Nothing but Hurt

Chapter 5: A New Acquaintance

The next day at school, Monday, I walked into class the way I did every other time. I had finished my portion of the short story and today Val and I were going to put our separate parts together and would hopefully finish by tomorrow, which would leave us more free time for the following week while everyone else worked on their projects. Originally, we were going to meet up on the weekend but then decided against it because we needed to ask the teacher some questions anyway.

I sat down on the chair and zipped up my thin jacket. It was relatively cold today. I heard footsteps walking toward me and looked up, expecting to see the teacher or maybe Val, but instead, it was this Indian girl I had never seen before. She was pretty, with hot pink glasses and short hair, part of which she had separated into tiny braids.

"Hi," she said nervously. "Can I sit here?" She pointed to the seat next to me. "I'm new at school and I don't know anyone around."

I shrugged. "Sure."

She sat down and I watched as she arranged her school supplies on her desk.

"My name's Niru," she introduced herself. "I just moved here from Washington, the state, not the city," she clarified. "What about you?"

"Mina," I told her. "What class do you have next?"

She took out a piece of paper from her pencil case and squinted at the writing. "Um, I think Science in the room... 802?"

"Oh, I have the same class next."

"Nice."

That was about the extent of our conversation as more people began to flood in. I looked around for Val, but strangely she wasn't there. At the end of class, as I got my stuff out of my locker, I took out my phone and texted her.

                                                                                                                                        U okay? Why aren't u in school

                                                                                                                                                                       Read 8:34 am

A few seconds later, I got a response.

not feeling good. I'll come tmrw may be

okay

Delivered

"Hey, you said we had the same science class, right?" I looked behind me and saw Niru standing behind me awkwardly.

I shook my head to break myself out of my thoughts. "Right. Um, just this way."

I began walking down the hallway while Niru walked silently next to me.

About midway through the class, she spoke. "So... what are your hobbies?"

I shrugged. "Uh, just reading and writing I guess."

"Oh, nice. I like playing the guitar."

"That's cool. I play the piano, but I haven't played in a while."

"Oh, okay. I used to play the piano, or well I tried to, but I didn't like it a lot. I just couldn't move my fingers around the keys fast enough."

I nodded, unsure of what to say next. The whole conversation seemed a bit forced. In a few minutes, we arrived at our science class and she sat next to me.

"What bus number are you?" I asked her to pass the time.

"Um, 42."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, same. I think I saw someone moving in a week ago. Was that you?"

"Probably, but I don't even know. The community is so big."

"It is," I agreed.

We exchanged numbers and that was the only thing that happened that day. Oh, and at lunch I finally had someone to sit next to. It wasn't like we were friends really, but more like... mutual acquaintances. When I went home that day, I cherished the feeling of knowing that somehow within 4 days, I had made two somewhat friends.

A/N: Okay, this chapter is so short, but it's because I want to update on time and kind of had an author's block. The next chapter will be bigger, I promise.