Luna High School

The First Day, Part: Three

"Hold the elevator!" Cinders eyes widened as Kai, followed by a girl on crutches, walked onto the elevator with Cinder. He started to press his floor but stopped, seeing as Cinder had already pressed the same one.
After a long, awkward silence, he finally spoke, "hi, my name is Kai." He thrust his hand towards Cinder, who reluctantly took it.
          "Cinder," she grumbled, Kai smiled, apparently waiting for her to say something. When he realized she wasn't going to he knit his brows together and surveyed the two girls.
          "Wow," he tried again, "you to look really alike, are you related?" They both shook their heads no, launching the group into another awkward silence. "Well, seeing as you don't know each other I suppose you should get acquainted. Cinder, this is Jill, Jill, this is Cinder." They both grumbled greetings to each other and, finally, the elevator stopped in the basement. Cinder waited until the other two got off before hurrying to precalculus.

         "Alright," Cinders precalculus teacher, who had introduced herself as Mrs.Strunging, handed out a worksheet. (What was it with worksheets and the first day?) "I don't want you to be to worried, it's just a test of things you should've learned in previous years. If you don't know the answer, don't be afraid to guess." Cinder looked down at the sheet, the first question read:
If 2x+3=9, what is the value of x?
Cinder rolled her eyes, some tests were just too easy.
"Sorry I'm late," Kai burst into the room just as the tardy bell rang" I was helping a girl on crutches carry her books."
Mrs.Strunging nodded, "You're not too late, take a seat over there next to Ms.Linh." Kai sat down next to Cinder, who immediately turned away. She hoped not to draw any attention, but Kai recognized her first.
"Hey, aren't you that girl from the elevator? What are you doing here!"
Cinder sighed at the stupid question, "I have class here." (duh)
"Oh yeah, I should've thought of that." He looked at Cinder as though he was trying to figure her out, she didn't laugh at his jokes or swoon at his smile like all the other girls in the school. She didn't even really acknowledge that he was there, maybe she didn't realize who he was. "So, Linh? Are you by chances related to Linh Pearl?"
"Unfortunately."
Kai laughed, "so I'm guessing you're not to fond of your sister."
"Step-sister" She corrected,
"Step-sister," Cinder looked up, and they locked eyes for a second to long. Kais eyes were a brilliant hazelnut brown, like Peonys, but his had a seriousness hidden behind them like nothing Cinder had ever seen before. She immediately blushed and looked down.
"So," she continued, eager to move on with the conversation, "how do you know Pearl?"
He shrugged, "the usual."
"What's the usual?"
"I don't think she'd want you to know, it would give you a pretty bad impression of her."
"Nothing you could say could make me dislike her more than I already do."
"Why do you dislike her so much?"
"Hey, you two in the back." Mrs.Strunging snapped, "cut it with the chatter, or I'll take away both your tests and fail you on them."
Immediately, they both looked down at there papers and started working. Despite the quiz progressively getting harder, Cinder couldn't help but notice Kai smiling the whole time.

          Mechanics, Cinder knew from the second she walked into the 'industrial' hallway, that she would love Mechanics. Cinder had been looking forward to class all day, and the oily, greasy smells that filled the classroom made her feel, well, they made her feel at home.
           "Name," Cinder looked up at the man who had spoken, he was short for his age but made up for it in upper body strength, he was clean shaven and had jet-black hair that fell to his shoulders.
          "Linh Cinder," she firmly repeated.
           "Ah," he nodded "My name is Mr.Thales and I'll be your teacher this semester, your seat is over there. Sit down and get to work." He gestured to a table were three girls were already sitting and addressed the next student. Cinder sat down and surveyed the three students sitting at the circular table with her.
          They were surprisingly diverse, two of them sat huddled over one worksheet conversing over diagram they were suppose to correct  and the third, stars, this third girl was breathtakingly beautiful and when she said beautiful, Cinder didn't mean it lightly. This girl had chocolatey brown skin and full, red lips. Tight black pin-curls fell to her shoulders and, running from her right eye like tears, were three scars too precise to be accidental.
           Naturally, this girl was the first to speak. "Hello friend," she said sticking her hand out to Cinder, "My name is Winter Hayle-Blackburn, what is yours."
          Cinder gaped at the girl and her old-fashioned style of speaking before gripping her hand, "Cinder."
          The girl, who had introduced herself as Winter, smiled. Revealing dazzling white teeth, "Charmed."
           Cinder finished her worksheet early and walked up to the front of the class to hand it.
          "I'm done," she said as the handed him the dry, yellow, ink stained paper.
          He grunted, "that's impossible," taking off his glasses he looked over the paper, he scowl slowly turning into amazement. "It's right," he finally said, "all of it is right, how did you do that?"
           Cinder shrugged, "I love mechanics, I assembled an android on my own when I was eleven and I've loved it ever since."
          He frowned and handed her the paper back, "well, I don't have any other work for you to do. You can work on stuff from other classes until the period ends" Cinder nodded and went back to her seat taking out a book Cress had recommended and starting to read.
          "Your finished already?" Cinder looked up at the girl who had spoken, she had golden blonde hair and a sweep of freckles across her nose. "Do you think you could help us?"
          "Depends," Cinder said, "what do you need help with?" Cinder scooted her chair towards them but was stopped by the other girl working with her. This girl had frizzy red hair and was wearing a bright read hoodie that seemed to be hiding curves Cinder would've given anything to have.
            "We don't need help." She briskly said.
             The other girl, who seemed to be embarrassed by her friends comment, pouted, "oh please Scarlet, you don't know the answer anymore than I do. She does, so yeah we do need help." She turned to Cinder, "My names Emilié the girl who insists on being rude to every new person she meets is Scarlet."
           The red head, who must have been Scarlet raised her hands in surrender, "say what you must! I don't want to get through this class riding in some little girl who may or may not know what she's doing."
          Emilié made a sour face and scooted over to Cinder, "so," she started, "what did you get on number four?"