Chapter 3 – Woodvale High
Dinner wasn’t as awkward as I’d expected. I’d met Karen, Dave’s wife and I had to admit she was actually extremely sweet. After that I’d gone to bed, worn out from the flight and spent most of Saturday unpacking.
They’d enrolled me at the local school, Woodvale high and I was due to start there on Monday, which is today, and I’m terrified. I’d never really been good at meeting new people except I knew this would be worse. It was a small town and I got the feeling that not many people moved to or away from here, which would make me the outsider. Just the thought of it made me get teary, but then again I’d been over-emotional ever since the fire.
Karen had said she’d take me into town to go shopping for new school stuff - which we did on Sunday - and I appreciated that and felt bad when she wouldn’t let me pay. Now I stood outside the front gates of Woodvale high, a set of brand new note-books, a packet of biro pens and a sandwich in a brown paper bag from Karen in the old peeling brown leather backpack I had.
I’d spent hours this morning trying on different outfits and getting ready, wanting to look somewhat okay for my first day but not like I’d tried too hard (which I definitely had) in the end I’d chosen a pale pink cotton tank top with a thick grey too big cardigan that made me look like I was drowning in wool but that was the case with most of my clothes. I hada small build for a sixteen year old, I was short and all knees and elbows. I wore a pair white wash jeans as well, that was about the most normal thing I could find in my wardrobe. Me and my mum had always been thrift-shop vintage junkies. I left my hair down, the too light brown locks, reaching to just above my waist in natural waves and put on bit of natural looking make-up never being very skilled in that area anyways.
With a shaky breath I headed to the main office Dave had pointed to after he dropped me off, pulling my bag closer to me, wishing I could hide inside of it. I opened the door and was surprised when it was empty, the school must of been smaller than I’d thought, I hadn’t seen much on the way in but I was guessing there wasn’t much more to see.
“Hi! You must be Emma.” Came an over-excited chirpy voice from behind the desk. I just smiled and nodded. “Great! I’ve got your schedule right here...” she said, trailing off as she started rustling through drawers before returning with my schedule in a plastic slip folder. Then she handed a few slips of paper each one requesting a signature. “You need to give these to your teacher’s today so they can sign it and hand it back here.” She added with a smile. I smiled back nervously.
“Thanks.” I mumbled turning around.
“Have fun.” She called after me and for a second I thought she was being sarcastic but then I remembered she was a forty year-old woman who probably believed children loved school. I rolled my eyes and pushed open the office door.
My first class was biology in building three. I looked up, Students were bustling past me, chatting to their friends or rushing to class. There was a building a little to the left of me with a big five painted in white on the side but no other buildings had visible numbers. I checked my timetable for a map but no such luck. I decided to just start walking; the school was only tiny after all.
The place was made up of quite a few different buildings, all with sets of classrooms for different subjects. In the centre was a large space of grass with a few trees and picnic tables. There was a small football field with a few wooden bleachers on the sides that quite frankly looked out right depressing.
I was crossing the grass towards what I hoped was building one as I only had a few minutes to spare when suddenly I walked into what felt like a brick wall. I stumbled backwards, losing my footing a landing on my butt in the grass. Way to make a fool of yourself on the first day Emma, I thought. I looked up and realised it wasn’t a wall but in fact a person I’d walked into. An extremely attractive person at that. He had short, jet black hair and big smouldering brown eyes. He was tall with a good build and kind of reminded me of Dave.
I could feel my cheeks burning up as I grabbed my bag and went to stand up. Suddenly his hand reached out grabbing my arm and pulling to my feet as if I weighed nothing. “Sorry.” came his deep husky voice.
“It was my fault.” I mumbled, knowing I’d turned even redder, cursing my awkward traits. I quickly hurried past him, feeling his eyes on my retreating back; Or more likely my ass. I could still feel where his hand had gripped my arm and reached up to touch it before dropping my hand. Feeling idiotic and embarrassed I walked into my first class of the day.
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