My Teacher is History

Chapter 4 - Homeroom

The ringing of the school bell signaling the start of the day snapped me back to my senses. I grabbed Kelli’s hand and headed into the building. Fortunately, we were both in most of the same classes, including homeroom. Our homeroom teacher was Mrs. Simple. And she really was. She spent about five minutes checking our names off a list and the remaining fifteen filing one of her nails. It must have really been bothering her because she went at it like it was her job. I looked around and saw a few of my friends from eighth grade, but most of the faces were unfamiliar. There was Juli, Steven, Ray, and Cathy. There was a little guy that I vaguely remembered. He had on a dark green hoodie and I could see his white headphone cord sticking out, so I wasn’t about to go up to him or anything. I couldn’t remember his name, but he had been in a few of my classes over the past few years. He was always a background figure. I remembered seeing him at concerts and basketball games, but I didn’t remember ever talking to him.

“Amber!” Kelli whispered. I looked over at her. She had finally stuck the bookmark back in her copy of The Mummy and was ready to interact.

“What?” I whispered back.

“Well, what did you think of that scene this morning?” My mind had been filled with little else. That mysterious biker rolling up to the school. And to think he was going to be my teacher in a few hours. A shudder ran down my spine, but I tried to suppress it. Dad always said we shouldn’t judge people by the way they look. I shrugged.

“I guess it will be an interesting fourth period!” was the best I could manage. I tried to hide the panic in my eyes. Kelli knew me better, but she wasn’t really paying attention so I was safe for now.

“Well, I think he looked pretty cool!” she said. And the faraway look in her eyes made me feel a little nervous. Did she have a crush on this guy or something? Thank goodness she already met a boy. She was twirling her hair around her finger and chewing her gum obnoxiously, so I went back to evaluating the room.

Ray caught my eye and gave me a little wave. I smiled. He was always pretty nice to me and Kelli. He had a girlfriend who went to a different school now. He was on the basketball team but wasn’t the captain or anything. He was nice and had a lot of friends but he wasn’t too popular. I liked that. Pretty low key like me.

I could see the little guy looking at me from under his hoodie. I leaned my head down close to my desk to smile at him, but he glanced away. Probably shy, I thought.

Steven and Juli were pulled up next to each other as usual. Cathy was writing in her journal. Everyone was pretty quiet for the first day of school, but I liked it. The last thing I wanted was a bunch of meaningless chatter. I was about to start sketching again when the bell signaling morning announcements rang. It would only be a few minutes before classes began. The principal’s voice came crackling over the loudspeaker, welcoming us all to school, telling us what a great year it was going to be, reminding us to be on time to class. He sounded stuffy and official. But Marnie had always liked him. Principal Evans. She said he was tall and goofy. The one time Marnie had ever gotten in trouble, for smoking of all things, he gave her a free pass as long as she promised never to do it again. I don’t think she ever did either.

Any students interested in joining the chess club...

The announcements were starting to drag on. But that did remind me that I needed to join clubs this year. I also needed to volunteer. These things all looked good on college applications. Sports, too. Ugh, I thought. Sports. Well there had to be something sports-like that I could get into. This was important business. I made a few notes in my composition book to remind myself to be on the lookout for some good clubs to join. There would surely be signs and posters up around the school.

Then the bell rang again and we were on our way.