Dear Ethan: A Second Chance Romance

Chapter 2: First Day

*Ethan*

The first day of school went by in a daze. The school was a lot smaller than my previous one but that didn't make it any easier. For some reason, I never had any trouble navigating my way through a baseball diamond or a football field, but I had always been a bit geographically challenged when I was put into a new setting.

I looked down at the schedule on my phone. I had a homeroom before English and Math. I walked slowly down the hallway taking in all the excited students chatting and slamming their lockers as everyone reunited with their friends, screaming and hugging, asking what they did that summer, and complimenting each other on their first-day outfits.

My stomach plummeted. I didn't know a single soul here. I had dropped off my little brother at his middle school first and now I felt like an alien who landed in Jolene. I furrowed my eyebrow as I tried to make sense of the layout.

"Hey man!" a palm slapped my shoulder and I turned around, bewildered. A guy with brown hair and blue eyes looked at me, smiling. He reminded me of a golden retriever and was dressed in black basketball shorts and a white T-shirt with Michael Jordan's face on it. I wondered if he had mistaken me for someone else.

"Are you new here? I haven't seen you around before." He looked at me, his eyes deepening in interest. 

He was a little shorter than me but he didn't seem bothered by my height which intimidated the hell out of most people. "Cody!" A group of girls walking by embraced him before they made a bit of small talk. OK, Cody was a friendly guy and well-liked, I thought.

Get to know Cody.

"I'm Ethan. Just moved here."

I was never that good at making friends and he seemed like the perfect person to befriend. The kind of guy who could introduce you to everyone else and give you tips on how to survive. Being half white and half black, sometimes people didn't know what to make of me which led to awkward questions like what are you.

"I'm Cody," He said, giving me a friendly smile instead of asking me the question that I hated.

"Who did you get for homeroom?" He said, peering down at my schedule sheet. I showed him my timetable. "Lucky! You got Mrs. Hall. She's really chill. Even if you're a few minutes late she won't write you up. She calls it the grace period."

"Cool, thanks for letting me know," I replied, feeling relieved.

That was good to know. My brother Mason had taken the move a lot harder and it was a struggle getting him out of bed and ready for school this morning. I needed that extra few minutes in case he had one of his tantrums.

His face lit up. "Hey, we have math class together. Where's your locker?" I shook my head, "Somewhere down here, I said referring to the black and white map on the wall that was supposed to help us figure everything out on day one. Cody gave me a knowing look.

"Oh ya, the first thing you have to know is that the numbering here makes no sense. If there's a 1 in front that means you're actually on the second floor," He explained, pointing out various areas of the map I should know like the cafeteria and the library.

I thanked him, feeling like I was a video game character who stumbled upon the guide who knew everything.

"And where's the gym?" I asked, trying to make sense of the map still.

"Right here," he said, pointing to a large square on the map labeled auditorium. They built a new auditorium last year that's at the back of the school so this is where everyone goes now for P.E. It's a lot bigger than our old gym. All the sports teams play there."

"Do you play sports?" He asked, as more people called out his name in the hallway. He grinned and waved back.

I shrugged, I didn't like to boast about being athletic. It had always come naturally to me though. "I like sports. I played a lot of football growing up."

He gave me a friendly smile. "I figured, you look like you can really mangle a guy." I felt my ears grow red. I had definitely filled out a lot over the past two summers but still felt like the gangly kid in middle school sometimes with bad acne.

"And what do you play?" I said, trying to change the topic. "Basketball?"

He pointed at his Chicago Bulls shirt, looking proud. "You know it, I usually play with the guys at lunch if you're up for it. See you later!" He called before jogging down the hallway, getting lost in the sea of students all scrambling to get to homeroom before the bell rang.

I let out a breath feeling a bit better than when I had walked in. At least I knew one person now and there were only 6 more hours to go.

-

*Jodie*

We didn't speak that first week. He was a year older so we didn't have any classes together but I would catch glimpses of him in the hallways between classes or the cafeteria when he was surrounded by all of his jock friends, already admitted to the cool clique on his first day.

The rumor was his parents relocated here for work and he was really good at sports. Like insanely good. Although we hadn't seen him in action yet.

"The theory could still be disproven," said Sam as we covertly ate at the edge of a table to catch glimpses of Ethan on the other side of the cafeteria. There was no chance. With the way he looked, you just knew you would want him on your team during P.E.

I had my neighbor and best friend Sam share intel with me. We've been friends since first grade since we both lived on the same block and shared how much we both hated our old fashioned names. Samantha and Josephine. We sounded like two grandmothers sitting in rocking chairs rather than the young beautiful ladies we were. 

I called her Sam and she called me Jodie and we never looked back.

Before the end of the week though, we could already tell it was true. Everyone was buzzing about how Ethan trounced everyone at flag football during P.E. He was lightning fast but wasn't arrogant about his athleticism. 

We gave up our pudding cups to Cody for more intel, grilling him while he stuffed his face.

"Why don't you guys just talk to him? He's a nice guy." Cody said before stealing one of my fries. I smacked him on the shoulder hard. He winced. 

Despite being a brain and skipping a grade Cody had no clue how crushes worked.

First, you gathered intel, and then you made a move. 

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