Messed Up

Chapter 3: Homeroom and the Bully

POV: Max

We arrived at Jackson middle school. I walked through the school front entrance doors and into the hallway. I once again was terrified at how large the school was and realized that I couldn't remember where to go from here to my Homeroom class. I know that it was only just last Thursday night, but to me, that seemed like an eternity ago. Not wanting anyone to notice my fear on my very first day, I opened my backpack and got out my schedule and map of the school that my mom had packed for me. I knew that I needed to stop by my locker first so that I could unload my jacket and all my books so I wasn't carrying everything from class to class. Luckily, my locker was near my Homeroom.

Studying the paper, I thought to myself, "Mr. Bellhouse was my homeroom teacher. Great, isn't he the math teacher too?"

I almost cringed as I remembered the guy from Thursday night. He didn't seem like he was going to be a nice teacher at all, like Ms. Maddison who was my 5th grade teacher, and my favorite of all my elementary teachers. Well, at least I only had two classes with him, I would have hated to have all school day with him like I would have back in elementary. As I was concentrating on my map and thinking of this, I suddenly felt a small tap on my shoulder, and out of instinct, I turned around. Out of all the people, I wouldn't have even expected who it was, it was that kid Julian.

"I was wondering if you knew where Mr. Bellhouse's room was?" He asked shyly while holding up his own class schedule.

"Great!" I thought, "He's in my homeroom now." I then then smiled at him as I politely tried to help him. "To be honest, I am not sure, but my mom put instructions here on how to find my way to each of my classes." I then showed him my map that my mom made me. "So, I guess we can follow them to find it." I offered while continuing to smile at him.

I really wasn't sure about him. Earlier, he didn't want to talk to me at all and suddenly, he had the courage, to now only openly, ask for my help, but also follow me to my class. Did he not realize that he could have just easier gone to the office and asked for help? Maybe even though I didn't realize it, I had struck a small chord with Julian.

Julian mumbled back a, "Thanks."

"Just want to let you know that I need to stop at my locker first, what about you?" I asked him.

"I'm not really sure where it is yet? I guess I will be okay for now." He seemed to shrug it off with his answer.

As we got to where my locker was, I fumbled with the lock, trying to remember how to work it. It took me a few times before I finally got the combination in right and was able to unload all my books that I wouldn't need until after lunch. This way my bag would be much lighter and I wouldn't feel like I was carrying around a ton. If it had been up to me, I would have left all the books here last Thursday that way I wouldn't have to haul them all here today. Mom though insisted that I bring them home and at least look them over and make sure there was no damage and also get a chance to see what I would be looking forward to in my classes this year. Trust me when I said this, I didn't open one of those books during my last few days of summer.

We walked into Mr. Bellhouse's class right on time. All of the seats were filled except for two right next to each other. I sat down in one and Julian in the other. I could tell that right this moment, today was going to be a long day.

Standing at the front of the room, Mr. Bellhouse said, "Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Bellhouse. I am very happy to be teaching a new group of sixth graders at this fine institution. For those of you that missed orientation night last week and didn't get the understanding of what we do here, I will go over that in a minute but first, I would like to take a few minutes for everyone to introduce themselves, so we can all get to know each other, before we officially start the school year."