Sonder

I

"Alesandro, honey I want a picture of you before we have to leave" I heard my mom from the kitchen, I stood in the bathroom looking at my reflection. "You'll be just fine it's a school, what could go wrong", I heaved a heavy long sigh and fixed my hair before walking into the living room. "Okay,I'm ready mom" I stood infront of the door, just like I did every year and smiled, showing my dimples. I looked at my mom seeing she had tears streaming down her cheeks, I embraced her in a hug my arms engulfing her tiny frail body. "Your growing up so fast Ales, you look so much like your father" "well I wouldn't know because all I ever saw was his back, leaving us". "ALESANDRO CALIX" my mom exclaimed "don't you dare speak about him like that, leaving you is the hardest thing your father ever did" "when I hear that from his mouth I'll believe that" I kissed her goodbye then left to catch the bus. We moved to New York from Greece, it was a very drastic change, more buildings, more people, less green, less ocean. I caught the city bus, which was a half an hour ride. I showed up at the high school, there were girls screaming, everywhere. Go to High School they said, it'll be fun they said. I finally found the office and told them I was pre registered so that I could get my schedule. But just luck they couldn't find it, the Secretary kept apologizing like she had lost it herslef. Halfway into homeroom she found it "Alesandro I am so sorry sweetie, it was in front of my face the whole entire time" "Don't even worry about it Carol, I'm sure I didn't miss anything to important" I flashed a smile at her. My homeroom was on the third floor so I took my time getting up there. I finally found room 316, I walked in and I felt like I was at a zoo, there were girls doing each other's nails, boys jumping from desk to desk, and some couple who's goal was to see how far they could put thier tounges down one another's throat, I vote that they should suffocate each other. I put my late pass on the teachers desk then found myself a seat. I put in my headphones in my ears and turned them all the way up drowning out the noise. I looked what time the class ended it was currently 8:30 and homeroom ended at 8:45, so I had 15 minutes of hell left then I went to Greek mythology. So I put my beanie on, propped my feet up and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew a small girl was tapping me on my shoulder "excuse me you're in my seat" "oh hell, I'm so sorry I ripped out my earphones and shoved them in my backpack, it was 8:48 which meant I had 2 minutes to get to Greek, "hey can you tell me where Mr. Katsopolis is located in the building" I turned to the girl who tapped me on the shoulder. "Oh sure! He's down the hall to the right" she used the map of the school printed on my schedule. "Thanks so much, I didn't get your name" I said waking off "It's Alex" "thank you so much Alex, I'm Alesandro by the way" I said from the doorway waving goodbye. She waved back, I ran down the hallway and swung the door open and in the process I hit a girl down. "Oh my god I'm so sorry I bent down to help her pick up her papers that flew everywhere. great first day Ales. "Oh my god I'm so sorry" I bent down to help her pick up her papers that flew everywhere. "You're fine" she shook her head, scooping up the papers. I looked up and my eyes met hers, but it stung, like it was painful to look at her. "Are you two finished" a sharp voice cut the moment, I looked up and was met with a with a icy cold stare by who I'm assuming was Mr. Katsopolis. "Yes, sir my apologies" "I'm so sorry Mr. Katsopolis" the girl pleaded. "Well it looks like you two are partners, since everyone else has already paired up". He checked us off for attendence and we sat down in the only two chairs that were available. "I'm Aphrodite" she stuck her hand out, "Alesandro", I out stretched my hand to meet hers but there was a shock in between us. "Ouch" we both pulled back and rubbed our hands on our legs. "Sorry I guess my hands are full of static today" I laughed "don't even worry about it" she smiled. I looked at her through the corner of my eye, that's the only way I could without it burning. She was beautiful, stunning, I can see why her parents named her Aphrodite. "So where'd you move here from" she turned towards me "Greece" I smiled at the thought, then the smiled faded as I missed home more and more. "Would you care to tell us the answer" the fimilar cold voice pulled me out of my trance. "Could you repeat the question, please" I focused on the front of the room. "What does this phrase mean in Greek" he gestured to the letters scribbled, which read "καλωσορίζουμε στην ελληνική μυθολογία, οι μαθητές". "It says "welcome to Greek Mythology students", at that point everyone it the class turned around and looked at me. "Ttt that's correct" Mr. Katsopolis stuttered. "Yeah I know" I smirked. "Are you fluent" Aphrodite asked raising an eyebrow, I nodded, the rest of the class I felt her bright blue eyes on me, I loved it. Greek Myth flew by and next was Art, I loved art it was my most favorite hobby of mine. It turned out that Alex had art with me, so we sat next to each other since we didn't have a seating chart. The art teacher was old, crazy, and just didn't care, I loved it, her name was Mrs. March. "I want you to draw me anything you want, excluding genitalia" she wove her finger around. So everyone went to work, but I was stumped, I couldn't figure out what to draw. So I decided to draw Alex, "Alex stop moving" I demanded, "sorry man, jeeze" she threw her hands up. "Hey what'd you have last period" she asked trying to stay as still as possible "Greek Mythology, why" I questioned, trying to pinpoint Alex's nose. "In the hall I heard about this amazing kid in 1st hour greek myth who Aphrodite sits by and she wouldnt stop starring at him" I pointed to myself with the tip of my pencil. "That was YOU" she yelled, I put a finger to her lips "shhhhhh". "Don't talk about it" I chuckled, "it's only the first day and you already have a girl drooling over you, you're like a God". "Finished" I turned my sktechpad towards her "Alesandro this is incredible, do I really look like that" she placed her hands on her cheeks. "Thank you and yes, why would I draw you inaccurately" "I don't know,I've just never looked at myself this way". "We'll it's never to late to start" I smiled at her, I walked up to the front of the room and handed my artwork in. "Hold on there Mr. Um Alesandro" Mrs. March called me back up, "Alesandro did you draw this " "Yes ma'am, you told us to draw whatever we wanted but I was somewhat stumped, so I drew Alex Tinny, my table partner ". "This is incredible " she exclaimed "the detail, the shading, and everything is in proportion, how long have you been drawing"? "Ever since I was little" I put my hands in my pockets, "well you have quite the talent young man" "Thank you Mrs. March". I strided back to my table and slid into my chair. "So what class do you have next" Alex returned from retreaving colored pencils. "Trigonometry" I replied sumgly, not looking forward to the class. "Ok then you'll have first lunch" she informed me, "do you have first lunch" she nodded. The passing bell rung interrupting us, "I'll see you then" I waved goodbye.

