Take My Hand

Chapter Eleven

I felt like I had a stomach ache when I walked in to my new school on the first day. The principal, Mr. Hall, came out of his office and approached me. He looked young. He had black hair, white teeth, and was wearing a fancy black tie. He looked sophisticated.

He flashed a wide smile and said enthusiastically to me, "Conner Matthews! Welcome to Bridgeway! I'm the principal, Mr.Hall. Let me show you you're new locker." A locker? Cool, this is my first year getting a locker! Pre-K through fifth grade, we had to share a cubby with someone in our class.

Now this year, I get my own space and I don't need to share with anyone. I know that sounded selfish, but all through the years that I had to share a cubby with someone, my partner would either be a person that I don't like or someone who makes a mess in the cubby. A little fun fact about me: I can't stand people who make messes. I'm an organized person.

Mr. Hall led me into a wide hallway with tons of students. Mom and dad weren't kidding when they said there were so many people that go to this school. Some students were staring at me as I walked down the hall, which made me red in embarrassment. I hate it when the attention's on me. Mr. Hall stopped in front of locker 119 and pointed to it. "This is your new locker. And I have your combination number right here," Mr. Hall said to me as he pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket and gave it to me.

When I took the slip of paper, I read: Locker 119 Combination: 10-40-15. "If you ever have trouble opening your locker, come find me, okay? And since it's your first day, I'll sign you up a buddy to show you around the school," he informed me. After he said that, he spotted a boy with blackish-brownish hair, tanned-skin, and was wearing cool black and blue shoes while walking casually down the hall. "Alex! Can you come here for a second," Mr. Hall asked the boy.

The boy, whose name must be Alex, stopped in his tracks and looked over at us. With a confused expression on his face, he slowly walked over to us. "Yes, Mr.Hall?" Alex said politely. "I would like you to meet Conner Matthews. He's a new student. I was wondering if you would be kind enough to show him around and guide him to his classes," Mr. Hall told Alex. Alex looked at me for a seconds then said to Mr. Hall, "Sure, Mr.Hall."

Mr. Hall smiled and replied to him, "This is why I like you, Alex. You agree to help others." Then Mr. Hall turned to me and pulled another piece of paper out of his pocket. He handed it to me and said, "Here is your schedule where you'll know what classes you need to go. I hope you'll like it here. See you later!" Then he walked away. Alex looked at me, cleared his throat, and said to me, "Um, hi. I'm Alex. I'm here to show you around the school." I nodded and took a look at his cool shoes. "Nice shoes," I said to him. Alex looked down at his shoes, smiled at me, then said, "Thanks. Now let me show you around."

For the next twenty minutes, Alex has took me around the school, naming what all the rooms are. For some reason, I wasn't afraid of asking Alex any questions. The first bell rang and my schedule said I needed to go to History class. Alex showed me to my first class and he went into his own class, Math. I slowly walked into the classroom where at least forty students were staring at me, silent.

My face grew hot again and my hands started to sweat. "Well hello there! You must be Conner. I'm Ms.Wydner, your history teacher," Ms.Wydner said to me with a warm smile. She then put her arm around me, turned to the class, and announced, "Everyone, we have a new student. His name is Conner. Everybody needs to make him feel welcomed here. Conner, there's a seat right up front where you can sit." She then pointed to an empty seat in the front row. I went over to that empty desk and sat down. I still felt the students stare at me. I wish Gwen was here with me but she's a grade below me.

I then heard a harsh whisper behind me say, "Well, well, well. If it isn't Gwen's boyfriend." My eyes widened and I turned around, and there he was, Damion was sitting right behind me. Damion goes to my school?!

(Later that day)

Lunch rolled around and I was in line picking out what I want to eat and put it on my tray. When I was going through my morning classes, Alex would guide me to each class. The thing that sucked was Damion.

So far, he's in every class with me. Aren't I lucky? Not. In each class, he would whisper a rude comment to me like, "Loser," or "smoocher." Seriously, what's his problem? But I least I memorized my combination and can get along with Alex. Alex is a pretty cool dude so far. Seriously though, where did he get those cool shoes? I got to ask him.

While I was picking out what to eat for lunch, Alex walked up nest to me and asked, "Hey, Conner. Do you want to sit next to me and my friends?" He then pointed to a round table with five guys sitting there, goofing around. It's time to make some guy friends around here. "Sure," I replied. As Alex and I walked over to his table, I looked around the lunch room and spotted Gwen's table. Gwen was looking at me and she smiled with a wave. A group of giggling girls were sitting at her table. I smiled back at her and continued to walk to Alex's table.

When Alex and I took a seat at the table, Alex's friends grew silent and they stared blankly at me. This is akaward. Alex cleared his throat and told his friends, "Guys, this is Conner, the new student." He then turned to me and said, "Conner, these are my friends: Brandon, Justin, Jason, Brady, and Michael."

"Hey, you're in my math class, right?" The guy whose name is Brandon asked me. "Uh, I think so," I responded, clueless. "Are you going to eat that?" The guy whose name is Justin
asked me while pointing to my chocolate chip cookie. "Oh uh, no. You can have it," I said to him. With a grin, Justin leaned over the table and grabbed my cookie. "Justin is known for horsing food," Alex jokingly said to me with a smile. Justin happily shoved the cookie in his mouth, not caring about Alex's comment. I chuckled.

"Justin, if you keep eating like that, you'll never get a girlfriend," said Michael. Justin shrugged and shot back, "Do I look like I care?"

"Well what about your crush, Emily Smith," the guy, whose name is Brady asked Justin with a smirk. "Yeah. Don't you want her to be your girlfriend," the guy whose name is Jason asked Justin, then snickered. Justin rolled his blue eyes and answered, "Emily is not the type of girl who cares how a guy eats." "I'm, hello? Emily Smith won't even date a guy if they farted around her. What makes you think she couldn't care less about the way you eat?" Brandon asked with a confused expression.

We were suddenly interrupted by a shouting table behind us. We all looked over and saw students crowding around two people at this table. I moved my head around to get a better look on why people are gathering around. The I saw a boy and a girl... arm wrestling? As the boy and girl were arm wrestling , students were shouting and cheering for the girl to win. The boy's face was sweating and he looked very consentrated to win. On the other hand, a red-headed girl (who was arm wrestling the boy) looked like it was too easy and stared blankly at the sweaty boy.

Then, the red-headed girl won and the whole crowd cheered. The boy's face looked flabbergasted and so was I. "How?! How in the world did you beat me," shouted the boy. The girl just chuckled and answered, "I have my ways." My jaw dropped. This girl is amazing! "That's Sophia Primrose. She's a tough girl," informed Alex as he bit into an apple.

"That girl even plays on the football team and she still keeps up with the guys," Michael said as he stared at Sophia in awe. "Dang," I murmured. From that point on, I wanted to know more about this girl.