Behind the smile

Chapter 1: Meeting the new student

Chapter 1: First meeting

It wasn't as if Mondays were the best days of every student's life. The irony of the day was that the sky was representing the students' enthusiasm; it was grey and cloudy, giving off a gloomy impression. It mirrors the feeling of every teenager, especially a certain teen as he stared at his own reflection.

The teen wore a forlorn expression as his green eyes stared back at him; pale hands touched the smooth surface. He was no older than sixteen, and his brown hair was unruly as he gave up combing it. He adjusted his vest and tie as he looked through his appearance. He sighed, as if thinking 'it would do' and grabbed his phone on the desk and bag on the chair and ran down the stairs and straight out the door.

He didn't bother to say good bye to anyone within the empty halls.

The bus stop was merely ten minutes away from his own home, sometimes he wished it was longer. He made a mental checklist of his things, making sure he didn't forget anything. It was only the first day of school, there was nothing for him to forget, but being prepared wouldn't hurt him. By the time he reached the bus stop he was done double checking his possessions. He took out his ipod from his pocket and wore his head phones, deciding to listen to his music.

"Lucien!"

Turning his head, the boy finally cracked a smile from his brooding face.

"Cole! Good morning." Lucien greeted, his face more relaxed as the other teen approached. "How have you been? I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Great!" Cole replied. Cole was a tan boy with a much more muscular built than Lucien; He has black hair and dark brown eyes. He grinned at his friend and said: "I've been training and all but 'Cien. You have to go watch the Tryouts on Friday! I mean it'd be awesome and I'll introduce you to the team." The jock said excitedly.

But Lucien frowned, "Sorry Cole but, I have something to do." He offered him an apologetic smile, "I'll make it up to you. I promise!"

Cole frowned in disappointment and said: "'Cien...Look I know you and I know you're lying and I think that—"

"You have nothing to think off!" the other merely frowned, "Look it's nothing Co' I just have a few things I need to do."

They waited a few more minutes for the bus. Cole being the usual sociable type conversed with Lucien, or more like tried because Lucien was engrossed in a book. Cole sighed but he expected as much, his best friend was quite the introvert and always kept to himself. Lucien didn't mean to ignore his best friend, it was just he wanted to finish his book. When the bus arrived they were the first to enter and sat near the back, with Lucien beside the window. As the bus started to move Lucien looked out the window, watching as it moves away from him, he closed his eyes and sighed, today was going to be a long day.

****

School was unnerving really; Lucien frowned when the teacher decided that the students should introduce each other. Seeing as this is their first day in high school a lot of transferees are to be expected. But what bothered Lucien more was that he was still surrounded by the same classmates from last year, seeing as they share the same homeroom again.

Apparently, it was protocol for the school to have an ice breaker during the first day. His homeroom teacher was his previous math teacher, Mr. Smith. He was quite young, but has been teaching for five years. He was friendly enough, and thus had the whole class introduce themselves based on their seating arrangements. Lucien cursed softly to himself, he sat on the second row, and thus it wouldn't take long before he would be called.

The first student to speak was a transfer, she was cute, but she stuttered as she spoke; most likely shy. This was followed by a boy, who he was sure had the same science as he did last year. It followed the same rhythm; they would say their names then mention something about them. Most were shy, usually the transferees, others used this opportunity to crack jokes.