Author's note, this chapter is told from Lily's point of view.
Mum is always telling me that these are the best years of my life, she obviously didn't tell that to the weather man, because my first day of high school was also the wettest recorded day in TwinBrook history. Unfortunately not wet enough to flood the school. I was not looking forward to the social ostracization fest which would undoubtedly unfold the moment I stepped onto the yellow bus from hell.
In a way I was glad of the bus, because then I didn't have to walk. I can't wait until I pass my test, then that will be one less part of this very sucky situation out of the picture. As soon as I stepped foot onto the bus I could feel the eyes of everyone on me, I could almost hear the thoughts of fresh meat and noob, or maybe it actually was their whispers. I didn't have time to tell, I flashed the driver my pass and hurried to an empty seat near the front of the bus.
The bus drive was a little over ten minutes, our first port of call was an assembly for all the new people to go to, after that there was a brief orientation, which I didn't find very useful because me, Lyra and Mum had already had a tour around a few weeks ago before the term started. The only thing I did find useful was the time I got to spend staring at the tour guide's butt. His name tag announced him as Benji Walton.
First and second lessons after the tour were Chemistry and Humanities respectively, both were dull, mainly recapping what we had learnt last year and hinting at topics that would be covered this term.
At lunchtime I decided to poke my head into the cafeteria, and found it to be full of athletic muscle heads and pretty girls, so I took my leave and found a nice spot under a tree close to the library. Hereby starting my next few years of geekdom.
After my lunch I made my way to the classroom housing the school newspaper, I knocked and opened the door and stopped suddenly when I realised that Benji was standing right in front of me. He stood a lean, but muscular 6'2 ". His blond hair was swept gracefully to one side, and his glasses did little to hide the emerald twinkle of his eyes. I spluttered out "Is....... Is this the newspaper?" His eyes seemed to convey a very heavy magnetism, I could not stop looking at them. And then I realise he had spoken and I had not heard a single word. My mind raced for a safe answer, not wanting to show I hadn't heard, and yet at the same time actually saying something. "I'd like to join the newspaper, if there is a space." I hope I don't have a stutter every time I talk to him because he's going to think there is something wrong with me.
His face changed in recognition " Aren't you the girl from the tour this morning? If you are, you're a little keen because we don't normally take first years." "Oh", I breathed, totally deflated, I had expected, probably stupidly to just be able to walk in and get a place. As I turned to leave he brushed my arm slightly and said "Wait, there is always room, however people don't just get given places. Come back in a week with two pieces, the first 150 words entitled " My first day at high school" and the second 200 words entitled " The new school president". The second will require a bit of detective work to find out what you can about the candidates running for the position." He winked at me and simply said " Have fun", with a small grin on his face. That grin was like watching the sun rise for the first time. I replied almost in a whisper " See you in a week", the words which came out of my mouth sounded more confident than I felt.
I walked out of the classroom and it seemed as though the world was rushing by. I stood there dazed by my encounter for a couple of moments, before some stupid, brick head, jock barrelled into me and sent me flying. The bell rang as I picked myself up, meat head walked past, no apology, merely laughter between him and his friends. My perfect slice of lunch was over.
My first lesson after lunch was English language followed by English literature, both with the same teacher, a Mr Brewer, who was a very charismatic, handsome man, considering he seemed to be in his 50's. Apparently he's an author who writes short stories, but enjoyed teaching too much to be able to stop. He seemed to fill his lessons with a passion I had not experienced before, he seemed to really love what he was doing. Homework funnily enough was to read one of his books, the library he said had enough copies for the entire class, which were kindly donated by his Publisher.
Before the last lesson there is a 10 minute break, I saw Lyra in the corridor flirting with someone who looks like he punches people for money. She looked over, but didn't acknowledge me, too wrapped up in whatever sentence this jock was trying to actually make.
Last lesson was unfortunately History, the teacher dragged on for what seemed like an eternity about Ancient Mayan sacrifice rituals, somehow he had managed to turn this otherwise interesting topic into the dullest lecture I have ever been too, probably because he seemed old enough to have actually been there. My mind wandered back too that brief moment in the classroom when Benji's hand brushed my arm, my skin started to tingle as I re-lived the moment in my head. In my mind he was a lot closer than he had been, I saw him lean closer now he was very close, his nose almost touching mine.
The bell snapped me out of my daydream, which was a shame, as it had a lot of promise. Lyra didn't sit with me on the bus on the way home, which was odd, but I put my headphones in to drown out the noise of idiots and tried unsuccessfully to zone back into my daydream. I passed Lyra and the meat head she was obviously twisting around her little finger and waited for the bus to stop. I saw Dad and Mum on the front porch, They looked so happy and at peace, I cant wait to have this schooling experience over with so i can get on with my life.
Stay tuned for chapter 11 :)
