The bell rang, and I walked slowly to class. I didn't want to be first, but I didn't want to be last either. Somewhere in the middle felt right - I could control who I sit next to.
The classroom was full of kids I'd never seen before. A group of girls were talking about Barbies and clothes. Two other girls were bragging about their pets. Some boys were talking about videogames and football. They all looked nice. Too nice. Boring.
Then I noticed a boy sitting in the corner. He looked angry, or maybe sad. Maybe both. Cute, too. My cheeks warmed slightly. I walked toward him, but I didn't sit right next to him—that would be weird.
Instead, I plopped down in the desk directly in front of him.
He glanced at me before I fully sat, and our eyes met. He has amber eyes. Like my sister's cat. A frown crossed his face, and then he turned to stare at the wall. I stifled a giggle. Why was he staring at the wall?
His cheeks were faintly pink, probably from anger.
The class started filling up quickly. Our new teacher, was organising some papers on her desk.
"Good morning, class!" She started, getting up from her seat. "We will introduce ourselves first before we start the class. You can say your name and something about you, like a hobby for example. I will start: My name is Ms Carla, and I really like reading." She was pretty. She had long black hair and warm brown eyes, always smiling. "What about you?" Ms Carla pointed to the first student in front.
The first student mumbled something about dancing, barely audible, and her face turned bright red.
"What?" Asked Ms Carla.
"My name is Maria and I really like dancing."
"Okay." Ms Carla nods with her warm smile. "Nice to meet you, Maria." Maria nodded and lowered her head, not wanting to talk anymore. "What about you?" Ms Carla points to a boy close to Maria, moving down the row.
He was smirking, shamelessly. "My name is Marco!" He flexes one bicep, even though he had no muscle there. Half the class giggles and so does the teacher.
"Nice to meet you, Marco!" She laughs.
Ms Carla goes through everyone in class, to be honest I barely paid attention, I was more focused on what I was going to say. I repeated to myself inside my mind 'Hi! My name is Ophelia and I like to draw' – 'My name is Ophelia and I like to paint on canvas' – 'I like to draw the ocean'
"What about you?" Ms Carla suddenly points to me. I panic slightly.
"My name is Ophelia and I like to ocean on paint!" – Oh. Oh no. My eyes widen a bit, and I shake my head pretending that didn't happen. "I like to draw!" I quickly correct.
Again, half the class laughs while the other just stared, probably feeling cringed out, or second hand embarrassment. I press my lips in a thin line, angry at them and myself. I glance behind my shoulder to see the boy behind me - the one who stared at the wall - he had a small smirk on his face. I turn to the front and I frown. Damn it!
Ms Carla doesn't laugh but she smiles warmly as if saying 'It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes'.
"Nice to meet you, Ophelia." She then points to the boy behind me, him being the last student left to speak. "And you?"
I turn completely now, to purposely stare at him and make him uncomfortable. Take that!
"My name is Ethan, and I like boxing" He says flatly, avoiding my gaze, just staring at the teacher.
Marco laughs "Boxing? Can I join if I bring bubble wrap?". Ha. Classic class clown. Some students chuckled and others groaned, but Ethan's eyes snapped to Marco, looking at him deadly in the eyes.
"You sound stupid." Ethan says coldly. I quickly cover my mouth so I don't laugh. He said a bad word in front of the teacher! He was bold and fearless. I liked that.
Ms Carla widens her eyes. "Language!"
Ethan finally glanced at me, he saw me holding on my laugh. His eyes softening for a bit before it turned cold again. I saw that! My hand fell from my mouth and I studied his eyes. I could read him from there.
Ms Carla starts speaking about rules and I accidentally realise I'm staring at him, for a second it felt like it was a challenge – Who breaks the gaze first, loses.
But soon he kicked the leg of my chair, annoyed. Fine, I'll turn.
If Ethan was a water animal, what would he be?
I'm a mermaid. My mom would be a sea lion – always barking non-stop. My dad would be a shark, definitely – always silent but deadly, if he bites then it's gonna hurt really bad. Oh! And booping his nose wouldn't work but if I make something silly enough, he would laugh. My big sister would be an orca, she's the killer whale that comes to abruptly swoosh my parents and make them stop in their tracks, but killer whales are not seen often in the ocean. I wonder why? Maybe just like my sister, they also got their job, their house and their own busy life to deal with.
Now Ethan would be… - I look down at the legs of my chair. His foot was still there on the leg of the chair, where he kicked for me to turn around. Oh, he would be a crab – yea, I once caught one on the beach and saw it really close. Their eyes always look angry, and when the crab pinched me, I shook it off hard but its grip was painfully strong. It left a bruise.
What's a crab's weakness?
I remember catching the crab from his shell and soft belly… Hm. Maybe Ethan has tickles. I'll try that later.
Oh! Focus! I shake my head again, trying to put my attention to Ms Carla again. She was talking about writing a big text about our summer holidays.
Should I write that I saw the coolest machine gun? I mean, I was very scared but it was still very cool, and it was a real one, too!
No. Maybe I shouldn't write that.
It was the night I called the police, I was crying and my parents were fighting so much - they didn't send regular cops, they send buff ones and one of them was carrying a really big gun, not sure if it was really a machine gun but it looked like one. At the time I didn't think that the it was a cool moment, no.
The police took me away to the street, and this buff man was carrying this big machine - it was dark outside and it felt like a scary movie, he had a powerful look, like he was ready to kill. Kill my dad. He was the scariest man I ever seen in my life, even though he was a cop.
I got so worried, I thought something really bad was going to happen with my parents. I regret calling the police, but on the other side, my dad was getting really aggressive and my mom was shouting for help upstairs.
But a few days later, after my parents got me back, I started to think about the machine gun, only then I found it was cool. Cops are scary. Cool - but scary.
There was something about social workers but that was adult talk and I didn't understand anything, really.
Suddenly, the bell rang again. Oh! I was distracted the whole class… not again.