With a shaky breath, Cam took a step off of the rusting yellow bus. Looking up at the immaculate building before him, he fought the intense urge to get right back on, go back to the airport, an fly home. "Why the hell am i here," he thought to himself. His heart began to pound in his ears, as that all to familiar wave of anxiety began to wash over him. "Not again," he grimaced. His increasing panic was interrupted by a rough shove, causing him to stumble off the uneven pavement outide of Degrassi Community School.
"Get a move on, rook. Gotta introduce this school to their new Gods." Mike Dallas sauntered off the bus, giving Cam a noogie before making his way up the steps and into the front door. The rest of the Ice Hounds followed suit, each giving Cam either a shove or an insulting nickname as they filed after Dallas into the school. Cam shook his head. "seriously, why the HELL am i here." he wondered again. Sighing, he adjusted the straps on his backpack before reluctantly climbing the steps to Degrassi, secretly wishing there was a way to disappear before the big assembly.
"ROOKIE! get your ass in here. You'll have time to pick flowers after school, wuss." Luke Baker leaned against the door, slapping Cam on the back of his head as he made his way inside behind him. Again, Cam said nothing. He merely followed the rest of his team, in their matching red hoodies, hoping that the identical matching clothing would somehow blend him in with the rest of the team, making him just another invisible member. Unfortunately, the six inch height difference was doing him no justice.
The crowds of students in the halls parted like the Red Sea as the Ice Hounds made their way towards the gymnasium. Cam was suddenly very aware of the silence and the stares he was receiving. The feelings of anxiety began to creep into his brain once again; but he managed to push them away as he found himself inside the gym, which had been decorated in order to welcome the team. Dallas slapped his hands together slyly and nudged Cam. "Get ready for the best four years of your life, rookie. We are gonna own this school". It took all of Cam's inner strength to force a smile and a small nod back to his captain. Behind that plastic smile, all of Cam's energy was slowly draining from his consciousness.
He reluctantly sat down with the rest of his team, bracing himself for another first day at another new school, a million miles away from his home and his mom and his brother. Nothing here for him but more hockey. He sighed unhappily to himself and tried to pay attention to the wiry, balding man now taking his place at the podium. He felt relief as the lights dimmed, allowing him to slip into his own world, away from the prying eyes of all these strangers.
After he woke up from sleeping through the assembly, a groggy Cam stumbled out of the gym through a sea of excited students, many of whom were now giggling and staring at him. He looked at them in bewilderment. "Really, already?" he thought. "I swear, everyone hates me already." He looked at the crumpled map of the school layout he had been given on the bus ride over, and eventually found his way to his french classroom. If there was one thing Cam hated, it was french.
He slumped into a seat in the back of the classroom. He rubbed the back of his head with his hands and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, two kids were staring at him, trying unsuccessfully to contain their laughter. "Okay seriously, what?" Cam snapped, fed up with the completely unwarranted rudeness he was getting from all these weird kids. "There must be something in the water here," he thought, making a mental note to bring his own water bottle from now on. "Oh my gosh, you really have no idea?" A flamboyant ginger stared at him in disbelief.
Cam met him with a blank stare. The other student, a small blonde girl with wire-framed glasses and a button nose pulled out a compact mirror, holding it out to him. Cam peered into the mirror. "You've gotta be freaking kidding me." Cam stared at his grimy reflection in the cheap compact mirror. A crudely drawn mustache and monocle stared back at him. Dallas. "Well, i think you look perfectly snazzy!" the boy quipped with a slight lisp, and held out his hand. "I'm Tristan."
"Cam" he replied, rejecting the handshake, instead placing the compact into Tristan's outstretched hand, and wiping his face on the sleeve of his hoodie. The girl spoke quietly. "I'm Maya. You're on that new hockey team, right?" She smiled inquisitively. Cam instinctively flinched at the mention of the word 'hockey'. "Yeah," he answered, rubbing his face on his sleeve once more to ensure the removal of his marketed-on mustache. "Must have fallen asleep during the assembly... they're always picking on me because i'm the new guy." Tristan and Maya smiled at him warmly, such a different smile than he had been getting since his arrival.
"Well," said Tristan, lowering his voice as the teacher entered the classroom, "hopefully all those touchdowns you score this season will shut them all up!" He turned in his seat to face the board, proud of his flirting skills. Cam and Maya exchanged a look, laughing silently at the boy's attempt at sports lingo. Maya smiled at him shyly once more before turning to the front of the room. For the first time in a long time, Cam caught himself smiling for real. "She's kind of cute," he thought to himself. His smile instantly vanished, however, as soon as the Mademoiselle began, "BONJOUR, students..."
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