"Who isthat?" I asked; looking around at my friends once I’d taken my usual space in the common room.
“We’ve been asking ourselves the same question.” Emma said from her space next to Zack, closing her book and running her hands through her newly blonde hair, making it look more like sex hair than it already did, does she ever brush it?
“New kid; obviously.” Danielle chimed in; she sat cross legged on a seat behind Jack, who was on the floor with his new guitar, playing with his hair.
“His name’s Alex.” Jack said, slowing his fingers on the strings. “I heard the secretary talking to him this morning.”
Alex was tall, wearing skinny jeans, a t-shirt and a beanie, underneath which lay his dark brown hair, his fringe stuck out at odd angles. It was cute. From our space at the back of the classroom, however, our vantage point on him was somewhat impaired. I was ready to give up hope on him, pinning him as one of those boys I’d just have to admire from afar, when our supervising teacher, Mr Maker, stood up and pointed over to us, saying something we couldn’t hear over the noise. We all pretended to look busy as the new kid made our way over, picking up whatever came to hand.
“Um... Hey...” He made first contact; it looked like we’d been assigned to look after him this term. “I’m Alex.” He said, we all smiled at him kindly, he was so adorable. “Mr Maker said that I should come over and introduce myself so...” he was nervous, poor kid.
Danielle introduced herself first, tossing her long brown hair behind her shoulder as she got up to hug him. Emma was next, removing herself from Zack’s embrace and greeting him like an old friend. Jack and Zack remained seated but still shook hands with him, no doubt feeling rather possessive of their girlfriends. I was next; he turned to me, smiling widely.
I was speechless for about ten seconds, staring. He was beautiful, really beautiful. My brain kicked into gear when his smile turned from ‘and you are...?’ to ‘is she alright in the head?’
“Megan.” I said, smiling and waving. Why did i say that? I hated my name, my name was Meg. “But you can call me Meg.” I said quickly. Nice save. Emma gave me a look. What does she know?
Alex sat down carefully next to me, narrowly missing standing on Zack’s skateboard. “So, does anyone know where my first class is?” He asked, looking like a lost puppy.
I looked over, he had art first. “Hey Emma, don’t you have art with Miss Ruocco first period too?”
Emma smiled widely. “Oh yeah, but beware; she’s a huge green freak. There are pictures of trees everywhere. There was a rumour going round last year that she had sex with them” She giggled.
“Hey, didn’t you start that rumour, Emma?” Jack asked, smirking.
“Details, details. It spread like wildfire though.” She replied, waving the issue away with her hand. “The great thing about her though, she’s a total hippie, she doesn’t believe in ‘creative boundaries’ or whatever. So you can basically do whatever you want in her lessons and turn in whatever you want for the final piece at the end of the term.”
“Excellent!” Alex grinned. He looked back down at his schedule. “Does anyone have maths second?” He looked around, Emma made a disgusted face.
“Hey, hippie, maths is a solid subject, unlike art.” Danielle countered, pointing an accusing finger at Emma, who scoffed.
“Let’s not get into this debate now guys; we don’t want Alex running away from us.” I stepped in; Alex was beginning to look a little scared. I turned to him, “Danielle and I have that lesson, and it’s not too far from the art department.” I smiled at him, hoping to calm him down; all of us together did have a little bit of an overwhelming effect. “They have the Maths or Art debate almost every week.” I chuckled.
“They only lesson they can agree on is photography.” Jack piped up, now sitting with his arm draped over Danielle’s shoulders. Both of their eyes darted towards their camera bags. “See? They love those cameras more than they love me and Zack.”
Zack, who had remained relatively quite during this conversation, although it wasn’t unlike him, turned his head and whispered something in Emma’s ear. Something which made her turn the colour of a tomato. He just kissed her cheek and sat back, smiling slightly.
Apparently, Zack wasn’t the quiet innocent one we all thought him to be, according to Emma. Danielle and I had figured as much. But that was all she’d tell us on the dynamics of their relationship.
Danielle and Jack however, were the complete polar opposites from Emma and Zack. Their relationship was quiet and private, they rarely ever did anything other than cuddle, hold hands or peck each other in public whereas Danielle and Jack could be found making out against the lockers between lessons, or even grinding on each other in the changing room showers, although whenever we bring it up, they insist it was ‘just one time’.
Alex and I sat in silence as Jack and Emma discussed last nights episode of whatever TV show they both watched last night. I noticed that Alex was playing with the hem of his t-shirt, revealing a sliver of tanned stomach. Ignoring the urge to touch it, i touched his hand instead; he turned his head towards me and gave me a nervous smile. “Don’t worry” I assured. “We’ll get you through.”
I wasn’t sure if i meant the day or the term, but he seemed to take it in and visibly relaxed after that. As soon as the bell went, Emma said her goodbyes and pulled Alex along to the tree-fuckers classroom. I heard a rumour that she comes to class stoned once in a while, but I’m pretty sure Danielle started that one.
