Charlotte

5.

Charlotte

"Um, what my brother meant to say was: who are you? Because we've never seen you before," Italia says, as she places her small hand on Romeo's large shoulder. She gives him a look before sitting across from me.

"Oh, ok. Um, my name's C-charlotte. I moved here from the US about a month ago," I stutter. I always stutter when I was the center of attention. I made sure to keep my eyes on Italia the entire time. Speaking of Italia, she was beautiful.

Her eyes matched her brothers, but she had long straight dark brown hair that almost touched her lap. She had a light olive skin tone, which was a little darker than Romeo's, but still seemed perfect at the same time. She wore a red velvet laced halter top with high waisted jeans shorts and a golden necklace and some rings. She wore black sandals with golden designs as well. She looked gorgeous. And I looked like a loser.

Blake looked like the total opposite of her, besides the obvious tattoo that they both shared. In the same place. Blake never sat down, and never removed his eyes from me, but I kept mine on Italia. For I knew, that if my eyes ever met his hazel ones, something bad would happen.

Suddenly, the bus stops, and I notice we are outside the school. That was fast. I hope the walk home will be short as well.

No one dares to move through the aisle. Something's going on. The bus stopped seconds ago, yet no one moved from their seat. In fact, they all looked towards the back. As if they were waiting for us. Do seniors get let out first?

To test out my theory, I stand up from my seat and begin to walk down the aisle. Everyone's eyes were on me. And they all had fear in them. Why did we have to move to London?

I noticed how many students actually attended the school. Answer: a lot. It is a big school after all. I groan to myself quietly. I get a few stares, but I'm used to it now.

I walk to my first class after hearing the first bell. It surprises me how no students linger around the halls, around the lockers and stairs, and how everyone is actually heading to their first period classes. No one did that from back home.

I slowly walk into my literature class and pause slightly. The classroom was mostly full. There were a couple of seats that were empty. I wonder if the teacher is going to put us in a specific order.

I sit down in the back, but not too far back from where I can hear and see the teacher. I place my book bag beside the desk and put my phone inside it.

As the minutes pass by, more students begin filling up desks. I earn a couple more stares and even a giggle. For an academy, the students here are pretty weird, interesting, and rude.

Finally, the last bell rings, and a man who looks to be in his 40s walks in. He's wearing jeans and a red vest with the school's logo on it. Maybe all the teachers have to wear this. It's a good thing that we don't have a dress code.

The teacher, who I learned is Professor Adams, has been teaching literature for the last twenty years. He is happily married with two kids who are a couple years younger than us. He handed us the guideline for this year. He talked about his past years and summarized the course and what we would be learning.

The same thing went for the rest of my classes. And the day passed quickly. Throughout the entire day though, I couldn't help but let my mind wonder about Romeo and Italia. Such strange yet intriguing names.

The only problem I had was with one girl. She seemed really popular. I didn't get a chance to catch for her name, and neither did she. She just pushed me out the way, and sighed dramatically, giving me a glare. I didn't like her, and I didn't want to interact with her at all.

Finally, the bell rung for the end of history; the class I absolutely dreaded. Some seniors were getting in their cars and driving back home, others were standing by the entrance. Was I the only one walking?

I notice from the corner from my eye Italia and Romeo walking and I left out a sigh of relief. However, instead of walking away from the school, they went straight into the woods.

Maybe it was a shortcut to their house, but I wasn't going to follow them to find out. There was something about them both, mostly Romeo. Whenever I thought about him, it made my heart race. But then he had that mysterious aura that made my mind say:

No. Stay away.