Chapter 2
Leighton High School (LHS) was huge. Its walls were painted peach and
the glass on the front door was sparkling clean. ‘The brochure sure wasn’t
exaggerating. Damn.” Sam said to herself. She took a deep breath and entered
the building hoping that no attention whatsoever would be drawn to her. Upon
entering, she saw a huge hall lined with lockers and filled with a sea of
students. To Sam, this was a good thing because she would be able to blend in
with ease. It would be as if she wasn’t even there.
She
must have looked either lost or confused because a girl with frizzy red hair,
round purple plastic glasses, roughly her age approached her. “Hi, you must be
new here. I’m Clarisse Fender of the welcoming committee. Go straight down the
hall and enter the third classroom on your right. A small briefing for new
students will start shortly.”said Clarisse with a sweet smile. Sam muttered a
thank you, unsure if Clarisse could hear her or not and quickly headed off to
where ever she was supposed to go. She entered a classroom consisting of about
30 to 40 teens and took a seat all the way at the back. A middle-aged woman,
The Headmistress, she assumed was standing in front of the classroom with with
a mic. Some of the kids were already conversing with each other while others
were pre-occupied with their smartphones.
The
room came to a silence when the woman in front started talking.
“Hello
children, my name is Eleanor Fitzgerald, Principle of LHS but you should call me Madam Eleanor. Not Mad E, Mrs Fitzee, Lady Zitzgerald or
whatever you youngsters are too free to think of these days. Have I made myself
clear?”
Everyone
must’ve been nodding silently because she continued with her speech.
“As
you may have already realized, Leighton High School is one of the more
established schools in New York. Therefore, I expect each and every one of you
to be on your best behaviour whenever in my compounds. Shortly, you will be
given your locker keys and class schedule. One member of the welcoming
committee will be by your side for only a day to introduce our facilities and
lead you to your homerooms. So make sure you pay close attention. I do not want
anybody lingering around the halls within five minutes of the sound of the
bell. That is all. Thank you”
Without
hesitance, one by one, names were called out for the distribution of the locker
keys and schedules and appointment of a ‘Hello Buddy’. To Samantha’s surprise,
cheery Clarisse was her ‘Hello Buddy’. Oh,
joy. “In exactly 20 seconds after I finish my sentence, the bell will ring
and you and your stupidly named ‘Hello Buddy’ will head off to class,” said our
Principal with not a hint of a smile on her face.
As
Madam Eleanor had promised, the bell rang within 20 seconds of her sentence and
all the teenagers exited the room towards their respective classrooms with
their ‘Hello Buddies’. Samantha wasn’t really paying attention to the somewhat
thousand words Clarisse was saying on their way to her first class. As long as
Sam knew where all the homerooms were placed, she would be fine. There wasn’t a
need to socialize just yet. Clarisse dropped Sam off and hurried to her own
class.
Chemistry
101. At least Samantha was starting the day with one of her better subjects. She
took a seat in the middle next to a guy with dark brown hair with his head
rested on his arms on the table because the back row was filled. The teacher, a
male, with a receeding hairline wrote his name on the board.
E-A-R-L
The
man introduced himself as Earl like pearl only with no P.
“Mr.
Thompson, glad to see you in my class
again, first period of the year and already asleep?” said Mr. Earl addressing
sleeping brown-haired guy.
The
boy next to Sam raised his head with a smirk and replied, “Just on energy
saving mode Mr. E.” Then, the guy turned his head and said “Hey, I’m Casper” to
Samantha. Sam could get his whole profile within a blink of an eye. He had
green eyes, strong jawline, straight teeth and perfect hair. He was a cutie
thought Sam but relationships weren’t what she was looking for till she’s 24 or
something.
“It
seems you have made a new friend Casper, I’m sure she would like to introduce
herself to the rest of the class.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. No, I would NOT like to
introduce myself to the class. Sam thought as
she rose from her seat towards the front of the class feeling her cheeks go hot.
“Erm…
hi I’m S-s-samantha L-l-lee from Verm-m-mont” said Samantha stuttering so much
it could be remixed into a dubstep.
Mr
Earl told her to return to her seat and she was given a sort-of sympathetic pat
on the back by Casper with the comment “There there, S-s-samantha the red s-s-snake.”
Samantha brushed off that stupid comment and just kept quiet so she wouldn’t
draw any more attention to the attention she was already getting from this pain
in the butt. She took out her books and the lesson began. Maybe, chemistry wasn't looking to be so fun after all.
