Who Are You Now?

"Victor Fuentes?" The shrill voice of the secretary sounded through the office, snapping me out of my daze and back into the present.
I stood up, gathering my school bag and my empty binder before walking over to her desk, making sure to keep my eyes down as I did so. I didn't want to get beat up on my first day here all because I looked at the wrong person in the wrong way.
"Yes?" I asked, my voice low enough for only her to hear.
She smiled, her white teeth on full display. "Today's your first day, isn't it?" I nodded.
She stood up and walked over to a copy machine, pulling out a slip of paper before returning to me. "I'm Mrs. Frost, the school's secretary. You come to me any time you need help with finding something, alright?"
I smiled and nodded again, grateful for the fact that she was being so nice even though she hardly knew me. It wasn't like that back at my old school - the secretaries might as well have been witches in disguise. I kinda think they were.
Mrs.Frost handed me the paper and sat back down, typing something up on her desktop. "Do you need someone to show you around?"
Oh, no. I've seen enough high school movies and read enough books to know where that would be going. I'd get stuck with the biggest bully in this place and before you know it i'm the most hated person in this place. "No thank you."
"Alright, you'd better get going. First period has already begun."
She smiled once more and I nodded, turning around and looking over my schedule.
First Period - Mr. Wilson: Calculus. Room 202.
Great, my first period class is the subject I like the least. I sighed, running my hand through my greasy hair habitually. At least it wasn't gym class, I thought. No matter how much I hate calculus, i'll always hate gym the most.
I looked around, studying the halls as I went along. The walls were decorated with posters that were meant to be inspirational, but just had bad puns written on them that I would've found lame if it wasn't for the fact that I was trying to avoid going to class for as long as possible.
I couldn't draw this out forever, though - I had to go to class sometime and I didn't want to be later than I already was.
I trudged on silently, glancing at the door numbers until I finally reached 202.
I could see the teacher speaking through the door panel, waving his hands around in demonstration as the students stared at him with a dead-fish gaze, not even pretending to look interested.
Some of them were already asleep, with a few of the others throwing things at each other and laughing when the teacher turned his back.
I sighed, placing my hand on the door knob. This day's been good so far, Vic. You can do this.
I opened the door, stepping inside and cringing lightly as everyone in the room's attention snapped to me. When I say everyone, I mean everyone. Even the kids who were sleeping woke up to take a look at me, and i'd be lying if I said I wanted to walk out of the classroom right then and there.
I didn't have enough time, though, because the Mr.Wilson had already begun to speak to me. "I had been informed that I was getting a new student today, but I thought they were bluffing with you coming to class 15 minutes late on your first day. What's your name?"
He was a fairly old man, and looked to be in his 40's with thinning black hair. His tone told me that i'd already made a bad impression on him, and i cursed myself for staying home a few extra minutes instead of getting here early like I should've.
"Vic Fuentes." I told him.
He nodded and picked up a ruler, pointing to an empty desk in the back. "Take a seat, Mr.Fuentes."
I rushed over to te seat and sat down quickly, setting my stuff down next to me. I kept my gaze locked on the table, since most of the students still were staring at me instead of paying attention to the lecture that had been continued up front.
Something told me to look up, though, and when I looked over to my right I saw a spike-haired boy sitting there, a smirk playing on his lips as he stared back at me. He nudged the person next to him, a boy with long straight hair and a single braid going down his torso, and started whispering to him, his gaze never leaving mine.
The long-haired boy looked to me and grinned, then nodded to his friend.
I flicked my gaze down, not wanting to know what they were saying about me. I couldn't have already made enemies on my first day, could I?
I really hope not. I wasn't ready for high school drama when I had barely even begun to find out about this place.
-
My first few periods breezed by, with the two boys passing by me every so often in the hallway and me keeping my head down. I could tell by the smirk they kept plastered on their faces that whatever they wanted couldn't have been good, so I tried my best to stay away from them.
That plan failed, though, when I was walking out of my 4th period class on my way to lunch. I was squeezing by the clutter of students in the hall when I heard a commotion going on in front of me, and I stopped and peaked through the other students to see what was going on.
It was the two boys from earlier, grinning menacingly at a boy who they had shoved up against a wall.
His lip looked swollen, and he had dried blood running down the side of his face from a small cut on his forehead. His long, shaggy black hair was all over the place, standing out in random directions as if he'd been tossed around.
"You little fucking faggot," the spike-haired boy began, "next time you want to mouth off to someone, you better make sure it isn't me!"
"I didn't mouth off to you! You started this, Jaime!" he said the boy,s name with such venom and intensity that I couldn't help but cringe a bit.
The spike-haired person, Jaime his name was, drew his fist back and cracked it against the boy's nose, his expression contorting into one of anger as he did so.
"Keep my name out of your mouth before I take away your ability to speak." He dropped the black-haired boy and backed away. "You're lucky i've got to go. See you around, faggot."
Jaime and his friend laughed and walked down the opposite end of the hall, then slipped around a corner. Everyone who was watching just turned around and went back to their lockers and chatting with their friends. What the fuck?!
I didn't know why, but i decided to go up and help the boy. Maybe it was because he looked so fragile and helpless, or maybe it was because he reminded me of myself at my old school a bit. Either way, I crouched down and gathered his books while he stood up and nursed his bleeding nose.
"Are you alright?" I asked. Stupid question, I know, but what was I supposed to say?
He nodded, wincing as he did so. "Thanks. You didn't have to do that."
I shook my hed. "Of course I had to. You look pretty broken up." I looked around until I found a bathroom at the end of the hall, then grabbed his arm. "Let's go."
We walked down the hall silently, then ducked into the bathroom, closing the door behind us. He went up to the sink, pulling a few tissues from the dispenser and wetting them. Once he had them on his nose, he said, "I'm Kellin."
"Nice to meet you, Kellin. I'm Vic."
"Sorry that you have to see me like this." He laughed, pressing the tisue harder to stop te blood flow.
"It's fine. Not like i haven't seen blood before." I laughed along, but stopped when I realized how crazy that must've sounded and looked around.
We stood like that for a few minutes, him tending to his cuts and me trying not to seem weird by sticking around without saying much.
He fixed his hair and smiled at me. "Well, see you around then Vic. And thanks again."
I nodded and smiled back. "No worries. See you around."
He waved once before walking out of the door, leaving me there by myself. It was then that I realized what had just happened. God damn it, why do I always have to go around poking my nose in other people's business?! Jaime and that other kid were obviously bullies, and god knows what they'll do if they found out I helped a kid they seemed to hate.
Great going, Vic. Your first day at a new school and you've already fucked up.