I slammed my locker with a sigh. I lifted my backpack onto my shoulder, checking the time. Why did I have to be here? I had a perfect life back in New Jersey. I had lots of friends, and I knew everyone in my school.
Then my mom randomly dropped the news on us. The news that we had to move to Colorado. Away from all of my friends, to a new state.
I looked around the hallway, wishing my friends would just pop out from around the corner. No such luck. I checked my phone, not knowing what to do. There were 5 minutes until I had to go to first period. There was 1 notification, a text from my mom.
Good luck Ava, have fun at school!
Yeah right.
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Okay, it was time. I took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom, which was where I had been hiding for the past 5 minutes. I'd already walked around last Saturday with my mom and the principal, so I knew where all of my classes were.
First period... algebra. Ugh. I reluctantly walked to the classroom, which was near my locker. As soon as I came in, the teacher's eyes lit up. She gestured for me to come over to her desk. I obliged, horrified, as a bunch of people in the class glanced at me curiously.
"You're Ava Barrett, right?" She asked, taking a drink of her coffee. She looked like she hadn't slept in years. She was wearing a black dress and a white jean jacket.
Her coffee mug said, "Dear Algebra... Please stop asking us to find your 'X'! She's not coming back, and don't ask 'Y'!" Wow. The mug company really tried to be hilarious on that one.
"Yes, I am," I responded. She smiled.
"Great! I'm Mrs. Reeson, welcome to Algebra I. Do you see any familiar faces in here?" She asked, trying to be helpful. I didn't even have to look.
"No..."
"Oh, well, that's okay. You can go sit over there." She pointed, and I followed the direction of her finger. She was pointing at a table near the back of the classroom. There were 4 desks, but only 1 of them was filled. I nodded and faked a smile, then headed over to it.
The girl looked up from her phone as I sat down next to her. She had brown hair with light highlights, tan skin, and bright green eyes. She looked a little confused, but smiled at me nonetheless. She seemed nice.
"Hey," she said, "are you new?"
"Yeah, I just moved here." I smiled back at her.
"Oh cool. Whats your name? I'm Isla."
"I'm Ava. Is Mrs. Reeson nice?"
"Yeah, she's pretty nice. If you don't try in class, she gets annoyed, but as long as you try you'll be fine. She's not strict about phones either, which is nice."
"Okay, that's good," I smiled, relieved.
BRIIIIING! The bell rang. The class, which had been loudly chatting, got quiet as Mrs. Reeson stood up from her chair.
"Okay, today we're going to be learning about factoring. As most of you probably noticed, we have a new student. Her name is Ava." Some people who had come in after me started looking around, and stared at me once they found me.
"Hopefully you guys will all be nice to her, and help her if she's confused." The class bobbed their heads up and down, still giving me odd looks. Internally, I groaned.
"Okay, I need to take attendance. Is everyone here? Who's gone?"
"Jack's gone," said a brunette boy near her desk. She typed something into her computer.
"Anyone else?" She called, looking around. Suddenly, the door burst open.
"Sorry I'm late..." said the most handsome boy i'd ever seen, standing in the doorway.
