“Trust me,” Nathan said as a bell overhead rang, “I ask myself that same question all the time. That was the first bell. Let’s head down to the office so you aren’t late.”
After helping me find the office so I could pick up my schedule, Nathan walked me to my first-period class, which happened to be anatomy.
“Here you go—Room 207,” he said, escorting me into the room. “Hey! Looks like you have a class with Alex.” Nathan pointed out his brother, who was hiding in the back corner of the room with his nose buried in a book. “Let’s go see if you can sit with him.”
“Wait, no,” I started to say, but Nathan was already strolling into the classroom. Sighing, I followed him.
“Hi, Alex,” Nathan said when he reached the back of the room.
“What’s up, Nate?” Alex asked without looking up from his page.
“I was just walking Jackie to class, and she happens to have anatomy with you. Mind if she shares your table?”
Alex looked up sharply when he heard my name. “Um…” he started to say. He trailed off as something caught his attention over my shoulder.
A high-pitched giggle filled the room, and I turned to see a beautiful girl with curly blond ringlets. She had a perfect button nose that crinkled up in delight as she laughed, and her blue eyes sparkled. Her arm was locked with another girl’s as they walked into class, joking.
I turned back to Alex and noticed his eyes were locked on the girl. He pressed his lips together, and for a moment I thought he was going to tell Nathan no, but then he cleared off the space next to him.
“Awesome! Thanks, Al,” Nathan said.
“No problem,” Alex said and returned to his reading.
“Well, I better get to class. Have a good first day, Jackie.”
“Bye, Nathan. I really appreciate all your help this morning.”
“It was my pleasure,” he said. “See you both later.”
When Nathan was gone, I hovered at the edge of the table. “I can move if you want to sit by one of your friends,” I told Alex quietly, and by friends I meant the girl. “I’ll be fine by myself.”
“Huh?” He looked up from his book again. “Oh no. It’s totally fine. Sit down,” he said, pulling out the chair for me.
Relief washed over me. “Okay, thanks.”
Alex’s eyes darted back to what he was reading, but then he pulled out a marker, jammed it between the pages, and shut the book.
“Don’t stop on my account,” I said, unzipping my schoolbag and pulling out a notebook.
“No, I was being rude before,” Alex said and offered me a smile. “You just caught me at my favorite part.”
“Oh, so you’ve read it before?” I asked, tilting my head to read the title. “What’s it called?”
“The Fellowship of the Ring.”
I stared at Alex blankly.
“Tolkien?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? You’ve never heard of The Lord of the Rings?”
“Oh, like the movie?”
Alex groaned and banged his head on the table in frustration. “Why don’t girls ever read good fantasy?”
“What are you talking about? I thoroughly enjoy fantasy. What about A Midsummer Night’s Dream?”
“Is that some girly crap like Twilight? That doesn’t count as fantasy.”
“Shakespeare doesn’t write about sparkly vampires,” I scoffed.
“Oh, I know now! Isn’t he that super-old dude who wrote plays? I’ve read his stuff in English class.”
I knew he was only joking, but I scoffed and said, “You don’t know who Shakespeare is but laugh at me for not knowing Tonkin or whatever his name was?”
“Tolkien,” Alex corrected me, “and he wrote the greatest fantasy series of all time.”
“Yes, but Shakespeare could be considered the greatest literary figure of all time.”
Before Alex could respond, a young man appeared in the front of the room.
“Good morning, class,” he began. “Today we have a new student. Jackie, is it?”
When I heard my name, I instantly froze up. The entire class turned to look at me.
“Um, yes?”
“All right, then,” the teacher continued enthusiastically. “Welcome to Valley View. I’m Mr. Piper, and I teach most of the science classes here. Why don’t you stand up and tell us something about yourself?”
He wanted me to stand up, like in front of everyone? I could feel my face burn.
“Jackie?” Mr. Piper prompted me.
I heard my chair scrape back and then I was standing. My hands shook and I quickly tucked them behind my back. “Um, okay. Hi, I’m Jackie Howard and I recently moved here from New York.” I announced my short greeting in a rush and sat back down. If I had to do this in every class, today was going to be a nightmare.