“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” Lisa chants as she speed walks over to our table, tray in hand. She sits down and we all wait in silence for her to continue. +
“Well…” Alex prompts when Lisa doesn’t continue.
“Harry told me, that Beth told him, that Dan has seen the new guy.” She finishes.
“Literally could’ve just said Dan has seen the new guy.” Alex deadpans.
“But what’s the fun in that?” Lisa retorts.
“So he’s in?” Mary asks.
“Must be.” Lisa responds.
“Is he in lessons?” I ask.
Mary shrugs, “He might just be being shown around then tomorrow he’ll be in lesson.”
“I wonder if he’ll be in any of our lessons.” Lisa says.
Alex puts her drink down on the table, “He better be, I want to see his face already.”
“If he’s ugly this is going to be such an anti-c—-x.” Mary says, pushing her food around her plate with a fork.
“You guys are so shallow.” I laugh, “Just because he’s ugly doesn’t mean he’s not a nice guy.”
“Aww aren’t you sweet.” Lisa croons.
I throw my screwed up ball of tin foil at her head, laughing. “Shut up.”
“Ugh, what if he’s a man-w—e.” Alex ponders.
“We didn’t think of that.” Mary says.
Lisa shakes her head, “If he’s a man-w—e I’m going to lose all faith in humanity.”
We all nod in agreement.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” I shrug.
“Can’t wait.” Alex says.
***
“Today’s the day, hoes.” Alex says, throwing open the doors to form and walking towards us.
“I’m so excited.” Lisa says.
“First period’s maths, right? So how good do we think he is at maths?” Mary questions.
How good the new guy is at maths depends whose class he’ll be in. As a friend group we have a wide spread, so it’s likely he’ll be in one of ours. I’m in set 1, the top group; Alex is in 2, Mary’s in 3 and Lisa’s in 5. There are 6 sets so he’ll have to be in 4 or 6 for us to not see him first period.
“He’d have to be pretty smart to get in lesson with Amber.” Alex replied.
“My class has the least people in it so they might just place him in there for the time being.” Lisa suggests.
“That’s a good point actually.” Mary agrees.
We sit and talk about it until the first bell rings.
“Well, I guess we’re about to find out.” I say.
*~*
It was 10 minutes into maths when the door opened and the head teacher walked in. Everyone craned their necks to try and get a look at the boy stood behind her, hidden behind her large frame and the doorway. She annoyingly spends what feels like forever chatting with my maths teacher before finally moving aside to introduce the new boy to her.
The new boy looked like he would rather be anywhere else than here, the dark circles around his eyes made him look like he hadn’t slept since the beginning of time, his hair was untouched but he had his uniform on perfectly. His dark green tie was pin straight and his matching blazer still had its new, stiff look. He stood awkwardly in the doorway, not quite knowing what to do with himself.
When my maths teacher introduces herself he manages to muster up a small smile and leans forward to shake her hand. I hear people whispering behind me but I can’t make out what they’re saying through the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. I’m sat frozen in my chair.
I can still feel myself running my hands through that brown, perfectly messy hair, still feel myself looking into those now empty blue eyes, feel myself holding those hands, receiving those small smiles.
The new boy turns to face the class and I can’t tear my eyes away from him.
His head hangs low as he stares a hole into the floor. He lifts his head and scans the class, pained expression on his face. I meet his eyes and he stops, his whole demeanour changing. My breathing skips and he blinks, clearly not believing what he’s seeing just as much as me.
I distantly hear the head teacher as she stands next to him at the front,
“Class, this is Jake, I hope you’ll help him settle in nicely.”
Tbc
