Stockholm Syndrome

eighteen

- Andrea -

The bell shrilled, the first day of school had officially begun, and here I am: a freshmen, starting my new life in this new town with new people. I couldn't be more excited, but I also couldn't be more scared.

I had spent this last year recovering from everything that had happened with my father and the life I lived in that basement. So many nightmares. So much therapy. So much treatment and exercise. I was living with my new family, which I was adopted into, and they were the kindest people. I went to get a good education for the last year of middle school before high school. It's finally here, my fresh new start. A normal life.

I can be whoever I want, heck I've already changed my name. I can be a nerd, or a dancer, or a punk kid. And today's the day where I figure it all out and get my new life organized.

I checked my schedule, seeing that I had year ten advanced math first period. I know, it sounds weird that a freshmen will be in a sophomore math, but I'll let you in on something -- math is my favorite subject in school. I went through math so fast with my tutor this last year, that she actually helped me learn all of the stuff I could've learned in year nine. So here I am, being the only freshman in a sophomore advanced math class.

I walked in, alone obviously, and sat at the desk closest to the front of the room. I pulled out my notebooks, pencils, and the math textbook we had received on registration day. I laid it all out in front of me and waited for the class to begin.

Minute-by-minute, I heard voices and footsteps trailing in behind me. Did I dare to turn around? Well, I was tempted. Is it best to scope out the competition? I am a freshman and these sophomores are gonna look at me like their new prey.

I turned my head the slightest bit towards the door which was at the back of the classroom. A small group of sophomore walked in, a girl with curly blonde hair laughing along with another girl who had a darker skin tone and a curvy body. I sighed, facing towards the front as the second bell rang.

-----

"Can anyone try to answer this for me, please?" Mr. Buckle called out to the class. I quickly glanced around behind me, as casually as I could, where no one was paying attention. Some kids were chatting, others were too awkward to speak out, and one kid was even sleeping.

Slowly, my hand rose into the air.

"Ah, yes, our freshman, Miss..." He trailed off, not sure of what my name is.

"Andrea Chalmers." I shyly answered, gulping against my now dry throat. I still wasn't used to calling myself that.

"Right, Miss Chalmers," he turned to the board, "can you answer this for me?"

"Well, it's a right angle triangle and the labeled side for x would be the hypotenuse. We're given the side of 12cm, and the opposite angle of that is 55 degrees, so to find x using the SOH CAH TOA method you just taught us, we'd have to use the SIN with OPPOSITE divided by the HYPOTENUSE. So then you divide the 12cm by SIN55 and get 14.64, and because it's a side length we're looking for, then we would round it to one decimal place giving us a side length of 14.6cm."

I felt like every word that just came from my mouth was mush. I felt everyone's eyes shooting bullets at me from behind. And judging by the look Mr. Buckle was giving me, he was surprised.

My face flushed red. I tried hiding back in my chair, moving awkwardly, and looked up at Mr. Buckle.

"Well, I'm impressed, Miss Chalmers. Usually no one can get this question the first try." He smiled at me, proud. "Well done."

As if on cue, the door opened suddenly. My head whipped around to see a boy stumble in over his feet, nearly falling to the floor, but he caught himself and stood up straight. He took a seat at the back of the room, planting himself firmly.

"What'd I miss?" He asked out loud. I'm assuming he was asking the person next to him, but it was loud enough for me to hear it, which means the teacher could hear him too.

I looked up at Mr. Buckle, who's face was wiped clean from my awesome answer, and turned into a scowl . "Miss Chalmers here, a freshman might I add, was just answering a basic Trigonometry question." 

"Sweet," he looked over at me and gave me a thumbs up. He smiled which was contagious, causing me to smile too, and turn away.

"What's your name, lad?" Mr. Buckle asked the new classmate, picking up the attendance folder and clicking his pen.

"Tomlinson," he said, my heart fluttered. "Louis Tomlinson."