The teacher closed both doors which lead out into the hallway, and made her way to the front of the classroom, and behind a large desk.
"Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to Eden High!" She began. "I recognize a number of you from last year, you''ve probably taken a few of my classes before, but it looks like we have a lot of unfamiliar faces at Eden starting this semester. And since you''re all in my homeroom I''d like to get to know all of you, so when I call your name please stand up, and introduce yourself, and tell us one fact about you, I''ll start!"
The woman was of average height, and she had light blond hair and blue eyes. She wore a tailored white shirt, and a gray cardigan, but what stood out to Max was the pearl necklace around her neck, and the silver bracelets around her arms. Max wondered whether or not he could swipe them from her sometime between now and the end of the year.
It was likely that she lived on the north side of town, so Max didn''t have much sympathy for her.
"My name is Mrs. Kilbert, and I teach biology here at Eden High. What I love doing the most is tending to my garden, but this weather has made it very difficult so instead I stay inside and do lots of reading! Okay, that''s me, who wants to go next?"
Max figured this wouldn''t be too bad; after all he might learn a thing or two about Ava.
It was Kacey Sinclair that stood up first.
"Good morning, everyone, you all probably already know me, but my name is Kacey Sinclair. Just like last year, I intend to be captain of the junior varsity cheer-leading squad, and I''m on track to be valedictorian come senior year. I hope we can all get along!"
If Max had a bias toward the moderately rich, he would have a disdain for the obscenely. Kacey was the antithesis of everything Max stood for, and valued. He hated her with a passion, and always has, but just like how he had to quell his feelings for Gabby he also knew he had to quell his hatred for Kacey, and sometimes doing the latter was more difficult than the former.
A few of the girls in the class congratulated Kacey''s introduction as she sat down.
Then everyone else started to go, and Max made note of all the students he considered important.
One of the kids Draco bullied earlier stood up. He was quite short, probably only 5''0 or 5''1 if Max had to guess. He had jet black hair, freckles, and he wore a short white hoodie. The most distinguishing feature wasn''t his height though, it''s what he had around his neck.
"H-Hello, my name is C-Casper, it''s n-nice to meet you all. Um, I really l-like taking pictures... so that''s all,"
He didn''t seem to do well with crowds, and with his small frame and weak demeanor Max knew he''d be an easy target for Draco and his friends. He''d need to make sure Draco left him alone too as well as anyone else in the classroom.
"What''s with the camera?" A student who appeared to be one of Kacey''s friends had asked.
"O-Oh, it just means a l-lot to me so."
"Oh, so it holds sentimental value!" Mrs. Kilbert added. "Well, that''s neat, I know everyone loves their smart phones and their HD cameras, but there''s a certain aesthetic appeal to using older equipment."
It looked very old, if it broke Max wasn''t sure if Casper would even be able to replace it. Yeah, he''d need to keep Draco away from him for sure.
The next student who''s introduction Max paid attention to was Casper.
Now that the situation was calm Max was able to get a better look at her. She was an Asian girl with light blue hair, and she wore a long sleeve shirt, so long that Max could barely see her fingers. It was hard to tell from where he was sitting but it looked like she wore lots of makeup too, and that struck Max as odd.
"Alright. I''m Vivi but you can call me Vi or Vivi or whatever, I don''t mind either way. Uhm, I have a pet fish named Santiago and after graduating I want to go to the University of Miami for Marine Biology like my parents."
Her voice reminded him of an actress from a crude animated show he caught on TV some time ago.
"Oh! Biology, well let me know if you have any questions! Also, tell us a bit about Santiago, what kind of fish is he? I keep a pair of Celestial Pearl fish in my home, but they aren''t much different from goldfish."
"He''s more of an eel."
A few of the girls winced hearing that, especially Kacey. Max wasn''t averse to animals, and if anything, he''d always wanted a dog, but couldn''t have one for obvious reasons.
After a few other introductions it was finally Richard''s turn, and he was as energetic as ever.
He stood up, and smiled at the rest of the class.
"Hey everyone, my name''s Richard Lake, and I really love playing sports!" He said with a goofy smile. "And- "
"By the way Richard," Mrs. Kilbert interrupted, "Your sister Lily is supposed to be in this class, is she not here today or is she running late?"The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Richards face went pale. To Max it looked like he was trying to cover for her, but up until now that hadn''t been necessary. In all honesty it shouldn''t be too bad since it is the first day of school, Max doubted Mrs. Kilbert was counting tardies.
In any case Max was curious, while he never really paid attention to the home lives of his former teammates, he did hear a thing or two about Richard''s sister. Supposedly, she''d been home-schooled her whole life just like Draco.
Before Max could continue his train of thought the first door to the classroom flew open, and a girl stepped inside.
"Sorry I''m late!" Lily said strolling in. Her hair was a deep black with red highlights.
What struck Max as odd was the fact that she looked nothing like her brother Richard.
She took a seat next to Ava, and started to pull her books out. Max could''ve swore he heard Draco mutter something under his breath.
"That''s okay Lily, it''s only the first day after all. By the way, are you just as athletic as your older brother?" Mrs. Kilbert asked.
"Oh, no not at all, if anything I''m the complete opposite." She said laughing nervously.
''An obvious lie.'' Max thought.
