Metamorphose.

Chapter Two.

To my horror, David walked me to the front office of the school, chattering about their good drama program. Like I was going to take part in any extracurriculars.

A short, stubby man who seemed to be in charge - the principal, perhaps - greeted us when we walked through the doors. The smells of cleaning products and floor wax almost smothered me. The school was five times bigger than my old one, easily. Probably five times cleaner, too.

"Hello, welcome! What can I do ya for?" the man boomed. His voice was reedy and high - a striking contrast to his rough, older appearance.

"This is my daughter, Kelsey Parks. She's a new student here, and, uh, well, I suppose, uh . . . "

"Oh yes!" the short man interrupted my dad, who's struggle for words was almost funny. "I'm your assistant principal, Mr. Wages. Right this way."

As we followed him through a maze of stairs, corridors, and winding hallways, he droned on and on about things I didn't care about. One thing did catch my attention, though - "Would you believe you're our fourth new student this week? And it's only Wednesday!"

My old school might have gotten four new students a year.

We went into an office that was the size of a classroom, with fancy furniture and lots of medals and certificates. The two adults discussed scheduling and transportation while I sat wordlessly, only coming out of my quiet stupor to answer the few questions I was asked.

Before I knew it, the short man - err, Mr. Wages (I didn't want to get in the habit of calling him "the short man", for obvious reasons) - was leading me out the door to my homeroom.

"Listen up, students! This is Kelsey Parks. She's a new student here, so make her welcome. She came all the way from Washington!" Mr. Wages announced. I mentally imagined choking him - I was from Oregon.

All the students gaped at me. I checked to make sure a third arm didn't sprout somewhere or something like that.

What I realized though, was that they were looking at me in awe because, just as I feared, I was the misfit small town girl. As soon as I turned my back, they were going to be laughing or joking or making fun of me. Even in a town as big as this, I still couldn't avoid attention. Just my luck.

"Hello, Kelsey. We don't have an empty seat for you just now, but you're welcome to sit in Alicia's seat - she's absent today. When she comes back, though.. Oh dear. We'll arrange something. Over by the window, in the third row," the teacher said. She was an older lady, but she looked like she would have been very beautiful back in her day.

I sat down in my new seat - the only one that wasn't being occupied in the whole room. All I had was a pencil and a notebook; everyone else had at least two textbooks, folders, journals . . . I felt so underprepared.

I looked around the room. And that's when I saw him.

He was the most beautiful boy in the room - perhaps the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen. Unlike with most other guys, I didn't apply the words "hot" or "cute" to him. He was gorgeous, but his face made him seem like there was more to him. He looked like he had a story. I wasn't sure how I could tell, but the instant I realized it, I knew it was true.

He met my gaze with his baby blue eyes until I became embarrassed and looked away. As I tried to gather my thoughts, someone turned my direction and greeted me.

"Hey. I'm Joseph." I turned and looked at the boy, trying to look at him impartially. He was sorta cute, but after just seeing the boy with the blue eyes, he was no comparison. I didn't want to talk to him.

"H-hi," I managed to stammer. If someone was brave enough to talk to the new girl, I'd better take advantage of it.

"Who do you have for first period? I could walk you to class," Joseph offered.

I was stunned. He kept giving me this weird look I couldn't understand . . . My intuition told me that he was checking me out. How odd. No one had ever done that before.

I pulled my schedule from my pocket and glanced over it. "Uh, Mrs. Hardin?" I replied.

"Ah, sucks for you," Joseph said. "She'll beat the tar out of you."

I took that as a figure of speech.

"Oh . . . Who do you have?" I asked.

"Johnson - but I can still walk you to class. If you want."

I nodded. I didn't want to get lost in this giant school. "Thanks."

The bell rang then, and Joseph walked by my side. He was really very friendly - perhaps too friendly, but I wasn't going to complain.

I peeked at the blue-eyed boy one last time before exiting the room. He smirked.