“Excuse me, Mr. Morris?” I asked shyly. He turned around on his chair and looked at me. He was so tall that even while sitting down he barely had to look up to make eye contact with me.
“Yes?” he asked in a deep baritone.
“I’m Tina Ressler. I’m new here. I’m wondering, umm, where should I sit?” I asked.
“Ah, yes, of course. Welcome, Tina. Feel free to take a seat wherever. I don’t have a set seating plan. Welcome to my classroom,” he gestured. That was my worst fear. I was hoping he would have a seat specially picked out for me, where I would have to sit no matter what.
Instead, I made my way back to the tables, clutching my books against my chest like they could protect me. I looked over at the tables. The two furthest back were filled with guys, none of whom looked like they especially cared about their science grades. That was definitely out. Another had a whole bunch of girls playing with their phones and whispering to each other in such a tightly knit circle that I automatically sensed my presence wouldn’t be appreciated.
To a table on my left, however, at the front of the class was just a group of three girls. They were talking to each other, but I made my way over and went to the furthest possible side of the table.
“Mind if I sit here?” I asked, motioning at the chair furthest from them.
“Sure,” one of them answered, then the three went back to their conversation. A minute later, when Mr. Morris started his lecture, my initial trepidation at finding a place to sit was forgotten as I got started on my first ever class at Moreton Academy.
I had my notebook out, ready to take notes. I was going to take advantage of this opportunity to get a great education; I wasn’t going to squander it.
“Now, the other day, I introduced you to the concept of ‘ions’,” Mr. Morris started. I breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn’t some super hard advanced level stuff, I had started reading about ions in the science book I got at my old school as well. “Ions are atoms that have a charge – either a positive charge or a negative charge. An atom is an ion if the number of protons and the number of electrons are not equal. If an ion has more protons than electrons, it is a positive ion, and if it has more electrons than protons, it is a negative ion.”
The class continued for a while as Mr. Morris drew diagrams on the smartboard to explain the differences between the different types of ions. He explained how some atoms could gain electrons and others lose them, and eventually he asked the class a question.
“So does anyone know what elements cannot become ions?”
I knew this from reading my science textbook a week or so earlier, but as I looked around the classroom, no one was putting their hand up. I raised mine slowly, almost hoping it wouldn’t be seen.
“The noble gasses?” I answered, making it sound like a question, even though I knew it was right.
“Yes, thank you Tina,” Mr. Morris answered as a bunch of snickers came from the table of jocks at the back of the class. I tried to ignore them, even though I felt the blush rise up my face. Why did I answer that? The last thing I wanted right now was to be noticed. One of the girls sitting next to me did shoot me a nice smile though. I smiled back at her, then went back to my notes.
About an hour or so later the bell rang, signalling the end of the class. In a panic, I realized I didn’t know where I was going next. I took out my schedule and saw I was supposed to go to Mrs. Anthony’s math class.
“Excuse me, do you know where Mrs. Anthony’s class is?” I asked the girl next to me who had smiled at me, who was now packing up her things.
“Sure. Go up the stairs at the end of the hall, take a left, and it’s room number 211.”
“Awesome, thanks,” I replied, throwing her a grateful look.
“No problem.”
I packed up my things and headed towards the door. As I looked up, I saw the most gorgeous guy I’d ever laid eyes on. His blonde hair was dishevelled, but in that sexy just-got-out-of-bed way. The blazer he wore couldn’t hide the fact that under those clothes was definitely a tight body that worked out, his cheekbones looked like they’d been taken straight off a statue and his blue eyes glistened as he looked at me. I felt a tug in my stomach, an unfamiliar feeling, an attraction to this guy. I wanted to grab him, take him into the hallway and press myself against him, have his mouth on mine, have his hands roam my body. I wanted him to take me, right then and there. Holy shit Tina, get it together, I scolded myself, forcing myself back to reality.
Was he looking at me? Oh my God, he was. And he was holding the classroom door open for me, while I stood there gaping at him like an idiot. Jesus, what was I doing?
I scurried past him.
“Thanks,” I muttered as he held the door open for me.
“No problem, nerd,” he replied, loudly enough for his friends that were around, that I hadn’t noticed, to all start bursting out laughing.