The new boy
I’m in form right now. Finn and I actually got to form on time today. On a Monday. It’s usually on Mondays that we’re late. I talked to Alicia throughout form time. Sadly our conversation had to come to an end when the bell for first lesson rang.
I make my way to Biology in room 16. I walk to my place and take a seat. I’m about to get my pencil case and book out when Mrs. Beynon calls me to her desk.
“Hera, Mrs. Owen would like to see you up in the office. Take your bag with you.” She says calmly to me. Mrs. Beynon is a really nice teacher. Sometimes she makes me feel guilty for not finishing the work that she gave us to do. She’s always talking to me nicely and doesn’t really pressure or force me like other teachers. She just tells me to take my time and really try to work on my projects.
I nod and head back to my seat to get my bag. Finn, who sits behind me, gives me a worried look.
“It’s probably about mitching Chemistry.” I tell him.
“I know. Just don’t say anything that’ll get you into even more trouble.” Finn say, then answers the register when Mrs. Beynon calls his name out.
“I promise I won’t.”
I make my way out of the science corridor, heading to the office. Then out of nowhere I feel myself hitting something hard. It took awhile for me to realise that I had just walked into someone. I looked up to see a tall, brunette boy with mesmerising green eyes. This boy was tall and looked like he was my age.
“You done staring?”
I snap back into reality.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you okay?” I ask the boy who I had never seen before.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. Just lost. I need to get to room 8 for English.”
“Oh, that’s Mr. Wills class. I’ll take you there. Come on. It’s in the other building.” I tell him walking out the doors.
“Thanks. I’m Beckett.”
“Wait. Are you the new kid?” I ask. This Beckett had an American accent, so clearly he wasn’t from Wales or even Britain.
“Yeah.”
“I’m Hera by the way. It’s nice to meet you. Where are you from?”
“New York.”
“So you’re American?”
He laughed at me. “Yeah. I am American.” He says, mocking me. “What class do you have?”
“I’m supposed to be in Biology, but I got called to go to the office.”
“Did something wrong?”
“I guess you could say that. Yeah.”
“The first person I meet at this school is a bad girl.”
“Okay. we’re here.” I say, completely ignoring what Beckett just said.
I knocked on the room door and popped my head in.
“Hi Sir. I have the new kid here. He’s in this English class.”
“Oh. Beckett Blackhall?” Mr. Wills questions, stopping whatever he was writing on the board.
“That’s me.” Beckett says, from behind me.
“Well come in then. Take a seat next to Joe in the back there.” He points to Joe, who was lost in his own world in the back by the window. “Thank you for bringing him here, Hera.”
“You’re welcome Mr. Wills.” And I make my way back to the office.
Mrs. Owen was not happy to see me. She looked disappointed when she saw me at the office. She was the one who called me up here.
“Hello Miss.” I say, trying to enlighten the mood.
“Hera. Why weren’t you in any of your Chemistry lessons last week?” She asks.
“I wasn’t feeling too well,” I told her.
“You weren’t feeling well for 4 chemistry lessons?” Mrs. Owen raises an eyebrow.
“It’s not my fault I feel sick everytime we have Chemistry.”
“Hera. You’re in year 11 now. Think about your GCSEs. You have to start taking this seriously. You only have until May. That’s not too long. You’re a smart kid Hera. You get good marks for all your tests and I'm happy about that, but your behaviour needs to change. You skipping classes and talking back to teachers you don’t like isn’t going to look good on your report.”
I stay silent. I know that this is my last year of comp and I should probably listen to Mrs. Owen. But it’s not like I’m failing any classes. If I can get perfectly good marks without showing up to lessons, then I shouldn’t be getting in trouble. I still do all my work. Maybe it’s just the fact that I don’t hand them in on time, but I still do them.”
“You’re going to be in BSU for 3 days. That means you go home at half past three today and I’m calling you father.”
***
Honestly, I don’t get the point of BSU. You skip a lesson or two and they isolate you so that you can miss more lessons. To me, that’s just a win win. I don’t have to go to any lessons for three days. How amazing is that?
