Melody

CHAPTER 1

He was new here. It was obvious the moment he stepped into the classroom. He was at least five foot six, which mind you, was quite tall for our age. He was clad in faded jeans and a plain blue t-shirt. He wore a bored expression, as though he didn't have a care in the world.

A sudden hush fell as soon as he arrived, but it didn't last long. Soon, ripples of hushed whispers rose to a crescendo.

"Oh wow, look at those eyes."

"He is so cute!"

"And he has a very nice butt."

The last statement threw the girls sitting behind me into a fit of giggles. Lily rolled her eyes at the bunch. Of course, it had to be Justina.

"But seriously, he's gorgeous." Justina squealed in response.

There she goes again, I thought, mirroring Lily's action.

"Quiet, everyone!" Our English teacher barked, or rather attempted to, for it came out more like a squeak.

She turned to the new boy.

"You're the new student assigned to this class?"

His only response was a curt nod. His sharp, piercing eyes never stopped moving, surveying the occupants of the room, as though there was a rare gem hidden in one of our pockets.

"Well?" she snapped impatiently.

Again, all he did was raise a questioning brow. The whole class had gone very still, except for a few girls who were not quite done yet with their drooling.

"Could he be dumb?" Lily whispered to me.

I shrugged. He sure seemed to be.

"Introduce yourself, young man."

All traces of tolerance were gone from the teacher's voice now.

"Name's Marcus, just transferred from Gems International."

Yep, definitely had something for gems. He still wore his bored look, as though he had no interest in the proceedings. The teacher was infuriated; it was plain from the way her jaw was ticking that it was taking her all her willpower to refrain from hitting the boy.

"I see," she turned back to the class, "now can you give him a warm welcome?"

A shower of boos and jeers greeted him. A warm welcome, indeed. The sides of the petite teacher's mouth lifted slightly, but she gave an exaggerated sigh and motioned to the boy.

"Take a seat and get settled in so we can get on with this class."

I guess an introduction is long overdue. My name is Melody, and I am from West Africa, Nigeria to be precise. I was born somewhere in the States, but my parents decided it was best that I grew up in my country of origin. They probably wished for me to get accustomed to the ways of the land.

We arrived back home when I was ten years old. By we, I mean the entire family, all six of us. Our relatives were already here, so the move was easy on us. On settling in, we found out that according to the educational system here, one was ready to attend a secondary school at the age of ten.

I'm twelve years old, so yeah, this tale is about my third year in secondary school. Which is also my final year in junior secondary school. I fit in just fine, and made a new friend this year. Yep, you guessed right. Lily. We were so close even though she was from a different tribe.
I think I should get back to telling the tale. You'll probably get the rest of the details along the way.

Soon, it was time for recess. I turned around to watch the crowd of students gathering where Marcus sat. Justy was right. He was indeed "gorgeous". He had piercing eyes, which sparkled when he smiled. I just had one glimpse of the ghost of a smile on his lips.