(Excerpt
Alma Chapter 1)
After I signed in, I was told which
classes I would be in. I was given a map
to download onto my phone of the school building, with my class time
table. I was relieved to see on my
schedule that I was placed into the Home Science and Music classes that I
nominated as my electives.
The school bell sounded and
hurriedly I left the office. I walked
down the now empty corridor looking for Room 306 for my first class of the day
which was English. To be honest, I
didn’t find the school map that helpful.
I kept losing my place by having to check the ‘key’ at the bottom, to
work out what all the different colours meant.
Merde! I'm going to be late for my
first class! Now I’m really going to stand out!
At last, I found Room 306 after
walking up one staircase and down another corridor. Nervously, I approached the closed door where
I knocked once before slowly opening it.
The English teacher was a red-headed
woman, who was standing up the front of the class. She was writing on an electronic board with a
sensor pen before she paused to look on my lateness, unimpressed.
“I’m – I’m new,” I tried to explain.
I heard some snickering from the
students who were all staring at me.
Most of them eyed me analytically and looked unimpressed with what they
saw. Their expressions mirrored the look
on my teacher's face.
“You’re new?” the teacher raised her
eyebrows. “That would explain why I’ve never seen you before.”
There was more snickering as the
whole class stared at my appearance. I
stood there, like I was stuck in the mud, wondering if I was supposed to say
anything else? The teacher didn’t ask for my name nor did she offer hers.
“Well, unless you want to stand
there and help me teach, you can find a seat," she said at last.
My face burned in embarrassment as I
looked for a place to sit down and hide, but there were only two places. Beside the vacant seats, sat fashionably
dressed boys or girls who looked like they were secretly hoping I wouldn’t sit
beside them. But if they didn’t want me to, where else am I supposed to
sit? I’m going to have to sit in one of
those seats whether they like it or not.
I moved towards a seat beside a boy
who was wearing a sports team jacket, when abruptly he put his foot on the
chair to stop me from sitting down.
Mon Dieu! This day was worse than I could have
imagined! Not only does nobody like me,
but they already hate me! I froze in
terror as I didn't know what to do, when out of the blue I heard this…
SMACK!
…a good looking boy who was sitting
behind the mean boy who'd stopped me from sitting down, had just slapped him on
the back of his head!
“Don’t be a dickhead, Johnson! Move
your frickin’ big foot!” he snapped.
The other kids who'd witnessed this,
burst out laughing, whereas I wished I could turn invisible.
The good looking boy was sitting
next to a broad-shouldered girl with a very pretty face. But her physique was what made you notice
about her first, as she was one of the strongest looking girls I'd ever
seen. Truly, she looked like she could
have been a weightlifter! She had bright
blue eyes and long, wavy, dark blonde hair, and was looking at me with a
curious expression.
She was sitting next to another boy,
who was the exact opposite to her as he was very thin. He had faded blue eyes and his pallor was so
unnaturally white, his lips were almost blue.
To say he looked sickly would have been an understatement.
The good looking boy who looked like
he could be part Native Alaskan, waved his hand towards the vacant seat.
Immediately, I sat down and busied
myself by taking out my laptop. I tried
to ignore the death stare by the sports jacket guy named Johnson. He glared at me then the good looking boy and
back to me.
Mon Dieu! That's it, tomorrow I’m not coming back to
this school! I’m never going to come to
this school again!
However, I noticed the good looking
boy didn't bother with Johnson's threatening looks, he was too busy staring at
me. And he wasn’t just staring, but he
looked completely transfixed. Then I
noticed so too were the blonde girl as well as the pale guy.
The good looking guy had scruffy,
dark brown hair which sat just below his ears and dark brown eyes. Although he and the girl were sitting down, I
could tell they were both tall. Their
pale, thin friend wasn’t as tall, or anywhere as built-up as the other two.
These three weren’t dressed as
trendily as their classmates and seemed to have their own style. The good looking guy was wearing blue jeans,
a grey t-shirt and a brown suede jacket.
The girl was wearing brown jeans, a pale blue shirt and a black suede
jacket. The pale guy was wearing black
jeans, a white shirt and a black, pin-striped suit jacket.
What’s more, it wasn’t just the good
looking guy that was staring, but it was all three. Whereas the first guy’s mouth hung open, the
girl and the pale guy looked very curious.
Then, the two smiled in a friendly way, but the first guy continued to
stare. When the girl noticed her
friend’s mouth was hanging open, she whacked him on the arm to make him snap
out of it.
“What?” he looked back in surprise.
“Oh yeah.”
He straightened, closed his mouth and
gave me a goofy grin.
I liked his smile, it told me that
he was a nice person.
*****
