The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Two

After a few minutes of searching, I finally found where I had to go for physical education. I saw it right when I walked through a small pair of gates. It was outside, right in front of the equipment room and near the track. There were people there either talking to one another, sitting down on what I now noticed were numbers that were freshly painted next to each other on the ground, or - in the case of a boy with chestnut colored hair - screaming loudly at somebody for god knows what reason. I ended up standing to the side awkwardly watching everyone.

Suddenly, the same bell that I heard just minutes ago rang again. Mostly everyone sat down, still whispering amongst themselves. I continued to stand there, trying to ignore the side glances that some of them gave me.

"Jason, sit down or I'll make you run around the track for the rest of the class."

I looked to see a man - who I supposed was Mr. Greene - with curly dark brown hair and a navy blue cap walk out of the equipment room holding a clipboard. At the tone of of his voice, the chestnut haired boy sat down instantly.

Mr. Greene glanced around at the people sitting in front of him before writing something on his clipboard. He then vaguely glanced around, until his eyes landed on me. I froze.

"You're the new student, right?" he asked me.

"Yes"

"Speak louder, I can't hear you."

"Yes, I'm the new student." I said more loudly this time, my face turning as red as my hair.

"What's your last name?"

"Barlowe."

"Alright. You can sit next to Zander for now. The person who usually sits there is absent, so we'll figure out what to do to you when he gets back." Mr. Greene said pointing to a spot next to a boy with black wavy hair and the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on a person.

I went to sit down on the spot that Mr. Greene pointed at. I noticed Zander eyeing me curiously and looked down at the ground.

"Look up!" Mr. Greene snapped. I couldn't help the gasp that came out of me as I looked up to see Mr Greene looking at me in a strict manner.

"I- S-Sorry..." was all I could manage to say. I blinked back tears as I heard a few people, including Zander, chuckle at th scene that was going on.

" I want you all to dress out in your uniform, bring out your binders, and jog out to the cones." Mr. Greene announced once he was done embarrassing me. A wave of confusion settled into my brain as I watched the people around me stand up and make their way to what I supposed were the locker rooms. What were these people doing?

"Noah, come and see me for a minute." Mr. Greene said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I took a deep breath and made my way to the small desk where he was sitting.

"Yes?"

" I'm not going to make you dress out today since you're new and don't have your PE clothes yet. Tomorrow you can go get them from the office. For now, I would like you to sit on your number until everyone is done running The Mile.

"The Mile?" I asked, a knot settling in my stomach.

"Every student at this school has to run The Mile on Wednesdays to train for the mile test which will be recorded and submitted for the state to see."he explained.

"O-Okay" I responded. After Mr. Greene's explanation, I felt slightly dizzy as I walked back to my number and watched as people began walking out of the locker rooms and jogging towards the cones on a huge field next to the track.

Not wanting to look at them, I turned away. That's when I noticed Mr. Greene following the students with another clipboard in his hand.

Huh. So I'll be alone for some time, I guess.

Wanting to distract myself and make the most out of the time that I had, I unzipped my backpack, pulled out my sketchbook and pencil, and flipped to my latest drawing - a frog wearing a lily pad on its head as a hat.

I began to work, trying to block out the noise around me, pretending that I was someplace else. It worked for a few minutes, however, when the shrill sound of Mr. Greene's whistle rang out across the field and pierced my eardrums, I stuffed my sketchbook in my backpack. I sighed and decided to rest my head on my backpack like a pillow.

As I layed there, I felt a sense of dread and nausea overwhelm me. I was only at this school for a half an hour and I already had to deal with strange looks and a teacher who had caused me immense embarrassment. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the long hours in store for me next. Why did dad have to loose his job? Why did he make me go to this stupid school?

"Hey, can you move away from my spot?" a voice asked. I closed my eyes tighter and ignored whoever had come to make fun of me next.

"Are you okay?" the voice asked when I didn't respond.

I finally opened my eyes and looked up to see Zander standing there and looking down at me with a raised eyebrow. I let out a squeak and quickly sat up and pulled my backpack closer to me.

"Um, I don't really..." I trailed off, staring at his eyes which were a cotton candy blue color. I noticed that his eyelashes seemed more longer than they were from far away and curled beautifully at the tips.

"A-Aren't you supposed to be running?" I blurted out. He snorted.

"I'm done."

"Already?"

"Yep." he answered, ever so casually, sitting down next to me. "4:35". My eyes widened when told his mile time.

"But that's so fast!" I exclaimed, hardly daring to believe it. I watched as he tried to hold back a laugh.

"Do fast runners not exist to you?" he asked, looking at me with what looked like a mix between a smirk and a smile.

"No, it's just that I've never known anyone that can run fast." I replied. I internally kicked myself for lying. Charlotte could run the same exact mile in less than 6 minutes.

"Huh." he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as the other people began to finish. I tried not to cringe as that chestnut haired boy, Jacob or whatever his name was, walked up to Zander and slapped hands with him.

About two minutes later when the last of the people began finishing, Mr Greene dismissed everyone to go to the locker rooms to change back into their clothes.

"Bye, New Kid." Zander told me, standing up and swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Bye." I said.

As I watched him walk into the boys locker room, I tried to ignore the tiny bit of saddness that I felt. After all, he was just another kid who sits next to me in PE.