Wow, this sucks.
That was honest-to-god my first thought when I saw North Peak High School for the first time.
The graffitied brick walls were crumbling. The roof was filthy. There was shouting, and about seven hundred students were attempting to cram through the dirty double doors. It seemed that the entire population of North America was pushing and shoving their way into the building all at once.
I could hear the bell, that hollow sound signifying the beginning of the school day. In my mind, it was synonymous with the groans of hundreds of kids, as it had always been in middle school.
Great. I was going to be late to my first day as a highschooler. I twirled a finger through the mess of wavy, platinum-blonde hair on my head, nervous. The anxiety was already kicking in, and my toast was churning in my stomach.
I was going to have to be in classes with a bunch of kids I barely knew. Most kids from my school, except for Millie Francher, were going to Madison High on the other side of town, almost an hour from North Peak. Obviously, since I lived only fifteen minutes from North Peak and nearly forty-five from Madison, North Peak was the better choice and my in-zone school.
The worst part was that it was Millie Francher. Millie was her actual given name, and she was the actual most annoying human being on the planet. She had giant round glasses, big, dirt-brown eyes, and chocolatey curls that exploded on all sides of her face. She kept them in pigtails. She had money, unlike me, but wore baggy sweaters and jeans. She didn't even buy fashionable shoes.
She had a Facebook profile. Clearly out of touch with reality.
I pulled out my schedule as I stumbled through the crowd at the doorway. Math, first period.
Yay.
I was searching for my first class, along with about 800 freshmen and everyone else in the school. Teachers and students alike were shouting, and hundreds of kids were packed into the hall, stampeding in all directions. Just find Room 208.
____
I stepped into Room 208.
There was only one desk remaining in the room, and it was in the middle, a fairly average seat. But in the desk next to it was the most beautiful human being I had ever seen.
Her hair was a warm reddish brown, long and wavy. Her light skin was freckled.
I sat down next to her and she turned to look at me.
Her freckled cheeks had a peachy blush to them. She wore no makeup except for a bit of mascara on her lashes, and her eyes were astonishingly gray and warm.
Her pink lips parted in a slight smile.
I could barely smile back, I was so surprised. But I offered her a shy smile just as the teacher began to speak.
"I am Mr. Holmes." He said. His brown hair was shot through with a shock of gray, and his tan skin had the slight wrinkles of late middle age. "I will be teaching you Math I this year. Please get out your notebooks and title the first page Math I Syllabus/Classroom Expectations..."
"What's your name?" Whispered the beautiful girl with the red hair.
"I'm..." I felt my face heating up as I stammered over the words. "I'm Micah-- Micah Forrest. What's yours?"
"Harper Jayes." She said, smiling. I noted that her white teeth were perfectly straight. She must have gotten her braces off already, or was one of those people with perfect teeth to start out with.
Everything that Mr. Holmes was saying kind of vanished. I couldn't tune it back in. Harper looked forward at him, paying attention, but I couldn't. I could only see her, and smell the slightly citrusy scent that came off her waves of red hair.
The bell rang, and before I could say anything, she disappeared.
