New Beginnings

chapter 3.

I leant forward, across the book I was reading straining my ears, trying to listen to what mum was telling Ben from across the corridor on, the other side of my bedroom door,

"Don't forget you have orientation today at ten thirty, okay?" She informed Ben before crossing the hall to my door.

Knocking softly before opening, she poked her head around the door frame.

"Did you hear that sweetie?" She checked in with me. I nodded in response, about to go back to reading before mum quickly added,

"Wear something smart please," he suggested before gently closing my door behind her.

Looking at the time, I registered the fact that I only had about half and hour before I had to leave for the school orientation. Quickly finishes the sentence I was reading, I closed my book and made my bed. Choosing an outfit, I decided to wear a pair of dark blue denim, high-wasted skinny jeans, complete with a simple white and flowy blouse that had blue floral patterns going along the collar of it. I left my hair out, neatly brushed behind my ears and went for a casual, light makeup look, using mostly nude colours, giving a clean overall look.

"Come on, Riley!"

Rushing down the stairs, I grabbed a muesli bar from the pantry and slipped some gum in my pocket for later. Even before I had shut the car door behind me, Mum was already starting to drive off.

"Took you long enough." Mum muttered under her breath.

Once I had buckled up my seatbelt, I lifted my head to see out the window. I watched each modern house flash by in dull colours: grey, white, splashes of blue. Soon the houses turned into a large oval, completely covered with freshly clipped, green lawn. The grass connected to multiple buildings, which turned out to be the high school our car headed.

Stepping out of the car, our family of three walked to the front gate, where we were greeted by a couple of friendly staff, who directed us into separate groups of students and parents. Mum waved us off goodbye as I followed behind Ben to where all a group of students were mingling together in a large cluster. Ben being fourteen, he maintained a bubbly personality and found it much easier to mingle with complete strangers.

Looking around the newcomers, I tried to single out the students who could be year 11 as well. On the far side of the crowd, I could see a group of three Asians, talking what could be Chinese. A couple of other people who seemed my age were standing isolate like me. One of these individuals was a girl with brown, thick, curly hair flowing to her waist. She had a dark skin tone and was looking around kind of awkwardly. As her eyes made her way around the crowd, she caught my gaze, and I offered her a welcoming smile. She smiled back meekly before turning to a teacher grabbing our attention. It was an elderly male teacher who warmly introduced himself, explaining some history of the school before leading us off to start the orientation.

Slowly, building after building, the male teacher would stop to explain which subject the building was for and the purpose of it. Occasionally stopping to answer students questions. The girl with curly brown hair walked silently along beside me. Sometimes we would exchange a word or two, commenting on the teacher or asking a simple question.

Halfway through the tour, I had realised in surprise that the guy and seen jogging the other day had joined. He didn't seem to be paying particular attention to the tour leader but instead scrutinising all the people in the group. Sometimes when I tried to look in his direction, we would make eye contact, or I would see him talking to a younger boy, possibly in my little brothers grade.

Listening to the old man ramble on about the school was one of the most borings thing ever. It was less interesting than watching being taught by mum how to cook. Finally, we circled the school and approached what the man presented as the school's maths department.

"As you see," he went on, gesturing to a wall filled with shields and certificates, "our school is one of the best and most academically advanced schools in Southern Australia. Soon, I hope to see some of you older kids, trying your hardest to get your names up here." he stated, attempting to make eye contact with us, looking around the group of kids. No one seemed too enthusiastic about the idea. I think I saw a few uncertain nods. But towards the back of the group, I heard i deep chuckle that set something off inside me. I briefly glanced back to see it was the guy I had seen earlier again.

As the group started walking forward again, I dropped back closer to him to get a better view. Being only about half a meter away from him, I could smell his cologne- which smelled fresh like the morning breeze. Enjoying the scent, I inhaled deeply, allowing the aroma to fill my lungs before suddenly stopping at the realisation of how obvious my sniffing was.

Looking straight ahead, I continued walking, occasionally peeping in his direction, I took in his details. I noticed he had nice light brown, wavy hair, which was cut neat around the sides, then longer on top and falling naturally to the back and looked ever so soft. He was about a head taller than me and had a well-defined jawline, making his face look to be chiselled by the gods.

This would most likely be the last time I see him, I tell myself. He probably hasn't even taken proper notice of me. Losing all hope, I walked up to where Ben was by himself and started talking, that wat we both didn't look like loners. Making small talk with him and laughing at some funny things he pointed out about the school, I quickly forgot about the guy.

Eventually, the tour came to an end and everyone was assembled into an area to listen to the principal introduce us to the school welcomely, we all found seats and quietened down. Noticing my surrounding, I realised that the beautiful creature from heaven had decided to sit directly next to me. We were both sitting on the sides of our families, meaning it could just be an unfortunate coincidence.

Trying to ignore him, I straightened out my blouse, and tucked my hair mind my ears, hoping not look too embarrassing. About 10 minutes into the principles welcome speech, I was already losing interest. Seeing Ben disrespectfully on his phone, I assumed he felt the same. On my right, the guy's fragrance was slowly getting stronger; he smelled of the sea breeze, or fresh cut grass - I couldn't figure it out. Turning my head in his direction, I pretended to be taking in the schools surroundings- the trees and building, before stealthily eyeing him. Unfortunately, I wasn't as stealthy as I thought because as altered my gaze, my eyes fell directly on the deep ocean blue eyes of the attractive stranger. My eyes in widened in return before I quickly swivelled back to the focus of the assembly. But less than five minutes later, when I peered sideways at him, he was resting his elbow on his knee with a small, amused smile painted on his lips.

With the principle ranting on about self-discipline, and other smart people stuff, I was trying to make out what that smile meant. Does it mean he doesn't think I'm a loser? He actually might like me? Before I could land on a decision, chairs around me started shuffling, and people began standing up. Taking this as the orientation over I stood up, lifting my head to locate mum, but instead, I came face to face with the stranger.