Mis- understood, Sarah McGibbon [good books for 7th graders txt] 📗

help getting to class?”
“Sure, Mr. Cameron?”
“Oh! That’s my homeroom, too!”
“Great,” She’s not the kind of person I usually hang out with, but it’s better then being alone and not knowing where to go.
“Follow me, we can walk together.” She said, starting to walk down the hallway
“Okay,” I said, following her.
Her pony tail kept on swaying back and forth as I walked behind her. We walked through the halls, passing many many people. I kept on getting curious stares from everybody. At one point I think we passed Alice, but I’m not sure because she was surrounded by a bunch of people. Jessie seemed to know everyone, because she was smiling and waving to almost every person in the hallway. Finally, she turned to a classroom and opened to door.
When we walked in, there were a few kids sitting in the desks, talking and laughing. Behind the desk there was a tall well built man, that looked to be in about his late 20’s. His hair was short and black and he had bright blue eyes. When we walked up, he peered at us over the papers he was reading.
“Hi, Mr. Cameron!” Jessie said, excitedly.
“Hi, Jessie, how are you today?” He replied, smiling
“I’m good, how are you?”
“I’m doing good. Who’s your friend?” He stared at me curiously.
“This is Jake. He’s new.” She stated
“Oh, yeah. I think heard about you.” He stuck out his hand “Hi, I’m Mr. Cameron”
I shook his hand “Jake Greene”
“Well, take a seat. Class will be beginning soon.”
Jessie lead me to a seat in the back and sat next to me.
“What class do you have next?” She asked, looking at my schedule
“Biology” I said.
“Oh, I don’t have that. But, he does” She pointed to a guy walking in. He was tall and had the football player build. His hair was dark brown, short, and wavy. He had dark green eyes, and you could tell he kind of “fixed up” his eyebrows with tweezers.
“Hey, babe” He said to Jessie, sitting in the seat in front of her.
“Hi” She said smiling. She laced her fingers through his.
“Who are you?” He asked, pointing to me with his free hand.
I opened my mouth to respond but Jessie cut him off “That’s Jake, he’s new”
“Hey. I’m Anthony” He said, eyeing me.
“He has Biology with you”
“Really? Well, I can take you there”
“I could have found my way. Thank you, though”
When the bell rang, Mr. Cameron made everyone quite down so he could take roll. When he got to my name, he introduced me and asked me some questions.
“Where did you move from?”
“Chicago”
“Wow, big change. Why’d you move?”
“The last family didn’t want me” I stated simply and mentally laughed when the room froze. It was as if everyone stopped breathing at the same time.
“Right” Mr. Cameron said, taken aback. “How do you like it here so far.”
I shrugged “No comment” A few people laughed shakily, unsure if it was okay.
Mr. Cameron opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by the bell. Everyone seemed to get up at the same time and start walking out. Anthony came up beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. He was about three inches taller than me.
“Just follow me and you’ll be okay” He said confidently.
I shrugged “Okay”
As soon as we got out of the class he turned left. We walked about ten feet before he turned into a class.
“Seriously?” I asked “I needed help to find this class?”
He shrugged and opened the door.
“We have assigned seats. Ask Mrs. Brown where you can sit.” He said and quickly walked to his seat.
I calmly walked over the the desk at the front of the room. Sitting behind the desk was a young woman, maybe in her early thirties. She had dark brown hair, pulled back into a bun. Her face was one of those skinny, structured faces. She looked up at me with bright green eyes. When she smiled she had dimples.
“Hi,” She sad, cheerfully “You must be Jake”
I was surprised. My last teacher didn’t seem to be expecting me.
“Yes,” I sad, smiling back “I am”
“Hi, Jake.” She stretched out her hand “I’m Mrs. Brown”
“Hi, Mrs. Brown” I said, shaking her hand.
“You can sit right here, in the front” She pointed to an empty seat.
Right as I sat down the bell rang and kids started piling in. To my surprise, Alice was in this class. I watched her as she stood off to the side of the class talking to someone I assumed to be her friend. It was a tall skinny guy with black hair an the typical ‘Emo’ cut. He was wearing gray skinny jeans, a black T-shirt, and black converse shoes. I couldn’t really make out his facial features from here and his hair was covering most of his face. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and in his he was standing with one hand in his pocket.
Alice looked oddly small next to his tall, lanky body. Her sleek black hair had pink streaks in it and was down and straight. She was wearing a baggy, black sweatshirt that had some weird, lime green design on it. Her pants were blue denim skinny jeans and she had black boots on. She had a plain gray messenger bag slung over her shoulder. My attention returned for a few seconds back to her tall emo friend. He kept flicking his hair trying to keep it out of his eyes, and failing miserably. I went back to staring at Alice watching her facial expressions change from interested to what seemed to me as ‘Why should I care?’ I was so caught up in watching her conversation I didn’t notice the incessant tapping on my shoulder. I brought myself back to reality and turned my attention to the tapper.
It was a short blonde girl. She was gazing at me with big blue eyes.
“Who are you?” She asked quite loudly, and frankly kind of rudely.
“I’m Jake” I said, irritated. I’m getting tired of hearing that question so often. Can’t I just stay in one place long enough that people actually know who I am.
“Where are you from?” She asked
I opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted.
“I don’t think Jake really wants to be questioned about his history, Jade” I turned around to see Alice standing by me.
“How would you know? It’s not like you’re friends with him or anything” Jade replied , obviously irritated that Alice was here.
“I actually don’t. I’m tired of answering the same questions” I stated simply, making eye contact with Jade.
She huffed and stalked away.
“Thanks” I sad, turning my attention back to Alice.
“No problem but.... you’re in my seat” She said, smiling
“Mrs. Brown told me sit here”
“Well, the seat next to me is empty” She pointed to the empty chair next to me.
I shrugged “Okay. Then, I guess I’ll sit there.”
I scooted over and Alice took the seat I was in. Right after she say down the bell rang. A big group of kids hurriedly piled into the class and went to their seats. As soon as everyone was in their seats Mrs. Brown stood up and walked to the front of class. She introduced my and asked the usual questions. After she gave us a lecture on something about cell reproduction she passed out papers.
“You and your partner will complete this lab together and present your results and the end of the period.” She said before sitting back down behind her desk.
Alice and I started working on the project while chatting.
“So, how is it so far?” She asked
“How is what?” I responded
“Your day” She said, like it was obvious.
“Good, I guess. Same as all of my other first days” I shrugged.
“Really?” She asked, her brow furrowed “This place in pretty unusual. I guess you just haven’t figured it out yet”
I looked her in the eye “There is a lot of things I haven’t figured out yet”
Her eyes darted back to the paper, she obviously caught my double meaning. This place is different. There is actually people here that I can get along with. And I definitely wanted to get to know Alice better.


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Publication Date: 01-14-2011

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