VICTOR

Victor knelt at his locker, gathering his things for first period. Today was his second week of school at his new school, Lion Bank Middle School. It was September second. He had already made lots of friends, and maybe a little crush. He had started liking a girl the first time he saw her, love at first sight, you could say. It's weird to think about love at first sight, It was kind of cheesy. He had got his classes down too. Same with the teacher's names.

Suddenly, the bell that warned them to get to class rang. He jumped up from his bottom locker and started heading for first period with Mrs. Kendall. He had the same first period class with his crush and a lot of his friends. He walked into the room and took his now usual seat, in the back, right next to Sabastian Tailor and Marick Format. He sat down and took out his brand new computer.

"Hey, Victor," Marick Format greeted with a big, boyish smile.

"Hey!" Victor greeted, putting his things on the ground.

A minute later, his crush walked in with her long strawberry-blond hair, dangling down her back. She hurried in to sit down in her usual spot, right next to one of his friends. He watched her put her things on the floor, then started talking to his friend. He could only hear muffled whispers, and then she giggled at something his friend said. He felt a pinch of jealousy.

Of course, He thought, rolling his iceberg eyes.

Then, the bell rang for class to begin. Victor looked toward the intercom for announcements. It was all the same, except they didn't congratulate this time. They got up for the pledge, stated it, and after that, they sat down. The teacher told them to go onto their laptops and go onto Google Docs. All the kids did so. Their assignment was to write three paragraphs about what they learned about their computers. He didn't groan as the other kids did, neither did Angelina.

When Victor was done, he looked at Sabastian to see if he was done. But when he looked over, Sabastian was laughing at something Victor's crush said. Also, he noticed Sabastian blushing at Victor's crush, and Victor's crush was blushing at Sabastian. Of course his crush liked Sabastian, and Sabastian liked his crush. Wait, he didn't know that quite yet. He didn't know for sure. Maybe they are cousins or something. Or something. Victor stared down at his desk. He wondered why everything he had or loved was taken away from him.

"Are you done," Marick asked him, making Victor lose track of his thoughts, scaring him.

"Sorry, what did you say," Victor asked, looking up.

"Are you done, Victor," asked Marick again.

"Oh, yeah, I'm done with the paragraphs... Are you done?"

"Yeah, I'm done."

Suddenly, the bell rang for breakfast.

Already?! Victor thought.

Victor got up and walked toward the door. He looked back and saw his crush giggling with Sabastian again. Victor sighed and then rushed out the door. He would never get the girl of his dreams.

When Victor sat down at a table in the cafeteria and was eating, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was none other than Sabastian.

"Hey, dude! What's up," Sabastian asked, sitting next to him.

"Nothing, you?" Victor asked, brushing his hair out of his face.

"Um, nothing right now. Last night's homework was hard, huh? More so number 45," Sabastian stated, pulling out his small smartphone.

"Yeah, I guess it was hard. It surely stumped me," Victor shrugged, making his hair go back in front of his face.

"Yep! Well, I'm going to go get to science early. Bye Victor," his friend said, rushing outside to go back into the school.

Victor brushed his brown, silky hair out of his face again. He got up to go throw his trash away. Then, he saw Angelina Barrings talking to her friends, Oakley and Jazelle. He immediately started blushing when Angelina's friends waved hi to him. Angelina didn't even look at him. He walked, dazed, to the garbage cans and dropped his trash in the large garbage can. He heard the bell so he dashed outside of the cafeteria and ran into the school to go to second. He rushed to his locker and got his things for social studies, his second period class. He then saw Sabastian and Angelina walking into the science room together. How had Angelina gotten into the school so fast? He wandered into the art room, his second class of the day. He was immediately greeted by another one of his friends, Josh Genre. He walked to his desk in the back row, with Josh. The brown-haired boy sat down and greeted the teacher Mrs. Rulluer. Victor found her last name hard to say so the teacher gratefully let him call her by her first name, Carol. The teacher gave Victor a small wave and then she returned to correct the student's artwork, everyone plus Victor knew he was the favorite student. Then the bell rang with a startling chime, starting the class.

An hour later the bell rang again and he jumped up and rushed out the door. He went to third then to fourth and then finally his favorite time of the day, lunch. When he walked out to the cafeteria he was passed by a group of five girls giggling and whispering. He assumed they were talking about him because they kept glancing at him. He hated it when people talked about him, definitely when he was right there. It was probably because he was new. Also most likely because he was from Paris, France. Paris was great until you lived there your whole life. It was just the same old Paris, France. Nothing ever changed at all, at least it seemed to never change to him. American tourists thought it was amazing, but it wasn't that great, it's just new for the other countries. France is no different from any other country except that was the place where all of his sadness surfaced.

