West of Ordale

Volume 1, Pt. 2

       Evan's homeroom was on the second floor. After trekking up the stairs, he made it to the classroom. Luckily, it didn't look like he had missed anything. People were getting seated and the teacher was writing something on the board.

       The teacher had curly brown hair tied up in a bun with a pencil sticking through it and kind brown eyes. She wore a long blue and white dress that went to her knees. Tall dark blue high heels accompanied her dress. Papers and sticky notes with reminders on them littered her desk.

       The bell rang for the last time and the teacher finished writing on the board. 'Welcome!' in fancy cursive stretched out across the board. Evan took a seat in the middle row of desks to the left.

       The teacher turned around and opened her mouth to speak when the door burst open. About five or so kids rushed through, all laughing and joking like they didn't have a care in the world. The weird girl that had ran into Evan was in the lead of the stampede. The teacher waited quietly as the students took their seats. When they had became quiet, she started.

       "Hello!" Her voice was light and happy, her eyes twinkling. "I will be your homeroom and English teacher this year!" She smiled at the class and Evan couldn't help but smile too. "You can call me Mrs.Kathryn."

       "Hello, Mrs.Kathryn." The class echoed.

       Mrs.Kathryn's smile grew. "Now how about I learn all your names? We'll start in the back and bring our way to the front." She pointed to a boy in the right corner on the desks. "Say your name, if you live close by and your favorite color."

       The boy looked up from his desk shyly. A drawing of something complex lay on his desk. "Alex." He murmured quietly. "My name is Alex. I live quite close, like 10 minutes, and my favorite color is gray-blue." He quickly looked back down at his paper and continued to draw.

       "Alex," Mrs.Kathryn said happily. "Is it short for Alexander?"

       Alex nodded, not looking up from his paper. The teacher's smiled faltered ever-so-slightly that Evan thought he imagined it.

       The girl sitting next to Alex piped up. "My name's Emily!" She said, "I live about 30 minutes away, I think, and my favorite color is pink!"

       A few boys snickered, but Emily seemed unfazed. "That's why I'm wearing pink shoes!" She lifted her left foot and showed the class with a big smile on her face. The boys suddenly burst out laughing.

       "Pink is for babies!" One howled.

       "It's such a girly color!" gasped another boy.

       Mrs.Kathryn gave a stern but friendly look at the boys. "How about you share your names, guys?"

       The first boy cleared his throat and flashed a flirty look at the girls sitting in the desks near him. Some giggled while others looked away in disgust. Evan had to stop himself from gagging. "My name is Mason." He said proudly. "I play soccer, basketball and hockey and I live quite close. Also, I love the color green, the opposite of pink, the girliest color."

       The other boy snickered. Evan realized it was the boy that had held the door for him earlier. He looked way less nervous and more alert. "My name is William, but I prefer to be called Liam. I live 45 minutes away, and my favorite color is..." He hesitated and glanced at his feet quickly. "I like the color rainbow."

       The class erupted in laughter. Liam reddened. "It's true!" He protested, looking at Mason for support. Mason shrugged, which made Liam seem more flustered and nervous. "I can't decide what color is my favorite, s-so my favorite color is-s rainbow."

       Mrs.Kathryn's eyes softened. "That's okay, William. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions." She looked around the classroom. "Would anyone like to go next?"

       "I would," the girl that had run into Evan said, standing up. Evan scowled at her, but she didn't seem to notice. "My name is Madilyn and I live an hour away. My favorite color is red and I'm new to this school."

       Mrs.Kathryn smiled widely. "Well, welcome to Chestnut Hill Junior High!" The class murmured their halfhearted welcomes after the teacher said her's. As Madilyn sat down, Evan glared at her. She glared back confidently, making him flinch. He quickly looked away.

       The introductions wound its way around the classroom. Evan's mind whirled by the time Mrs.Kathryn came to him; there were so many names to remember.

       "My name is Evan." Evan started slowly. "I'm not sure how far away I live." He admitted with a shrug. "And my favorite color would probably be yellow or something, I'm not sure. Oh, and I'm also new to this school."

       Mrs.Kathryn smiled. "Pleasure to meet you Evan. And it's great to meet all you guys too! I'm excited for this year to begin!" The bell for first period rang. "Okay, bye everyone! You guys have science first period!" She gave one last smile as her students got up from their seats.

       Evan collected his books and headed towards the door, careful to avoid Madilyn. Another 7th grade class streamed into the classroom as the homeroom battled to get out as well. Evan wrinkled his nose at the disorganization.

       As he tried to leave the classroom, he happened to catch the eye of another 7th grade girl. Evan guessed she was from another homeroom. She had dark curly brown hair and stormy gray eyes. She wore a yellow crop-top with a weird symbol on it and ripped jeans. Evan couldn't help but noticing that the bridge of her nose was dappled with freckles. She glanced at Evan, seeing him looking at her, and smiled. Her white teeth flashed. Evan quickly looked away, feeling his face warm up, and left the classroom. He followed the rest of his peers up two flights of stairs to the third floor to the science lab.

       "I see someone has a crush on Reena." A voice said behind Evan teasingly.

       Evan whipped around to see Madilyn following closely behind him. "What do you want?" Evan growled, turning back around to head to the science lab. At this rate, he was going to be late. And on the first day! Evan slowly died inside at the thought of how bad today had gone so far.

       Madilyn walked faster and cut Evan off, making him stop abruptly. "Dude, your blush is super obvious. You like her. But I guess it makes sense, every boy has a crush on her at some point. Its really gross."

       Evan walked past her. "Oh, and you would know that how?" He asked coldly. "You said it yourself, you're new to this school! How would you even know Reena?" Saying her name sent shivers down Evan's spine.

       Madilyn glared at him, her pale blue eyes flashing. "That's none of your business." She retorted. She walked faster to catch up with him and blocked his path to the science lab.

       "Get out of my way!" Evan hissed. "I need to get to class."

       "You actually care about school? What kind of boy does? I thought all they cared about were girls and sports."

       "Well, I for one, don't want my first day to be a piece of crap." Evan stalked around her and reached for the doorknob. He could see the science teacher stand up for attendance.

       Madilyn scoffed. "Then you're stupid." She sounded bored, like she had done this with every boy in the school. She rolled her eyes and sauntered away. Evan stared after her, his anger rising. All that pestering, for nothing? He thought. He angrily turned the doorknob and thrust the science lab door open. Every eye turned to stare at him and his face warmed with embarrassment.

       The science teacher regarded him coldly. He glanced down at his clipboard and back up at Evan. "Mr. Everest," He said, "You're late to your first class of the year."