Alison Harold

Chapter 5

"Settle down everyone," Mr. Allen said. "We have a new student in our presence today."

The class immediately went quiet and everyone hurried to their seats. Once they were all settled down Mr. Allen continued.

"I see Mr. Hawkins is back with his usual routine, huh?" His eyes traveled to the back of the class where an empty desk was. "Without further ado..." he turned to look at Alison. "Introduce yourself please."

Alison kept a brave face on but deep inside, anxiety was eating her up. The entire class had their eyes on her. The girls at her dorm were there too along with some boys who looked a little too excited about a new student joining them. Zelda sat in the middle of the class, she had her head resting on her desk, looking unbothered about everything and anything.

Alison gulped. "I'm Alison Harold."

The class was quiet after her short introduction. Is this how it was supposed to be? What kind of reaction was she expecting though? She had no idea. This was her first time in a class since fifth grade.

"That's it?" Mr. Allen looked puzzled.

Alison narrowed her eyes at him, equally confused. "Yes."

"Okay," Mr. Allen said. "Take the empty desk in front. Be nice everyone. Make sure to welcome her warmly."

Alison did as she was told. She took the desk in front keeping on an intimidating expression when she realized the other students weren't going to quit staring at her. She hated this sort of attention. It was the one thing she hated with passion. She exchanged glances with Zelda and caught her lips curling up into a small smile right before she took her seat.

"Welcome to another session," Mr. Allen said to the class, grinning from ear to ear. "Wow... isn't this nice? I'm your homeroom teacher for this session. Again. How do we feel?"

The class murmured in displeasure.

"Thrilled." Someone said from behind and the class giggled.

"As you should." His face went grim. "Have Mr Hawkins report to my office once he shows up. We've been at this since last semester. Even though I'm sure he's got a good explanation, I'd love to hear it directly from him."

Once Mr. Allen was done with welcoming them, he began roll call. Alison used that moment to observe her classmates. Where she sat was a single desk, so she didn't have any seat mate but she looked at the person that sat in the seat by her left. It was a boy, dark skinned, skinny and didn't look like a possible competitor at all. Yes, that was the main purpose of her observation. She needed to be aware of who her competitors were. If she was going to ace her grades, she had to be aware of who and who might attempt to push her down. Doing exceptionally well academically had always been a priority, she wasn't doing this just because her mom wanted it; it was because she wanted it too.

The girl by her right was already staring at her when she looked. Red hair, blue eyes, full lips, freckles... and what was that? Makeup? These people wear makeup to school? Her mascara, blush and lipgloss were a little to extreme. Her nails were polished with a light shade of blue.

"Hi," she said with a wide grin. "I'm Daphne."

This girl was definitely not a competitor. Usually the smartest kids sat in front from what she'd learned. Or was it different here?

Alison nodded and looked forward, reminding herself for the twentieth time that she wasn't here to make friends. This girl however wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Wanna hang out after classes are over?"

"No," Alison replied without looking at her.

"I can show you around. Give you a little tour around the school. What school did you attend before?"