I sat down with them at the gym bleachers. I looked around and saw the other students talking to each other. I see Mariah sitting next to a brown haired girl talking to her. I waved at her. She smiled at me and waved back before talking to the girl.
I looked back and see a blonde haired woman wearing a blue blazer walking into the gym. "Hello, students and faculties. My name is Mrs. Gray and I am your new principal." She looked around the gym. "Wow, there are so many of you."
"Well, duh," Xavier muttered under his breath. Emma jabbed him in the ribs to shut him up.
"Oh, wow...um...sorry if I sound like this. Just a little nervous." Mrs. Gray started to sweat.
"Oh my god." Jane put her hands over her face.
I heard a bunch of kids whispering to each other or snickering at Mrs. Gray. I felt bad for Mrs. Gray because I know how she feels, going to a new school, meeting new people. It's a little scary at first, but after being there for a while and you get to know everybody, you get used to it.
Mrs. Gray searched the crowd and locked her eyes with mine. I could see how nervous she is in her eyes. All I did is give her a smile and mouthed, "You got this." Mrs. Gray smiled and regained her composure.
"Okay." Mrs. Gray took a deep breath. "First, I want to welcome you all back to school. I could tell this year is going to be great for all of you."
Mrs. Gray then talked for the next half-hour. Then she smiled and said, "Okay now, kids. I hope you all have a great first day. Now, get to your classes. Have fun!"
"Well, that was... interesting," Rachel said as we got out of the gym.
"Mrs. Gray seemed nervous, didn't she?" Paul asked.
"Yeah, she did," Jane said. Then she turned to me. "I saw what you did, Chris. You didn't have to do that."
"Well, I thought she needed some encouragement," I said. "Beside, I know how she feels, being in a new school and being with new people."
"Suck up." I turned to see a red haired boy smirking at me. Then he turned to another boy standing next to him. "Am I right, Jarrod?"
Jarrod looked at the boy and went back to his locker. "Yeah, I guess so."
Then the boy turned to two girls standing next to him. "How about you two, huh?"
The girl with the tan skin and blue streaks in her brown hair just laughed, while the other girl with blonde hair just rolled her eyes.
Suck up? Really? My seven year old brother can come up with better insults than that.
But I just told the boy, "You know, I'd rather be a suck up than a complete dick like you." Then I walked away, ignoring the boy's angry look on his face. I got my stuff out of my locker, when I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I turned around expecting to see the boy, but it was Danielle instead.
"Sorry about my brother. He can be a jerk sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"Okay, all the time." Danielle started to walk with me. "I just can't believe you talked back to him."
"Yeah. Me either."
We walked into our first class, which is English. At the whiteboard, a young woman wearing a white sweater and a pleated skirt scribbled away. Danielle and I took our seats.
The teacher stopped writing on the board and turned to us. "Hello, class. Welcome back! Did everybody have a great summer?"
"Yes," everybody said.
"Good." Then she looked at me. "You must be Christopher Carrera. I'm Mrs. Baxter. Welcome to our school."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." She smiled at me. Then Mrs. Baxter gave us a list of what books we will be reading, when book reports are due, and what else we'll be studying, like Greek mythology and poetry. Before class ended, Mrs. Baxter says, "Okay class. We will start working on our assignments tomorrow. Have a great day!"
The rest of the morning went by quickly than I expected. Next thing I know, I am having lunch in the cafeteria eating spaghetti.
"So, Chris," Austen said, "how come we've never seen you around here before?"
"Um...well." I tugged at my hair. "We didn't visit my grandparents much before my grandma died, and we mostly spent the entire summer mourning over her."
"Nice, Austen," Layla said.
"Sorry, it's just weird we've never seen him before.
"Hey, I forgot. How did your grandma die?" Paul asked with his mouth full. Seth smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow! Damn it, Seth! What was that for?"
"Don't asked him that question," Seth scowled at him.
"It's fine," I told Seth. "She died from pneumonia."
During the rest of lunch, they all asked me questions about my family and my life back in St. Paul. I answered most of them the best I could before we head out for our next class.
When I was getting my things out of my locker, someone slammed the door shut and pinned me against it.
"Hey, you little shit. Remember me?" My eyes widened when I recognized it was the guy who called me a suck up earlier. "Yeah, I'm the guy who you called a dick earlier. No one calls me that and gets away with it."
"Yeah, kick his ass, Malcolm." The girl with the blue streaks in her hair smirked.
"Oh yeah. I like to see him try," I said, smirking back.
"Okay. You asked for it." He puts his arm back, making a fist. I closed my eyes, regretting what I just said. I was waiting for it to happen, but then I fell to the floor and heard a slam! I opened my eyes and saw Malcolm by the lockers on the other side of the hallway.
"Hey. You okay?"
I saw a hand reached out to me.
"Yeah, thank you so much-" I started to say, but then I looked up and stopped.
And that's when I saw him.