Jake

1. First Day

Sophia Blackhart walked through the halls of her new school nervously. Lots of kids were staring at her, since she had arrived in the middle of the school year.
She heard a few people whisper things like, "Who's she?" and "What's she doing here?" She just kept her head down as she walked. It was just her luck that the office was all the way at the other end of the hall, straight across from the front doors. She was staring at the ground as she walked through the long, packed halls. Her glasses were hanging low on her nose, but she didn't want to fix them until she got where she needed to be. She didn't want to stay in that hallway longer than she had to. She just kept walking, her speed gradually increasing as she got closer.

Suddenly, she crashed into something. Someone.  Resulting in both of them falling to the floor.
She quickly lifted herself off of the boy she fell onto while he said, "Watch it."
She sighed, "Jesus, I can't do anything. I'm sorry." She looked up to see who she'd bumped into. She saw the boy in front of her slowly standing back up. He had short brown hair and was wearing a white Vampire Weekend t-shirt, dark jeans and a pair of gray Converse. He looked down at her as she looked up at him, seeing her eyes studying him.
All she could say was, "I uh-- I'm sorry."
He said, "It-It's fine."
He kneeled and started picking up the books that had spilled out of his hands when they'd bumped into each other. When he finished and they both stood up again, she looked at him and saw his fuzziness, making her realize that her glasses were no longer on her face.
She murmured, "Where are my glasses?"
He looked behind him and picked them up from the floor. She took them and put them on, seeing his face clearer now.
He smiled, "Better?"
"Yeah," she said, looking at his eyes and trying to figure out their color, "Thanks." She immediately started walking again, making a small gust of wind go past him.

She heard fast footsteps coming from behind her until she saw him come up next to her and walk by her side. "Hey, wait up. Where are you going?"
Her head stayed down as she said, "The office. Apparently I have to sign in for my first day or something."
"Oh." he said as they approached the door. "Well, I'll be your first friend." They stopped at the door and he turned to her, putting his hand out as he said, "I'm Jake."
She shook it softly as she said, "Sophia," and looked at his eyes again.
"Well, you should go ahead before school starts."
She nodded and said, "Okay, then bye."
He said, "Bye," before going back to wherever he was going before she bumped into him.

She opened the door to find a woman sitting at a big desk, writing something.
Sophia said, "Excuse me," in a soft voice.
The woman didn't look up while she said, "Hello. What do you need?"
"I'm supposed to be signing in for my first day of school."
She finally looked up at her and smiled before she said, "Here," as she handed her a clipboard. "Put in your full name and today's date so we can remember when you came in and put that in your file." She wrote it down in her slightly sloppy handwriting and gave her back the clipboard.
The woman looked at her name and said, "Ah, yes. I remember you, Sophia. You came in a few days ago. Welcome to Panmore."
She smiled and said, "Thanks."
The woman handed her three small pieces of paper and said, "Here's your class schedule, your map, and your locker number and combination."
She took the pieces of paper and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. You'd better go ahead. It's almost time for your first class."
She said, "Okay. Thank you. Again," before she walked out the door.

She stared at the papers blankly.
I have no idea what I'm doing, she thought. She kept standing there, studying the papers carefully until she heard a girl's voice beside her.
"Do you need some help?"
She turned to look at her. She was about her same height and she had light skin and brown hair, like hers.
"Uh, yeah, I guess. Who are you?"
She smiled, "I'm Miranda. What's your name?"
"Uh, Sophia."
Miranda said, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Sophia. Where are you trying to get to?"
She looked at the schedule and said, "Um, English."
Miranda traced her finger over the halls in the map and said, "Okay. You go through here and turn right here. It's the third door on the left." Sophia nodded. "Then you have math and that's two doors to the right of that. I'm in that same class, so I can tell you where to go next when that ends."
She smiled and said, "Okay."
Miranda continued, "Oh, and your locker is right over there." She pointed to the left of them. Sophia saw Jake. He was pulling out a few books from his locker.
"Oh," she said, "I think I'll go with you. I want to say hi to Jake."
"Um...okay."

Sophia walked to the locker and Jake looked at her. "Hey, Sophia! I didn't know you had the locker right next to mine."
She smiled and said, "I didn't either." He smiled a little.
Miranda said, "Hi, Jake!" practically squealing.
He rolled his eyes and said, "Hi, Miranda."
She smiled and said, "Um, I've got to get my stuff. I'll see you guys later!"
Sophia waved and Jake waited for her to be out of sight before he said, "She scares me sometimes." She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at her lock and the combination, trying to unlock it for the first time.
"Why? What's wrong with her?"
He said, "Well, nothing's wrong with her. It's just-- She's had this major crush on me since like, 3rd grade, when we first met. But she's all desperate and clingy. I don't think I want to date someone like that."
"Oh. Well, she seems nice. She's helping me find my classes and stuff."
He smiled, "Oh, well, that's good. Just don't mess with her. She can be really scary and crazy if she wants to."
She laughed a little, "Okay."

"What's your first class?" he asked as she finally got the door open.
She started stuffing books in as she said, "English."
"Awesome! I have that first, too. Do you mind if I see your schedule?"
She said, "Oh, no, go ahead," and gave him the paper. He read it as she put the rest of her stuff in the locker and closed it, still holding her English books. She turned to him and he had a huge grin on his face.
"We have all the same classes together! That's so cool!"
She smiled, "Awesome!"
"Well," he said, "we'd better get going. Come on."
She started walking with him and he said, "So, how old are you?"
She said, "I'll be 15 in July."
"Oh, cool, you're only like, a year younger than me."
"So you're 15 already?"
"Yup. Have been since May."
She nodded, "Awesome."