Mr. Iero

Chapter 1

*Ashley's POV*

I walked into my homeroom class.  Everyone had their brand new clothes on and their ridiculously dark tans, bragging to their friends about which island they went to this summer.  I took a seat at the only desk available and waited for the morning announcements to start.

A beep came from the intercom.  "Good morning, students and staff.  Today marks the first day of our 2013-2014 school year!  I'm your principal, Mrs. Hunt."  She proceeded to talk about our school, following the dress code, rules about using phones in class, the usual.

After announcements ended, my homeroom teacher passed out schedules to everyone.  I looked it over and then folded it to put into my pocket.  My teacher spent the next twenty minutes talking about rules and plans until the bell rang.  I quickly got up and went into the hallway to avoid the rush of kids at the door.

I checked my schedule and found where my first period class was.  Funny, this was my third year that I'd be going to this high school, but I still had no idea where some classrooms were.  I aimlessly walked through the hallways until I found room 302.

First period.  Spanish.  It was an honors level class, but I clearly didn't belong there.  My teacher started to speak in fluent Spanish, waving his hands around and pointing at things as he spoke.  Everyone laughed and nodded at what he said as I just stared at him in confusion.  Finally class ended and I made my way to my next class.

Second period.  Gym.  My teacher just talked about rules like how you only have so many chances not to get dressed for gym before you end up failing, plans for this year's curriculum.  Nothing interesting.

Third period.  Chemistry.  At first I was pretty excited to be taking this class, expecting to do a lot of labs that involve mixing chemicals and playing with fizzing liquids.  But I was rather disappointed when the teacher told us that we'd be studying the periodic table of elements and doing equations.

Fourth period.  English.  We had actually started off the year by writing a timed essay on an article we were given.  I had already known that I would hate this class, as much as I actually liked the subject.

Fifth period.  Lunch.  I wasn't really friends with anyone in my lunch period so I just ate on a bench outside and listened to music.  It was a lot more interesting than I had expected, actually.

Sixth period.  Music Theory.  It seemed pretty simple.  I already knew a bit about notes and terms from what I learned in elementary and middle school music classes.  My teacher seemed nice, although nothing they said made much sense.  Everyone in my class was extremely talented at playing the piano, guitar, flute, or even singing.  I seemed to be the only person who could hardly hold an instrument.

Seventh period.  Algebra.  Algebra was actually one of my favorite classes in freshman year, so Algebra II was going to be all the more fun.  The subject was easy and interesting and definitely one of the classes I knew I'd actually tell my parents about when it came to grades.

And eighth period.  History.  When I walked in I saw one of my friends, Hallie, sitting somewhere near the middle of the room.  I immediately sat in the desk next to her.

"I can't believe we actually have a class together this year!" I exclaimed.

"I know!" she beamed.  "But it's only history class.  It's going to be so boring."

I nodded, understanding what she meant.  I was about to comment on what she had said, when a voice interrupted.

"All right, guys.  Settle down."

I turned my head to look at who was talking.  He was sort of short.  Well, not short, but shorter than most men.  He definitely looked like he could be taller than me, though.  His hair was brown and was combed down at an angle.

He was also pretty cute.

The students eventually all stopped talking and then he turned around and wrote his name out on the chalk board.  "My name's Mr. Iero.  I'm looking forward to having you all as students this year."  He looked around at all of the students in the desks.  "Now, I don't recognize a lot of faces in here, so how about we just take it easy today and get to know each other and I'll just talk to you a bit about how this year is going to go, all right?"

Mr. Iero pointed at a student in the front corner of the room.  "I'm Matt," he shyly said.

There was a pause of silence.  "Well?" Mr. Iero insisted.  "Say something about yourself."

"I play baseball," he muttered.

Mr. Iero nodded and then pointed at the student behind him.

"I'm Carl and I work at Dunkin' Donuts."

Mr. Iero kept going down the columns of kids and soon enough pointed to me.

"I'm Ashley and I..." I was suddenly unable to think of anything about myself.  "I don't know," I muttered.

"Well how about this," Mr. Iero said, sitting on the edge of a table near the front of the room.  "What do you usually do when you get home from school?"

"I um... I like to read," I lied, still unable to find anything interesting about my life.

Mr. Iero nodded and then proceeded to go on to the next student.

Later, Mr. Iero told us about all the stuff that we'd be learning about this year.  "And just because this is a US History class rather than a European History class doesn't mean you're going to get any less work.  So get ready for a lot of note taking and memorization."  Most of the class groaned, already bored with this class.  Mr. Iero laughed with amusement at their reactions and then looked up to the class.  "Well we have five more minutes left.  Any questions?"

A girl sitting in the front of the class shot her hand up.  "Is the final exam going to be cumulative?"

Mr. Iero laughed.  "Well we have a little ways to go before we need to worry about that."  He made a thinking face and then crossed his one leg over the other, still standing and leaning on the table.  "How about this? If you guys behave and are a good class for the rest of the year, your final will only be second semester material."

The class cheered and then another student raised their hand.  "Can we chew gum in class?"

Mr. Iero shook his head, "This is the last period of the day; you guys can wait another 50 minutes to chew gum."  He looked back up to the clock.  "Okay, you can all just talk for last few minutes."

With that, he walked to the back of the classroom where his desk was and started typing on his laptop.

When the bell rang, everyone rushed out of the room to get to their buses and cars.  "Remember, guys, tomorrow's picture day!" Mr. Iero shouted over the voices.  "Have a nice day!"

I finished putting my binder in my backpack and then got up to leave.  As I was walking out, Mr. Iero looked in my direction.  "See you tomorrow," he said.

I stopped and looked around me to see who he might have been talking to, only to see that I was the only other person in the classroom.

"See you tomorrow, Mr. Iero," I said with my head down as I got out of the classroom as quickly as possible without looking like I was rushing.