Archaggelon

First Day at School

The alarm had gone off and it was time for Alex to get ready for his first day at school.
As Alex took his first steps to his new school, he was horrified with the behavior of the student body. They were acting like animals; it was like walking inside a zoo the way they were talking to each other and running through the hallway. By the time Alex reached the principles office he had seen everything. As he opened the door and entered, he also saw her talking to a girl.

“I’m sorry I interrupted”

“Come in Alex, we were waiting for your arrival. I’m Principle Hawkins and this is Jasmine Taylor, your classmate and mentor for today, informing you with what is going on around the school this semester.”

Jasmine did not look like those kids outside, but also looked very shy. She had wavy blond hair, sapphire blue eyes and wore the school-uniform which was a regular white short-sleeved, collared shirt, with a blue skirt and black shoes. Alex thought that she was best suited for the uniform compared to the other female students he had seen.

As for the principle, she looked rather strange. Her hair was cracked, black and tied it up into a bun. She wore a set of thick glasses, a gray shirt and a black pencil skirt with black stiletto heels. But the strangest part of her looks was her make-up. She put a thick layer of black eyeliner around her eyes. On the bottom of her eyes, she had overlapped it with a thick blue color which made her look rather scary when you see her at first sight.

At the moment he received his timetable, Alex had already gone on his first subject and he was glad it was technology. It was his favorite for the fact that that he knows more about that than any other subject, after trying to invent those androids.

Jasmine had mentioned to him that she was terrible in that topic. Even if she studied as hard as she could, she could not improve her results.

“It could be because I can’t catch up with the assignments. Since there are not an even amount of students in the class, and the teacher always makes a group of two, I am always left by myself. Maybe now that you’re here. There might be a chance for me to calm down a little if we do a little bit of team work. What do you say?” said jasmine with confidence and excitement.

“Well, at least I would have a way to thank you in some way for helping me around the school.” Alex replied with a smile.

When he saw the smile on Jasmines face, he could tell that she was pleased.

The lesson was rather awkward from the ones that he and Daja used to do when he was young. Alex was confused of why Jasmine thought of this subject so difficult. If she had tried to do the things that he did at a young age she sure would have never thought the same.
As a matter of fact, the teacher was strangely dressed for this subject. She wore clothing as if she was going to a night-club, plenty of jewelry which was prohibited for this subject of course. Alex had no idea how the principle even allows this action to proceed in a subject so dangerous if they did any practical lessons. For example, making circuits you have to use a strong acid for one of those, and mainly handling any heavy objects. But then again, he did not know how schools were for an ordinary kid. Alex thought of this as a lesson that no one would understand and even concentrate on doing.

When the bell rang for lunch, Alex could not help but to ask. “Hey, Jasmine, I just wanted to ask. What is so difficult for you in that subject? It looked pretty easy to me.”

“Well, today was a theory lesson. That is not my weakness though. It’s mainly the practical that I can’t make myself improve in and that is the most important part of the subject. So, even if I get an A+ for theory, it is not good enough to make me pass.”

“Why did not you just say so? I thought for a second that – “

“I know. I should have told you form the start but I thought it would be rather embarrassing to say it to you.”

“Why’s that?”

“Come on Alex. I know who you are. The rest of the school might not look at the news or read any newspapers but my father forces me to do it so I can be informed of what is going around. He’s a little over protective if you have not understood.”

When Alex heard that, he did not want to be the center of attention so, he had to try anything to make Jasmine not talk. Please don’t tell anyone Jasmine. I promise I’ll so anything.”

“Do you really think of me in that way Alex?”

At that moment, Alex did not know what to say he was just sitting there, in front of the table, looking at her with his mouth open, trying to think of something to say but nothing came out. At that instant, Jasmine just put her hand in his and said “Alex, don’t take it that seriously. I was just joking,” giving him a smile to cheer him up.

All of a sudden, a broad shouldered boy came from behind them. “Hey Jasmine, I hope this little fellow is not bothering you,” clenching his fists.

“No, no, no Peter, it’s OK. He’s a new guy. I was said to show him around the school by principle Hawkins.”

“So that’s why she had wanted you to go to her office. Anyways, I’ll catch you later after school. I have to talk to the guys about the big game, see ya.”

“Bye.”

