CHAPTER TWO: NEW BOY

  ELLIS

  The bus ride to Greenwood Public High School takes approximately fifteen minutes and thirty seconds. Don’t ask why I was counting. I don’t know either. My brain just decided to because it was bored, and wanted to see how long it’d take the bus driver to stop yelling at random vehicles and actually take the zoo animals—I mean students—to school (though they should be called zoo animals because of the way most of them were acting).

  Thus, I am now twenty minutes late (when you count the five minutes it takes for me to speed off the bus and run to my classroom’s door, considering it’s on the fifth floor) to class. Great.

  Once again, I think of coming up with another elaborate plan to get me out of opening that door and being stared down by twenty-four students, who, if looks could kill, would’ve buried me six feet underground by now.

  I haven’t even talked to most of them since the semester started, but sometimes I get this feeling that they hate me. Maybe I’m just overthinking it. I haven’t even done anything to offend them yet. I haven’t done anything at all.

  Sucking in a breath, I slowly open the door, praying to whatever god is out there that they wouldn’t notice me. Mrs. Garcia is going to be teaching something about essays, and I’m just going to slip in and get to my seat unnoticed.

  Only, that’s not what happens.

  I walk into the classroom and find myself staring at an unfamiliar boy with messy black hair who's wearing the boys’ school uniform, with the most gorgeous hazel eyes I’ve ever seen that blend in with his appearance, but also stand out at the same time. We just look at each other, stunned for a few minutes, before I’m thrown back to reality when I realise I’m standing in front of the classroom looking at a boy I’ve never met, while twenty-five people watch like this is a soap opera and we’re the main characters.

  “Ellis! Great of you to join us,” Mrs. Garcia says in that cheery voice of hers, which I’m ninety percent sure is fake. “I was just introducing our new student here, Kade.”

  I mutter “hi” before tugging on the drawstring of my hoodie, hiding my face more. I walk to the back of the class, where my desk is, ignoring the eyes on me as I do so. They’re all probably still wondering the real reason I wasn’t at school for an entire month, even though Mrs. Garcia already explained that I was on vacation. I doubt any of them believed it, though, with the way I look, most probably think I don’t have enough money for good food, let alone a vacation.

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  As soon as I sit in my seat, the attention is pulled away from me and onto Kade again, letting me breathe a sigh of relief. “Why don’t you introduce yourself, Kade?” Mrs. Garcia says, sipping her usual cup of coffee. Kade nods, and he looks at the class with a smile that looks way more attractive than it should be.

  Wait, stop it, Ellis. What the hell am I thinking?

  “Well, as most of you already know, my name is Kade Wei Ming Fong-Larsen, but you can just call me Kade. I’m half Singaporean and half Norwegian, though I grew up in Norway before moving to Canada.”

  There’s a bunch of gasps of awe from the girls, as if he said he was an exotic animal or something. “Now, Kade, why don’t you tell us a fun fact about yourself?” Mrs. Garcia suggests, taking another sip of her coffee. No wonder her breath smells like coffee with how much she drinks every day.

  Kade smiles again, rubbing the back of his hair with his hand. “Well, I got the name ‘Kade’ from my mom’s stepmother, who was Scottish. Before my birth, she insisted my parents name me something that connected to her roots, too, so they decided to name me ‘Kade’ per her request.”

  A girl raises her hand, clearly interested in whatever comes out of Kade’s mouth. “Weren’t your parents annoyed or mad that she insisted on a Scottish name?”

  “Nah. My mum said they were cool with it because they were having trouble coming up with names for me themselves.” Kade answers, clearly happy that people are paying attention to his introductory speech.

  “That’s cool,” the girl giggles, twirling her hair.

  “Thank you for the great introduction, Kade!” Mrs. Garcia says happily, putting down her coffee on her desk. “You can go sit next to Ellis, there,” she says, pointing to the conveniently empty desk next to me that I hadn’t noticed before. It was probably placed there before school started.

  Kade nods, walking through the rows of desks before stopping at the one next to mine, waving a bit to me as he sits down. I roll my eyes, deciding to stare out of the window instead.

  The sooner school ends, the better.

  ***

  It’s been about fifteen minutes since Mrs. Garcia started her lesson on literary analysis or something, and approximately ten since I got bored and decided to draw in my sketchbook. I’m not a spectacular artist like Leonardo da Vinci or something, but I’d say I’m pretty decent. The sound of my pencil scratching against a page in my sketchbook sends comfort through me as I draw a picture of a character I made. A girl who’s strong, independent, and doesn’t let anyone mess with her. It’s cheesy, I know, but sometimes, I like to believe I could be her. Even though I know that could never happen.

  Still, I like to believe it could.