Girl, New

Chapter 3 - Calc-u-later

MABEL

      "Hi, everyone." Mrs. Wodrung was an older woman with a messier gray bun and layered clothes that were draped on her short figure. Immediately, I was reminded of Trewlaney from Harry Potter, another of my favorites, the personality more than the crazy hair. Still an air of eccentricity emitted from the educator who stood patiently waiting for the class to settle. 

      "As I can imagine, you're all excited to be juniors!" Several groans responded. 

     "Now. As many of you know junior year is, indeed, the most difficult; however, as a high level class I expect all of you to still perform to your best ability. This year we'll travel into the depths of non fiction, if you would look at your syllabus..." At this point I switched gears to the paper already lain on my desk. With a pencil in my hand, I began to doodle along the bull points of the syllabus to Mrs. Wodrung's lecture. 

      I had run of of paper to doodle on. Luckily for me, I heard Mrs. Wodrung's bidding words to a sea of kids rushing of of the classroom onto their next class. I hadn't seen Jessica since she got me to English. My next class was 4000B, Calculus. Deciding my best bet was to text Jessica, I whipped out my phone. As parents and the older generation often complain, texting is not meant for multi-tasking. But in my case I had no other choice, the benches in the hallway were all occupied by couples eating one another's faces and I needed Jessica. 

 Hey Jessica...It's Mabel. I'm suppose to go to 4000B but I have no idea where that is... I'm still near 500D are you near? 

      I prayed to the lord Jessica could help me, I was too afraid to go to a teacher, they'd probably think of me as wasting their time. My slow walking didn't match the fast lanes in the hallway, I almost dropped my books due to all the shoving. Finally peeling from the mass of students I found a less crowded hallway with the rooms 10A-10G. 

 OMG Mabel!! were r u now?? 4000B is right around the corner..... r u a senior?? thrs soooo mny qt boys in the senior class!

      "Ugh" I couldn't help but let out my frustration. I felt like crying, despite this huge school I had failed at making one friend, and I barely knew my way around. Leaning against a clump of lockers, I was about to slide onto the floor, trying to block out the everlasting sounds of school. 

      "Um, hi... You're kinda blocking my locker." Looking up from my phone, a familiar face greeted me he was pointed at the exact spot where I was about to have a breakdown. 

      "Oh, I'm so sorry. I just... Sorry" Gripping my books tightly I mentally prepared myself to join the mass of students in the main hallway. Who was the boy... I know I've seen him today... Just as I was about to embark, the lightbulb in my head suddenly lit. 

      "Nat!" I said aloud turning back to the boy at the locker, he was looking around, scanning the crowd trying to figure out who had said his name. Nearly running back, I was relieved not to smell a sickly fruity gum when I reproached him. 

      "Hi, hey. So um, do you know where this is?" Shoving my schedule awkwardly into his free hands a flood of relief filled me. 

      "Woah, yeah... You're taking Calc?" His tone of surprise rung an all to familiar bell in me. I had already made a bad impression on him. Oh god you've made an awful mistake... He doesn't want to help you! You're just a weird girl who nearly rammed back into him and now he thinks you're a total nerd. 

      "Well I'm uh.." Shrugging my shoulders trying to play it cool. "I'm actually bad at math... I shouldn't even be in Calc..." Apparently registering my embarrassment, he stepped back, looking sorry and said: