Oakwood Academy (Book 1)

Chapter 2

I was completely lost and no one was willing to help me.

I looked down at my schedule again and tried to match the room number on the page to a room number on one of these doors.

"Ouch," I said as I bumped into someone.

"Woah there," a deep voice said. 

I looked up into the face of a really tall guy. His eyes were a warm, welcoming brown—much like mine. 

I smiled and he smiled back. "It's okay," I said. "I wasn't looking."

"Really?" He smirked. "It sure looked like you were looking. Here, let me see that."

He grabbed the schedule out of my hand and his face split into a smile. This guy seemed to always be smiling.

"Oh, I know where that is. Follow me," he said. He didn't even wait for me to respond, he just started walking. I didn't have much of a choice so I decided to follow. 

"Name's Ander. Nice to meet you." 

"Nadia." 

"What, it's not nice to meet me too?" There it was again. That smirk.

I wanted to roll my eyes at his arrogance, but this guy was honestly one of the only people who'd bothered to pay any attention to me in the time I'd been there.

"I don't even know you," I supplied.

"Oh I see how it is. You run into me, I offer to help you, and you don't even thank me. Ahh, you're one of those girls."

"I'm sorry?" I got that he was probably just trying to be funny, but Ander was starting to get on my nerves. I just wanted to get to class and my goodness it seemed like we'd been walking an awfully long time.

"I'm just playing with you," he laughed. "And look we're here."

He dropped the schedule into my hands and walked into the room. Oh, no wonder he helped me. He was already on his way here and it wouldn't have made him go out of his way. Silly me, thinking someone from Oakwood would—out of the kindness of their heart—go out of their way to do something good for someone. 

I looked around the classroom and took another deep breath—what felt like the millionth deep breath I'd had to take since starting this day. Everyone was looking at me.

The thing about Oakwood kids was, they had this certain look about them. When they looked at you, and you weren't one of their own, it felt like they were silently reminding you of your misfortune. 

Oh poor girl, she wasn't lucky enough to be born into wealth, their eyes screamed. As for their mouths, no one spoke for what felt like a whole minute but was probably just ten seconds. Big difference.

I looked over and spotted Samuel and Christian. Finally, familiar faces. 

As I walked toward them, the girl from earlier caught my eye. She was surrounded by equally beautiful people. My goodness why are the rich always so beautiful. 

I perused her entourage and sitting in the seat next to her was the handsomest boy I think I'd ever seen. Light brown hair perfectly coiffed in a swoop that would've made other guys look ridiculous but seemed to work for him. Freckles—lots and lots of freckles. Clear blue eyes. Eyes that seemed to have cast a spell on me because I couldn't seem to move.

"Nadi!"

The sound of Christian's annoying voice snapped me out of whatever trance Mr. blue eyes put me in. Ugh, rich people.

I walked over to Samuel and Christian. "I'm surprised I didn't hear your voice from a million miles away Christian."

I set my things down on the table in front of them—at the front of the room—and sat. 

"I'm surprised I couldn't feel your suffocating presence a million miles away," he retorted.

Samuel laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't entertain his foolishness Samu."

"Don't entertain his foolishness Samu," Christian said mockingly. "Seriously, who talks like that Nadi."

"Well, quite frankly," I informed him, "these kids do. Look around Christian, this isn't Cardenas High anymore."

Just as I said this, a blonde and a red-haired girl walked in. Both of them gorgeous. Of course. 

I looked over at Samuel and Christian ready to point to the girls as if to prove my point, but both were already entranced. Ugh, boys.

I was about to point out their complete lack of chances with those girls when our teacher walked in.

"Good morning class," his voice boomed. "Glad to see you all again. I hope you enjoyed your summers. I know I sure did." He smiled wistfully, as if he wished it were still vacation. "But alas, it's time to get back to work."

He clapped. "Well, as I'm sure you already know, this year we have three new students." 

He pointed toward us, as if it weren't already extremely obvious. I resisted the urge to shrink into my seat and sat up straight. 

"I'm Mr. Martin. Now, would you all mind introducing yourselves? The rest of the class will do the same." He smiled expectantly.

Christian was the first to stand up and introduce himself. Of course. His introduction was met with derision and callous. Samuel was next and I braced myself. Instead of eye-rolls and blank stares, he got a patronizing chuckle—from Mr. Blue Eyes himself. 

Samuel was smart, but he had a quick temper sometimes.

"What's the problem?" he asked blue-eyes.

"Glad you asked," blue-eyes responded. "My problem is you actually. All of you schol—"

"Okay," interrupted Mr. Martin. "Let's try and be kind today guys. It's the first day back! Besides, we haven't even gotten through all of the new students yet. You," he pointed to me. "Introduce yourself."

Unlike Christian and Samuel, I wouldn't introduce myself sitting down. I pushed back my chair and stood up.

"Oh wow," I heard someone say. Or managed to say around a snicker.

I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready.

"My name is Nadia. I'm a junior, and I'm extremely interested in learning all I can from this school. I—"

"Oh my gosh he said introduce yourself not tell us your life story."

I turned to the girl from this morning. At that moment, I decided I hated her. Before I could come up with a rebuttal, Mr. Martin interrupted.

"Lu, that was completely unnecessary and rude." Mr. Martin looked down at his desk and it seemed as if his whole body deflated. "Detention. Today right after school."

"Bu—"

"No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And if anyone else has something to say, keep it to yourself."

I sat back down. My eyes started to water and I pinched myself to prevent tears. 

This was just the beginning, I couldn't let them break me now. I had just as much of a right to be here as anybody else.

"Damn kids," I heard Mr. Martin mutter. "Since you guys can't act like the civilized teenagers I know you can be, I'll introduce you myself."

He moved from around his desk and began to introduce the class.

"Ander, Carla, Polo, Marina, Lu..."

By the end of the debacle, I'd learned the named of blue-eyed boy. Guzmán.

These people had insulted me and my friends, nearly made me cry, but for some reason all that mattered to me was that I now knew his name.

I wanted to scream.