Under the Counter ~ Luke Danes

7. Schedules and Familiar Strangers

Isabella stood in front of the large, ancient building and stared at it. Hundreds of kids greeting their friends out on the lawn, sidewalk and parking lot, walking past her. It smelled of clean cut, wet grass. She stood alone with her schedule in both her hands.
It had arrived about 3 days ago in her mailbox in a white envelope. She could feel the weight of her backpack on her shoulder but she believed it was caused by her tense nerves.

She looked around at everyone nervously, wondering if she looked like a loser because she was standing alone. It was currently 7:50 am and she couldn't wait for the day to fly by. She stared at her schedule and read it.

1st period: English- room 10 (8:00-9:05)
2nd period: History - room 34 (9:10-10:15)
3rd period: Science - room 16 (10:20-11:25)
Lunch: (11:25-12:00)
4th period: Physical Education - room 23 (12:05-1:10)
5th period: Math - room 14 (1:15-2:20)
6th period: Art/Elective - room 21 (2:25-3:15)

She made her way up the stairs to enter the building.
As she walked up the stairs, she could see the hallway filled with students. She looked back down at her schedule to make sure she was looking for the right room for the first period of the day.

"Room 10", she thought to herself, looking up every couple doors to see if she was heading the right direction.

The bell was about to ring. She arrived at the correct room and saw it filling up with students. She folded her schedule into a square, small enough to fit into her front pocket of her jeans. She decided to sit by the window in the middle of the room. She took off her backpack and placed it on the arms of the chair she sat in. She stared at the window beside her as she waited for the bell to ring.

Students came rushing in with their friends in pairs and she watched as they sat down next to each other.
Shortly after, the teacher walked in with a briefcase in hand. The bell rang not long after that.

"Hello class, I'm Mrs. Lawrence." The teacher faced the whiteboard and wrote down her name as she spoke. "Feel free to call me Mrs. L." The teacher began to describe how her summer had been, which took up about the first 5 minutes of class. "Okay class we will go around and I know some of you might know each other already and might have grown up together, but I don't know you so you will introduce yourselves and tell me three facts about you!" The teacher said happily and smiled as she leaned against her desk.

Isabella lightly rolled her eyes and looked at the window, a little annoyed. She hated public speaking. It freaked her out, the feeling of multiple eyes on her, felt like she was being stalked. The first few students Jane, Brady, Max, Olivia, Steve, Chris, etc, introduced themselves before her. She got more nervous each time a student had finished speaking, knowing that it is getting closer for her to speak.

The student before her had just finished introducing themselves. There it was, the feeling of being watched. She shifted in her seat a little bit, tucked her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat before speaking. "Hi my name is Isabella Jimenez. I'm 18 years old, I'm new to Stars Hollow and this is my first and last year of high school here, and I moved here from California." Even though it was a short response, it felt like a lifetime. She didn't look up once while she spoke.

Her teacher noticed how nervous she was. She wanted to comfort her. "It's nice to meet you Isabella, and welcome to Stars Hollow!" Isabella looked up at her and noticed she gave her a soft smile. She smiled back at her. Isabella was deep in her thoughts while the rest of the class introduced themselves. She thought about Luke, how he was doing without her working at this time of day, her friends, how lonely she felt at times without them, and if she should tell them about her crush on Luke.

*rrrrrrrrrrrringggggggggg*

The bell cut her off from her thoughts. She hoped no one noticed that she zoned out. As she was startled back into reality, she gathered her backpack and slipped it on. She snatched her schedule out of her front pocket. She scanned the paper to see which room number she had to attend next. She looked at her schedule as she walked to her next class. As she searched for room 34, she bumped into someone, a dark figure. They were taller than her and smelled of strong, clean cologne. "Oh my god I'm so sorry, I should've watched where I was going." She quickly said looking at her feet.