Starships

Chapter 3

Rachel and I sit in the English classroom together, and just like Mr. Jordan's class, Ms. Prince has us do the breaking of the ice. When Ms. Prince tells us this I feel a sense of stress fill the room. Everyone gets up and forms a circle around the room. I make sure to stay next to Rachel during the moving process. We go through the dreadful process of tossing a beach ball and telling the group a "fun fact" about ourselves. I do not know what I should say, "Hi I am an alien from a planet that probably does not exist anymore and I can fly." That would be a good way to start the year. By making everyone think that you are a freak by nature.

Before I know it the beach ball is tossed at me. I catch it, thank X'Hal, and everyone has their eyes on me. Waiting. I put the ball under my arm, "Hi, I am Kori and I prefer mustard over ketchup." I toss the ball to a girl with pink hair.

"Hi, I am Jenny. I like the color pink."

We continue this game until everyone went. By the time Ms. Prince gets the ball back the bell rings. Thank X'Hal it's lunch.

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Rachel is so kind to take me under her wing. She gives me the load down of where to sit and where to avoid in the lunch room. I follow her through the lunch line and we sit at an empty table. Slowly the table starts to get filled with some familiar faces. Vic, Gar, and Wally sit down together, exchanging hellos to Rachel and I. Jenny comes and joins us too. Wally's eyes quickly shoots up in her direction when she sits down. Another girl slides into bench next to me. She has space buns on the top of her head to keep the hair out of her face. She has a beautiful dark complexion to her skin. She is tall and slender, yet has an athletic build to her.

"You must be the new girl I keep hearing about. I'm Bee." She acknowledges that I am looking at her.

"Hi, I'm Kori." I smile.

"How do you like it here so far?" Bee wants to continue this conversation with me.

"Well, it's nice. I was homeschooled before. It's nice to get out of the house." I explain.

Bee folds her hands and cradles her head into them, "Really? Why did you want to come to high school? I think I would prefer to be homeschooled."

That's when I feel the table grow quiet. Everyone wants to know my reason, "Well... I guess I wanted to experience high school and meet new friends. I just moved here..."

"From where?"

Shit. I am not trained on that question, so I went with the first thing that popped in my head, "Ohio."

I can't tell if that is a good or bad thing, because I see the three musketeers exchanging in laugher and slapping each other on the back. Bee rolls her eyes, "Where from Ohio?"

Shit, shit, shit. Before I can answer. Our whole table erupts in hoots and cheers. I turn around and see the shaggy haired boy. Richard. He makes his grand appearance, with a red-headed girl next to him. He throws his arms up, encouraging more kids to holler. Which happens. He box jumps the closest table to him, "What are we going to do next Friday night?" he yells.

"WIN!"

"Hell yes! We are going to destroy those Wildcats!" More cheers go up once his statement left his mouth. He jumps off from the table and make his way to our table.

"Hey guys." Richard greets us. Everyone replies back with their signature greetings. For me I smile.

"Who's this pretty lady?" Wally asks, giving the red-headed eyes.

Richard looks over at the girl, "This is Barbara. She's a transfer from North Hill. She's a good family friend of mine. She is staying with Bruce and I."

Barbara smiles at the group, and gives us waves. Her green eyes meet with mine, and she waves at me. I wave back.

"Babs, that's Kori. She's new this year too." Richard said. "Well I guess I will see you guys later. I am going to go introduce Babs to others."

We said our farewells and everyone goes back to their original conversations. I am left in the dark, but I am okay with listening. The bell echoes through the lunch room and everyone gets up and starts towards their next class. Just like robots.

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Finally, it is the end of the day. I am ready to be home and distress in my room. High school is hard, especially if you don't really understand the norms of a high school student. I got scolded because I did not ask to use the bathroom. I was also brought down because I did not have a #2 pencil, whatever that means. Why do pencils need to be numbered? As I was walking out the front doors I am pulled to the side. It is Bee.

"Hey, have you thought about what you wanted to do for extracurriculars?" She asks, wide eyed.

"Extracurriculars?" another word that I do not know.

"You know? Sports, clubs, things like that?" She starts walking with me, arm in arm.

"Not really. It is only the first day."

"Well, I am president of the student council and my job is to make sure everyone here is involved in at least one activity. So Kori, what are you thinking of joining?" She stops me. I am now facing a bulletin board full of these extracurricular activity flyers.