"You're a sophomore?! Ha, NERD!" A student from the back of the class shouted this when the teacher, Mr. Joe, asked me what grade I was in. A few of the other students giggled and my face began to heat up. Great start on my first day.
"You can sit in that empty seat over there," Mr. Joe motioned towards the desk in the back of the room, next to the window. This desk, unfortunately, was positioned directly in front of the girl who called me out just seconds before. She was blonde and perfectly groomed. I suppose she was cute, in a preppy, I'm-better-than-you-so-don't-associate-yourself-with-me sort of way.
I placed my stuff next to my seat and sat down, ignoring the whispering and snickering going on behind me.
In an attempt to go unnoticed, I ducked my head and quickly scribbled down the notes on the board. It only took about two minutes until I felt something hit the back of my head. I looked back to see a wadded up piece of paper. I rolled my eyes and continued to take notes.
The second time the paper was launched onto my head was when the teacher stepped out of the classroom to deliver some paperwork. I took a deep breath and turned to face the obnoxious prick behind me.
"What the hell are you, 5?" I said with a snap.
Silence. Dead silence. All eyes were now on me, then her, then back on me. Suddenly, a muffled laugh escaped from the boy next to me, who I hadn't noticed before. The class erupted in an explosion of "OHHHH"s, hand clapping, and finger pointing. The girl's freckles disappeared under the bright red that had spread across her face.
Just then, the bell rang and everyone abruptly shuffled their papers together and headed for the door. In the corner of my eye, I saw the girl walking quickly to the exit and couldn't help but smirk a little. I took out my schedule. Room 534. If I remembered correctly, that was upstairs and across the entire building. I sighed and swung my backpack onto my shoulder.
As I was heading out of the classroom, I felt someone walk up next to me. It was the boy who laughed out loud earlier. His hair was black and he had to be at least six inches taller than I was. He was pretty cute, I had to admit, but I wasn't going to bother trying anything. I didn't need first day complications.
"Hey, that was a ballsy move you did back there," he said with a laugh, "major props. No one likes Nicole anyways so it's about time someone said that shit to her face."
"Thanks," I said, unsure of how to respond, "are all the girls here that annoying?"
"Nah, it's mainly just Nicole," he shrugged, "what's your next class?" He took my schedule and raised his eyebrows. "Impressive, AP Euro. And you're a sophomore? Not bad." Yes, I am a sophomore. Can people just get over it already? Instead of saying this, however, I just shrugged nonchalantly. "Well I'll walk you to class and make sure you know where you're going."
"You don't have to," I interjected, "I can handle myself." I refused to allow myself to become a charity case.
"But I insist," he said, placing his hand on his chest declaratively, "I wouldn't want this wittle sophomore getting lost on her first day." His tone could almost pass as if he were speaking to an elementary student.
"Excuse me? This 'wittle sophomore' doesn't need your condescension, okay? So thank you very much, but I got this." What is with him? I'm a year younger, for crying out loud! Stupid upperclassmen assholes thinking they're so almighty. I began to turn away when he grabbed my shoulder swiftly.
"Hey! Hey, I was just kidding, geez." I raised an eyebrow at him, obviously unamused. "Alright, alright I'm sorry. At least let me walk you to class still."
I took a second to take his offer into consideration.
"Fine," I seceded.
Smiling, he said, "sweet" and we started walking down the, now empty, hallway.
"Won't you get in trouble for being late?"
"Nah, me and the principal are cool. He won't mind." He seemed to carry himself and everything he did in a laid back manner. He turned to face me. "Hey, I never got your name."
"I'm Ember."
"Nice to meet you, Ember. I'm Kai."
