was my turn to talk to the class. I stood from me chair and quickly explained that my name was Alex and I had just moved here. I told them that I like pizza and couldn't help mentioning that I don't like people who knock you over while you are waiting for lunch, this received a scowl from Jackass, who was the last person to introduce himself. He explained his name was Nick and he liked all types of sport and didn't like people who pretend to be someone they're not. He sat back in his seat and I glared at him in confusion. Was his comment directed at me?
Oblivious to the small argument that was starting in her class Senora Rodriguez told us that we would have free periods instead of Spanish on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so we could do independent study. This was good news for me as I could use that time to catch up in my other lessons. The class continued with Senora Rodriguez explaining that we had to write three essays for next Monday and that our lessons on Thursdays would be spent in the lower Spanish class helping other students. Then she allowed us to make a start on our essays till the end of the lesson.
I quickly swapped my books at my locker before going to History, reaching the door at the same time as Jackass. This was really annoying me now, he couldn't be in all my classes, that would just be torture.
"After you princess" he snarled letting me go through the door first,
"Don't pretend to be a gentlemen, everyone knows you're just a jackass at heart" I snarled back before taking my seat at the back of the class with Nick taking the seat next to me,
"Do you really have to sit there?" I asked with a sigh,
"Well it's either next to you or next to Vicky" he explained and sure enough when I looked around the class I saw that Victoria and one of her sidekicks were sitting on the second row chatting,
"Why do I have to have so many classes with obnoxious people in them" I groaned banging my head on my desk,
"Cheer up Alex, History isn't that bad" I heard a girls voice and I lifted my head to happily see Jessica sitting in the seat in front of me.
"I hate History." I grumbled, out of all my classes history was my least favourite. "Is it time for lunch yet?" I asked her hopefully, she just laughed and shook her head as Mr Johnson walked into the room instantly making the whole class silent. I could tell that he was one of those teachers that you don't get on the wrong side of. He wore an old fashioned light brown suit and looked around fifty, his grey hair was slicked back and he held three large text books in his arms.
After an hour of hell, learning about World War two, I managed to escape to the heavenly maths classroom. I loved maths almost as much as languages so it was a nice break after that horrible history lecture. That was until I looked around the room and saw Jackass sitting on the third row,
So this meant that I have every single lesson with him. Karma must be upset with me, I knew I should have recycled that pizza box.
Sitting as far away from him as I could I ended up in the front row on the left, the lesson began and I was swept up into the world of numbers and equations.
By lunch time I practically ran to the cafeteria, my stomach growling with hunger. Finally making it to the queue, my mouth watered as I saw that the Tuesday special was pizza. I swear, at that moment I heard heavenly voices sing hallelujah.
"Alex!" a voice shouted across the cafeteria, once I had paid for my food, "Alex, over here. Come sit with us" the voice said, I looked around and realised it was Jessica who called me, so I walked over to her and she smiled happily at me.
"Hi" I said, as I reached the table.
"Hey, So I know you said that making friends is a bad idea, what with you having to move again, but I was thinking, it wouldn't hurt if we were acquaintances." she explained making me smile.
"Acquaintances? Yeah, alright that sounds good." I agreed taking a seat next to her,
"Great, well let me introduce you to the gang" she cheered, "That's Darren" she began pointing to the boy sitting across from her who gave me a small wave, he had dirty blonde hair and was wearing a T-shirt with the words 'don't eat yellow snow' written on it, "he thinks he's funny so just laugh at all his jokes" Jessica whispered in my ear,
"I heard that." Darren yelled throwing a piece of peperoni from his pizza at her.
"That is Madeline, she's a big nerd" Jessica continued motioning to a red headed girl sitting next to Darren with her head in a text book. She looked up at the mention of her name and smiled at me, "You can call me Maddie" she told me before returning to her book,
"And that's Carlos" Jessica said as a boy with brown hair sat down next to me,
"Hi, you're in my Spanish class right?" I asked, remembering seeing him before.
"Yes, you're Alex and you like pizza." he said with a small smile looking at my lunch.
"That's right" I agreed.
"I'm not surprising Jess made friends with the new kid," he said,
"We're not friends we're acquaintances" Jessica corrected in a business like tone, I burst out into laughter causing Jess to do the same. Carlos looked at us both in confusion,
"Should I be concerned for your mental health?" he asked me looking generally worried, causing our giggling to erupt once more. Once we'd finally calmed down I enjoyed the rest of Lunch with my new 'acquaintances' enjoying their company. It didn't take too long for me to realise what Jess had meant when she told me that Darren thinks he's funny, after about seventeen different jokes I had mastered the fake laugh. Maddie was really smart and I found out that she was in my Maths class, and I swear that I couldn't stop laughing when Carlos tried to teach Jess some Spanish.
