Taking The Chance [A Niall Horan Fanfiction]

// Chapter Twelve //

I thought that school, learning, and classes would be better at Mullingchire Heights Academy as opposed to education in the States or in Vegas since the atmosphere, food, and boys were better beyond comparison. Or at least slightly more fun or entertaining. After attending classes for a week, I found out that I was wrong.

The system of learning is better here with only five classes, a study hall period, and a lengthy lunch period and more knowledgable teachers that have open office hours and want you to do well in their respective subjects, but I'm still barely paying attention in class and somewhat procrastinating. I forgot that I had to pass an incredibly hard test to get into this academy; that meant more rigorous coursework, homework, and studying. I should have expected that.

Having study hall for my first period has its ups and down. Not a lot of people have study hall at the time--either that, or I'm the only one studying in the actual study hall room instead of the library (which is enormous… three stories tall with many tables to study on and a computer lab filling half of the third floor) if I'm not in my room--so I haven't really interacted with anyone or have no one to help me study if I need to be quizzed. However, having study hall before classes gives me time to finish my homework or cram for tests later in the day.

I have pre-calculus after study hall, which is a couple of doors down from the study room hall so I didn't lose myself in the multiple rooms and long corridors and have to ask for help. Call me a nerd, but I like mathematics. I enjoy computing numbers and performing calculations, even if I do make silly mistakes from time to time. Professor Lee--of course an Asian professor is teaching math--tries to relate our math concepts, no matter how simple or complex, to real-life applications, which is excellent because I'm tired of thinking "When am I going to use this?" I would fancy this class even more if there wasn't a certain someone in the class.

"Psst," I heard someone behind me whisper as I attempted to copy notes about slopes of lines in my notebook. Only in a math class would a teacher start teaching on the second day of lessons. I ignored the plea; after several more quiet calls to me (which I ignored), I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw no one other than Nathan Horton, the blonde boy that I foolishly mistook as Niall.

How did I not notice he was sitting behind me?

"Hey new girl," he said lowly with a silly smirk on his face, "I told you I'd notice you if you were in any of my classes before." To this remark, I simply rolled my eyes.

For the rest of the week, he tapped me on the shoulder constantly to talk to me; I only gave short replies before turning back towards the projector. Not only did I want to get caught talking in class or falling for his flirty antics, but also I had to get superb grades or else I'd be kicked out and sent back to Vegas! That can't happen… especially without seeing Niall at least one more time.

I have British History afterwards, the only class I have with Eleanor. She has study hall the previous period, so she retrieves me from my math classroom and we walk to history together. History definitely isn't my strongest subject, while Eleanor absolutely adores politics and sociology; that means I have an excellent study partner for this class.

Eleanor and I walk down to the dining hall for lunch after history class. During lunch on the second day of classes I had a chance to meet their friend Harry… formally, at least.

It turns out that the Mr. Styles that stood in front of me in line when we were moving into the dormitories was the same Harry that complained about having a roommate.

"Hiya, Harry," Louis greeted to a grumpy Harry once he came to the table. "You look absolutely cheerful today. We missed you the past two days."

"Shut up," he muttered, his curly hair covering his eyes as he looked down at his food.

"Is he okay?" I inquired, raising my eyebrow at him.

He silently picked at his food. "Roommate problems or his classes are terrible," Eleanor explained.

"Is it calculus?" I asked him. He shook his head in reply.

"Is your roommate an annoying twat?" Louis asked with a smirk on his face.

"Quite the opposite actually," he corrected. "He's nice."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Then what's the problem?"

He looked up at me, my dark brown eyes making contact with his piercing green eyes. "He's just quiet. Very quiet. It's like I don't even have a roommate."

"Then what's the problem?" Eleanor repeated with bewilderment.

"If I'm going to have a roommate," he paused, eating a string bean before continuing, "he should at least be someone I could talk to since he's taking half of that room." He ate another bean. "By the way, I'm Harry Styles."

"Mara King," I replied with a smile. "I was standing behind you in line while you were getting your dorm."

"Oh yeah, you were late." He raised his eyebrow and smirked.

I narrowed my eyes, stabbing my potatoes with my fork. "How did you know?"

"I may have been eavesdropping," he admitted with a sneaky grin. "I sprinted away once you got your key so you wouldn't notice. And Liam might have mentioned it too."

"Speaking of Liam, where is he?" Eleanor noted, looking around the dining hall.

"I passed by him on my way here. He's with the Dean again," Harry answered.

She groaned, playing with the beans on her plate with her fork. "I swear, the amount of time he has to spend meals with his mum is getting worse every year. I haven't seen him at all in the time I've been here."

Poor Liam. 

After lunch, I have British Literature class. Not only is it all the way across the campus from the dining hall, but I also know no one in that class. Then again, it was better than having Nathan annoying me during class. The class is mostly discussion on the short stories and novels we read. I try to speak as little as possible because everyone else has a European accent and I have a boring American accent. Plus I have nothing intellectual to say about Edgar Allen Poe other than that his stories give me nightmares.

Then I have biology class, which is all the way across campus right by the dining hall. There are fifteen minutes between classes so I have ample time to get to classrooms, but those fifteen minutes pass by quickly when I get lost half the time. I took Biology in my freshman year, but the pace for this class was ridiculous; we completed and tested over the human anatomy after the first week. Both my lab partner Jillian and I were overwhelmed with the material given in such a short amount of time. She had dark brown eyes and dark brown hair with reddish-brown highlights over her side-swept bangs. She wore a thin layer of mascara and eyeliner on her top eyelid daily. Her smile was sweet, although it did disappear when we attempted to work on our classwork.

Finally, I have the class I dread the most every day: English I. I tried to ignore the first-year students on the first day of school, constantly whispering "Hey! Third-year! Can you help me with this?"

Apparently, my name isn't Mara anymore. It's third-year.

Professor Watson refuses to call on me in class because she knows I know the answer to her questions; instead she calls on idiotic first-year students that take half the period to classify a sentence or correct the grammar error. I was right when I said it was comparable to English class in my freshman year… except I'm surrounded by intolerable European first-year students as opposed to intolerable freshmen in high school. 

I meet with Eleanor in the lobby of the dormitory building after classes and go up to our dormitory to do our homework. It takes us until dinnertime to complete our homework, with some distractions on our laptops (I'll admit that I wait rather impatiently for Niall to log onto Skype, but he hasn't logged on at all this past week) or by gossip, except I finish earlier than her because of the pathetic homework I get in English I. After dinner--with Liam usually missing, unfortunately-- Eleanor and I get ready for bed, gossip some more, then go to sleep.

So I have survived my first week of school and now have the weekend to look forward to. What to do?