I’m in a room with two other boys. One of them is Bobby, Amy's ex and the other boy is a kid called Aaron from year 8. Bobby’s in BSU for getting into a fight. Not surprised. I don’t know what the Aaron kid is in here for.
I’m at a table which will be mine for three days. If you don't have any work to finish or do, You’re supposed to be doing the BSU reflection booklet. There was no way I was going to be writing a paragraph about why I decided to not show up to Chemistry. So instead, I finished my English essay.
I won’t be able to see my friends at break or lunchtime, since I’m stuck here. It also means Finn and Gabe will be walking home without me. It's nothing new though, so I'm used to this.
***
We’re having dinner right now. Dad took a day off work today. He was looking at me, but didn’t say anything.
“So,” Blake started. “ Mum is picking me up tomorrow. She already found a college for me near her place.”
“That’s good. Are you sure that you want to stay with her Blake? I’m not against it or anything, but moving colleges isn’t easy.” Dad tells Blake.
“I’m sure Dad. I’m okay with that. It’s not like I won’t ever come back. I’ll make sure to come and visit once in a while.”
“So Hera.” Dad says, getting my attention. “I got a call from Mrs. Owen today. You’re in BSU. Again. This is the third time this month Hera.”
“I know. Sorry but Chemistry just isn’t a lesson I fancy. Plus Miss.Gana is boring. She makes me want to fall asleep in her class.” I tell Dad, defending myself.
“That’s not an excuse Hera.”
“It’s not like I’m failing Chemistry dad. It’s fine.”
“You are impossible to reason with.” Dad says, giving up.
“Oh Dad. Mrs. Craig invited us for some barbeque at her place on Saturday. She also said that she invited her new neighbours.” Finn changes the topic.
“Yes she texted me about that. We should make something to bring along.”
“So we’re gonna see Rachel and Tom on Saturday?” Bella asks.
“Yep.” Dad answers.”
“Yay. I can give Sam something that I made for him at school.” Bella sounded so excited and we weren't even going until Saturday, which is in 4 days.
“What did you make for Sam?” Gabe asks curiously.
“Friendship bracelets. He got me a cute necklace for birthday, so I just made him one as a belated birthday present.” Sam’s birthday was three weeks ago. Bella didn’t have a gift for him yet at the time.
“Why would Sam want a friendship Bracelet Bell?” Mikey asks.
“Cause who doesn’t want one?” Bella answers.
***
Yesterday was my last day in BSU. So I’m back to my normal lessons. I have Sports right now, so I’m changing into my PE kit. First lesson after 3 days in BSU.
I went to the gym and saw Sam on the rower, so I went on the one next to him.
“Hey Samuel.” I greet him while starting to use the rower machine.
“Hey Hero. Heard you’ve been in BSU. Feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Sam say, pausing from his work out to catch his breath.
“Yeah. But I enjoyed not having to go to any lessons.”
He sighed, “Of course you did. When are you not happy about being in BSU?”
“Never.” I say, grinning at him.
“We got football practice after school today.”
“Oh yeah. You lads got a game next week right?”
“Yep. Against Bishopvonn.”
“They beat you guys last time. You have to kick their asses this time. Amwyll can’t lose again.”
Sam laughs, “Of course we’ll beat them this time. When's your next game?”
“A week after we get back from winter break.”
“Excited?”
“‘Course I am. Haven’t had a game in a while. It’d be fun to see us win again.”
“It’s crazy how the girl’s team hasn't lost a game since last year.”
“It’s simply because we have better teamwork skills than you boys. Communication is key.”
***
It’s the last lesson of the day, Welsh. I don’t mind Welsh. It’s not that bad. I actually find it really easy since Dad sent me and Finn to a Welsh Primary school. So we’re fluent in Welsh. Also mam-gu, which is welsh for grandma, likes to speak to us in Welsh sometimes.
