"Where were you? You're late." Mr.Doran said it in the same irritated tone Edith used. He was a short, round man with bald patches on the sides of his head. He always reminded me of a stressed out parrot.
"Sorry sir" Alex awkwardly scratched his head and smiled. "I slept in this morning. I was up late writing my speech for today's teacher orientation." He always covered for me when I got us late but since he's Alex everyone buys what he says. Mr.Doran nodded in response and let us in for morning registration. We were a class of about twenty-four and we were loud. No wonder Mr.Doran was going bald, he dealt with this mess everyday.
Alex and I made our way to the back but even before we passed the third row he was surrounded by student council members. It hadn't always been like this, a few years back no one would have even known his name. Alex had been involved in a seriously bad crowd. He's started doing drugs and shit and ended up owing people a lot of money. One time he barged into my my house completely wasted, he was too ashamed to go home so he stayed with me, crying until he eventually passed out ;his head resting in my lap. After that he decided to change. He cleaned himself up and told his parents everything. They gave him hell but he took it without a word. He gradually improved his grades and became more social and that's how he ended up like this. He came to the conclusion that if he put on a 'social mask' he'd be able to hide his shameful past. He started to act differently around others and eventually I stopped hanging out with him at school. He's a great guy, but he's just not the same Alex I grew up with.
"Class, please settle down. I have an announcement." The chatter died down and everyone took their seats. Mr.Doran cleared his throat "Thank you. Right, well before all that noise starts again, I'd like to inform you of a newcomer in our class. Everyone exploded into conversation.
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"I reckon it's a girl"
"Did you guys hear about this?"
Mr.Doran banged his book on the table and it all went silent. He grunted and waddled over to the door, opening it and ushering the newbie in.
"Everyone, I'd like you to welcome Jasper Hense into 12-D. Go and take a seat wherever you like, Jasper."
The class erupted ; people calling for him from all directions and introducing themselves. Alex stood up and they both just stared at each other, a some-what mocking smile on Jasper's face. He pushed past Alex, saying something to make him go rigid. No one else seemed to notice so I'm probably just imagining it but, there was a tense atmosphere around those two. Jasper was about an inch taller than Alex and he looked tanned in comparison to Alex's pale complexion. His hair was short, brown and scruffy and stood up slightly at the front in a sort of quiff. He was wearing a maroon T-shirt and a black hoodie with dark blue jeans and skater shoes.
He made the move any new guy would and he chose the table with the one person in the room who wasn't hounding him with questions; me. He dropped his bag half way down his arm, his hand resting on the chair as if waiting for persmission.
"Go ahead, it's free." he nodded in reply and slid into the chair with a sigh, accepting the long day ahead of him. Now that I think about it he's actually quite attractive. He has a sort of rugged feel to him. His ears were pierced twice on the left with black studs and he was wearing two bracelets ; black and silver bands and white beads.
"Ah great, You're with someone reliable. Isla, You'll show him around wont you?" Mr.Doran was hovering over us, looking at me with a look of hope. "Wonderful, I knew you wouldn't say no. I'll leave you in her care then, Jasper."
"I didn't exactly say yes either." I muttered. I leaned my chair against the wall, balancing it on it's back legs. "I guess I'll be showing you around then." I said, turning to Jasper who just nodded in response. I suppose he's more of the strong, silent type. "Where's your subject sheet?" I asked. He didn't respond so I added "I can't show you around properly without knowing what blocks you're in." He raised his eyebrows and pulled out a crumpled sheet from his back pocket.
"Is this it?" His voice was different to what I expected. It was soft and surprisingly sweet. I thought it might have been a bit more rough. Maybe he's just nervous, talking to someone he's never before, in a school where he knows no one.
" Yeah, that's the one." I took the paper from him, scanning over the subjects highlighted in yellow: Visual arts -Photography and life drawing, English literature, photo journalism and French. The rest were the compulsory subjects such as the sciences and maths. "Right, so you're in block A - the arts department, block C -that's the compulsory block which we're in right now and block E is the language section.
"That's a load of blocks. How many are there? " He leaned his chair back to the same place as mine. That's a good sign, he's getting more comfortable.
"There's blocks A-E which are all student blocks and then there's block F" I pointed out the window at the building across from the pitch "Which is for the teachers and staff. It's also where the student council meetings take place if you're into that kinda shit."
"Student council, huh? Sounds like quite the effort."
Once the bell rang everyone started shuffling towards Alex, as usual, asking him what he got up to on the weekend.
"Nothing much, just hung around Isla" He smiled apologetically in my direction, knowing that I hated it when people payed much attention to me. They'd always point out my flaws to Alex, asking why he hung around someone so, peculiar, strange, odd ; take your pick, the judgements never ended.
"Lets go, I'll show you around during first period. I don't really feel like going to maths this morning anyway." I pushed my way through the crowd and out the door, finding it hard to avoid everyone's glare.
"Jasper" I said looking back and seeing him still stuck in the flow of students blending around him and Alex. "If you don't push through you're not going to be able to make it out of there. You're fresh meat ;the girls will not hesitate to attack." I flashed him a grin and he smiled back.
