Crestpeak High is the school that Mia hates.
It is home to the Grey Wolves, a popular sports team in the school. There are literally posters on the wall encouraging students to join their team, while offering incentives and promises of athletic fame and privilege of being in the team. Mia thought that the team would do better without those air-headed jocks and silicon-implanted cheerleaders.
The overall feel of the school isn't bad. Blue walls with vine branches on the school's entrance, buzzing hallway filled with academic and athletic posters scattered on the walls, cafeteria that actually serves decent food, and the classrooms that looks like it came of out of the typical Japanese anime. The school is aesthetically pleasing and refreshing to the eyes.
The students weren't, though.
Putting together unruly and hormonal students together tends to create problems, which can lead to consequences that affected students physically and mentally. There would be occasional fights on the field, in the bathroom, and even the libraries. This in turn resulted to broken school equipment and sports gear.
The school administrators were forced to intervene and declared that another fight would be a ground for expulsion if found guilty. Needless to say, the school was at peace, for now.
The first bell rang, which meant that Mia had homeroom first before anything else. The only problem with the school is that it is big, with the classrooms scattered on different buildings. Her homeroom is on the third floor of the Plenary Building. The school doesn't have any elevators, which makes it a pain to ascend towards a set of stairs. This made Mia's feet slightly ache with all of the climbing done.
Thankfully enough, she was greeted with the familiar set of faces inside the classroom.
"Morning, Mia." Jonas, one of Mia's friends in the school, greeted her as she made her way towards the chairs beside the windows. Mia loved sitting at the sides as it provides a good opportunity to daydream in the class whenever it gets boring. Jonas too, loves to sit at the sides. He claims that it makes him easier to doodle. Jonas sits in front of Mia, and had his chair facing her direction.
"Hey Jonas, what's up?" Mia asked as she flopped down her seat. She took out her sketch pad and began to draw the hummingbird that resides on the trees outside. Mia and Jonas had this tradition of drawing whatever they see outside the first time they meet on Mondays. Being childhood friends and all, they share the same interests and do things together like staying in the forest just to draw something on their own sketchpads.
Jonas seems to do the same and also took out his sketchpad, as the students groggily entered the classroom. Monday isn't everybody's strong suite, much like Mia's. But today, she was feeling extraordinarily fine for a change. The cries that she's done on the beach must have helped eased some of her burdens and pains.
"I drew a sketch of the elusive foxes living in the forest for this weekend." He said as he showed Mia a drawing of three foxes slumped together, definitely sleeping. The father fox engulfs the mother and their child in a tight and warm cuddle. Jonas' sketch also captured the surroundings, with all of the trees and rocks in place, and the birds that hummed on their trees. Jonas is incredibly good at capturing these scenes.
They looked so peaceful, and contempt together. It made Mia's heart melt with such purity and joy, and also with a tinge of sadness.
"If only my family is like that" Mia thought somberly. She shrugged those thoughts and complemented Jonas' drawing.
"It's beautiful. Take me there sometime so I can also draw them on my pad."
"Sure thing." with that, the bell rang again. The classroom is now populated with all of the familiar faces that Mia recognize.
Mr. Summers, their homeroom teacher, entered the class. He's your average teacher, with the donned glasses and the long-sleeved polo with tie. He's the type of teacher that you will hate the least in the school. At least, according to Mia. He took down everybody's name for attendance, and had an announcement after.
"Today, you're going to have a new classmate." cue the chatter. Mia also skeptically raised her eyebrows, as the school never allows transfers in the middle of the semester. Jonas had the same expression as her, which meant that they both think that something is odd.
"Silence please. " Mr. Summers orders. He cleared his throat and spoke again.
"He's from Florida. Be nice for a change and make him feel comfortable and acquainted." He reminds the entire class of the updated school policies. No bullying, be nice, and be friendly. He obviously knows the horrors that plagued the school before, as he carefully and religiously reminded the students of these things that they probably wouldn't obey either.
Mia zoned out and didn't listen to the entire ordeal. She lamented of ways on how to escape all of the negatives on her life, and imagined the reaction of her parents when she tells them that she's leaving. Or maybe she won't tell them. Mia thought that they probably wouldn't even notice her gone, as she step outside of the world to do whatever she wanted. She wanted to be free from these things she consider as a curse and a chain that kept her bound to that place. She fantasized of someone freeing her from these bonds that kept her on the ground and becoming a balloon that floated on the heavens endlessly.
Thankfully enough, Jonas was there to snap Mia out of her vivid imagination as he nudged her.
"Does he look familiar to you?" Jonas said inquisitively as he faced the front. Mia turned her head to the front as she tried to understand as to why Jonas asked her of such a thing.
There she saw him.
A guy who reminded Mia of the soldiers that she saw on the television. At six feet high, the guy had a rigid, calm, and fearless look as he stood in front of the class. The first thing Mia noticed was the scar on his forehead. The scar was slightly concealed by his blond hair, which looked like an injury from something, or so she thought. His piercing gray eyes were scanning the entire room, like he was searching for the student's souls and sins. The gaze landed on Mia, as she did the same. Mia noticed that the guy's gaze was locked on her, much as she was fixated by his apparent qualities. She felt like his eyes contained the answers to all of the problems in her life-
"Okay. Tell us your name, where you're from, and whatever you wanted to say. Just make it quick." Mr. Summers interrupted their staring contest. Like in a trance, Mia snapped out of it and averted her gaze. The guy also did the same and looked elsewhere. She felt like Bella from Twilight with the way that he looked at her. Yikes.
"I'm Arvin. " he did have a deep, husky voice that the girls apparently loved, which was evident as they studiously listened to his words.
"I came from Florida, and transferred here just last month due to my parents. That's all." Arvin finished the introduction thing with ease. It looks like he hated doing introductions as much as Mia did.
"There's no point in doing those as they probably won't even remember you as time goes by" Mia thought cynically. She wasn't used to others hearing her self, and her family. Jonas understood this too and tried not to bring up her family during their casual conversations, which Mia appreciated a lot.
This was one of the reasons why she only had a few friends in school. You never knew who you could trust. Mia feared that one day when she shared all of her fears to someone, they might spread them to others and bring her all of the humiliation and unwanted fame. Needless to say, Mia had a trust issue. Jonas unsurprisingly went past this barrier as they were childhood friends. He knows what interests Mia and knows what to ask and what to not. They're practically siblings by now.
"Thank you Arvin. You may sit beside Ms. Woodson by the windows." as if on cue, all gazes were focused on Mia. She avoided the death stares from the females and turned her gaze to Arvin. He was looking at her, with an undecipherable expression as he made his way towards the seat. Mr. Summers pointed the seat on my right to Arvin. He made his way rather slowly, as if testing the waters. He obviously didn't know anybody here as far as Mia knows.
He guided his bag towards the floor as he slid down the chair. Mr. Summers cleared his throat.
"That is all. Remember what I said. Be nice." with that, he left the room. Oh joy.
"This is going to be a long day" Mia sighed.