2

"Good morning, everyone!" the teacher says. "Welcome back! For those who don't know me, I'm George Hummel. I'm a physics professor and I'm also the vice director of this school." he paused and looked into the crowd. "I was kind of expecting applause there, but let's move on." Small laughter fills the room. "Here to give you the official welcome, your principal, Frank Albertson."

There was big applause as a middle-aged man walks up in front of us. "Hello, everyone! As my colleague, Hummel has already said, welcome back! Before sending you to your lessons, I would like to talk about some of the activities and information you might need to survive this year."

He starts explaining the different clubs that they have. I write down the few I find interesting, although I don't know at how many I will actually go.

Half an hour later, the director finishes his speech. "Thank you for listening and watch out for falling bricks."

The hall explodes with applause and laughter, and then slowly the crown slips out of the doors. I turn to Karen. "Uh, what do I do now?"

"I'm not sure. Let's go ask Mr. Albertson." she takes me by the hand and drags me towards the principal.

When we reach him, she doesn't hesitate in speaking up to get his attention. "Excuse me, Mr. Albertson?" the man turns around to face us. "This is Emma Johnson. She's a new student here and doesn't really know what to do now."

"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry, Miss Johnson." he apologizes. "I'll explain everything to you. We can talk in my office." he gestures towards a door I notice only now. "Thank you, Miss Graver, for bringing this to my attention. You may go to your morning classes."

"Yes, of course." she waves at me. "Bye Emma. See you later."

"Bye," I say, my heart thumping in my chest.

Jeez, girl. You're just talking to the director. Just do it, for god's sake! I think to myself.

"This way," Mr. Albertson points.

I walk through the doors and sit down in one of the chairs facing the desk. The director sits in his seat, opens a drawer and pulls out a sheet of paper. "This is your timetable. The classes aren't the best, but it's the best I could do."

"It's okay, thank you," I say.

The principal nods before talking again. "These are the classrooms-" he points to a little number under the name of the different teachers. "And these are your teachers. The classrooms are pretty simple to find, but if you want I can give you a map." he proposes.

"Um, yes. I'll take one just to be sure." I say.

"Okay." he pulls out another piece of paper and hands it to me. "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you."

"Okay, your first lesson is… pre-calculus. Ugh, sorry." he jokes. "The classroom is just down the hall. You should be able to find it easily."

"Thank you very much." I stand up and shake his hand. As I'm leaving, someone knocks onto the door forcefully.

"Come in!" Mr. Albertson calls.

The door opens and the same guy who had winked at me in the hall walks in. When he sees me, he smirks, then turns his attention to the director. "Happy to see me?"

"Oh, no. Mr. Polson, what have you done now? Dammit, the year has barely started!" Mr. Albertson complains.

"I didn't do anything wrong! Mrs. Lambert asked for the homework and I said I forgot it at home. Then she accused me of being a liar! Can you believe that?" the guy explains.

"Yes, actually." the director answers, and then turns to me. "Miss Johnson, welcome to our school. Now, if you can excuse me, I have to deal with…" he nods towards the other teenager. "This."

I smile and nod. Then I walk out and close the door behind me. Curious, I try and eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Okay, explain to me exactly what happened." Mr. Albertson says.

"Yes." the boy answers. "She called me a liar! So I told her that she had no proof, right? Then she was all like, 'I don't need proof, you've always been like this'." he explains.

"Then what happened?" the grown-up asks.

"I said that I didn't need proof either to know that she was a pain in the ass."

"Oh, come on!" the director exclaims. "That's not an adequate language when talking to a teacher. Tom, you know that!"

I'm almost cracking up, so I decide to walk away and head to my class. I walk down the hall and find my classroom. I knock on the door. I hear a faint, "Come in!", so I open the door and have a quick word with the teacher.

"Hi. I'm Emma Johnson, a new student here. I was told this was my first class?"

She checks her register. "Oh, yes. Here you are."

She turns to her class and introduces me. When she's done, she points at a seat in the front row. I turn to see the seat she's pointing at, and I smile as I see Karen. She smiles back and nods towards the empty seat next to her. I walk over and sit down, but I don't like the feeling of everyone staring at me. Luckily, the teacher starts her lesson, so the attention rolls onto her.

"Happy to see me?" I ask Karen.

"Yes!" she says. "What's your schedule?"

I hand it to her. She pulls out her own from her bag as I start taking notes of the material we'll need. Suddenly I hear a squeal. I look over and see Karen holding up two identical sheets of paper.

"Same classes!" she says.

"Awesome!" I say. I raise my hand, hoping for a high-five. Karen obliges.

We smile at each other, then start taking notes. I was hoping to make friends in every class but, for now, I think Karen will be enough.

Pre-Calculus goes smoothly. Karen and I pack up our things and head to the Social Studies classroom. We sit down in the middle row and wait for the other students to walk in. Meanwhile, as we see a mass of teenagers coming through the doors, we start talking.

"There are so many people. My last school didn't even have half the students!" I notice. "I wonder how many of these people will be my friends. Probably not many."

"Don't worry about it. You'll make plenty of friends." she consoles me. "When I was the new girl, it took some time to adapt, but you'll get there eventually."

"Wait, you haven't always gone to this school?" I ask. She always looks confident and at ease in this school, so I thought it always had been hers.

"No, I moved here in the middle of freshman year. I had no friends either at first, but it'll get better, I promise," she says. "But what are you worrying about? You have me!"

I laugh. "That's true."

"C'mon. Class is starting." she points out. I smile as I turn my attention to the blackboard.