Don't Believe Everything You Hear

"I heard she was expelled for stabbing a teacher," said one person.

"I heard she's on the run from the CIA," another said.

"I heard that she runs a dog fighting business from her basement,"

"Somebody said that she keeps her parent's dead bodies in a freezer in her kitchen.

"I heard she got that tattoo in prison," said a precarious female voice.

Never in my life have I heard such weird things. This was my second day at this school, and it sounds as if I'm already hated more than anybody here. How messed up is that? Not to mention that it was day two and already people were making up the most ridiculous things that I've ever heard.

I was never expelled, let alone for stabbing a teacher. I'm pretty sure that if I were on the run from the CIA that they would have found me already. I'm not to sure, but I'm pretty sure that you can't run a dog fighting business with one German shepherd in my entire life. My parents were burned to ashes in a fire. Surprisingly, the last one was the most ridiculous. Not only have I never been within fifty miles of a prison, I don't even have a tattoo.

I rolled my eyes as I walked passed all these people. I didn't expect to make friends or even like it here. But I had to be here now, and it's not like I had a choice about it. I just walked to my first class.

I walked into the class to be greeted by the scared look of Mr. Marks. I'm guessing that even the teachers here their own rumors, because he looked like I would kill him if I had a chance.

"Hello Selena," he said nervously. "I've decided to move you to the back of the class so I can watch Jordan easier," he said. I give him props for a pretty good excuse. Jordan was excusably a student that teachers would put in the front. But I knew that he probably had heard rumors and didn't want me near him.

"Okay," I said without another word. I just walked to the back of the classroom and took my seat. When the rest of the students walked in, most didn't seem to mind, but the kids that now had to sit near me had terrified looks spread across their faces at the sight of me in their little area now. Do they really think I'm going to kill kids in a Science class, or at all for that matter? It was sad at how easily a kid could believe something.

Once class had started, Mr. Marks started to talk to the class. "Okay class, today we will be starting a group project," he said, causing everybody to groan. "Calm down, you will be working on it at home, and you can pick your own partners," he said. Everybody turned to other people and started negotiating about who their partners will be. I just sat there because I knew that nobody would want to be my partner.

"Okay, so who doesn't have a partner?" Mr. Marks asked. I raised my hand. He mumbled something to himself that I couldn't understand from the back of the class. I looked around and saw that there was a boy with his hand up as well. "Okay, so it'll be Selena and Austin together." The boy looked back and saw me, his eyes widening.

"Congratulations class, you have just picked you partners for the rest of the year." He smiled. Some people cheered while some people groaned. Nobody seemed to have expected this.

"First off, you will have to meet with your partner today after school. I'll let you guys get together to discuss where you are going to meet and then I'll tell you your assignment." He told us. Everybody got into small groups, distorting their desks into little groups.

I looked over at the boy nervously. I didn't know what to do. I saw him looking over at me, with a scared and nervous expression spread across his face. I saw him sigh and stand up, walking slowly over to me. He was stopped by one of his friends, who looked over and pointed at me. He then proceeded to laugh at Austin and I sighed.

They were probably saying something about "We're gonna miss you buddy," I sighed again. I pulled at the stupid collar of my shirt, not liking it at all. I wanted nothing more than to wear a normal shirt. But my new parents had forced me to wear these clothes to school today, much to my dismay.

The shirt was too bright, I hated the fact that it had a collar that was causing my neck to itch uncontrollably, and the sleeves were way too short. Then there were these stupid shorts, too short, and too cold. I think these people adopted me to play dress up with me.

"Um," I heard the Austin kid say. He stood there awkwardly, playing with the hem of his shirt. "Hi," he said awkwardly.

"Hi," I said quietly.

"So where do you want to meet?" he asked quickly.

"I don't know," I told him truthfully.

"How about your house," he said quickly yet again. I actually feel bad for this poor guy, I knew that these things weren't true, but he was sincerely scared. "I'll meet you there at five," he said.

"Okay," I gave him my new address and he quickly went back to his own seat. I sighed and put my head down on my desk.

"Okay, it seems like everybody has that sorted out, so now, your assignment," the teacher said. "Okay, so you will have to write a short essay on each other, won't that be exciting?" he said happily. This was where everybody groaned loudly.

"Poor kids, have to get to know each other. How will you ever survive?" he said sarcastically.

Austin's friends laughed a little, and I heard them say something like, "We're not sure if our little Austin will survive," Austin made a face at them and they laughed even louder.

"Okay, see you guys later," the teacher said as the bell rang.

The rest of the day went on in the same way. The teachers moved me into the back of the class, everybody would move as far away from me as they could, and I even got another partner for Health. They didn't like it either. Big surprise there, right?