A Day in the Life of a Student

People started packing up five minutes before the bell rang. Mr Jeffery tried to get their attention again, but shortly gave up and set his marker down.

"Make sure you all do chapter five for homework." Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes. "All of it! You'll be tested on it Friday."

Link walked over to me and tapped my shoulder. I looked up at him.

"What's your next class," Link asked.

I pulled out my schedule and handed it to him. He looked it over and smiled.

"You have all the same classes as me," he said. "That's handy."

Without another word, Link guided me to my next class. The hallway was crowded. I could barely move. I wasn't very good at dealing with big crowds. At my old school, I knew all the hallways that no one thought of using. I knew all the shortcuts. Here, I was a stranger.

Link grabbed my sleeve and pushed through the crowd. It was like running headlong into a train. I stayed close, trying to stop my racing heart.

We had to walk down three flights of stairs, then down two different hallways. We got there just as the bell rang. We sat down and waited for a minute for the teacher to walk in. This time, Link's seat was next to mine.

When the teacher walked in, she was almost tripping over the files and books she had piled in her arms. Link, of course, rushed forward to help her.

He grabbed a few of the books and files, then put them on the desk. He then sat back down in his seat.

"Thank you, Lincoln," the teacher said with a smile. "Who's your new friend?"

I felt my face heating up again. Anger boiled in my chest a little. I felt like yelling at her. I was right here, no need to ask Link who I am.

"I'm Gabriella Frost. I just moved here."

The teacher smiled at me. Her smile was wide and bright. Her entire body seemed to float, as if she was filled with bubbles. Her clothes were bright and cheery. It was weird, almost like she actually enjoyed her job.

"It's very nice to meet you, Gabriella," she said. "My name is Mrs Summers. Why don't you stand up and tell us about yourself?"

I shook my head.

She didn't want to take no for an answer. "Come on, please? I would love to know more about you!"

They have nothing to like about you. You're such a horrible person. You're the reason you're all alone. Why would they want to be friends with someone who could be a burden to them?

"No," I snapped.

Mrs Summers looked disappointed. "Okay. Now, class, today we're looking at DNA strands, and using them to see what the mystery creature might have looked like when it was alive."

I sat back and sighed. When we were handed the worksheet, Link stared at it.

"I hate biology," he muttered. "I get that learning about the human body is important, but why do we have to learn about creatures that are dead?"

I blew air out my nose. "Well, it's important to the school board, so it should be important to us."

Link rolled his eyes and I rolled them back. Everyone in class was having trouble with the worksheet. I had done something similar to it back home.

"All we have to do is look at the DNA code and unscramble it. When we unscramble the letters that don't belong, we'll figure out what the animals looked like."

He nodded and I tried to help him unscramble them. I wasn't much help, but we managed to get most of the worksheet done before class ended.

"I'm glad you two got so far," Mrs Summers said with a cheery smile. "I'll make a mental note that you two work well together."

When the bell rang, Link grabbed the cuff of my sweater and pulled me down two more hallways.

We got there before everyone. Link sat in a seat in the back, then pulled me down beside him. The teacher walked in as the bell rang, then sat at his desk. The three of us watched students file in.

History. I was good at history. I knew most of the important plot points from things like Magic Tree House and American Girl, oh and Doctor Who.

However, when the teacher started the class, he didn't hand out worksheets. He stood at the desk and started up a PowerPoint presentation. Then he walked across the room to the back. In his hand was a tennis ball.

"Now, class," he said as he began fiddling with the tennis ball. "Today, we are going to learn about something important. Before Christmas, we were learning about World War two. Today, we're going to learn about what life was like after the war."

He threw the tennis ball at the SmartBoard, which had a screen that said "Life after War!" I flinched when the ball left his hand, even though I was sitting in the seat beside him. The tennis ball hit the Smart Board just right to change to the next slide.

I looked at Link. He shrugged and rolled his eyes. I slid down in my seat and prayed that he would never miss.

When history was over, we ran to the next class. Gym. The gym was down in the basement. Next to the theatre.

"So, this is the gym," Link said as he led me inside the large space.

It looked like an ordinary, high school gym. It was very symmetrical. There were bleachers on both sides, with double doors at each end of the room. On the right, beside the end of the bleachers that was close to us, was a hallway that led off to somewhere. On the left, there was another hallway at the end of the bleachers. The bleachers were green and magenta.

Link pointed to the right. "Locker rooms. Hot spot for bullying and people who smoke pot. Be careful when you're in there, because it's really hard to hear the bell in there."

I nodded and pointed in the other direction. "What about that hallway?"

"Equipment room. Only the gym teacher's favourite students are allowed in there."

"So, only jocks," I joked.

Link beamed. "You're catching on!"

I laughed and Link led me down the locker room hallway. There were two doors at the end of the rather short hallway. Boys and girls. We went our separate ways and I looked around.

The locker room was kind of small. There were green and magenta lockers lined along the middle of the room, with a few strips of benches along the walls. Girls were everywhere. They all looked around my age, or older.

I was so glad I threw my shirt into my bag. I pulled out the Nirvana shirt and quickly changed into it, then took off my jeans. I was ready to go. I stuffed my hoodie in my backpack and left the locker room.

Coach, who taught gym, prefered to only be called Coach. He was the type of guy that was passionate about sports. The kind in movies that wear a tracksuit all the time and wears a whistle, even if he's not in the gym. He looked me up and down when I left the locker room.

"Galaxy," he said in a booming voice. "What do you know about sports?"

I stood there, slightly useasy. "Not much."

He nodded, then blew his whistle. "Give me three laps, everyone! We're playing dodgeball today!"

After running three laps, which made me feel like I was dying, we all lined up. The coach picked team captains, who then took turns picking people. At the end of it, I realised I was the only person left. The two captains looked at each other.

"Guess I'll take Nirvana," the boy who chose Link said.

I sighed and joined the team. I stood next to Link and tried not to look bored.

"Most of the people here play sports, so you might want to just dodge and catch. That's what I do."

I looked at him. "Solid advice. Thanks."

It was harder to dodge and catch. The boys threw insanely hard. I caught a few, but ended up getting out a few times.

Luckily, my next classes were easy. First there was lunch. I followed Link around, scared of being completely alone.

Next was English with Mrs Miller. Theater with Ms Anderson. Then, finally, study hall with the Spanish teacher, Mr Perez. Mr Perez refused to speak to me the whole class, because I didn't know a word of Spanish.

Finally the bell rang. I jumped up, gathered my stuff, and Link guided me to my locker.

"So, see you tomorrow," he asked.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

Link walked away, then I got all my stuff and left. As I walked out of the building, I realised I didn't know which bus was mine.

In front of the school, two buses were pulled up to the steps. Behind the buses were the cars of parents, teachers, and students. The buses weren't numbered like they were at my last school. I was used to at least ten buses.

My phone rang from my jacket pocket. I looked at the screen. The word Amelia lit up the screen.

"Hello," I said as I answered.

"Hey, I'm behind bus number one," Mrs Young said.

I walked around the first bus and saw Mrs Young standing next to her car. She waved to me and hung up. I walked over and she smiled widely at me.

"Hey, sweetie," she said as I slid into the car. "How was your day?"

I shrugged. "It was normal. I think I made a friend. His name is Link."

Mrs Young smiled. "Oh that's fantastic! I know Link very well. He's a great kid."

I nodded and looked out the window as we drove away from the parking lot.