The New Kid

The First Day

There I was; 16 year old boy, foreign exchange student from England forced into an American high school. My mother and father decided to have me study in America rather than home; they thought it would help me. I was depressed. Oh yeah, that’s another thing about me: I’m gay. Yep. Being a homosexual in secondary school was rough but the fact my last boyfriend spread rumours and pictures of me around the whole bloody country; I had to move.

My parents found a nice host family for my stay in America, the Ramsey’s. Geoff and Griffon; they have a little daughter; I hoped she could be like my little sister. That would someone one I could talk to.

In the American school system, I would be in the sophomore year in high school, which was the second year in high school. I would have to merge into everyone who had already spent a whole year together. Top. So, let’s see, that’s: 16 years old. Foreign. New kid. Homosexual. Have way across the world from my family. Life was not sterling.

I grabbed my luggage out of the back of the taxi and watched as the driver pulled away leaving me alone in the front of a house. The Texas heat sizzled off the roof on the home and the pavement seemed to melt in the late August temperature. I set my bags on the door step and took a deep breath before moving my fist to the door. I knocked twice then stepped back off the step and stood at the door, watching the handle turn and seeing a man standing there.

“Hey, Gavin! I’m Geoff!” The man greeted me with a hearty handshake and slightly tugged on my hand to lead me into the cool household. The man had a slight 5 o’clock shadow and a mustache that curled at the end. His dark brown hair made his tired eyes a brighter shade of blue. I looked down at his arms that were FILLED with tats and his casual attire made him a stereotypical stoner American. I promised myself I wouldn’t be quick to judge the Americans, but Geoff was making it hard not to. He led me into a small separate shed-like house to the side of the main home.

“This is a little house I made for your stay. My wife Griffon and I worked on this for a few months. We started right as we knew we were your host family.” Geoff smiled proudly at his work. “You can go inside and get comfortable if you wish. My wife is getting our daughter from school and will be home soon and I’m sure they would be glad to meet you.” Geoff patted me on the back and turned and started back toward the main house when he stopped and talked over his shoulder, “Oh! Gavin, do you mind swearing?” I shook my head. “Good! Griff and I swear all the time, but one rule; not in front of the little princess, got it? Oh! And welcome to the family, Gavin!” He left me standing outside of my private hut.

I walked into the room and set my bags on the bed and scanned the room. There were all of the standard bedroom things: bed, mirror, wardrobe, and desk. I walked over to the built-in bathroom that contained a tub, shower, sink and toilet. The bathroom was a calming shade of green, and the walls of the bedroom were a light blue. I looked up to see a skylight in the ceiling above my bed. “Top.” I muttered to myself. “I guess this isn’t too bad.” I then made my way back to the main house.

The whole Ramsey gang was there and their daughter ran up to me and hugged my left leg. “Hi, Gavin! You are now my big brother!” She griped my leg tighter as I struggled to keep balanced.

“Hey girly. Let the boy breathe.” Griffon spoke sweetly to her daughter and walked over to me and shook my hand. “Nice to meet you, Gavin.” Her nose piecing and her half shaved head was an eye-catcher. Her arms matched Geoff’s; all tattoos. Don’t get me wrong, she was a beautiful woman. Beautiful family.

“Nice to meet you too.” I looked at the family and grinned.

“Welcome to the family. You can call us mom and dad.”

* * *

“TIME FOR SCHOOL, GAVIN!” Dad was bouncing up and down on my bed. He was fully dressed and ready to bolt out of the door.

I groaned, “Five more minutes…” I rolled over and saw his daughter’s toothless smile next to me. “Oh, sausages!” I exclaimed and jumped from my spot on the bed. 

“Let’s go, Gavin!” She belted cheerfully.

“Alright, alright. I’ll get ready now.” I caved sitting up and sliding out of the bottom of the bed. I got ready quickly and dumped my backpack on my bed and sprinted for the car.

* * *

I arrived at school and went to the office to receive my list of courses. World History, Algebra II, English, study hall, French I, Film, Public Speaking, Advanced Physics.  I sighed and continued down the hallway.

All the classes were shite. I was so confused in World history. Math was difficult. English was boring. I took a kip in study hall. French was easy as always, though I didn’t even pay attention to that class one bit. Film was great except the teacher had no clue how to work a camera. Public speaking was dull. I had the hardest time getting my locker open and sat alone at lunch. But, it was better than being the center of attention with rumors about you like it was in England.

It was finally the last period of the day and I was at my locker getting my books for Advanced Physics course when I was slammed against my locker, dropping my text book on the ground.

“Bollocking hell…” I said under my breath as I rubbed the reddening spot on my forehead. I turned to see the one who crashed into me, and not to my surprise, it was a group of tall, bulky jocks. They laughed at my misfortune and continued down the hallway pushing other underclassmen into their lockers as well. I grumbled to myself as I bent down to pick up my book when another person was already retrieving it for me.

“Hey, sorry about my team, they’re dicks sometimes.” A jock joked as he bent down and picked up my Physics book and handed it to me. “Here you go, kid. Oh! You have Advanced Physics? I’m going to that class now!”

I was blushing at his deep voice and his nice brown hair that was smoothed over, lightly falling on his face. He smiled at me and I stuttered, “O-oh, me too. I’m Gavin Free. I’m new. I’m a sophomore.”

The jock grinned, revealing a dimple, and added, “Oh? Such a youngling to be in an advanced class, eh? Good luck, lad.” He patted my shoulder and left down the hallway following his teammates.

I relaxed my shoulders and quietly shut the locker door and glanced back at the jock to see the back of his Letterman jacket. It read, “Haywood”. My heart pumped in my chest and I followed my schedule to room 103; Advanced Physics- Mr. Burns.

I scanned the room for the cute athlete’s blue jacket with no luck. I slipped to the back of the room and slid into a desk. I set my head down until Mr. Burns started taking roll.

“Uh..Falme, Emily?” Mr. Burns asked the class as he looked up from his clipboard.

“Here.” A soft feminine voice spoke from the front of the class.

“Okay.” He marked the paper. “Free, Gavin?”

“Present.” I stated. The room filled with sour snickers. Some punk-ass girl turned her head and stared at me with her raccoon make-up, “Present? It’s ‘Here’, dumb-ass.” The class laughed harder.

“Okay, students. He’s our foreign exchange student from England. He is a sophomore. Treat him well. Show him America is a better country.” Mr. Burns poked.

I slumped farther down in my seat and avoided any eye contact. Mr. Burns continued roll, “Alrighty. Good, William?”

“Here.”

Mr. Burns marked the attendance sheet. He raised it closer to his eyes before speaking again, “Oh, look who found their way into my class; Haywood, James.” Mr. Burns smiled from ear-to-ear.

I jolted up in my chair to see the back of Haywood’s brown, satin hair; his blue jacket on the back of the seat. “Uh, Mr. I prefer Ryan.”

My heart warmed. That was physics, but I was determined to make it chemistry.