Greengate Academy

Chapter Seven

By the time I got to the science building, the words lunes, martes, and miércoles were running through my head. The teacher decided to already start teaching the basic words of things like greetings and the days of the week. Spanish came pretty easily to me, so it always bothered me when I was stuck with people who didn't pick it up at my speed. Uptight and petty, I know, but I can't help it.

When I entered the classroom, the seating chart was on the chalkboard. I looked for the name Claire Collins. Not in the front row. Not in the second row. I found myself in the third row, all the way on the end closest to the door. I quickly dropped my backpack down next to the chair; it was heavy and my back was getting tired. I sat down and threw my head back for a moment, just to give myself a second to breathe.

Once I recovered from the long walk from the Spanish building, I peeked to see who was sitting next to me since the desks were tables that could fit two students. Once I saw who it was I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes closed.

No, no, no, no, no, no, oh please no.

As if on cue, Connor walked into the classroom and checked the board. With a smirk on his face, he walked over and plopped down in the seat next to me, his brown hair falling over his eyes. "Well look at this, good old pal!" He said cheerily, "plaster a nice smile on that face of yours! We'll be buds for the whole semester!" He laughed at what I assumed was the most miserable expression humanly possible on my face.

Trying to ignore Connor, I reached into my bag and pulled out a pencil, my science binder, and my science textbook. Biology. Frankly, I was a little excited. I'm a math and science person and tended to excel in those.

"Where'd you come from?" Connor asked. I just gave him a glare.

"Spanish," I answered. He thought for a second.

"Con kay my-ay-stro?" He asked. ¿Con qué maestro? It took me a few seconds to translate.

"Señora Martinez. Why?" I asked him.

"Oh, I had her last year. She's pretty cool," He said. "Not as cool as you almost falling off of Cole, though."

"Wow, a compliment!" I snorted sarcastically. He was about to respond when the teacher walked in the room. Both of us looked up and watched as the teacher walked across the front of the classroom to his desk. I quickly checked my schedule. Mr. Olsen. Okay. I've heard pretty good things about him.

With a clap of his hands, he managed to get half of the class's attention. "Excuse me, everyone!" A deep voice boomed across the room, and the rest of the people shut up. "I know it's the first day of school, but I would hope some of you would remember to be quiet while the teacher is talking."

He went up to the board and scrawled out his name in neat cursive writing. He then started to describe parts of the class, like how we'd have homework almost every night and we'd need to expect pop quizzes and lots of tests and blah blah blah. He also said we'd do labs, like experiments, which sounded pretty cool. He also said the person next to you would be your partner, which did not sound so cool.

After forty minutes, he let us go with a simple worksheet of homework. It was front and back, which made me want to vomit, but I had plenty of free periods so I wasn't too worried.

"See ya tomorrow, or even in another class!" Connor gasped dramatically. "Oh no! The horror of sitting next to Connor Smith!" He slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the classroom.

Oh, if only he knew how right he was.

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I had worked on the worksheet in my free period, and managed to finish it. In Spanish we didn't get any homework, which was relieving.

I entered the math building in time to see J.J. entering the classroom I was going to enter as well. "J.J.!" I called, happy to see a familiar face. He turned around and a cool smile erupted on his face.

"C.C.!" He greeted back. "Nice to see you, Claire. You've got math with Ms. Drake, too?" I nodded, and J.J. held the door open for me as I walked inside.

"Thanks. It's just nice to have someone to know because there's so many people I don't know." I explained to him. He rolled his eyes.

"Claire. Girl. Come on. You've already got more friends than I did on my first day of school. Besides, everyone was new at one time. No one's judging you for it." J.J. told me.

"Yeah, but the problem is all of my friends are being too nice and there's no way I can repay them," I joked. J.J. laughed.

"Well, you're part of the group now. We stick together, and we take care of each other," He explained, but then stopped, "Shoot, it's Ethan. Don't look at the door!" Curious, I turned my head and got a swift kick to the foot.

"Ow!" I hissed.

"You're fine." He whispered. "Believe me, we want to avoid Ethan at all costs." All the effort J.J. put into hiding was for nothing, because soon a bulky being stood next to his desk. "Shoot." He muttered, and then sat up. "Hey, Ethan. Long time no see."

"J.J., hello. Why, who's your new companion?" Ethan asked, and then his gaze flickered over to me. The way he was looking me up and down made me uncomfortable.

"This is Claire Collins. Claire, this is-" J.J. started to introduce but got cut off.

"Ethan King, legendary quarterback of the Greengate Academy football team." He smiled and held out his hand. I took it and shook it for only a second before taking it back. "You got lunch next period? We could sit together, you could introduce me to all your friends."

"Um..." I trailed off, not sure how to reject the offer.

"She's good, maybe some other time." J.J. snapped. He usually seemed pretty laid-back, so I had no idea why he was getting so worked up over this.

Ethan held his hands up in a defensive position and took a step back. "Gotcha, Jason, no need to get all hot-headed. Bye." Ethan looked around for an empty seat, but the only one was all the way on the other side of the room. He disappeared into the sea of students.

"So, what's the deal with Ethan?" I asked. J.J. just shook his head.

"Ethan was a jerk last year. He's such a self-centered, entitled moron that thinks he's elite because he's one of the best people on the football team. His grades suck, he sucks, and he was a horrible boyfriend to Zoe."

"Whoa, Zoe dated him?" I was astonished. Jason cleared his throat and looked over at Ethan.

"She thought. He was really trying to use her to get Ashley's attention. It didn't work, and she was dumped." Jason shook his head. "There's no denying he's sort of hot."

I shrugged. "He's okay. My horse is cuter by a mile. Or five." J.J. laughed as the teacher walked in. And with that, we tuned in for the first session of math for the year.

During the entire session, I couldn't help but wonder just what sort of stories my friends were hiding. I mean, I get that they might not want to talk about everything.

I have a few stories myself.

Hey yall wouldya look at that.

anyways tanx for reading and bye! <3