Roses are Red, Black Eyes are Blue

Anna sighed heavily as she watched the buildings fly by the bus window and out of sight. It was her first day at the private school her dad had transferred her to. Her wavy brown hair was tied back in a blue ribbon that was provided by the school along with a matching blue uniform. She could be described as simply boring. She didn’t try and spice up her outfit with jewelry or by rolling up the skirt; she didn’t wear makeup and didn’t bother doing anything with her hair. She concentrated solely on her studies and nothing else. She was positively and completely boring and she hated it.
She was the only daughter of a rich and well known lawyer and an outspoken free spirit, which were both divorced. Her mother lived three-four hours from Anna’s new home and she only got to see her every other weekend. She decided to divorce her husband due to his complete dedication to his job and his lack of commitment to his family.

The bus made a sudden stop at the bus stop closest to the school and pulled Anna from her thoughts. She gathered her things quickly and rushed off the bus, trying not to brush against any of the strange people on their way to god knows where. She’d just turned the corner when she heard someone shouting after her.

“Miss! Hey miss! Hey!” She turned around and saw the guy running toward her, holding a purple notebook. “You forgot this on the bus.”

“Thank you…” She replied quietly and turned quickly toward the school.

She mentally kicked herself for almost forgetting her notebook. She composed music in her spare time and wrote it in this notebook. Anna was obsessed with musical instruments of all kinds. When she was little she begged her father to let her take violin lessons and when she had graduated those lessons, she moved to flute, then to clarinet, and soon she had learned how to play most instruments. She was a musical prodigy and her father still thought that she could do better.

When she made it to the school she entered the front office and sat in a chair and waited because the secretary was missing. A few seconds after she set her bag on the ground the office door burst open and the principle marched through to his office while dragging some boy with him by the shoulder of his uniform jacket. As quickly as they came they were gone and she was alone again. The office lady came in a few moments later and sat at her desk before she noticed her.

“Can I help you?”

“Um, I need to get my class list...”

“Right, you must be Anna. This is a list of your classes and teachers. Here’s your rule book and your agenda, you can’t walk around the school without a pass written in there. The principal wanted to speak with you when you got here, but he’s busy right now so maybe-” Just then the principal’s office door flew open and the boy, who she then recognized as the same guy from the bus, stormed out of the room, glancing at Anna on the way out. The principal glared after him and then straightened his tie before turning his attention to Anna.

“Hello there, Miss Garner. I trust you found the school alright? Now if you would step into my office I’d like to clarify a few things.” Anna stood and followed him hesitantly. He closed the door behind her and motioned to a chair in front of his desk.
“I wanted to go over a few rules,” he said as he sat behind his desk, “Just the usual things. If you’re late for class three times you’re given detention. If you miss a detention you’re given Saturday school. If you miss your Saturday School you will be put in “In School Suspension” and if you do not attend ISS you will be suspended, but I highly doubt that we’ll have these problems with you. From what I’ve seen on your record you’re going to be one of our best students. Now, I believe the bell has already rung, so have the secretary write you a late note. Oh, and tell your father that I am really sorry we couldn’t have you skip a grade. Have a nice day.” He rose from his chair and opened the door, motioning for her to leave. The secretary wrote a brief note explaining Anna’s lateness and sent her on her way.

When she reached her first period class Anna opened the door and peered in slowly. "-irresponsible! When are you going to grow up and take classes seriously? If it were up to me you would-!" The teacher stopped short and turned to see what all the students were looking at. “Yes? Can I help you?”

“I...uh...I’m new...um...Here’s…” Anna’s sentence trailed off as she handed the note to the teacher. She shifted nervously from foot to foot while the teacher scanned over the sheet, feeling every eye in the class on her. The teacher looked up when she was done and smiled.

“Well, Anna, welcome to my Trig class. I’ve heard about your perfect grades from the principal and I’m very excited to see how you’ll fare in my class. I’m also very sorry to tell you that the only seat left is next to Mr. Iero. Hopefully you’ll rub off on him.”

Anna made her way to the back of the class where the last seat was and sat down, sinking low into the seat. She hated being the new kid—all the questioning looks and judging stares. It was horrible. After the teacher yelled a few more threats at “Mr. Iero” she started to write notes on the board. Anna took out her binder and quickly jotted the notes down. She was so absorbed in the notes that she almost missed the chorus that was being sung right next to her. Glancing over, she noticed that “Mr. Iero” was singing very quietly under his breath. The words were barely audible, but she could hear well enough to tell that he could sing very well. Anna blushed and forced herself to focus on the lesson. When the bell rang the boy next to Anna raced out of the classroom, being the first one out.

The day went by slowly and at the beginning of each class Anna had to deal with the stares from her new classmates. She sighed heavily as she made her way to her locker before going to her last class of the day. While she was putting away books, a group of freshmen ran by yelling about a fight. Curious, Anna followed to see what all the fuss was about. As she turned a corner in the courtyard a ring of people came into sight. She pushed her way through to the inside of the circle to find “Mr. Iero” struggling with another guy on the ground. When Iero got the upper hand he took his chance and started to punch the poor kid repeatedly. The kid’s friend jumped in and pulled Iero up, punching him in the stomach and shoving him, right onto Anna. She cried out as she fell with him on top of her. He only glanced down at her as he pushed off the ground and back into the fight. As he tackled the second kid to the ground and started to pound on him, teachers rushed in and pulled Iero off of him. He thrashed around wildly, as if the kid had killed his brother and he was out for blood.

When the teachers got Iero to calm down they sent him to the nurse’s office to get his bloody nose looked at and sent the other two to the hospital. When Anna picked herself off the ground a teacher caught her and pointed out a gash on her arm.

“Oh, I must have...I must have cut it…when I fell...” The teacher grabbed Iero before he could take off and told him to show Anna to the nurse’s office. After a few moments of silence the Iero kid spoke up, “Sorry about your arm. I didn’t mean to land on you. How bad is it?” Anna looked down at her elbow and saw that the gash was a bit worse then she thought. To her surprise she saw that blood was dripping from it and onto the floor. “Oh...It’s…it’s fine...” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around her elbow. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m Frank, by the way. I’m sure you know my last name by now.” He softly laughed at his last sentence and the silence overcame the two again. Anna watched her feet awkwardly as they made their way through the school. When they reached the nurses office Frank stepped back and spoke again, “Well, here it is. I’ll see you around, I guess.”

“Uh... Aren’t you going in too? Your nose is...”

“I’ll be fine. They’re going to suspend me when I come out anyways, so might as well go home. See ya around.”