"Oh, please Lil, weren''t you up all night talking about how excited you were to try out for the cheer-leading team?" Richard asked with a goofy smile.
"That''s- I hate you," she said, her face turning red.
The class laughed at her reaction, including Gabby. Afterwards Mrs. Kilbert moved over to the next row, and a litany of other students introduced themselves, but finally it was Ava''s turn.
After she stood up a number of the girls audibly gasped. Max wasn''t paying attention to it before, but she looked amazing, not just her general appearance, but her clothing too. She wore a stylish black dress coat, and black slim fit pants. Her hair was long, shiny, and jet black, and her eyes were as green as emeralds. Max almost wanted to cut out all the lights to see if they''d shine.
This raised several questions in Max''s head. First, was this her normal attire or did she only dress this way because it was the first day of school? Second, was she wealthy? Someone who dresses like that has no business being in a gang, Ava struck Max as someone of intelligence so perhaps she''d already considered this. Then again, it was the first day of school, and usually students go all out on their appearance, so it wasn''t that big a deal. It wouldn''t be the first time Max overthought something.
"What do you think Maxito?"
"Hmm?" Max turned, and saw Gabby giving him a suspicious look, "why are you looking at me like that?"
"So that''s the look Maxito gives a girl he finds attractive hmm?"
"That''s not what I was doing, don''t tease me like that."
"I dunno, you seemed awfully lost in thought."
She wasn''t wrong. Max did find Ava attractive, and he was lost in thought. But was he really making a different face? He''d have to confirm this later... somehow.
"Don''t make assumptions." Max said.
Their conversation was interrupted swiftly, and without warning.
"My name is Ava, and I''m a new student from Riverview Academy. I don''t really have any hobbies."
She started to sit down, but Mrs. Kilbert wasn''t about to let her off that easy.
"What? No hobbies? What do you do after school then?"
"Homework, eat, sleep, I''m a boring person, sorry to disappoint you."
Max didn''t believe that, and if anything, it just made him more curious about her. What was she hiding?
"You know Ava if you wanted you could totally join the cheer-leading team! Oh, this goes for you too Lily, assuming try outs go well and all." Kacey suggested.
A lot of the girls seemed to nod in agreement.
"Why would I do something as meaningless, and degrading as that?"
The room fell silent again. There was a reason Max held his tongue earlier when Kacey insulted him, and it was to stay in her good graces. If there was one person in this school, you didn''t want to piss off it was her.
"Excuse me?" Kacey said standing up.
"I can''t tell if you''re hard of hearing or just stupid. Isn''t the ability to listen an important aspect of the sport?"
At first, it didn''t look like Ava''s words had registered in Kacey''s brain yet; it was as if no one in all her years on earth had ever insulted her before. After a moment or two Ava''s words became clearer than ever, and her face turned to one of venom, and rage. She looked like a time bomb that was getting ready to explode.
"Woah, a fight on the first day? A cat fight no less? Now that''s entertainment!" Draco cried out.
Before Kacey could react, Mrs. Kilbert intervened.
"Okay everyone, just relax. Kacey, your seat, now!"
For a moment it looked like Kacey wasn''t going to stop, but one of the other students grabbed her arm, and shook her head. Max remembered that girl to be Jess, one of Kacey''s close friends, she''d introduced herself earlier, but Max didn''t find her interesting enough to take note of, at least not until now.
Kacey seemed to relent, and sat back in her seat.
"I''m sorry Mrs. Kilbert, I just get so passionate about cheer-leading. It''s hard to just sit back and let someone insult it like that."
"I understand Kacey, Ava I know it''s the first day of school, but I have a zero-tolerance policy for disrespect. You''ll serve detention today."
Ava didn''t say anything, instead she turned her head toward the wall as a half-hearted acknowledgment, and while Max couldn''t see it, he felt as though Kacey was smirking.
Without a word or suggestion from anybody Draco stood up next. Max hoped to the God he didn''t believe in that he''d say something normal for once. The only thing he could do was try to get his message across with his face, and so he glared at Draco.
"There''s a lot of disrespect going around today, and I just want you all to know that I''ll- "Draco stopped mid-sentence and made eye contact with Max, "Um, I''ll make sure Mrs. Kilbert hears about it..." He said trailing off.
Max released a breath he didn''t realize he was holding.
"Uh, I appreciate that Draco, anything else?" Mrs. Kilbert said.
"Nah, that''s all for now." He said grinning, and sitting down.
Max caught him making eye contact with Vivi.
The rest of the introductions were pretty uneventful including his own. Max went out of his way to seem as boring, and uninteresting as possible to avoid attention, and while he''d have to work a little harder this year to justify his relationship with Ava and Draco, he wasn''t expecting any dramatic changes.
It wasn''t long after the introductions that the bell rang, and everyone scurried out of the room to their next class.
Things were par the course for the first day of school. Each class Max would receive a syllabus, and the teacher would go over what they''d be learning for the semester. Max''s ability to learn and comprehend class work was never a problem, for him it was his attendance. Last year he was almost absent for 30 days throughout the course of the entire year. Madam Vine had asked him to watch his attendance, and Max suspected that was because the orphanage received letters about it.
It was never Max''s intention to miss so many days, but work often kept him busy. In his view if he ended up getting kicked out, he could just focus more on making money, and getting his GED later. He only had three years of school left though, and getting kicked out now would feel like a waste.