The school bell rang deafeningly, signifying the start of the school day. "Frick!" Lora Fernandes cursed under her breath as she dashed up the steps to Oakleaf High School.
Late on her first day?! She had thought things wouldn't get any worse, but it seemed the universe was hellbent on proving her wrong.
Lora sighed as she remembered her mother's parting words in the morning before she rushed off to work at her new job "This a new start, darling. It'll all be for the best, you'll see."
The raven-haired girl opened the front door of the school and realised it was an extremely large building. In front of her, all she could see was a long corridor which seemingly stretched on forever.
Lora was about to give up and burst into tears when a boy suddenly ran up beside her. He was huffing and panting as if out of breath, and it was a moment before he said "Hey. Are you new here?" Lora couldn't trust herself not to start sobbing if she began speaking so she nodded instead.
"What class are you in? The name's Kairi, by the way. Kairi Cosentino," the teen introduced himself. He was quite short, just a few centimetres shorter than Lora. He had relatively long dark brown hair which was rumpled up and messy. His skin was pale with the slightest hint of a tan.
"Umm... I-I'm Lora Fernandes, and I'm in Grade 10B," Lora stuttered, forced to say something out loud. As soon as the words left her mouth, the girl mentally facepalmed herself. She probably sounded so stupid. Old Lora was rolling in her grave.
Kairi's face broke into a warm, inviting smile "Nice to meet you, Lora. And guess what? I'm in 10B too! I'll take you there now." She nodded mutely and mumbled a thanks. Sensing she wasn't going to make small talk, Kairi began walking while gesturing for her to follow him.
It felt like the pair took an infinite number of turns, or at least it did to Lora. It was interesting to her that schools like this were considered small in New Jersey, whereas in her previous town, this place would have been humongous. She supposed it was for the best that they had moved, for in a small town like that, gossip spreads like wildfire and can burn reputations to irreparable ashes in seconds.
Finally, Kairi stopped at a white door and said "We're here!" Knocking on it, he opened it and the entire class turned to stare at the pair of latecomers. A red blush crept onto her cheeks and she looked at the floor fixatedly. "Ah, nice of you to finally join us, Mr Cosentino. Take your seat, please. Also, you're Ms Fernandes, aren't you?", the teacher said.
"Yes," Lora uttered a single syllable. "Please sit in that empty seat over there so I can continue with my lesson," the teacher pointed at a desk all the way at the back of the class. Lora quickly made a beeline for it, trying to ignore all the stares penetrating into her back.
With a groan, she collapsed into her seat, heart thumping wildly. The students' attention to her had dissipated by now and they were all facing the front and taking down notes. Lora put her hood on, whipped out her notebook and started copying down everything on the whiteboard as quick as possible. She did not want to draw anymore attention to herself. New Lora was not the kind to yearn for the spotlight.
• ♤ •
"Yo, Kairi. Kairi!" Alvaro Romero whispered to his best friend while pretending to take down the notes. Roshaun looked back from the seat in front before gesturing for him to keep quiet before pointing discreetly at the teacher. Mattia continued copying the notes, but he glanced sideways at Kairi to gauge his reaction.
"Who was that girl you walked in with?", Alvaro said, lowering his voice just a tiny bit. Kairi spun his pen on the desk before answering "New kid. Her name's Lora Fernandes." Alvaro let out a low whistle "She your type?" "I don't even know her, she was silent the entire time we walked here."
Roshaun gazed at Lora and tilted his head before concluding "She looks more like Alejandro's type." Mattia joined in the conversation and smirked "Does he even have a type? He'll bang any hot girl he can get." The four of them chuckled before Kairi asked "When does he get back again?"
"He'll be back from his grandma's place next week. His parents only come back two days after him though," Roshaun replied. Mattia's eyes lit up and he whispered excitedly "Dude, we should throw a party to celebrate him coming back!" "Yeah man, that would be insane!" Alvaro cheered.
The class fell silent as everyone turned to look at the boy. Alvaro gulped and waved awkwardly to try and diffuse the tension "Um... hi guys." Mattia hid a smirk behind his hand and continued writing in his notebook. The teacher scowled and scolded with sarcasm dripping from her tone, "If you have something to say, Mr Romero, please share it with the rest of the class. I'm sure we're all dying to hear the news."
He shook his head while blushing before looking down at his book again. From across the room, sitting in the corner of the class, Lora Fernandes giggled.
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