Aces

FIVE

Amaya

"You can take a seat next to Avery, right over there." Mrs Winson instructed. I made my way over to my seat at the front of the classroom. Something about this Avery girl just radiated huge 'teacher's pet' energy. That's when I saw her badge: Head of the School Council? Pfft. I've got to give it to her, though, she's pretty. This should be fun. Taking my seat, I prepared myself for the long day ahead of me. Whilst I was getting out my pencil case, I felt something hit my arm. Great: some posh, white kid had passed me a note. There was absolutely no way that this could go well. Filled with dread, I unfolded the slightly crumpled paper. In extremely neat handwriting, it read:

𝐹𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈? :)

This was weird. Why would she want to talk to me, let alone be friends? I took my pen and scribbled something back on the paper.

Sure.

I watched as she read the simple, 4-letter word and smiled. Wow, her smile was stunning: a straight line of perfect, white teeth. Trigonometry is hard to get a grip of on its own, nevermind when some random girl just asked to be friends after knowing me for what? A minute? I hope she's genuine; my friends from my old school stopped talking to me after I told them I was moving, so I have no one, since you can't really count your mother and 11 year old brother as friends.

At the end of the lesson, everyone rushed to get out and I was nearly swept off my feet. Well, that's no different to a public school. I left the classroom with Avery trailing behind me. "Hey, Amaya"
"'Sup?"
"Would you maybe want to hang out after school?"
"I mean yeah, but what makes you want to talk to me? Don't you have better friends? Plus, the other kids I've walked past today have constantly given me weird looks. Did I do something wrong? Is it my uniform? My hair?" Words were flowing from my mouth uncontrollably, and it wasn't until I'd finished speaking that I realised how much of a train wreck I was coming off as.
"No, oh God, no. This school is full of stuck-up bullies who take their anger out on others. Trust me, it's nothing personal." Maybe I didn't want to, but I liked this girl. Somehow, she was very effortlessly comforting.
"Yeah sure, where do you want to meet?"
"How does the music room sound?"
"I would say great, but I have no idea where that is."
"Did you not get a map?"
"You got a map?"
"No, well yes, in Year 7, but I assumed that because it's your first day the school would've given you something."
"Nope, I just got my timetable sent to me over summer."
"Wait, how did you find the maths classroom?"
"It wasn't easy. I ended up asking this freakishly short teacher for directions."
"Was the teacher female?"
"Yeah, but why would it matter?"
"Oh my! That was Miss Benner. She's a drama teacher here and a lovely thing she is. She's my favourite. I love drama, and I hope to go into acting one day."
"That's cool. I like Mrs Winson, she's pretty nice. Music and P.E are my favourite subjects though, always have been."
"Do you play an instrument?"
"Guitar. I sing too, but I'm not very good."
"You should join the choir. Don't worry, it's not boring songs or anything. Each year, 4 pupils from the choir are chosen to perform at big competitions all over the country." That really sparked my interest. Although, I'd never really sung in front of anyone other than Ma, Pa and Noah, and maybe it was better for me to keep myself unnoticed.
"I'll consider it. I'm guessing you sing too, then?"
"All the time. My family is probably sick to death of my voice."
"I doubt it. You look like you have a wonderful voice."
"Um, thank you?"
"So, Head of the School Council? How many people did you have to kill to get that?" I joked. Avery looked at me with pure concern. "I'm kidding... you didn't think I was serious, did you?"
"Oh, no, it's just-"
"I'm sorry, it was a stupid thing to say."
"It's okay, I've heard worse."
"Really?"
"Hey, since you don't have a map, shall I show you around until you know where everything is?"
"Even when I do know where things are, I'd quite like you to walk to class with me. You seem nice." Avery blushed at my comment. It's clear she doesn't get complimented very often, which is surprising given that she's so popular.
"You're very kind. Thank you. Oh, here are the English classrooms. Wait 'till you meet our English teacher; you're in for a really entertaining lesson here, Amaya."

I think I've just made myself my first genuine friend.