Judging by the way the guy acted when he had seen Alex with Jasmine, he thought that they were dating so instead of actually asking he ends up saying “I do not want to get in the way with your boyfriend or anything I could just ask the principle to make someone else my mentor.”

Jasmine’s face gave a strange expression to which it concluded in to a laugh. Alex got so confused that he did not know how to react to her behavior.

“I’m sorry, but the image of dating my own brother sure seems funny to me. But them again how would you of known,” said Jasmine, trying to hold her laughter.

“My greatest apologies, I thought that you were dating or something.”

“Does not matter.”

“One thing though. Does he know about me as well?”

“Well of course I read the newspaper to him. He’s not much of a person who would look at the news on TV. He’ll rather watch football instead so I have to read it because my father gets angry at him and I don't want my brother to get in trouble. But I’ll tell you this; he sure was interested in your article. The only thing you don’t have to worry about is that he has not seen a picture of you and I did not mention your name, so your secret is safe with me.”

“Thanks a bunch. I have no idea how to repay you.”

“Helping me with technology is good enough for me.”

“Deal.”

Fortunately, Jasmines brother was handing out tickets for the schools biggest basketball competition. Even though he was not a basketball player, he liked doing some particular job so he can skip his worst subjects.

Alex came to realize that the whole entire school was talking about the game. Jasmine explained to him that they were competing with their most hated rivals. Since it was the greatest event of the year, even the teachers made the decision to sell the tickets free of charge.

Later on, some of her friends came to sit to join them. Apparently, they did not come to technology class today because they had to help a teacher with some equipment and did not know about Alex’s arrival.

“What’s up Jasmine? Who’s this punk? I can take him down if you want,” said the tallest of the lot.

“Yeah,” agreed the other.

Apparently, the girl that was with those guys did not speak as much. She gave a plain cold look at Alex as if he was some kind of criminal, trying to hide his identity.

“Well, I sure can notice that nobody told you that we have a new guy in our year.”

“Oh, so he’s a freshman, huh? Don’t get too carried away kid. I don't like you a single bit. By the end of the day, I hope to not see your ugly face again,” said the taller guy.

His name was Clark Forester. He was one of those boys that did not get along with anyone very easily. Alex could tell by the look on his face, Clark was really determined to get rid of him as fast as possible. But the question was, why?

As for the shorter male, his name was Scipio Gryggyn. He was a guy that looked more intelligent than he looked. He sure took care of his looks, but the way he talked before the group approached Jasmine and Alex he sure spoke smarter than Alex.

The only person that he could not get good information on was the girl. Her name was Sionan Summers. Nobody really knows how to react in front of her, but her expressions sure do say a lot.

“Sorry Clark, but I think he’s pretty cool. He’ll definitely fit in with us,” said Sionan out of the blues.

“What are you talking about? Look at him. He belongs to the rich kids. Do not let him fool you, you guys.”

“Clark, I think you’re overreacting. As the saying goes: never judge the book by its cover,” said Scipio.

“Who gives a shit what the saying says?”

While the conversation was becoming more of an argument the more Jasmines face was getting furious with Clark's behavior, which made her get up on her feet, smacked her hands and the table and shouts. “Let it go Clark. If you had the time to think about it, he would have already started hanging out with the cool dudes anyways.”

By the expression on Clark's face, Alex had a feeling that he had never seen Jasmine so angry. In the end, Clark felt sorry about making a scene. “I apologize man. But those rich kids sure piss me off. You have no idea what they are capable of. If you are one of them, I’ll kill you.”

“No problem. But I do have a question. Do I really look like I would do something that they would do?”

“Well, they have tried being innocent like you in the beginning to pass any upcoming exams. Anyways, we better eat up now; the bell is going to ring soon.”

“Sure.”

After that long talk, they had gotten exhausted. The only thing they did was eat their lunch and sit quietly until the bell rang a short time later.

At the end of the day, Alex felt more relaxed, as if he were at school with a whole bunch of friends ever since he was born, like he never had any connection with the making of the androids. He also felt lucky that Clark did not end up punching him out, or anyone else for that matter. He did not want any enemies on the first day of school. But then again who would.

Before Alex left, he had seen Jasmine looking at him with a weird gaze and he had the feeling that she wanted to tell him something important, but her brother dragged her with him so they could leave.
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What did Jasmine want to tell Alex? Was it something important or maybe she couldn't handle the truth of what Clark had said at lunch and wanted to find out?