soul singing

New School

I looked out the window of the car, the rain making streaks on the glass. I sighed and reached for the radio but my hand was slapped away.

"Mom, come on. Do you really have to blast your wedding song every time it plays?"

"Yes, Lloyd. Now shush." My mom brought a finger to her lips and kept staring at the road.

I sighed and turned back to the window. I don't understand why in movies the first day of school is always bright in sunny. Right now it's pouring rain and I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning. But that's high school for you.

My mom cast me a sideways glance and ruffled my blonde hair. "Relax, sweetie. You'll be fine."

"Mom, I'm a sophomore (second year of high school). That means everyone has known each other for at least a year. I'm gonna be the new kid again. I hate being the new kid." I crossed my arms and huffed.

My mom sighed and turned back to the road. After a few minutes of silence she stopped the car and ducked down to look out of my window. "Here you are, Lloyd. Have a good day, honey." She kissed my cheek and unlocked the doors.

I rubbed the sleeve of my hoodie against my face and grabbed my bag. "Yeah. Thanks, mom." I pushed open the door and stepped out. My mom waved and drove off, leaving me in the rain. I sighed and looked up at the sky.

I smiled, letting the rain wash away the stress. I turned on my heel and looked at the school. It was your average Ninjago high school: one story with the traditional Ninjago architecture. The only second story was the one room above the middle of the school. I hurried into the building, not wanting to get anymore soaked than I already am. I closed the doors behind me and looked at the main hallway. It was lined with upper and lower lockers on both sides. Groups stood around talking, some leaning on lockers. Good, nothing out of the ordinary so far. There was a table at the back of the hallway where the school hallway split into two going in opposite directions. There was a line, so I assumed that's where we got our schedules. I pulled up my hood and shuffled to the back of the line.

After many minutes of waiting, I stood in front of the table. There was an elderly woman sitting behind it. Her name was Nurse Mystake, according to the nameplate placed in front of her.

"Name."

I hesitated. Normally I got judged for my name, mostly because of my father being one of the richest businessmen Ninjago. "...Lloyd. Lloyd Garmadon."

The woman stiffened. She looked up and squinted at me. She shuffled her papers and pulled one out. She grabbed a map from the pile on her left and handed them to me.

"Thanks." I bowed and hurried out of the way.

I turned to my schedule and scanned over for my locker number.

264

It was near the middle of the hallway. Great, right in the middle of everything. That's something I can deal without. I hung my head and shuffled to my locker. After struggling with my combination more than a few times, it swung open and I threw my bag inside. I unzipped it and put my insanely large amount of textbooks on the small shelf at the top. I had one of the lower lockers, which was helpful with my height.

I checked my watch and saw that I still had time to explore the school before homeroom started. I slung my bag over my shoulder and slammed my locker shut. My homeroom was on the right side of the school so I would explore that first. The other half can wait till later.

I passed the table and turned to the right. This side of the school was chaotic. Kids were running everywhere yelling. The girls hugged and talked. The boys ran around laughing, some teachers chasing them. Classic high school.

There wasn't really anything special on this side of the school. Mostly just classrooms and the science lab. I was about to turn and go to the left when the gong rang. Then all hell broke loose. Everyone ran around trying to find their classrooms. I was pushed and shoved until I was standing alone in the middle of the hallway.

I sighed and found the door to my homeroom. I took a deep breath and opened it. The teacher greeted me and told me to take a seat. Okay, nothing weird so far. After a few minutes, and frequently glancing at the door, the teacher sighed and stood up.

"Good morning class, I'm Mrs. Wilson and I'll be your homeroom teacher this year." I could already tell she was boring.

"Becker, Bolobo?" There came a grunt from the front of the classroom. The teacher nodded and moved on. "Bellamy, Chamille?"

"Present."

The teacher scanned the room until her eyes landed on a girl in the back. I followed her gaze and was met with a glaring, angry looking girl. "Turner, why don't you try sitting in the front this year?" The boy beside me stood up and moved to one of the front desks. Giggles from the rest of the class could be heard. "And remove your glasses." He sighed and pulled off his red tinted sun-glasses. Mrs. Wilson nodded and looked down at her paper. "Brookstone, Cole?"

There was a pause before she sighed and brought her pen to the clipboard she was holding. Before she could mark anything the door burst open to reveal four teenagers.

"Yo, Mrs. Wilson!" One in red exclaimed.

"Kai, get your hair out of my face!" The shortest complained.

"Sorry, Blubell." The red one, Kai, smoothed his spiked hair a bit, so that his friend wasn't getting poked in the face.

"You four," Mrs. Wilson snapped, "take as seat now! I will not have you late and disrespectful everyday."

"Our apologies."

They walked over to me, and I assumed they were going to ask me to move, but to my surprise, they sat around me. I'm gonna take one wild guess that these are the popular kids. That means I'm in a whole lot of trouble.