There's Something Against Us

Chapter 1

Room 318. I peak up from behind my too-large glasses and stare at the number etched next to the door.

"Excuse me," a rather bitter sounding woman spits out at me.

"Oh, um- sorry."

I quickly move out of her way. Her curly grey hair bounces as she brushes past me and opens the door.

Nervously, I follow her inside, sit down and hope I attract no further attention to myself. I adjust my glasses and regret that I didn't wear my contacts today.

More and more people file in; Mostly all of them seem to know each other already. Two guys in the front talk loudly about the track team tryouts.

"Anyone sitting here?" Suddenly a girl is standing over me, motioning to the desk next to mine. She's chewing on her gum like she wants to break her teeth. And she looks impatient.

"No." My voice is tiny in comparison.

She loudly slams her belongings on the ground and adjusts herself. Her posture is unfortunate; at least for the person whose desk she's repeatedly kicking.

The sound of her open mouthed gnawing distracts me from eavesdropping on the other students' conversations.

"My name is Miss Burr," the teacher's tone is biting and sour. "This is Romantic & Realist American Literature."

I barely listen as the elderly woman attempts to quiet down the wild crowd of teenagers. It's a pitiful attempt.

She clears her throat and speaks louder.
"We will be covering authors like Edgar Allen Poe, Ralph Waldo Emerson..."

The door clicks open in the middle of her sentence and drags everyone's attention to it's vicinity.

A boy, outfitted in what looks to be my dead grandfather's clothes, enters with a grimace. Everyone is staring at him. I'm staring at him. The evil old woman stops talking to glare at the boy herself.

A strange sense of second hand anxiety makes my stomach twist.

"Late. On the first day." The witch seethes at him. The boy's face contorts with a strange mixture of fear and amusement.

"Oh...um.." he trails off, obviously not having much to say.

"Well?" She hisses at him.

Someone in the front snickers.

"Ooo, a show," the girl next to me stops chewing her gum to half laugh, half whisper.

"Sorry." He mumbles nervously.

His gaze moves towards my direction and my eyes dart frantically throughout the room. The open seat next to me - the only open seat - is directly to my left. I stiffen as he moves closer and closer to me. With all my efforts, I attempt to look natural. He walks over - as expected - and sits down very quietly.

"The next person who decides to come to class late will NOT be allowed inside. They will recieve a zero for the day, and it will be his or her job -not MINE," the devil woman sends a dirty look in the boy's direction, "..to figure out what they missed."

We can't even be late on the first day? What if he was lost?

"As I was about to say.. we will review the syllabus and go over classroom etiquette. After that we'll look over what we will be studying this semester."

She distributes papers to the people in the front. The blonde boy in front of me turns around in his desk and smiles as he gives me my paper. I only smile back because I fear Miss Burr will murder me if I dare open my mouth to thank him. No one makes a peep. My eyes move down to the paper...