Ordinary High-School Student

A Chapter by Bambi~

I walked down the new school’s hallway, Lincoln High, nervously; I know this is a cliché but it’s a truthful one. I didn’t know anybody, who to trust, who was nice, which teachers to fear. Not to mention my reputation had been wiped clean, which for some would be great but since I was a good kid it was a definite downside. The reason I was going to a new school was because my dad was unable to find a well-paying job. He was a great engineer but his knowledge came from experience, not actual college, making it hard to find a decent job that didn’t require a degree. That is until this place offered him a job, 5 towns away from where we had been living. This of course meant a new town, a new school, and a temporary loss of internet; which was the worst I had yet to decide.

Now to be fair I did know two kids at the school. I had grown up visiting them frequently since our parents were friends growing up. Their names are Kevin and Kyle; they have different parents but Kevin and Kyle live together with just Kyle’s folks for reasons best left resting. They had told me some stuff about the kids in my grade but they kept to themselves. Plus, I didn’t know what all of the kids they mentioned looked like. Lucky for me I had gathered who some of the bad apples were at the open house.

As I went to each class room to meet the different teachers and all I was walking down one of the various corridors when I noticed a couple of boys standing in a group talking and laughing. I then noticed another boy approaching the group. He had a unique appearance with pale skin, black sweep hairstyle, skinny jeans, and all around Gothic clothes. Along with cat ears, I kid you not he was wearing fake cat ears. He talked to the group of boys with a big smile, I attempted to figure out what they might’ve been discussing but I struggled to. Towards the end of the conversation one boy in a green shirt grabbed cat ears boy and said something and patted the boy's back. Then cat ears boy was on his way walking in my direction, but not directly to me.

As he walked by I quickly discovered the reason the boy in the green shirt had patted this kid's back. There was a note sticking to his back that read, “I’m a f*g”. I looked back at the group of boys who stood in a group; most were giggling-especially the boy in the green shirt- only two weren’t. They two quiet ones didn’t attempt to inform the boy of the crude note taped to his back. I knew I couldn’t allow him to go about his day with that note sticking to him. I began following him and couldn’t help but be disappointed with the school, not only was there clearly a group of rude kids I'd now have to deal with, but like most schools, it was probably homophobic. At this point I had a group of boys I definitely disliked.

Upon reaching the poor cat-eared clad boy, I tapped on his back; he turned around and tilted his head in confusion. “Yes?” He asked politely. I felt so uncomfortable; he clearly thought my talking to him was odd. Oh, how I despise social interaction.

“I noticed you have something taped to your back..,” I spoke softly. I didn’t want to draw any attention to him or myself. Upon being closer to him, I was able to study his face and to my shock, although I don't know why I was surprised, he had eyeliner streaks. I thought maybe he was crying but they looked to think and intentional. It looked like he had painted himself perfectly vertical streaks of dark going down each cheek. I decided to dismiss it for the time being, as I had done with his face kitty ears.

“I do?” He asked and reached around. He grabbed the note and easily read it. I saw his face turn a light shade of red. He quickly tried to explain himself, quite flustered. “I’m not gay! Err- not that there’s anything wrong with being gay. It’s just that, I’m not.”

“I believe you, just thought you ought to know. Do you have any idea who put it on your back?” I asked with fake curiosity. I already knew the answer but I didn’t want him to think I was weird for spying on them all. This guy was a potential friend and I would rather not scare him away.

“Yeah it was probably my brother. I was just talking to him a minute ago... he does stuff like this a lot with his friends. I remember he did pat my back and tell me I should be on my way for no real reason. Makes sense now,” He explained, holding the note in his hand with a frown. “But don’t get the wrong impression of him; he can be really nice and funny.”

“Which of you is a freshman?” I asked upon realizing that only one of them was in my grade. I had my fingers crossed for cat ears.

“We both are, we’re fraternal twins, hence the fact we don’t look a thing alike.” Which was right. That kid in the green shirt was virtually the opposite of cat-ears, tan and blonde with a big annoying grin. Anyway, after that explanation he thanked me and we parted ways. I couldn’t help but feel proud that I had had a decent conversation and hadn’t made it completely awkward.

I thought over these events before reaching my locker. I shoved everything into it and began walking to first period Study Hall. Lucky for me as I had just begun this journey I remembered they wanted to me to see the guidance consular today instead. I had been given direction to the office. After some confusion and frustration I finally found it.

As I entered the room I mentally prayed the consular would be nice. Some consoler’s had great advice and were understanding, fitting there intended purpose quite perfectly, whereas others were uncaring and harsh as if they didn’t remember their teen years in the least. The woman sitting at the desk looked fairly young, mid to late twenties I would estimate, and had a slightly nervous smile on her pale face. I found her to look rather cute with a round face, emotional brown eyes and short curly brown hair. She was overweight but she looked like the kind of person who looked better with it than without.

“Hello, I'm Miss Reed,” She greeted warmly before gesturing to the seat on the other side of the desk. “You may take a seat.” I happily obliged and gave her a small smile.

“Nice to meet you,” She paused for a second before continuing with hesitance, “Violet, correct?”

“Correct. Nice to meet you as well,” I replied settling in my seat and looking around at all the different posters that were hung up on her wall.

“Alright, well the school has a policy that whenever there is a new student they are required to talk to a consular for the first month at least once a week. The point of this is to help the new kid, in this case, you, adjust to the new school and overall help guide them. Do you understand so far?”

“I do,” I said with a nod. I began twirling my hair, a habit of mine I’d had since I was nine or ten. I did when I was anxious, bored, or thinking for the most part.

“Good, now you can talk to me any day of the week, it’s up to you. If there is a certain day I will be busy I will of course tell you. If I am unavailable you can always talk to the other consular, his office is across from mine. The school does its best to make sure one of us is always available if you need to talk. You can come to us during study hall or lunch, but you must get permission from the teacher. Any question or concerns?”

“Nope, I think I’ve got it all so far.”

“Do you know where all of your classes are?”

“Yep, should I go back to study hall know?”

“You can but if you’d like you can stay here and play a board game,” She offered hopefully. “I know it’s not necessary but I would like to get to know you. You are my first student to counsel and I would love to succeed and be friends with you; on an appropriate level of course.”

I zestfully agreed. Not only because instead of awkwardly sitting in a class with kids I didn’t know, I could be playing a board game, but also because she was so sweet. We had a good time and I felt like I had made a friend, someone I could come to for advice. Much to my dread the bell rang and I was forced to go to my next class, Info. Tech.

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