Pippin POV
I wondered why Holly wanted me to come to her after-school group. Maybe she wanted me to meet new people or something.
"Pippin?" I jumped out of my thoughts. Holly looked confused and a little concerned. I wonder if she liked me back...no, not like that. Maybe as a friend, hopefully. But she'd never have a crush on me. I suspect that she likes that one guy...I think his name was Daniel.
"Pippin!" Holly looked kind of scared now.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "Just thinking."
She nodded, but still looked a little concerned. "Can I see your schedule? Maybe we have some classes together." I hope so. I handed her my schedule.
She studied it, then her expression brightened. "We've got all but one class together. Sixth hour I have hand-to-hand combat."
"There's a combat class?" I asked. Holly nodded. I looked to see what my sixth hour was. It turned out to be something called Tech Lit.
"What's Tech Lit?"
She groaned. "It's basic computer skills."
"Is it easy?"
"If you don't have dyslexia..." I realized what she was implying.
"You're dyslexic?" I mentally smacked myself. Why would I ask that?
She nodded.
"Sorry, I just-" I started.
She cut me off. "It's fine. I was planning on telling you anyways."
"So...it's easy?"
She smiled a little. "Yeah, even though my dyslexia is really horrible, worse than most, I still got a B minus."
I nodded. "Cool. Um, where's Room 149?"
The first three teachers were really nice. One of them was a really young woman, maybe 23, another was a guy in his mid-thirties or so, and another was a woman that honestly looked like she needed to retire about ten years ago.
I met up with Holly by her locker, which was down the hall from mine. "When's lunch?"
"After 4th hour," she said without looking over. She was busy doing her combination. When she got her locker open, she took a small purse-like bag out of it then closed it. I realized it was her lunchbox. Or lunchbag, in her case.
"You bring your lunch?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes. "The cafeteria food sucks. Of course I bring my lunch."
"It wasn't that bad at my old school," I remarked, thinking about my old life in San Francisco. My friends and I still kept in touch, and I couldn't wait to see them during winter break. Or the next available break.
She smirked. "Well, it's pretty sucky here." She walked down to our 4th hour, and I had to run after her to catch up.
The teacher actually wasn't there all hour. I was confused, until Holly said that the teacher was never in here and that a kid named Marshall taught the class himself. I doubted that, until I saw him teach. He was very detailed.
After 4th hour, it was lunch time. Daniel caught up with us about halfway to the cafeteria. I remembered that he was in our 2nd hour.
"Hey guys." Daniel grinned. "Pippin, how had school been for you so far?"
"Pretty good," I replied.
"That's good. Hey Holly, in combat we're using swords and knives for the next two weeks."
Holly grinned. "Sweet."
I was kind of jealous. I was stuck at a computer practicing skills I already know how to do while they got to fight people with swords.
Lunch was pretty uneventful. Fifth period had one highlight.
Someone knocked on the door towards the end of class. Holly, who was the closest, got up and went to it. A few seconds later, she handed me a pink sheet of paper. Judging from her expression, she had read it, and it hadn't been good.
"What is it?" I whispered to her.
"A class change. You're in my sixth hour." She looked like her worst nightmare had come true. But isn't this a good thing? Did she not like me? That's probably it.
I guess I had looked pretty depressed or something, because after class Holly apologized. "Look, I know that after I read the note I looked kinda scared or whatever. I'm really sorry about that, I just panicked. But I can assure you that it's not you. Well it is, but not like-" She threw up her hands in exasperation. "I'm hopeless! I'll try to explain after school."
"Does everyone you invited have the same problem as me?"
Her eyes widened. "It's not a problem, really." She seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "If it helps, I've got it way worse than you do."
"How? What is it?" I asked.
She looked really sad. "I'll explain after school."
"Everything's happening after school," I muttered. Holly sighed and went to our 6th hour.
