TTEOTB -- Ch. 2

Chapter 21

After going over the schedule a few times I stand up and start down the hallway to look for my first class. The hallways have names like streets and there are arrows pointing to where certain classroom numbers would be found. How convenient. 2

“Advanced chemistry? Advanced English? AP Human Geography? My dear, you can’t handle that, you’re going to fail miserably. Ah, I can see it now…” His revolting odor fills my nose and his winded voice is back in my head.
Looking over my right shoulder I see him peering over me to read my schedule as I am. He isn’t so much scary anymore as he was irritating.
“Just leave me alone.” I mutter under my breath not wanting to get stared down again.
I take a right turn and a few feet down the aisle find a staircase to my left. I run up the stairs two at a time and he floats behind me talking up a storm about how I’ll never manage to pass the eleventh grade. It’s very disheartening and all very true. I’m not going to pass, I’m not smart enough…
The classroom I’m looking for isn’t too hard to find. I walk in and sit down at a desk in the middle of the room.
“I’ll see you after class…” He tells me and then disappears.
I sit at my desk as still as I can except for the fingers of my right hand which tap the desk with a rhythmic impatience. I hear the teacher cough and only then do I realize he is sitting at his desk. I look up at him, he smiles. I smile back to be polite and then look back down at my desk (I’m guessing he noticed my fidgeting.)
“Are you new here?” I hear him ask. His voice is light; he looks about 6’6”. He is very skinny and although he is very tall his face is soft and takes away from his daunting height. He has short brown hair and I can’t really tell the color of his tiny eyes.
“Yes.” I reply quickly looking up from my desk.
“Ah, where’d you move from?” He asks, actually sounding interested.
“Oceanside, California…”
“Wow, big change.” He says, raising his eyebrows. “You’ll get used to good ole’ Virginia.” He chuckles lightly.
I nod my head although I don’t believe him and the conversation ends.
“No, you won’t, you’re too socially unacceptable.” I hear Him cackle.3

I lay my cheek down on the cold wooden desk staring intently at the clock, trying with my eyes to make the hands spin forward faster. This doesn’t work out too well. The bell finally rings ten minutes later at 7:35 A.M. Kids start to enter the classroom about two at a time and take seats in the very back or very front of the class. They all chatted quietly to each other except for a few girls who didn’t seem to care much about who was around them and talked at quite a loud volume.
The teacher, whose name I would know if I would have gone to new student/freshman night, got up from his desk and wrote his name neatly on the board.
“Hello class!” He boomed, his light voice turning quite heavy.
Everyone quieted quickly and faced towards the front of the room.
“My name is Mr. Newton and I’ll be your algebra 2 teacher this year, obviously.” He told us as he passed out a syllabus. “It’s only the first day so I’ll give you an easy assignment: read the syllabus, show it to your parents and get it signed. Also, pick up the items on the list of materials you don’t have yet. You can talk for the rest of the period, class ends at 9:05 A.M. Have a nice first day.” He finished and then went to sit down at his seat again.
Who the hell was I supposed to talk to? Ugh! Being new sucked, it really did.
I pulled out a notebook and a black sharpie and decided to doodle on its cover until the bell rang. I also listened to people talk about their summers and about what they were going to do this year in terms of “fun”.
Doodling became boring after a few minutes and so I stopped and laid my head down on my desk in my arms, slowly falling to sleep.
Fifty minutes later the bell rang and I heard the feet of my peers scattering across the floor towards the door. I got up slowly from my desk, threw on my backpack and headed out to my next class.
As soon as I was out of the classroom I could smell him. He had been waiting for me the whole time.
“So… How was class?” He asked, floating behind me as I tried to get through the crowded hallways muttering “Excuse Me”’ and “Sorry” to the people I bumped into.
I didn’t answer him and just kept walking, not wanting to look stupid again talking to something no one else could see.
“I see… So alone… No one even bothered to talk to you all. No one cares about the new girl… haha.” He floated to my side quickly and peered down at me with his blood red eyes.
I walked faster, my eyes darting to both sides of hall searching for my next classroom. It was towards the very end of the hall on the left side. He disappeared when I reached the door.
There was a Periodic Table of Elements on the far left wall which is what I saw first when I walked into the classroom. The desks were slanted inward on both sides of the class which I thought was interesting.
I took a seat in the middle of the right side of the classroom behind a boy with long black hair, tan skin and brown eyes. The bell rang at 9:10 A.M. and the teacher came rushing in. She was very skinny with messy, thin blonde hair. Her eyes were wide and she wore a striped shirt, khakis and converse.
“Alrighty then, class! My name is Mrs. Steinberry. I know, quite interesting.” She stopped to take a breath. “Ah, okay, so as I was saying. I’ll be your chemistry teacher this year!” She smiled a wide, white smile. I could tell she was very into her subject, I guess that’s a good thing.
Mrs. Steinberry passed out a syllabus and then just like Mr. Newton told us that we could talk for the rest of the period. Again, I fell asleep.4

The rest of the day dragged on slowly and I felt like it would never end. The buses finally came to take us home at 2:20 P.M. I don’t think I’ve ever been that happy to see a big yellow bus before.