Victor shook his head and continued to the lunchroom. He walked in a minute later after walking in the hot sun. He quickly realized that he was not excited about winter here. He was told by Sabastian that Walton City had cold winters. He hated snow, except for the fact that you could make silly things out of it like snowmen and snow angels. But, he didn't find that to be fun at all though. Just cold.

The lunchroom was full of kids from the school. He went through the line to get his lunch. He scanned his name and then grabbed a tray. He got some peaches and cucumbers, then he moved on. He got a carton of 2% fat chocolate milk and then went through the main course line. The lunch lady got a scoop and put some mashed potatoes and chicken tenders on his gray tray. Yummy. He got out of the line and looked around the lunchroom. He was looking for Sabastian and Marick. Finally, he found them at a table near the door. He walked over to his friends with the fully loaded tray. They waved at him and motioned him to sit down. He noticed they weren't talking because they had full mouths of mashed potatoes. He sat down giving a small smile.

"Hey, guys. Have you been to math yet? I heard it's super hard today. I guess we have to do a lot or something," Victor said, putting a spoon full of mashed potatoes in his mouth.

"I wope it wilp be esi," Victor also said but with food in his mouth

His friends looked at him puzzled. Victor swallowed his mouthful of mashed potatoes. He looked at his friends, not understanding why they were puzzled. Then he understood why.

"I said 'I hope it will be easy.' Sorry if that was unclear, plus I had my mouth full of mashed potatoes." he repeated putting his spork down.

His friends nodded, understanding now. They both picked up their chicken tenders with their hands. Sabastian took a large bite out of it. Marick also took a bite, but just a small one. Victor looked at his chicken strip and shrugged. He might as well try a chicken strip for the very first time. He had never had a chicken strip before. He pretty much only ate bread, cheese, croissants, pasta, etc. He took a small bite and then he chewed it. After he chewed it he swallowed. It wasn't that bad, definitely since it was school food. He ate more and more. Next thing he knew all three tenders were gone. He had simply just scarfed it down. His friends were looking at him like he was a maniac. Victor gulped hardly and then straightened his back. Sabastian started chuckling and Marick started laughing. Victor was very confused. He looked at his friends, who were laughing now. Marick clutched his stomach, while he laughed. Victor laughed along awkwardly. What was wrong with them? What was so funny? His two friends continued to laugh, but not as hard. Sabastian calmed down and said something.

"Haven't you ever had chicken strips before, Victor?" he chuckled.

"No," Victor answered.

"Really?" Marick asked, surprised.

"Uh, yeah."

"Do they not have chicken tenders in Paris?" Sabastian wondered, confused, setting his spork down onto his tray.

"They do but I never got them."

"Didn't your school serve them or something?"

"Well yeah... I went to a private school. We had to pay for our lunches but I couldn't afford it, so I just didn't eat. Plus I was never hungry."

"Oh, sorry Victor..." Sabastian sighed, looking down at his uneaten salad.

"It's whatever. I didn't come from a rich family like the others."

Everyone was silent. "Sorry I hadn't had a chicken tender before." Victor joked. He always seemed to crack a joke in the most serious moments.

"It's whatever. Plus who even cares." Sabastian laughed.

You know what Sabastian isn't half bad, Victor thought to himself, laughing.

"I'm going to go outside for the rest of lunch." Victor grinned, nodding towards the door.

He went over to the trash cans and dumped his tray. He put his tray in a stack of other trays, on a counter. The brown-haired boy walked out of the cafeteria door, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Victor walked along the paved path to the school courtyard. He felt like it was a million degrees and his leather jacket didn't help much. The sun beat down against his body, increasing his body temperature. He laughed as the sun made him think of his old friends back home when they would wander the streets of Paris on a hot summer day, dancing to the unique music from the local musicians, and eating warm, buttery croissants made by the street vendors.

So now what? He thought to himself. I always hang out with Sabastian and Marick at lunch.

He walked around the school campus trying to find his other friends. He later found a cliche of three boys who looked interesting. He walked up to the boys while they were laughing at a boy who had been reading a book but it slipped out of his hands.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" He simply greeted.

One of the boys looked at him and scoffed. "You're that guy from Europe. I'm Zeke."

"Victor."

"These two are Dexter and Jax."

"Sup." Jax nodded.

"So, why are you talking to us, Paris?" Zeke leaned against the brick wall belonging to the gym.

"You guys looked interesting. Figured I'd get to know my competition." He tried to sound cool as best as he could.

"What, on girls or teasing?" Zeke laughed.

"A little of both." Neither.

"Well, Paris, you've come to the right place." Jax laughed.

"So, Zeke. Got room for another?"

"Depends who you're talkin' about." He spit on the ground. "If you are meanin' you then I could make an exception, but anyone else is a strict no."

"Well then, boys, it's my lucky day."

Zeke scoffed, approving of him. "I like you, you're funny."

The warning bell rang for fifth period, permitting them inside. Victor backed away from the three then found his way through the back doors and then to his orange locker on the boy's side of the hall.