chapter 2 pt.2

Fiona's POV

Fiona stepped off the bus, shaking with fear and anxiety. The school, Golden Sierra Private High School, seemed to loom up before her like a lion. She exhaled and stepped forward.

"FIONAAAAAA!!!"

Fiona spun around, her eyes darting here and there, trying to locate the owner of the voice. Suddenly someone cannoned into her, wrapping her in a tight side hug. "Fiona, there you are! I was looking for you!" It was the girl Fiona had bumped into on the bus. Crystal, she remembered. "Hey, Crystal."

"I'm sooooooo excited, even though this isn't my first time going to public school. Are you?" She piped, beaming at Fiona.

"Actually, this is my first time going to public school. And I'm already intimidated," She said, looking back at the school entrance, where kids were pouring in. Crystal gaped.

"Wow, really? That's amazing!" She glanced at her phone clock. "Well, I should get going. See you later?" Fiona smiled.

"See you." With that, Crystal skipped off, almost instantly being swallowed by the crowd of busy highschoolers. Fiona took a deep breath. "We can do this. We can do this.... We can do this, one hundred percent!" Gathering up what courage she had, she tightened her grip on her backpack straps and headed inside.

With some very much appreciated (and needed) help from the lady at the front desk, Fiona found her locker and was given directions to her first class of the day, English. She placed her extra things inside her little space and looked at it for a second. She decided that she absolutely had to decorate it tomorrow. Closing and locking it, she turned around and began to slowly but surely, make her way to her classroom. She finally found it, just two minutes before the clock struck 8 am. She took one of her two precious minutes to pep talk herself into actually opening the door, and another thirty seconds were taken teaching out for the doorknob. She finally managed to open the door and step foot inside the English classroom, just a few seconds before the bell rang. Everyone in the classroom instantly shut up and stared at her. The teacher, a kind looking older lady, turned around at the sudden silence and looked over her glasses at Fiona. After a moment, she smiled. "You must be our wonderful new student! Good morning, sweetheart. Won't you please introduce yourself?" Fiona looked around at her classmates. They were all staring at her warily, as if she was some ooze on the ground that they almost stepped in. She cleared her throat. "Hello, my name is Fiona Taylor. This is actually the first public school I've ever attended, because I've been homeschooled my entire life." At this, some of her classmates raised their eyebrows, some looked at her like they wanted to know more, and others rolled their eyes. One girl in particular was outright glaring at Fiona for no reason whatsoever. She took all of this in in a few seconds and looked back at the teacher. "Wow, homeschooled all your life! That is amazing! I bet you have amazing vocabulary!" Fiona smiled and looked down, even the little compliment flustering her. "Well, welcome to Golden Sierra! I 'm Mrs. Hamilton, your English teacher. You will sit beside Callisto. Callisto, please raise your hand." At this, several girls gasped and instantly sent death glares to Fiona. She looked around for the hand, and saw a very handsome boy with striking green eyes and white hair smirking at her from his seat, his hand in the air. Fiona clutched her backpack and made her way towards him, awkwardly sitting down at his side. "Hello," He whispered to her. She gave him a friendly smile in return.

Callisto's POV

He watched the new girl walk towards their seat. She was quite pretty, he thought. She had soft, chocolate brown eyes, curly brown layered hair, and bangs swooping to the right side of her face. Regardless of his reputation, he felt a little guilty for checking her out. But he couldn't keep his eyes from subtly sweeping from her toes, up her burgundy stockings, past her uniform and onto her face. Everything about her screamed gentle and delicate, almost fragile, even. It reminded him of a baby bird, of all things. Her soft aura and floral scent enveloped him as she quietly sat down beside him, unzipping her backpack to pull out the essential books and supplies. He decided he couldn't wait to talk to her. "Hello," He whispered, leaning his elbows on their desk. She turned her head his way and gave him a shy yet friendly little smile. It made him feel soft and squishy inside, and like he wanted to turn her into a soft plushie and cuddle her.

Fiona's POV

After English class....

Everything has gone infinitely better than she had thought it would. The boy she was assigned to sit next to, Callisto, seemed like a nice boy. He didn't bother her at all through class, which made her happy. After English, she had biology. Fiona decided that so far, biology was her favorite subject. But for now, there was a small break inbetween classes for the students to actually arrive at the classrooms. She took this chance to use the ladies room and freshen up a little bit. She was washing her hands as some of the girls who has given her death glares walked in, but to her relief, they all rushed into stalls before they could notice her. She finished what she was doing and exited promptly. As she was walking towards her locker, someone called out from behind her.

"Fiona! Wait up!"

She stopped in her tracks and looked back to see Callisto, her English class seatmate, jogging towards her.

"Hey," He said, once he caught up. "Hello," Fiona said, smiling. "Callisto, right?" He nodded. "That's me. So I was wondering what class you had next?"

"Oh, let me check..." Fiona pulled out her phone and looked at her schedule. "Social studies." Callisto grinned. "Awesome, me too! Can I walk you there?"

"Sure!" Callisto and Fiona walked off to class, chatting away.

At Lunch.....

Callisto and Fiona had to part ways during lunch, of course, after exchanging phone numbers. Fiona looked around in awe at cafeteria A, which was filled with chattering, squabbling, eating kids. She took out her lunchbox, Sooubway inside, and set out on her way to find a table to sit There was an empty table by a window that overlooked the running track. The view looked so enticing that she absolutely had to sit there. Just as she was about to bite into her sub, though, the girl who had flared at her for no apparent reason in English class slammed her hands down on the tabletop. Fiona froze, sandwich half in, half out of her mouth. She took it out completely and set it neatly down on her napkin. "Yes...?" She asked, making eye contact with this girl. "Who do you think you are?" She shouted, instantly drawing everyone's attention. "Myself...?"

"Idiot. Attention seeker. Just because you've been homeschooled all your life doesn't mean you're better than us! Teacher's pet!"

Fiona was thoroughly confused. "Did I ever imply that?" She asked. " YOUR WHILE EXISTENCE SAYS I'M BETTER!"

"Okay, okay, chill out, fam, let's talk here. How the heck did it enter your mind that I was better than you?"

"Idiot!" Fiona blanched as the girl raised her hand to strike and screwed her eyes shut. But she never felt the blow and opened her eyes a second later to find the girl's hand suspended a few inches away from her face. Fiona looked up in confusion. There stood a boy between herself and the other girl, and he was holding the other girl's wrist back. "Waffle, what the heck are you doing now?" So the girl's name was Waffle. Funny. Waffle squirmed and tried to escape the boy's grip, but she eventually gave up. "Well, if it isn't the yellow kid standing up for the high and mighty homeschooler. Wow, James, I didn't know you stooped that low, even for you. Now get your hands off me, cabbage breath." Waffle shook her hand off once James, the boy, let go. She huffed and walked away, and everyone began to mind their own business again. James turned to face Fiona. He was Asian, Korean, to be exact. His soft looking, black hair was styled to the side and off his forehead to perfection. He smiled at her, the grin squishing his cute cheeks and turning his slanted brown eyes to friendly, slim crescents. He wasn't much taller than her. "Did she do anything to you other than yell?" He asked. His voice was surprising, but went with his features well. It was soft and boyish. "N-no, I'm fine..." Fiona had no idea why this popped into her head, but his face reminded her of mochi ice cream, of all things. "Thank you for intervening, though." His adorable, heart melting smile only widened. "No problem. I'm James," He held out his hand for her to shake, and she took it. "I'm Fiona."

Much to her surprise, Fiona had made a whopping three friends that day: Crystal, Callisto and James. Hopefully things stay this great!

To be continued