I reached out to keep the door from slamming shut and held it open, pausing for a moment. For reasons I can’t explain, I turned back towards the students still enjoying their dinners and glanced at the mysterious new student. His familiar green eyes staring into mine was the last thing I saw before Jaden pulled me out into the night.
***
The next morning, I struggled to get myself out the door. Jaden had disappeared to get breakfast after her daily run while I was in the shower. I was starving, not having eaten anything since my half-eaten salad the night before. I grabbed my books and a granola bar on my way out the door. I had finished my granola bar by the time I’d made it down all three flights of stairs, but it was not enough. My stomach growled at me as I walked to class with trepidation.
The hallways weren’t very busy yet as there was still fifteen minutes before class started. The walk seemed endlessly long given my disdain for first period. Anatomy was my least favorite class. I had no lab partner and Mr. Downey enjoyed making my life miserable. He was a short, stout man, with thinning hair. He constantly pointed out my every mistake, never taking into consideration that every other person in class had a lab partner and I did not, meaning I had to do twice the work.
I trudged into the classroom. As usual, I was the first person to arrive. I made my way to my lab table in the very back of the room. I took out my notes and sat reading over them, attempting to study my way to a half-way decent grade that I would most likely never receive from Mr. Downey.
Slowly, students began to arrive. I ignored them and continued looking over my notes. Luckily the other students tended to leave me alone in class since most of the teachers hated me just as much as everyone else and it seemed to be entertaining enough to watch me be tortured that way.
I heard Mr. Downey enter the classroom, his nasal voice carrying over the other students’ chatter. The bell rang and I sighed, already ready for the class to be over.
A high-pitched squeak caused me to jump as the stool next to mine was suddenly moved. I looked up to see the mysterious new student sitting down next to me. I stared at him, speechless.
His eyebrows rose at my expression and he gave me a curious look before facing the front of the room. I forced myself to look away as my face heated and I already assumed that he thought I was weird.
Mr. Downey began talking about the assignment for the day, which was based off the previous day’s lecture. I should have been looking forward to finally having the lab partner I’d always wanted, but instead I sat there wishing he was sitting somewhere else, or I had the ability to disappear.
Mr. Downey passed out the assignment sheet and I wrote my name at the top. I slid the paper over to my new partner, along with my pencil since it seemed that he didn’t have any school supplies. I watched as inconspicuously as possible as he wrote ‘Aaron Tremain’. I was glad to finally have a name to go with the new face.
We got to work and said as little as possible. I was actually the only one who spoke and it was primarily to check that he was okay with the answer I was writing down. All he did was nod. I don’t know what I’d been expecting from him, but it wasn’t the silent treatment. There had been something so approachable about him when I’d seen him at dinner, now it was like the world around him didn’t exist.
When Mr. Downey came around, he barely glanced at our work before saying, “Ah, Mr. Tremain. Welcome we are so pleased to have you join us.”
Aaron just nodded to Mr. Downey. He seemed totally unimpressed with the Anatomy teacher and I was secretly glad that it wasn’t just me he was giving the silent treatment to.
Seemingly unaffected by Aaron’s disinterest, Mr. Downey continued, “I am so sorry about the seating arrangements. Unfortunately, this is the only seat left for the semester as the lab partners are already established. When we return from the holidays, I will be sure to assign you a much more competent lab partner.”
Mr. Downey sneered at me as he spoke. I looked down at the worksheet, hiding myself in my long hair.
“I’ll make do,” Aaron said.
“Yes. Yes of course,” Mr. Downey replied and went back to walking around helping students with the assignment.
I finished the assignment without asking Aaron’s opinion on any of the remaining questions. I could feel that my face was still bright red with embarrassment. Once again, I was unsure what I had ever done to make myself the school pariah.
When the bell finally rang, Aaron stood and slipped out of the room before anyone else had even gotten out of their seats. I picked up my things and turned in the assignment, grateful that class was over.
The hallway was bustling with activity. I kept my head down and made my way to English as quickly as I could. English was one of my better classes. Mrs. Collins tended to leave me alone and graded me fairly. I sat down in my usual seat in the back of the room and took my notebook out. When the bell rang, I sighed in relief that Aaron Tremain was not in this class. The only empty seat was the one next to me and spending yet another class sitting next to him was not something I wanted to do.
I doodled on my notes as Mrs. Collins lectured on old Celtic legends and their importance to modern literature, grateful for my invisibility.
From there I was on to European History and boredom. It was the last class
