An Ear to Lend

three

Sophie quickly found her way to her first period class, having thoroughly studied her schedule the night before. She was one of the first students to arrive and she chose a seat in the back, nestling her fully stocked backpack onto the floor.

She pulled a new composition book and a pen from her bag, placed them on her desktop, and proceeded to stare absentmindedly down at them. She was mildly aware of other students trickling in and filling the seats around her.

The first bell sounded and a rush of kids burst in. The drone of chattering voices filled the classroom. The sound heightened Sophie's nerves. She fiddled with her hands in her lap, noticing how sweaty they'd become. She drew in a deep breath. She could do this. She didn't have another choice.

She finally raised her gaze to observe the room around her. Nearly all of the desks, arranged in neat rows, were filled with a mixture of young men and women. However, the desk next to Sophie remained empty, and if anyone had noticed her, they hadn't said anything. She sighed in relief as the final bell rang.

Just at the ring of the bell, one more person made his way through the door, slamming down his backpack onto the desktop and cramming himself into the desk seat with a thud. Sophie jumped, startled.

Her eyes shot over and she caught the gaze of the boy. His wide, blue eyes were intense, piercing hers. She felt a rush of goosebumps before she tore her eyes away from the boy's, feeling her cheeks redden.

He seems like a jerk. Who cares if he's cute? she thought to herself. But he was definitely kind of cute, she decided. He had long, blonde hair and a beautifully shaped face. He could have been a statue or an angel. He was dressed in ratty jeans and a flannel shirt.

Sophie had never been around a guy like him before, she knew it. The boys at her private school back in New York had been clean-cut and mostly pretentious. This guy, aside from his shocking good looks, looked like he could have easily been homeless.

Sophie was distracted when the teacher, a short, plump woman with a kind smile, began speaking.

"Class, we'll get started now," she called out, as the room silenced and everyone turned to face forward. "This is grade twelve intermediate English. My name is Mrs. Sweet and I'm excited to be your teacher this school year. I think we're going to have a wonderful time together."

"Before we begin, I'll call roll so we can make sure you've all found the right place. Then we'll go over the syllabus and see where we are going to get started this year." Sophie listened intently as Mrs. Sweet began reading off names, because she certainly didn't want to miss hers.

"Cobain, Kurt."

"Here!" The boy next to her called, before putting his head down on his desk and proceeding to ignore everything that was going on. Sophie could hardly believe that students here got away with acting like that. She couldn't imagine if someone had acted so uninterested back at her private school.

"Harper, Sophia."

"Here," Sophie answered timidly, noticing out of the corner of her eyes that the boy, Kurt's eyes were on her again for a brief moment. But as she glanced back over towards him, he promptly put his head down again.

Mrs. Sweet finished roll call and began talking about the syllabus she'd handed out. Sophie was relieved that she didn't have to go through the humiliation of being introduced as the new student. She listened intently as her eyes perused the syllabus's reading list. Her heart sank. She'd already read nearly every book on the list, everything from To Kill a Mockingbird to 1984.

English was Sophie's favorite subject and she couldn't imagine spending the whole year bored, having nothing to challenge her. She imagined that a lot of students here didn't care about academics, but she had been raised to. At her old school, everyone was competitive for the best grades. Sophie worried she'd be bored here in this dreary, dull town. She wondered if she could get her schedule changed and decided to ask about it.

When class ended, she nervously approached Mrs. Sweet's desk.

"Yes, dear?" The teacher asked.

"Hi, I'm Sophia, um, Sophia Harper. I'm new to this school this year."

"Yes, it's nice to meet you."

"You as well. As I was looking over the syllabus, I noticed that I've already done most of the reading on the list. I wondered if there's a different class I might take instead."

"I do actually teach an advanced English class that sounds like it might be more appropriate for a student like you. If you go to the office now, dear, they should be able to get you in with the guidance counselor to change things around, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you so much," Sophie answered politely.

"Any time, Sophia," answered Mrs. Sweet. She really seemed to live up to her name. "Have a great first day."

Sophie headed for the school's office, which she had seen on her way through the front doors. She found a line at the secretary's desk, so she stood patiently and waited.

A moment later, a commotion behind her made her turn towards the door. It was a frowning Kurt, being led in by a very stern-looking, bespectacled man that Sophie imagined was a teacher. He guided Kurt to the entryway to one of the offices.

"I caught this one smoking in the bathroom again. Please write him up for detention," said the teacher with disgust.

"Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mitchell," a male voice answered from inside the office. "Mr. Cobain, you'll report to detention after school today."

"Yes, sir," answered Kurt, with what sounded like immense sarcasm to Sophie.

"Then you're free to go now, Mr. Cobain. Get to class." Kurt turned to leave, coming back towards Sophie who gaped at what was happening.

"What are you looking at?" Kurt snapped at her suddenly as he walked by. Her eyes widened. She was rendered speechless as Kurt Cobain stormed past her and out the doorway of the office, the offensive smell of smoke still clinging to him.

I guess he really is a jerk after all, Sophie decided.

That was her first interaction with another student at school. If things kept up this way, it sure was going to be a long year.