Gifted

Chapter Three

According to my schedule, I had History first, located in Building A. And while running back and forth between buildings seemed like an unnecessary pain, I felt thankful for the fresh air. English, Drama and Chemistry were all located in Building B, in that order. Then I had my lunch break, followed by Homeroom, French, and Trigonometry all located back in Building A. All things considered; it seemed like a decent schedule, although I might not have liked the fresh air as much if I were constantly alternating buildings.

The lobby was abuzz with excited students. New students like me were walking around with their noses in maps. My nerves were so on edge it felt as if the entire building were vibrating. I concentrated on the exercise I used this morning in the cafeteria. It worked. I took the stairs up to the second floor and looked out over the balcony. I felt someone brush my arm and stop next to me.

I found two dark blue eyes staring back, a slow smile spread across Nolan's face and his eyes crinkled in response.

"Know where your first class is?" he asked.

"Not really," I said. He held his hand out for my schedule.

"Nice, we're in the same class; though it looks like the only one."

I shrugged. "One's better than none."

His smile got bigger. "Yeah I suppose it is." He waved his hand as if to say, "after you". We followed the hallway to the left; it was a big square and our History class was in the first hall. We were among the first to arrive and claimed a couple of seats by the window.

"So, Mr. Blake isn't too bad, he's not the most exciting, but it could be worse. You have Ms. Nathanson for English right? You'll love her."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"See? Stick with me and I can fill you in on all the MAC info."

I lifted my eyebrows as if this were a surprise. "Good to know."

Kids began to trickle in, and the seats started filling up quickly. Nolan gave me one last wink and turned forward as a plump, bald man entered the room closing the door behind him.

I found myself happy to be walking across campus to building B. It felt good to stretch my legs. The next three classes dragged on, but I finally made it to my lunch break and hustled to the cafeteria. Luckily being in building B already meant I was early and things were still slow.

I grabbed a light lunch; I didn't trust my stomach to hold anything more, and found a round table toward the back of the cafeteria by a wall of windows. I had my back to the rest of the room and contentedly ate my lunch staring out the window at the flow of students making their way in. I saw the tray in my line of vision the same time I heard it hit the table. Kenzie slid into the seat next to me.

"Hey! Morgan!" She cracked the seal on her bottled water and didn't wait for my response, "How's your first day so far?"

"Um, good." It sounded more like a question than an answer, but before I had time to go into detail the seat next to her became occupied by a boy with light brown hair and dark eyes.

"Oh Morgan, this is my boyfriend Gray." He gave a slight smile and nod. Kenzie looked as if she were going to ask another question but stopped, mouth hanging open. She shut it with a snap and lifted her eyebrows curiously. I turned to see what had caused her surprise and found Nolan standing on my right.

"Can I sit here?" He gestured to the empty seat in front of him.

I nodded stupidly. Nolan had that effect on me.

Kenzie smiled and quietly said, "I guess I see how your first day's going." She wagged her eyebrows and started eating.

Nolan, Gray and Kenzie all shared polite conversation. It struck me that they seemed to be friends though maybe not very close. Gray, and Nolan separated into a debate about sports, and Kenzie took the opportunity to strike up our own conversation. Her round face lit up, and she smiled smugly.