The Anomaly

Skeptic Hopes

When the bus finally comes to a halt it's in front of Samantha's new school. Her chance to make something of herself and show the world that she belongs here with everyone else. No matter what they may say or think. If everyone else here could do it, she could too.

Samantha had a general idea of where her first class was. She'd had the opportunity to navigate the halls about a week ago and find the classes she'd been assigned. Yet she never got to see her teachers or many of the other students, so she was curious about what they would be like. Though finding her classes on memory was difficult, doubly so with dozens of students all around her, she does find her first class before the bell rings. 

Samantha walks in and the people that are already inside look at her. Samantha feels as if she's being carefully watched, and that brings back unwanted memories however she suppresses them. She hasn't been at the facility for over a year, the other students are likely just curious about a new face. 

The room has four tables formed in a square to make one bigger table, and these groups of four are scattered about the room. The far wall from the door has a line of windows over a heater for the room. In the corner across from the door is the teacher's desk and between there and the door is the whiteboard for the teacher's use. The wall connected to the door and the back wall away from the whiteboard is fairly plain aside from motivational words and other things related to the class. English, a language Samantha and Rava had a good grasp of. 

Samantha notices a square with a desk open and walks over and takes a seat. Already sitting at the square is two girls and one other boy. 

"Hi," Samantha says to the table with a smile. They respond in kind.

"Are you new here?" A girl asks.

"Yes actually, it's my first year." Both here and in school in general.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jessica."

"Penny."

"Call me Triston."

"Samantha Barns." Samantha thinks to shake their hands, an idea of her dad's but shaking each of their hands one by one seems weird in her hand so she resists.

"Where are you from Samantha?" Penny asks. Samantha refrains from mentioning the base she grew up on.

"Lived here my whole life." Not a lie.

"That's cool, where'd you go to school before here?" Questions she's already rehearsed. 

"I was homeschooled." Also technically not a lie.

"And they let you jump into tenth grade? You must be pretty smart." Triston says with a whistle.

"I try."

"Alright class, I'll give everyone another five minutes or so for latecomers and then we'll get started." A female teacher walks in with a binder and sets up her desk carefully. 

After the promised five minutes the teacher calls attendance and names off everyone in the class. She then has everyone tell two truths and a lie and the class has to guess which is which as a way to introduce everyone. Samantha's are that she was adopted, she's never played a sport, and that she's five-ten. The lie was her height, she was only five-nine. The teacher passes around a paper for the students to hand their parents. Asking them questions like concerns, contact information, and other important things.

The class draws to a close and the chaos of the hallways commences once again. Her next class was relatively close thankfully. Something called chemistry. Samantha hadn't read too much into the subject, it seemed complicated to her. Another curiosity she had about the students in her class was the way people dressed.