Summerton High (Zeke Thompson: Minute Men)

First Day Jitters

"Welcome to the first day of school Summerton High!" I hear on the loud speaker as I walk to the front doors of the building. I don't know anyone here, it's senior year though, it shouldn't be that bad; I hope.

I look down at my binder, it has my locker number and combination written on the front along with my schedule slipped into the plastic pocket on the front. I walk down the loud busy hall way to my locker; of course a top locker when I'm so short. I roll my eyes and stand on my tippy toes entering the combination 4-21-18.

I put my binder, folder, notebooks, extra pens and pencils in along with a small bag of feminine hygiene products. I check my schedule and see I have math, history, and science before lock break and lunch. I put my three notebooks for each class and pencil case in my backpack then I take out my schedule from my binder and put it inside one of the notebooks and walk to math.

I sit down in the back, I hate when people sit behind me I'm really self conscious. I'm the sixth one in class, a boy with long blonde hair keeps looking back at me, smiling. I smile softly back and tuck my curly dirty blonde hair behind my ear nervously. After the second bell a really tall dark brown haired boy walks in, he looks shy, everyone seems scared of him, I catch myself staring once he looks in my direction.

I softly tap my eraser on my desk and adjust my seating. He walks to the desk directly in front of me, once he sits down he turns to me, "Can you see if I sit here?" I look to see if I can, I nod. He gives me a thumbs up and turns back around.

"Good morning, mostly familiar faces in the room today!" The teacher announces as he walks in, "I know most of us know who each other are, but first day of school protocols we do an introduction. Name and favorite subject, I'll start; Hi class, I'm Mr. Reed and my favorite subject is, believe it or not, math." He chuckles at himself then points to the girl in the front right corner, "We'll start here and go up and down the rows." Everyone introduces themselves then it gets to the blonde haired boy who was looking at me, "Hi, my name is Virgil Fox and my favorite subject is science." Then my row begins, I'm last. The tall boy in front of me begins to talk, I'm nervous, "I'm Zeke Thompson, I like metal." He sounds annoyed with everyone.

I take a silent deep breath, "I'm Sadie Lukas and my favorite subject is math." "You have great taste." Mr. Reed says, "Teacher's Pet." I hear someone mumble, I bite the inside of my cheek and tap my eraser softly. Zeke looks at their direction, is he defending me or agreeing with them?

I roll my tears away and stare down at the floor for the rest of class. I'm really sensitive, I take everything to heart, I'm trying to change but it's hard. The boy who mumbled that towards me comes up to me at the end of class, he's standing in front of my desk hovering over me, "Are you really upset? You can't take a joke?" I roll my eyes and go to stand up, he blocks me, "Come on new girl, take a joke." I try to move past him and he steps in front of me again, Zeke pushes him away from me, "She clearly doesn't want to talk to you Derek, move." Derek and I both look up to Zeke, he's so tall. Derek walks away, "See you around new girl." I sigh then look back up to Zeke, "Thanks." He nods and walks away.

I walk towards my next class and hear light running foot steps behind me, "Hey!" I turn and see the blonde boy from my class jogging towards me, "Hey." I speak and smile softly. "Sadie, right?" I nod, "Virgil?" I question, he smiles and nods, "That is me!" He chuckles, I let out a soft laugh, "Where are you headed?" He asks as we walk up stairs, "History, so exciting!" I say sarcastically and roll my eyes, "I'm heading there too, Mr. Falconi right?" I smile and nod, at least I'll know someone in there, "Wanna sit together?" He asks as he opens the door for me, "Yes sure, thank you." I walk into class and let him lead us to our seats.

Class goes by smoothly, Virgil is really funny! "I'm right across the hall from you next period before lunch, do you want to eat together?" He asks, I nod, "Of course!" We both smile, "I'm gonna be honest all of my friends are...well let's just say they are awkward around girls, just warning you." I shake my head and shrug, "Not a problem, I don't judge."

Third period finally ends and I leave class to find Virgil waiting for me right outside the door, "Hey Virg!" I smile, "Lunch here is really good!" He looks over and down at me, "I'm not much of a lunch eater, I'm just going so we can sit together." He looks concerned, "You should eat." I shake my head, I have an eating disorder developed due to the likes of my mother. I go days without eating and sometimes I'll eat all day and feel so guilty about it all, hopefully he won't notice, he seems very observant.

"I'm not really hungry and like I said I'm not a lunch person, dinner is my favorite." He nods and smiles, "I can dig it." He grabs his school lunch and walks us over to his friends' table: "Hey guys this is my new friend, Sadie." He introduces me, I wave softly. "This is my best friend Charlie Tuttle," he begins, "The others aren't really my friends they're just here." He whispers to me, I put my hand over my mouth, "Oh my goodness, mean!" I whisper back then smile so he knows I'm not offended.

Lunch goes by okay, the smell of food made me nauseous but I tried to hide it. Charlie keeps whispering to Virgil as we walk to lockers, we're in the same hall, "Charlie, we should tell her!" Virgil whispers loudly, "Is everything okay? I can leave if you want it's okay." I say softly, "No no no! It's just Charlie, he, he invented something really cool bu-" Charlie cuts Virgil off, "But we need someone to build it and it's not important, goodbye Sadie." Charlie pushes Virgil and they walk away, "I'll find you later I'm sorry." Virgil says as he walks away. I furrow my eyebrows a little then walk over to my locker.

I switch out my notebooks then walk to bake shop. I see Virgil and Charlie quietly arguing. I walk by without saying anything so I don't bother them, "Sadie!" Virgil calls, I turn to him he's waving me over, "Can I trust you?" He says softly to me, I nod, "I don't have friends so who else would I tell?" I justify, Charlie looks nervous, "Charlie created what he thinks could be a time machine, we need someone to help build it and to manage it IF we decide to use it." Virgil whispers to me, "That's really cool, I want to help, it seems really fun. And if he did create that, that's so amazing!" I say in a quiet tone, Virgil smiles, Charlie sighs, "I hope she won't mess this up." Charlie doubts me, that's okay I'm use to it. I walk back to my seat and just wait for class to be over.

After class Charlie and Virgil wait for me, we all have study hall this period, "We need to find a mechanic." Charlie stresses, "I think I know someone, come on." Virgil drags Charlie and I follow, "Guys, I don't thin-" Charlie cuts me off, "Zeke Thompson?" He questions Virgil, my eyes dart towards the metal shop class. "He's scary!" Charlie whispers loudly, they begin to bicker once again and fail to notice; Zeke is listening. "Virgil." I tap his shoulder then point up to Zeke, Charlie seems scared, Virgil tries to play it cool. "Can you, build something for us?" Zeke furrows his eyebrows, "What?" "Let's meet at," Virgil scans the hall, "Sadie! Yes let's meet at Sadie's house after school." He wraps his arm around my neck, "Sure." Zeke sounds annoyed, "Um, I live at 87 Oakridge Lane." I say softly, he nods then walks back to his class. What did I get myself involved in?

School finally ends after two more classes and I rush to my car to go home. My mom isn't home which is good, she'd hate if I had company over. I run upstairs and put my backpack in my room then go back downstairs. I hear a motorcycle and a car pull up outside of my house, it's the boys.