“So next week we’ll be doing an oracy test. It’s going to be similar to the one you will be doing for your GCSEs.” Miss. Sanger started telling us about a Welsh test we’ll be having. “You’re going to be working in pairs for this. You’ll have to talk to each other about yourself. Very simple topic. You’re not allowed to read off your books on the day, but you can have pictures on a piece of paper to help you. It needs to be at least 3 minutes long. Okay?”
“Yes Miss,” the class says, in unison.
Miss. Sanger was pairing everyone up.
“Alright. Hera, I’m going to pair you up with Beck. He is new to Wales and Welsh. Since you’re fluent, I think you can help him out and teach him everything he has missed out on. Is that alright?” Miss. Sanger asks me.
“Um… yeah. That’s fine.” I answer.
Miss. Sanger thanks me and then she tells Chase to swap seats with Beck so that he can sit next to me.
“Hey Shera.”
I smile at him, “Hello Beckett.”
I start by teaching Beck some basic Welsh words that he’d need to know and I also asked if he would like to come over on Friday to work on what we’d be talking about for the test next week.
“Sure. What time?”
“Is 5 okay?” I asked Beck.
“Yeah.” He answers.
“Okay then. 5pm on Friday it is.”
***
It’s Friday. I just got back from another day of torture at school. I changed out of my uniform into some gray joggers and a sage green hoodie. I put my hair up into a messy bun with some loose strands falling. Beckett comes over today. I still have an hour and a half before he gets here. I went downstairs to get some snacks. I got a pack of Jaffa cakes out from the cupboard and some capri-sun from the fridge.
Bella, Mikey and Gabe are watching Big Hero 6 in the living room. Finn is out with his friends, Scar and Rene are in their room doing, I don’t know what and Blake no longer stays with us. He moved in with Mum. Which is kind of weird because now we have an extra seat on the table. I don’t know why I find that weird. It shouldn't be, but it is. I head back to my room and put the snacks on my desk. I don’t have anything to do while waiting for Beck, so maybe I’ll just go down to the living room and watch the film with the others.
The film is coming to an end when suddenly, I hear the doorbell. I get up and answer it to see Beckett. He was wearing a gray hoodie with his coat on top of it, paired with some black joggers and Nike Jordans.
“Shera. I know you enjoy staring at me, but it’s really cold out here. So can I come in?”
I move aside, “Come in… and I wasn’t staring at you,” I tell him.
He laughed, “Sure.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
“Who was that Hera?” Gabe calls out from the living room.
“Guys this is Beckett. We have some work to do for school, so we’re gonna be upstairs okay.” I introduce my siblings to Beckett.
“Just Beck is fine,” Beck says.
“Hi Beck. I’m Bell and this is Mikey. The one on the sofa there is Gabe. The twins are upstairs.” Bella says, she looks really happy to meet Beck.
“You’re not from here, are you?” Gabe questions, he probably noticed his accent.
“No. I’m from New York.”
“Okay we’re gonna go do some work now.” I take Beck up to my room.
Beck is sitting on my bed and looking around my room. Nothing special really. Just white walls, a dresser and wardrobe on one end of the room, a desk by my bed. That was it. I never really bothered to make my room fancy with pictures, posters or those lights that most girls have. I liked that my room was simple. Maybe it’s also because I’m a little lazy to put some effort into decorating my room, but I still love my room the way it is.
Beck clears his throat, bringing me back from my thoughts, “So if we’re gonna be talking about ourselves in Welsh, shouldn’t we just get to know each other a little first?”
“Um...yeah. I guess.”
“So how about 20 questions? I’ll go first. What’s your full name?”
I sat on my chair, “Hera Elizabeth Ross. Yours?”
“Beckett Shaw Blackhall.”
“Shaw?”
“Elizabeth?” He mimics me.
“Shut up. Okay, favourite animal.”
“Lion.”
“Giraffe.”
“Favourite movie.”
“The Pursuit of Happyness.”
“That’s a good one.”
“Thank you.”
“Mine’s probably all the Marvel movies.”
This went on for a while until we both ran out of questions. I didn’t want to ask him personal questions because I felt like that would be weird. I just met this guy a few days ago.