The Third Eye (#1)

8. Flashback

"Alright class let's welcome our new student, Amber Bradwr." The cheerful brunette woman announced as she stood behind a small, big blue-eyed, blonde girl.

The small girl, Amber Bradwr, anxiously waves towards the large third grade class. Moving from the sleepless city of New York to this small town in Ohio was a large adjustment for her and she felt particularly nervous to meet her new classmates as she pulled at the hem of her floral print dress.

"She's pretty!" A long-haired brunette girl chirped, and the group of young girls surrounding her at the table chimed in as well,

"Yeah! I like your hair!"

"Nice dress!"

"Sit with us!"

A deep red stained Amber's face as she smiled graciously at the group of girls complimenting her. The teacher smiled as well and offered Amber the opportunity to join them at their table, which she accepted happily.

For the first half of the day, Amber sat with the girls, talking and laughing amongst them. They told her about the school, the neighborhood, and some of their favorite activities such as cheerleading. After some time getting to know the girls she even got the opportunity to tell them multiple stories of her own including ones about her previous home in the city. The girls were charmed by this and showered Amber in endless compliments:

"Wow! You come from the city? That's so cool!"

"I'm so jealous of you! Tell me more!"

Being only her first day at this new school, Amber was shocked yet grateful for this opportunity to feel included in her class and as the morning progressed she grew eager to tell her parents later about her ability to fit in with ease.

After talking for a while, the teacher instructed the class to break into groups of three to four other students for a collective math project. Amber and the girls at her table settled on working together, and the rest of the classroom divided up into their groups as well -- except one individual.

A girl with shortish black hair hanging over her face sat alone in the corner of the room separate from the group of desks as she scribbled on her worksheet. Amber noticed that despite it being warm weather outside, the girl wore a black sweatshirt and frequently tugged on the sleeves to cover her hands. She watched her from the distance wondering if she realized she had to join a group with other students.

After the teacher scanned the room of groups she also took notice to this and approached the black-haired girl. Although Amber didn't want to be rude by eavesdropping she couldn't help herself from listening in on their conversation.

"Hey... Don't you want to join a group with some friends?" The teacher asked politely as she crouched down beside her desk.

The girl paused from her intense scribbling, looking up at the teacher with only one visible deep, stormy, gray eye.

"Oi, I'd have to have friends to do that." The girl replied nonchalantly before returning to her scribbling.

Taken aback by her response the teacher merely questioned,

"Would you like me to assign groups in the future so it'll be easier for you to make friends?"

The girl seemed to sigh briefly before curtly replying,

"I don't want friends."

The teacher fell silent as her face contorted with worry as she merely watched the girl scribble quickly at her paper carefreely. After this, the teacher feeling ill-prepared on how to handle the situation, left her alone and allowed the girl to work freely on the project in the corner.