New World

Chapter 5

A few weeks had passed and Paelen found himself in a new, very uncomfortable navy blue school uniform, a school bag and pencil case standing in front of a large grey building, that looked suspiciously like a prison. He had no idea how he had got in; Katy mentioned stuff about 'paperwork' but Paelen didn't have a clue what that was. They got to the gates. Paelen scanned the playground and saw hundreds of teenagers clustered in small groups, all wearing the same clothes. Wow. So much for individuality. Katy tugged at his arm to make him follow her. They entered the building and found themselves in a low-ceilinged corridor with blue plasticy floor. It made a weird sound when Paelen walked on it. Paelen suddenly tripped over his long trousers and landed about a meter down the corridor. Katy rushed to help him up, "Are you okay?"

Paelen glared at the laughing students around them, "Yes." He went to collect his shoe which had somehow fallen off when he fell. He undid the laces and stuffed his foot in the shoe. He hated them. His sandals were much more comfortable. He slowly retied the laces, having only learnt how to do them a few days earlier. Katy waited for him patiently. When Paelen was done, she led him to an office. She knocked and a voice from inside called, "Come in!"

Katy walked into the office and Paelen followed, slightly nervous. When the door was closed, Paelen got a good look at the man. He was middle aged with thin, balding grey hair, but was tall and strong. He looked up from his paperwork and smiled good-naturedly. "Hello, you must be Paelen."

Paelen nodded, "Yes, I am."

"I am Mr Stevenson, the headmaster of Anchor High. I have had all paperwork signed, and you are ready to start your time here. May I ask, which school were you in before?

Paelen didn't know how to reply, but Katy said quickly, "He was home-schooled, sir."

Mr Stevenson nodded," Good, well, here is your timetable and your planner." Mr Stevenson looked through a draw and gave Paelen a sticker with his timetable and a book with some sort of plastic ring binding, which Paelen assumes was his planner.

"Thank you, Mr Stevenson." Paelen said.

Mr Stevenson smiled, "You're welcome. You seem to have chosen the same subjects as Katy, so we have put you in the same classes [Katy sighed with relief] so I will let her show you where your classes will be." He checked his watch, "Form time will be starting soon, so you'd better hurry. I hope you enjoy it here, Paelen."

"Thank you." Paelen smiled as he exited the office with Katy. Once the door was closed, he said to Katy, "He was a nice man. What is a 'headmaster'?"

"Basically the...uh... leader of the school. Don't get in trouble with him, but yeah, he's not bad." Katy pointed to a room on the left, "This is our form room, we go there every morning."

They stood outside the room, waiting for the bell. Paelen bit his nail. He hadn't realised life on earth could be so complicated and stressful. On Olympus, they never had school, only private tutors, this was completely new to him. The sound of a loud bell made him jump. The corridor began to fill up with people, people shoved others out of the way, some smaller students were completely swept up by the crowd. A small gathering of 15-20 students waited by the classroom door. One of them a tall girl with wavy blonde hair and heavily coloured in face whistled. "Wow! Katy! You got yourself a boyfriend!" She looked Paelen up and down, "Pretty cute too. Lets see how long it takes for him to find how much of a creep you are!" The girls behind her giggled.

Paelen turn to the girl, ready to advance, but Katy caught his arm, "Don't." She said in a bored voice. 

"But-" Paelen started.

"They're not worth it." Paelen turned away and heard more laughing from behind him. Katy didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't care. Reluctantly, he turned his back and blocked them out. After a few minutes in an awkward silence, a teacher unlocked the door and beckoned the class in. The man was very tall and thin, with a stern look and piecing eyes. He looked directly at Paelen. "You must be the new kid. We've been expecting you." Paelen gulped and nodded. "Stand by my desk and introduce yourself to the class."

Paelen didn't like his commanding tone, but did as he was told. He didn't want to be on someone's bad side so soon. He stood by the desk and watched students file into the class and filled up the seats. To his relief, no one sat next to Katy. When the whole class was seated, the teacher said to Paelen, "I am Mr Smith, you're form tutor. And who are you?"

"I am Paelen the-" He received a warning glare from Katy. "Uh, Paelen Jacobs." He had decided to adopt Emily's surname, since he never had one. He looked up at Mr Smith, who nodded emotionlessly. "Okay, go and sit next to Charlotte."

"Sorry, who?" Paelen asked, disappointed that he couldn't sit with Katy.

The blonde girl from earlier raised her hand. "Me." Paelen bit his lip to stop a groan. He glanced at Katy who looked just as annoyed as he felt as he strutted towards the seat next to Charlotte. She winked at him as he sat down. As Mr Smith sat down at his computer to take the register, Charlotte whispered to Paelen, "So, cutie, what brings you here?"

Paelen wasn't sure what to say. "I needed change." Paelen replied truthfully, shifting away slightly. 

Charlotte smiled as she leaned forwards towards him. "What kind of change?"

Paelen was now at the edge of his seat, "None of your business."

She smirked, "Playing hard to get, huh?"

Paelen didn't understand what she meant, but before he could ask, Mr Smith shouted loudly, "Charlotte!" She looked at Paelen a moment longer before calling out, "Here sir!"

"Stop talking both of you before I make you stay in at break." Mr Smith warned them both before continuing the register. Much to Paelen's relief, Charlotte sat back properly in her chair. However, this was short lived because, after the register was taken, Charlotte started pestering him with questions. 

After seemingly harmless questions like 'where do you live' and 'do you have any siblings', she asked "Do you have a girlfriend?" she then quickly added "... or boyfriend?"

Paelen was taken aback. "I... do not." He quickly realised the mistake he had made. Firstly, he noticed the strange smile Charlotte had on her lips and a weird glint in her eyes, and also how he had implied that Lorin was no longer with him. He immediately felt guilty and stared at the desk, he silently prayed to her ghost, if she had one, for forgiveness. 

Charlotte didn't say anything to him for the rest for the rest of tutor time. As soon as the bell went, he quickly got up and went to Katy. He  felt Charlotte's eyes staring at his back. "Help!" He said to Katy.

"Well, you met Charlotte. She'll get bored in a couple of days. We have Chemistry now, I think you'll like it." Katy replied.

Paelen followed her out of the door, ready to face his first lesson of the day.