Falling For the Broken

05. New School, New Friends?

"Smile for the camera!"

Argh, that was my mom. 7 : 50 am, I'm here, standing next to the car with my mom and Vivian taking as many pictures of me. Connor is sitting at the front seat, and totally enjoying this torture I was receiving. Brcye had already left, and Holly was helping Vivian and mom.

"You look so good in this uniform, my sweet darling," Mom says, pinching my cheeks and I just roll my eyes at her. Gosh, I was a Sophomore so I deserved to be treated like an adult.

"Mom, we are going to be late," I say, groaning.

"Okay sorry. Holly and Connor, take care of my little baby," Mom says and then I just enter the car with Holly.

"Have fun," Vivian says and I just kept my tongue out at her because I knew she meant the exact opposite of that. If I came back crying about how awful my day was, she would be dancing on cloud nine. Okay, I literally just said I wanted to be treated like an adult but I still act so childish. So very 'wow' of me.

As we drove away, I noticed the sound of my heart beating was getting louder and faster within seconds. I was feeling my body temperature rising. Oh gosh, was this really happening? Another moment of embarrassment, awkwardness and nervousness.

I got this. I got this. Do I though?

"Oh my gosh, Brittney! Have you not been listening to me?" that was Holly, managing to bring me out of my thoughts once again. "Girl, I've been telling you about all the current hot gossip about Southern Shores Academy and you were lost in your thoughts again. How could you?"

By the time she finished talking, I wasn't listening, again. Holly was a fountain of words and I couldn't keep up, sometimes.

Soon, I felt the car no longer in motion, OMG we had come to a stop. First thing I did before getting out of the car, was take a deep breath. After I got out and fixing my blazer as if there was something wrong with it, I started to look around. Of course the school was huge, and I saw unfamiliar faces obviously. Some were talking with their mates or friends, I could hear the sounds of cars closing and locking. There were others rushing to class while some stood in groups and form a chatter.

I just kept myself close to Holly, Connor had disappeared, not that I cared. I could smell strong different perfumes which became an unpleasant smell in my nose.

"Do not worry, I got you. First things first, we are going to get your timetable, the admin will give you your lock number and a passcode and you'll be set," Holly reassures and I felt a little bit better.

Even though Holly was getting greeted by people almost every minute, she never left my side. She walked with me until I got everything and that was until the sound of the bell rang.

Unfortunately, Holly and I were in different form classes and had different class teachers. She was in grade 11D where she was doing Maths literacy and History and I was in 11A where I was doing Physical sciences and Mathematics.

Holly quickly explained to me how things worked, apparently, there was no was I could be in her class because apparently, classes were divided specifically based on what students on that specific class learned. So that meant I was going to be forever in the same class, with the same people.

"Can you please show me my class first?" I desperately ask and she smiles and drags me away. I guess that was her way of saying yes.

She led me in front of my English class, and apparently my English teacher was my class teacher, Mr Mayor. I knocked, my hands and legs shaking before I heard voices, "Come in," and it was the teacher's voice mixed with the voice of other students.

I looked next to me and Holly left. I was going to pee myself. I had knots in the guts.

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down before opening the door and letting myself in. A hush fell onto the room and all eyes were pointing at me.

"You must be the new student," Mr Mayor states out the obvious and I nod. "Come on, introduce yourself," he says and I look at the students sitting down.

I made sure not to look them in their eyes because I knew I was going to make a fool out of myself if I did.

I smile, "Hi everyone, my name is Brittney Fletcher and I'm from Manchester in England," I say and mouths were filled with gasps and eyes widened.

"Nice," Mr Mayor says and by the expression on his face, I could tell that he was interested and amazed. "Tell us, how is it there?" he says.

"It's amazing, honestly. It's a vibrant city with lively and energetic atmosphere," I say. Thank God I was prepared for this question.

"What is your favorite restaurant there?" He asks and just when I was about to respond, someone spoke.

"Come on Mr M, let the poor girl have a seat," a girl in the third row says and there were muffled laughs and Mr Mayor chuckled. I looked at her, she was very beautiful I must say and she had blonde hair with brown eyes and I knew I recognized here somehow... She was Holly's friend, Yvonne De Klerk, I saw her on Holly's WhatsApp profile.

"Okay, okay boss. You can find your seat dear," Mr Mayor says and many were calling me even though there was one available space, next to a girl with huge glasses and curly short hair.

I sat next to her and Mr Mayor started the lesson. This girl next to me was keeping her head down and writing something in her notebook and she looked quite so I took this as a chance to introduce myself. I promised myself that I was not going to have the same school experience I had in Manchester so this was a first start.

"Hi, what's your name?" that was my intro. She raised her head to look at me and I noticed her wame brown eyes.

She smiles, "Hi, I'm Carina," she says in the same accent of the waitress in that restaurant. The way she spoke was softer with a gentle rhythm and it was like a mix of German and Dutch accent.

"Nice to meet you, Carina," I say then keep my focus on the teacher. I didn't want to be called out by the teacher on my first day of school.

The time flew by and I realized I wasn't paying attention to the English class at all. Soon, the bell rang and everyone started packing their books. Yvonne approached me.

"Hi, I'm Yvonne. Holly told me a lot about you," she says as I get up to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Yvonne. And of course, Holly likes to talk," I joke and chuckle but it became awkward since Yvonne, I guess, didn't find it amusing.

"Let's go, we have Maths and we don't want to be late to that class. Mr Mlu is a grumpy old man," she comments. To me it was written Mr M. Swartbooi but I guess that's the way they addressed him.

We started walking to Maths class and we had a small conversation along the way. On our way, we stumbled across Bryce and his lips formed a smirk when he saw me then he gave me a wink. Okay, why did that made me blush?

We arrived at Maths class and this time, I sat next to Yvonne. But there was no one so everyone just assumed that 'Mr Mlu' was absent.

Suddenly, I found myself sitting with a group of strangers.

"Guys, first things first, introduce yourselves to Brittney," Yvonne said to two guys who looked alike and one girl.

"Maddison," the black-haired girl introduces herself.

"Jayden," the first guy says. "Kayden," the second guys follows almost immediately.

"They are twins," Maddison clarifies, seeing the expression of my face and I laughed.

"It's a curse I was born with," Jayden - I mean Kayden says and Jayden rolls his eyes at him.

We ended up chatting and I was surprised that I was actually warning up to them, this fast.

"Settle down!" a voice shouted, sending chills running down my spine and I realized that the Mr Mlu has entered the class.

In front of everyone, was a 40-year old looking man with a big belly and glasses, and he was wearing a suit. His face was terrifying.

"You! Stand up!"

Oh my goodness, was he pointing at me? Please save me lord...