"Right, in that case" He began to lift Hannah Martin, the vice-president, out of his way and placing her to the side. He just had to nod in the direction of the other girls for them to scurry back to Alex. "Sorry Ladies" Jasper shrugged and followed me out the room. I couldn't help but laugh, only five minutes ago was he the 'nervous new guy' and now he was picking up and relocating the student council's vice-president? I'll admit that I was curious. Maybe getting to show him around wasn't going to be half bad.
"Well done, newbie." I gave him a knuckle bump and walked on ahead. "Come on, I'll show you around. This might take a while."
He had a triumphant grin on his face as if that was the most fun he'd had in weeks. Alright, so my analysis was wrong; he's not the shy type at all.
"Ya think they'll leave me alone now?"
"Nah, like I said Jasper, you're fresh meat." I turned to him and smiled "Keep it up though and they will, eventually."
I guided him through block C, showing him around each registration room. Every grade was split into two classes with their teacher's name as their labels.
"We're 12-D and the other class is 12-G for Mrs.Gregory. Don't think you have her for any classes but if you do, never be late. She will not hesitate to pass you a detention slip."
Jasper shook his head and looked over his timetable.
"This school is so organised that it's confusing."
"Yeah, I know but you'll get the hang of it soon enough"I peered over his hands and scanned the sheet noting that he had Mrs.Gregory for French. "Well, your timetable is pretty similar to mine so just stay with me and you should be alright. If you do want a social life here though, being around me will probably ruin your chances, so once you've found your footing you're welcome to ditch me."
I leaned against the wall next to locker 125 labelled J.H. "Here's your locker, all the one's here belong to our grade so they all start with 12." He unlocked it with the code Mr.Doran gave him and he began loading his stuff into it.
"I'm not the type who looks for a social life, so being around you really makes no difference" He looked over at me and smiled. It was strange, you wouldn't expect him to smile so much. He just looks like someone who'll get you into some trouble. He kind of reminds me of Alex, acting differently around different people. I'm not going to pry, though. Everyone has their reasons and their secrets.
"Fair enough. So you're doing the Visual Arts then, huh?" He looked over at me, his eyes twinkling for a second.
"Yeah, you too?"
"I do Visual and fine arts so, we should be in block A together pretty often."
"Sweet, should we head to class now or...?" I checked the time to see that there was about fifteen minutes left until the end of maths.
"We might as well. We're in different maths classes, yours is straight down the hall in room 1. Honors maths." I said shaking my head at him mockingly "Jeez" I crossed the hall and walked to the door labelled 3.
"Sorry, Mr.Doran got me to show around a new kid." I nodded back in Jasper's direction, smiled and headed inside for class.
"Sorry sir" Alex awkwardly scratched his head and smiled. "I slept in this morning. I was up late writing my speech for today's teacher orientation." He always covered for me when I got us late but since he's Alex everyone buys what he says. Mr.Doran nodded in response and let us in for morning registration. We were a class of about twenty-four and we were loud. No wonder Mr.Doran was going bald, he dealt with this mess everyday.
Alex and I made our way to the back but even before we passed the third row he was surrounded by student council members. It hadn't always been like this, a few years back no one would have even known his name. Alex had been involved in a seriously bad crowd. He's started doing drugs and shit and ended up owing people a lot of money. One time he barged into my my house completely wasted, he was too ashamed to go home so he stayed with me, crying until he eventually passed out ;his head resting in my lap. After that he decided to change. He cleaned himself up and told his parents everything. They gave him hell but he took it without a word. He gradually improved his grades and became more social and that's how he ended up like this. He came to the conclusion that if he put on a 'social mask' he'd be able to hide his shameful past. He started to act differently around others and eventually I stopped hanging out with him at school. He's a great guy, but he's just not the same Alex I grew up with.
"Class, please settle down. I have an announcement." The chatter died down and everyone took their seats. Mr.Doran cleared his throat "Thank you. Right, well before all that noise starts again, I'd like to inform you of a newcomer in our class. Everyone exploded into conversation.
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"I reckon it's a girl"
"Did you guys hear about this?"
Mr.Doran banged his book on the table and it all went silent. He grunted and waddled over to the door, opening it and ushering the newbie in.
"Everyone, I'd like you to welcome Jasper Hense into 12-D. Go and take a seat wherever you like, Jasper."
The class erupted ; people calling for him from all directions and introducing themselves. Alex stood up and they both just stared at each other, a some-what mocking smile on Jasper's face. He pushed past Alex, saying something to make him go rigid. No one else seemed to notice so I'm probably just imagining it but, there was a tense atmosphere around those two. Jasper was about an inch taller than Alex and he looked tanned in comparison to Alex's pale complexion. His hair was short, brown and scruffy and stood up slightly at the front in a sort of quiff. He was wearing a maroon T-shirt and a black hoodie with dark blue jeans and skater shoes.
He made the move any new guy would and he chose the table with the one person in the room who wasn't hounding him with questions; me. He dropped his bag half way down his arm, his hand resting on the chair as if waiting for persmission.
