Blue Striped Tie

Chapter 2:Chris Trott-Nerd with a walrus backpack

Ten minutes late, Ross finally found his way to English Lit. It had turned out that C42 was actually in a sub building of C block that you had to go around the back of E block to get too. He cursed the architectural planning of the school as he knocked on the door of the classroom.

After a shout of permission from within, Ross cautiously opened the door. The class was small, no more than ten or so people. They watched him wearily as he shuffled into the room. The teacher looked at him, a young man with a bald head and scruffy beard.

"You're late." He said, narrowing his eyes at Ross. He was the type of teacher whose voice was meant for shouting.

"I couldn't find the room." Ross mumbled, aware of the eyes of the class on him.

"Well, you're here now." The teacher sighed. "Take a seat."

Ross quickly scanned the class. It seemed to be a standard English classroom. The walls were old and covered with posters about various books and plays. On the wall by the door hung a whiteboard, covered in notes from the previous lesson. Some of the notes were rubbed out and replaced with the name 'Mr Bennet'. The desks were arranged in a horseshoe shape around the board, students sat in various spots around it. Ross wandered over to one of the seats and sat down in between a tall blonde boy and a shorter brunette with floppy straight hair.

"Here, Chris. Pass those papers to him" Mr Bennet said, waving a hand in Ross' direction. The boy next to him reached over passed some blue bits of paper to Ross. It was the course syllabus. Two novels, two plays and an anthology of several poems from two poets. Shouldn't be too bad.

They didn't really do anything during the lesson, apart from go over the syllabus in more detail and their exams. Ross had to buy a copy of The Great Gatsby and A Comedy of Errors for this term, The Kite Runner and A Midsummer Nights Dream for next term, the anthology would be provided for them. Simple enough.

Eventually, it was the end of the lesson. Ross stuffed his papers into his backpack and got up to leave.

"Hey." A voice called from above him. Ross looked up to see the tall blonde he was sitting next to standing over him. His bright green eyes shone with friendliness and Ross smiled, instantly liking the boy.

"Are you new?" He asked. Ross nodded, taking note of his american accent.

"Nice to meet you." The boy smiled, offering Ross a hand to shake. "My name is Will Strife, I'm a prefect."

"Ross" He grinned, shaking the boys hand. He was so glad that, contrary to his belief, not everyone here was a posh twat. The boy smiled and looked up.

"Chris!" He called. Ross looked over to where the boy with floppy brown hair was leaving. The boy stopped and turned in their direction. Will beckoned him over.

"This is Ross, show him to lunch will you?"

Chris looked Ross over and shrugged.

"Sure. Parv's waiting for you outside by the way." Chris drawled. Will nodded and rushed off outside, not even saying goodbye to Ross.

"Those two, I swear." Chris shook his head, before turning to Ross. "Chris Trott, nice to meet you."

"Ross." He smiled up at him, receiving a small one back.

"Well Ross, you'd better not be a dickhead. We've got enough of those floating around."

"I'll try not to be?"

Chris nodded and turned to walk away. Ross scrambled out of his chair and followed. They passed through crowds of younger students, Ross almost losing the shorter boy along the way. Smiling, he noticed Chris' backpack was the face of a walrus. Maybe this guy wasn't as cold as he seemed to be.