Begin at the Beginning (#LunaEast 1)

Part 1: The First Day

It was the first day of school.

And like any other first day and last day of school Jamie Reyes had gone through her entire life (well, the first thirteen years of her life), it was the same old story. Wake up, school, lectures, lunch, then go home. Another routine ten months, the same old song.

She thought it couldn't get any worse anyway. (Which, in her opinion, was better, because she’d take a “boring day” over an “awful day” anytime.)

So what do you think of Mr. Macasaet? Isn't he the most handsome guy in this entire school?

Isn't he too old for you? And he's a teacher, are you crazy???

What'll we do after school today?

Buy school supplies, of course. We need those manila papers tomorrow for the first activity, I think.

When will they post the signup sheets for the clubs?

What club do you want to join?

I hope we get new cute guys in our section.

Do you have an extra copy of the school materials we need to submit to the class advisor?

For the nth time in her school life (well, the first time as a freshman in the prestigious Luna East Arts Academy), Jamie got the fourth row. Again.

She was already approving her current seat assignment (a promotion for her, she thought). Second row, third column, middle seat, a good place to see the board clearly, but she had enough cover from the tall boy (who was he again?) in front of her so she wouldn’t get picked on during recitations. She already sat down, testing out the chair and glancing at her new neighbors furtively (hoping she would make a new friend this year), when a shrill voice somewhere behind her piped up, "Miss Torres, Miss Torres! Excuse me, I can't see from here, can I sit somewhere at the front?"

"Well, let me see...oh, Jamie, do you mind switching seats with Carla? Thank you."

Jamie wordlessly stood up and walked over to her newer seating assignment. Beside the window, first column, fourth row. Again.

"All right, class, since we're all settled, we'll do introductions. You tell us your name, then your favorite hobbies, and something interesting about you. Starting with you...what's your name?"

"Christopher Villanueva, Ma'am. You can call me Chris. My favorite hobbies are watching TV and playing video games. Something interesting about me...well, I'm..." 

Jamie panicked. For something so routine during the first day of school, she panicked.

My name is Jamie Reyes. I like to read books and watch TV. And there is nothing interesting at all about me.

"Pssst." 

It was very, very faint at first. Jamie, seated beside the open window (and daydreaming about nothing), and paying no mind to the Math problems written down on her notebook, thought it was just the wind. 

Someone poked her shoulder with something sharp at the end (ballpen? pencil?) and cleared his throat softly. "Excuse me."

Checking to see if the terror teacher, Mrs. Cruz, was looking (she was taking a nap as the class did the Math problems), she turned to her right.

"Here." Her seatmate (Jamie couldn't remember his name from the class introductions; she had a hard time remembering anybody’s name, anyway) smiled. She saw her him (who was he again? Great, now she needed the attendance sheet) holding out her pen and a folded piece of paper.