I walked into trig and immediately spaced out. The walls were filled with math posters and baseball cards. I looked to my left and saw the white board "please find a seat" it read. I traveled to the back of the classroom and selected the seat all the way in the right corner. As time passed more kids flowed in, including Aphrodite,my eyes began to burn again. She sat in the front half of class so I doubted she even knew I was here. The teacher's name was Mr. Waters, he was a younger man who was very enthusiastic and felt it was his mission to help us love Trigonometry. I could already tell that we were not going to get along. He was so perky and full of energy, it was exhausting. That was the longest class of the day or aleast it felt like it. The bell rang and I practically ran out of the class. Weaving through the hallways I made it to the lunchroom and located Alex. She pulled out a chair for me and patted the seat. "So how was trig" she questioned raising an eyebrow, "awful, repulsive, cloying" I replied reaching for my luch inside my backpack "oh see now you'll do just fine in English " she nodded "hey Alex" a group of three people sat down around the table. Two guys and a girl, "Hey guys, meet Alesandro" Alex gestured to me. "So you're the hottie everyone has been talking about" the girl slapped the table. "Wow you probably just made him more uncomfortable then he already was Ginger" one of the guys retorted. "Hey man What's up, I'm Brendon" he outstretched his arm "Ales" I met him halfway and gripped his hand. "I'm Matty" the other guy stuck his hand out, I did the same. "I'm Ginger " the girl said her eyes never leaving the phone clutched in her hands. "So Ales, what do you like to do in your spare time" Matty asked returning from getting a water bottle. "I like to draw or listen to music, I'm not that interesting of a person" I shrugged "that's a lie" Alex snorted. Alex slid her phone over to Matty "he drew that in like 15 minutes" Matty showed Brendon. They looked at me then down at the phone again. "You drew this" Brendon slid the phone back to Alex, I nodded "this is incredible" the boys said simultaneously. "Thanks man" "what type of music do you listen to" Brendon asked "The 1975, Panic! At the Disco, Artic Monkeys, The Neighbourhood" "do you have a record player " Ginger spoke for the first time since she introdunced herself. "Yeah, why" I popped a grape in my mouth, "theres this really cool vinyl store downtown, it's called Generation Records" "okay, I'll have to check it out" I nodded. The bell ended the awkward slience that consumed the last few minutes of lunch. After lunch I had Advisory, which was basically a second homeroom. After advisory was English, where we read Edgar Allan Poe and I almost threw up. My final hour was chemistry where all we did was pick partners. Matty was in my class so we partnered up. The final bell rang I left but missed the bus, I didn't want to call my mom because I knew she'd be sleeping. So I walked home, it took me 2 hours, I finally reached home around 4:15, when I got home. I fell on the couch and I closed my eyes. Today could have been worse I thought as everything went black.