Lorraine sat dormant in her first hour Honors Earth Science class. She played with the lavender strings of her backpack, which hung from the dull blue chair she sat in. It was 7:25, five minutes before school actually started, yet, the room was nearly empty. There were only a few people scattered around the silent room, but it became more crowded as Lorraine waited, booted feet crossing over each other just past the edge of the table. She had this class with friends, yet, she couldn't recognize any of them there. Only seconds before the hollow ring of the bell did she realise that the TARDIS backpack in the row in front of hers belonged to Mila.
"Good morning, class!" an excited teacher, Mr. Reynolds, began.
He paced around confidently, while the exhausted students tried to keep themselves from falling asleep.
"Good morning," they all uttered uncomfortably, following ritual behavior from the elementary and middle schools.
"As everyone obviously knows, this is Honors Earth Science," Mr. Reynolds began, "and last year you also studied Earth Science. Not Honors, and not at high school level, of course, but still Earth Science."
Lorraine was annoyed at her new teacher's perky tone. It was the the first day of school, and everywhere you looked, students wore glum expressions and they stumbled through the unfamiliar halls.
The summer was over. No more freedom. Apparently, now, they would be controlled by homework and impending college applications. Everyone believed the rumors to be true.
"Oh come on, show a little more excitement!" Mr. Reynolds exclaimed. "This is your first day of high school! You're supposed to be enthusiastic!"
"Supposed to be," someone quietly uttered from in front of Lorraine.
"How about a first-day-of-school activity?" Mr. Reynolds suggested, pulling a medium-sized yellow stress ball from his desk.
"Ugh," everybody groaned, voices stretching out and mixing into a chord. Lorraine joined in. She hated the stupid games they always played. She could never come up with something intelligible to say about herself, barely anyone could.
"Okay, would everyone prefer to take a pretest?" he questioned, picking up a fairly sized stack of white papers. Groans echoed through the room again, but a few less, and not quite as sustained. Mr. Reynolds took the cue and began passing around pretests, each one paper with two sides. Lorraine picked hers up and began to silently work, barely a sound except the echoes of breaths and shuffling of papers passing through the room.
The bell rang right after Lorraine had finished her work. She rushed through the hallways to get to her next class, attempting to run swiftly. She was never a good runner, she didn't even like to run that much. Her run always came out at more of a fast-paced walk.
Lorraine turned a sharp corner, and ran straight into someone. It was a mess of sandy and dark brown hair, even as Lorraine fell backwards, vigorously rubbing her now-injured freckled nose.
"Watch where you're going!" the boy exclaimed. Lorraine recognized him as Jarred.
"Sorry," Lorraine spitefully retorted, walking on forward. She slightly blushed, but covered up her reddened face. She scoffed to try and cover it up. The collision wasn't her fault, after all. He should've been watching where he was going.
Lorraine continued on to 2D art, where she hastily took a seat at one of the stools, and waited for the bell to ring again.
