Walking Away

The map. The schedule.

Raven

"Excuse me." I said. Again. The boy inconveniently standing in front of me, completely blocking the door to the office, continued staring at his phone. Okay. Fine. I stepped closer and raised my voice. 

"Are you planning on standing there all day or do you think you could let me through the door, before I miss homeroom?"

That got his attention. He flinched and looked up with what I like to call the, 'Oh, crap there's people' expression. I smiled and looked pointedly at the door. He stepped back, and smiled at me. Apparently now he wanted to play nice. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get in the way."

I nodded, opening the door. "It's fine." And that was that. Except the office lady looked like she might be sleeping with her eyes open. I stepped up to the desk. "Excuse me."

And once again, I am being ignored. What is it with this school? I reached over and tapped on the desk, startling her into looking at me. "I'm new, and I really need my schedule." I told her, hoping to get right to the point.

She looked slightly guilty, as she very well should. "Of course, dear, and your name?"

"Raven Maralin." 

She looked down, and nodded. "Maralin...yes, I have everything right here." She handed me a schedule and a school map, which looked way more complicated than a school map had any right to be. "Have a nice day."

I smiled as I left, "Thanks, you too." I sounded sarcastic. I didn't care.

Raven Maralin. That's what was printed on the schedule. That was my name, now. This is my life now. I realized I had stopped in the middle of the hallway. And then I realized I had no idea how to follow this map, which meant my homeroom would be forever lost.

Great. Just wonderful.

I looked around for someone who, maybe, just maybe, could help me. I saw the boy from earlier walking away, and quickly decided to try it. Maybe I would apologize or something.

Probably not. I hate apologizing, I almost never do. Apologizing means that you're letting them blame you, and I don't want the blame for someone else's life going wrong. But that isn't the point. The point was that I had reached the boy and now I was basically following him, trying to get his attention.

Well, I had thought about trying to get his attention. So far I had managed to say "Hey," which he didn't respond to. Most likely because it was quiet, I didn't know his name, and even if he did hear me, for all he knew I could have been talking to anyone. I stopped for a second, shaking my head. I was getting nowhere. Except lost.

I looked back up, making the decision to actually ask him, just in time to see him go through an open classroom door. Great. Well, that option was out. I looked at my schedule. Homeroom - Mrs. Rellan. I spun around, looking at the names on the doors.

"Can I help you?" Someone said from behind me. I turned, seeing that it was the teacher from the classroom behind me. The one that the boy had gone into.

I smiled, trying not to look like I was skipping class. "I hope so. Um, I'm new, and I'm looking for Mrs. Rellan?"

She nodded, smiling. "It's pronounced Ray-lin." She tapped on her door. "And you've found her."

Great. Now I was blushing. Of course, when was I not? I stepped through the door, quietly saying "Thank you."

I looked around for an empty desk. There were a few of them, all, I noticed, around the boy from earlier and another boy, with a blue hoodie, sitting next to him. I went to the one farthest away and sat down, already blushing from being an idiot in the hallway and probably late to top it off, though I don't remember hearing the bell.

Looking at the school map, I shook my head. This made no sense. Why would any school need so many separate buildings? Were all the subjects allergic to each other? I gave up and put my head down, hoping that by some miracle I wasn't late to every class.

The bell rang, and I reluctantly stood. Not that I knew where I was going, but Mrs. Rellan probably wouldn't appreciate me hiding in here all day. If only.

I looked at the schedule. The map. The schedule.

Nope. This isn't working out. I may as well be looking for the answers to the algebra test in a Harry Potter book.

"Hey." Someone said. Hoping I wasn't about to make a complete fool of myself, again, I turned around. It was the boy with the blue hoodie. He smiled, looking rather apologetic.

"I'm Mark. I heard you tell Mrs. Rellan you're new. Would you like some help, finding your classes?" he asked. I hesitated, and then nodded, handing him my schedule. He laughed at my reluctance.

"Don't worry." he reassured me. "I won't get you lost."

Maybe the day was getting better.