My 30 Day Challenge

Chapter 6

Walking through the unfamiliar halls of the school with Mike, who wouldn’t stop talking, I felt myself wondering how best to get myself out of there. I didn’t hate it, I was just incredibly bored by school in general.

'Yo, Tony, what's up?' Mike stopped to ask a boy who also looked slightly Mexican, tall, a few tattoos, but a lot shyer than Mike, and he had snakebites. 

'Hey Mike,' he said quietly. 

'Hey, have you seen Vic today? He totally blew me off this morning, said I had to get the bus or walk. I think he's ditching.'

Tony looked a little worried when Mike said that, but appeared to shake it off.

'Nah, haven't seen him. Sorry dude, maybe try Matty or Jenna?' he said. 'I gotta go, I have a physics test.' With that, he left us. Mike kept going, so I followed.

'That's weird… Tony usually always knows where Vic is. Anyway, Kellin, what do you have next?' Mike said.

'Um, English, in B2,' I answered after consulting my timetable, feeling slightly worried. This was my first class of my new high school; I had no friends, and wasn't particularly good at making them.

'That's cool, I'll walk you there. I don't want to go to gym anyway. Plus I can introduce you to some of the guys I know from your year.' How the hell was he so happy about everything?

Five minutes later, I found myself seated at the back next to a guy called Jack that Mike had introduced me to, waiting for the teacher to come.

'So, where you from, man?' he asked.

'Uh, Oregon.' Please don't let him ask any more questions about why I'm here.

'That's cool, I'm not from around here either,' he grinned. 'I miss Florida sometimes, but SD's pretty cool too.'

At that moment, the teacher, a young woman with bright orange hair who looked like she was about to fall asleep, walked in. She was pretty, I guessed.

'Alright, class, shut up, I gotta talk. We have an assignment to do. You've all read the book, right?' she asked.

'Hell no, I don't read!' some idiot shouted from the other side of the classroom.

'That's cool, Taylor, but you can explain to your parents the F on your report card that will surely come when you fail my course. That goes for everyone else who 'doesn't read.' You can have this period and the next two to read what you need to, and if you don't finish by then, you need to finish it at home. Got it?' she said sweetly. There was a murmur of assent before everyone started getting their books out.

'Jack, what are we supposed to be reading?' I asked awkwardly.

'Oh, shit, you don't have anything, do you? that's alright, dude, Ms Williams is cool, just go talk to her and let her know what's going on, she'll help you out.'

Slowly, I made my way up to the front and stood by her desk, where she was busy going through her bag.

'Where… the fr—oh! Who are you and why don't I know you?' she said, turning to me.

'Uh, I'm Kellin, I just moved here…'

'Oh, right! I totally forgot I was getting a new student. What is it, uh, Kelvin?

'Kellin,' I corrected, blushing. 'And I don't have any, like, uh, books, or stuff…'

'That's okay, you can use my copy until you get one. We're reading A Streetcar Named Desire at the moment, have you read it?'

I had, actually, at my old school, and hated every second of it.

'No,' I lied.

'Well here you go, go read this now, and take it home if you need to, I have another copy. Now, is that everything? Don't tell the other kids, but I may or may not have a slight hangover…' she said.

I nodded, and went back to my desk, where Jack wasn’t doing anything. I put the book on my desk, not wanting to re-read it.

'How come you're not reading it?' I asked, curious.

'I'm a bit of a nerd, so I've already finished it. I don't know man, I just like to read. How come you're not reading it?'

I shrugged. ‘Already read it.’

'What'd you think?' he prompted.

'I hated it.'

'Me too!' he exclaimed.

After a few moments of me doodling on a spare piece of paper and him staring around the class, he spoke up again.

'Look man, I get that you don't like talking or anything, but have I done anything to upset you? You seem kinda, I don't know, angry and touchy, I guess. Just wondering if I offended you at all?' He burst out.

Startled, I stared at him. No one had ever even noticed I seemed like that, let alone asked if they’d done anything to cause me to be like that. I genuinely liked Jack from that point on.

'No, nothing you did. Just… bad day, y'know?' I said, not wanting to tell him why I was like that.

'Yeah, I getcha. Listen, man, you know anyone here yet? If you want you can come and chill with my friends and I…' he said awkwardly.

Maybe this school wasn’t so bad.