The bell rang too soon to signal fifth period, bringing me back to my terrible day. Noticing my sudden mood change Jess gave me a concerned look. "What class have you got now?" she asked,
"Chemistry" I moaned, as we all got up from the table and started to walk out the cafeteria.
"Oh I loved Chemistry last year" Maddie mused next to me,
"It's not so much the lesson, more my partner that's annoying" I explained recalling Jackass,
"Why? Who's your partner?" Darren asked pushing in between Maddie and Jess slinging an arm over each of them.
"Ja... I mean Nick!"
"Nick Harrison?" Jessica squeaked,
"He's not that bad Alex, he sometimes hangs out with the popular crowd, but he mainly keeps to himself." Carlos informed,
"Well I think he's a Jackass" I said stubbornly making everyone giggle as we walked down the corridor.
"Do you want a ride home later?" Jess asked me suddenly before I reached my class room,
"You can drive?" I asked shocked and jealous, I've never stayed at a school long enough to pass drivers Ed.
"I turned sixteen last November and got my driving permit last term" she explained proudly,
"But that doesn't mean she's a good driver" Darren said before quickly running off to his class before Jess could hit him,
"Well it would be better than getting the bus" I agreed,
"Cool I'll meet you here after class" she said as we reached my destination,
"Alright, see you after class" I called as I entered the room a smile on my face.
Jackass was sitting at our table flicking through his textbook and I grumpily slumped onto the seat next to him. "You better be good at Chemistry, I'm not failing because of you!" I snapped as he looked up from his book to see me.
"Whatever Princess." he scoffed as Mrs Brooks entered the room.
"Alright, let's begin with a pop quiz" she cheered, receiving a number of grumbles from the other students. Twenty five minutes later we had finished the Quiz, which was surprisingly easier than I had expected. Mrs Brooks had set us onto another task that involved watching a video and writing an experiment report, explaining how we would have conducted the experiment differently, while she marked the quizzes. Five minutes from the end of the lesson Mrs Brooks had finished her marking and went around the class giving back the quizzes.
"Well done Alex, I knew you would be an equal partner for Nick" she commented handing me my Quiz. 100%. I was ecstatic I had never gotten 100% in chemistry it was my second worst subject, after History. The bell rang and the students hurried out of the room.
"I want your reports finished by tomorrow!" Mrs Brooks called after us.
Jessica's car was the cutest thing I'd ever seen, it was a wine red convertible Volkswagen beetle, that Jess called 'Roberta' which made me laugh, what type of car name is Roberta?
"So how was Chemistry?" Jessica asked curiously,
"It was alright I guess, I got 100% on a Quiz and I didn't have to talk to Jackass all lesson." I explained as we drove down the road, I should have listened to Darren when he warned me about Jess's driving, she wasn't a bad driver but she was easily distracted.
"Jess you just went through a stop sign." I yelled,
"What stop sign?" Jess asked "I didn't see any stop sign?"
"That's because you were looking at that dog." I replied.
"But the dog was cute." she objected.
"Yeah it was, but you should keep your eyes on the road. I'm too young to die." I giggled at her as she attempted to give me the 'puppy dog' look.
"I'm sorry" she said in a baby voice causing us both to giggle.
"Oh my gosh. I love this song!" she squealed, turning up the radio and we sang at the top of our lungs all the way to my house.
"Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow morning?" she asked
"Sure, I'll text you later." I called getting out of the car.
When I entered the house it was eerily quiet, causing me to switch to stealth mode instantly. Carefully placing my bag on the floor, I rounded the corner into my dad's office. The computer was turned off but a hot cup of coffee was on the side, signalling that he was home. Suddenly out of nowhere a pair of arms grabbed me from behind. Pushing all of my weight forward, I flipped my attacker onto the floor, where they swept their leg around, knocking me to the ground also. "Dad!" I yelled "where was the warning?" I asked. He chuckled while helping me up from the floor. "I'm keeping you on your toes" he said, "I've already ordered food, we're having Chinese for a change," he explained walking with me into the kitchen,
"How was your day?" he asked as I got my work out of my bag ready to do some homework before the food arrived. "Same old same old, got stuck with a Jackass in every lesson" I explained,
"Who's a Jackass?" dad asked,
"Oh never mind. How was your day?" I inquired.
"Oh same old same old. Just doing boring paperwork all day." he explained "Got much homework?"
"Yeah. I got a Spanish essay and some science work to finish but it shouldn't take long." I explained pulling out my, almost finished, Spanish essay,
"Well, I'll leave you to it" he said walking into the living room to watch TV, I was never the child that needed loads of help with school. Which was probably a good thing as dad never had the patience for academic work, he was more helpful with the practical parts.
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