"Go ahead, it's free." he nodded in reply and slid into the chair with a sigh, accepting the long day ahead of him. Now that I think about it he's actually quite attractive. He has a sort of rugged feel to him. His ears were pierced twice on the left with black studs and he was wearing two bracelets ; black and silver bands and white beads.
"Ah great, You're with someone reliable. Isla, You'll show him around wont you?" Mr.Doran was hovering over us, looking at me with a look of hope. "Wonderful, I knew you wouldn't say no. I'll leave you in her care then, Jasper."
"I didn't exactly say yes either." I muttered. I leaned my chair against the wall, balancing it on it's back legs. "I guess I'll be showing you around then." I said, turning to Jasper who just nodded in response. I suppose he's more of the strong, silent type. "Where's your subject sheet?" I asked. He didn't respond so I added "I can't show you around properly without knowing what blocks you're in." He raised his eyebrows and pulled out a crumpled sheet from his back pocket.
"Is this it?" His voice was different to what I expected. It was soft and surprisingly sweet. I thought it might have been a bit more rough. Maybe he's just nervous, talking to someone he's never before, in a school where he knows no one.
" Yeah, that's the one." I took the paper from him, scanning over the subjects highlighted in yellow: Visual arts -Photography and life drawing, English literature, photo journalism and French. The rest were the compulsory subjects such as the sciences and maths. "Right, so you're in block A - the arts department, block C -that's the compulsory block which we're in right now and block E is the language section.
"That's a load of blocks. How many are there? " He leaned his chair back to the same place as mine. That's a good sign, he's getting more comfortable.
"There's blocks A-E which are all student blocks and then there's block F" I pointed out the window at the building across from the pitch "Which is for the teachers and staff. It's also where the student council meetings take place if you're into that kinda shit."
"Student council, huh? Sounds like quite the effort."
Once the bell rang everyone started shuffling towards Alex, as usual, asking him what he got up to on the weekend.
"Nothing much, just hung around Isla" He smiled apologetically in my direction, knowing that I hated it when people payed much attention to me. They'd always point out my flaws to Alex, asking why he hung around someone so, peculiar, strange, odd ; take your pick, the judgements never ended.
"Lets go, I'll show you around during first period. I don't really feel like going to maths this morning anyway." I pushed my way through the crowd and out the door, finding it hard to avoid everyone's glare.
"Jasper" I said looking back and seeing him still stuck in the flow of students blending around him and Alex. "If you don't push through you're not going to be able to make it out of there. You're fresh meat ;the girls will not hesitate to attack." I flashed him a grin and he smiled back.
"Right, in that case" He began to lift Hannah Martin, the vice-president, out of his way and placing her to the side. He just had to nod in the direction of the other girls for them to scurry back to Alex. "Sorry Ladies" Jasper shrugged and followed me out the room. I couldn't help but laugh, only five minutes ago was he the 'nervous new guy' and now he was picking up and relocating the student council's vice-president? I'll admit that I was curious. Maybe getting to show him around wasn't going to be half bad.
"Well done, newbie." I gave him a knuckle bump and walked on ahead. "Come on, I'll show you around. This might take a while."
He had a triumphant grin on his face as if that was the most fun he'd had in weeks. Alright, so my analysis was wrong; he's not the shy type at all.
"Ya think they'll leave me alone now?"
"Nah, like I said Jasper, you're fresh meat." I turned to him and smiled "Keep it up though and they will, eventually."
I guided him through block C, showing him around each registration room. Every grade was split into two classes with their teacher's name as their labels.
"We're 12-D and the other class is 12-G for Mrs.Gregory. Don't think you have her for any classes but if you do, never be late. She will not hesitate to pass you a detention slip."
Jasper shook his head and looked over his timetable.
"This school is so organised that it's confusing."
"Yeah, I know but you'll get the hang of it soon enough"I peered over his hands and scanned the sheet noting that he had Mrs.Gregory for French. "Well, your timetable is pretty similar to mine so just stay with me and you should be alright. If you do want a social life here though, being around me will probably ruin your chances, so once you've found your footing you're welcome to ditch me."
I leaned against the wall next to locker 125 labelled J.H. "Here's your locker, all the one's here belong to our grade so they all start with 12." He unlocked it with the code Mr.Doran gave him and he began loading his stuff into it.
"I'm not the type who looks for a social life, so being around you really makes no difference" He looked over at me and smiled. It was strange, you wouldn't expect him to smile so much. He just looks like someone who'll get you into some trouble. He kind of reminds me of Alex, acting differently around different people. I'm not going to pry, though. Everyone has their reasons and their secrets.
"Fair enough. So you're doing the Visual Arts then, huh?" He looked over at me, his eyes twinkling for a second.
"Yeah, you too?"
"I do Visual and fine arts so, we should be in block A together pretty often."
"Sweet, should we head to class now or...?" I checked the time to see that there was about fifteen minutes left until the end of maths.
"We might as well. We're in different maths classes, yours is straight down the hall in room 1. Honors maths." I said shaking my head at him mockingly "Jeez" I crossed the hall and walked to the door labelled 3.
"Sorry, Mr.Doran got me to show around a new kid." I nodded back in Jasper's direction, smiled and headed inside for class.
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