The New Boy

Chapter two

After about six hours of hell, school I mean, it's 1:30. That being the eleventh grades time for lunch.

I walk to lunch, knowing that I have to eat like I told myself earlier. I walk slowly behind everyone.

I arrive at lunch and get my food, a caesar salad. I go through the lunch line and someone behind me coughs.

"Fat," they say in between coughs. I ignore it and pretend like I don't hear it.

I walk to the back table, sitting alone. I see no sign of Jake, I'm guessing he has a different lunch shift. I take out my phone and put in my headphones, putting my music on shuffle. I look down at the food then at my stomach. I slowly eat some after I mix in the dressing in. I slowly eat bits of it. I have the very intense feeling that everyone is staring at me. My hands shake a little as I put the fork to my mouth. I bounce my left leg up and down rapidly.

I eventually can't take it anymore and I grab the tray, walking up to the trashcan and throwing it away.

I walk out of the lunchroom with my head down. No one really noticed me, I don't think they do anyways. I walk to the bathroom and lean against the wall. I let out a small sigh of relief and I lightly snap a rubber band against my wrist.

I've been clean from self-harming for almost 1 month, that's the longest I've gone without cutting in years. I flick the rubber band on my arm for about ten minutes. After that, my wrist is a pinkish-red color. I lightly roll up my sleeve and walk over to the sink. I turn on the cold water and run it on the red mark. The scars covering my wrists are still there, but they are very slowly getting better and fading.

I smile at the thought of recovering, hoping this is what it is. I grab a paper towel and dry off my arm, rolling my sleeve back down.

I hear the bell ring, dismissing everyone from lunch back to their class. I take a deep breath and open the door, the hallways are flooded with people. I walk back into the bathroom and shut the door again. I lean against the wall and wait a few minutes for the 'traffic' to go down. I open the door again and see very few people walking back. I start to walk and I slowly walk up the stairs while I hold on the railing.

Our middle school and high school are separated by stairs. We have 6-8th, middle school, on one side of the building. We have 9th-12th, high school, on the other half. Our half has stairs that lead to a higher level.

I walk to my last period class which is English. I walk in and sit in the back corner again. I don't even realize that Jake is already sitting next to the seat until I see him out of the corner of my eye. I slide into my chair and look over at him.

"Hey," I say quietly and he gives me a warming smile.

"Hey," he says back and I grab my binder, notebook, and pencil.

"What lunch shift are you?" I ask as we wait for the teacher who seems to be taking forever. I'm surprised I'm talking to him so easily.

"1:30," he says and I look at my notes from last class, trying to remember what we are doing. 1:30 is the same lunch shift as me but I didn't see him. I nod and keep looking at my binder.

"Hello," the teacher says as she walks in. "To start off, I see we have a new student," she says and gestures to Jake and he nods. Every class that Jake and I are in together the teachers have done that.

"Yes," Jake says back to her and she smiles at him. This is the only class that Brady isn't in that I have.

"That's good, you came in at just the right time. We are starting a partner project today." she says and looks around at the class. I can see as people make eye contact with their friends across the room. I keep looking at the teacher, waiting for details. "The book we read, Charlottes Web, is a 'easy read' book so this project should be simple." she says and starts to hand out what's like a rubric but with more details. I look over at Jake and he looks back at me.

"Want to be partners?" he asks and I nod, trying to hold back my smile. He's lucky he has such an easy time talking to people. I wanted to ask him, honestly I would have had to give myself like a pep talk. I mean it's definitely a little challenging for me.

The teacher goes on and on about how we only have a week, we have to make sure there are no spelling errors, it has to be typed with double space, grammar must be correct, and so on. There is really no need to listen to everything is on the paper in front of us. She explains that she will not make anyone come up and read what they have but if we want to we can.

"Everything I've said is on the paper in front of you. You're lucky I even explained it, I could have given you to and just said find a partner and do it." she finishes and we nod. "Find your partners." she says and sits at her desk.

Everyone at once gets up and walks around, finding partners. Every sits next to their partners and looks at the teacher. I look over at Jake and he is looking down at paper, smiling.

"We did the exact same thing right before I left my old school." he says and looks over at me. "I might still have the paper too." he says and I nod. I'm happy that we really don't have to do this since I didn't read it like I should have. "You know, I never got your name."

"I'm Jamie," I say back and he nods.

"Well Jamie, you don't talk much do you?" He asks and I shrug.

"Not really," I say back.

"Well do you want to come over after school to work on this?" Jake asks and I nod.

"Sure," I say and he lightly smiles.

"That is if your parents don't mind." he adds and I shake my head.

"The won't care." I say and he nods. I feel like adding on they don't care about me at all either so it's good. But I don't say anything like that.

"Okay," he says and I look back to at my paper.