Alex pulled out his slightly battered phone to check when the bus was coming for the third time that morning. It was fifteen minutes late. Maybe he was in the wrong spot or buses didn't run on the first day of school after winter break. Alex didn't know where the bus was and not knowing was not something he particularly enjoyed. Immigrating from Puerto Rico only three weeks before, Alex still wasn't absolutely sure about how American high school functioned or even how Americans in general functioned.
Hurricane Maria had struck the island hard, leaving his town without power, without communication, without shelter and without the money they needed to rebuild. At the time he had been staying with a distant relative after the death of his single mother and the cousin who had taken him in. Alex had always been determined to attend college in the United States and with three entire years left of high school that seemed impossible to complete after the destruction of the hurricane, he had moved. He had written essays that garnered donations that had payed for his plane ticket and some of his boarding. Because he was an unaccompanied minor immigrant, Alex was forced to live with a long term resident, but luckily, the Washingtons had taken him in, having read his writings and wanted to help. After weeks of planning, Alex had left Puerto Rico in late December, arriving just as his new high school, Townsend Harris Public School let out for winter break. The magnet school had gladly accepted Alex after he had taken the American standardized testing that served as their form of an entrance exam. Even more convenient was the fact that George Washington was a history teacher at Townsend and had sent Alex the required concepts for his sophomore year before he had been able to leave Puerto Rico.
Alex pulled his coat a little tighter around himself and the icy wind blew down the street. He was starting to get worried as the time on his phone showed the time getting closer and closer to eight o'clock. He had left the Washington's home in Mount Vernon with plenty of time and had caught the Q50. But now he was waiting on a street corner in Murray Hill for the Q44 wondering if the bus was no longer in operation. There was no one else at the bus stop though the street was full of people rushing from one place to another on their morning commute and Alex pulled out his phone once again to text George and tell him that the bus wasn't coming.
Just before he pressed send, Alex heard a voice saying, "Are you going to Townsend?" He looked up from his phone to see a tall, dark-skinned boy wearing a THHS baseball cap.
"Yeah," Alex replied. "This is my first day."
"I'm Aaron," said the stranger. "Did you just move here or something?"
"From Puerto Rico. I'm Alex, by the way," he said.
"What classes do you have this term?" Aaron asked, pulling the straps of his black backpack a little higher on his shoulders.
"Math 10, Pre-Calc, English 10, Science 10, Gym, Metal-shop, Socials 10 and French," Alex said, pulling his schedule up on his phone even though he knew it by heart.
"Wow. No study hall or free period? That's a tough term," Aaron said, peering over his shoulder. "I have science, math and socials with you, I think."
"When is the bus coming?" Alex asked somewhat anxiously.
"Dude, it's New York City during rush hour. There is effectively no functioning bus schedule," Aaron replied, laughing a little.
"I thought they were really serious about getting there on time," Alex said, relaxing a little at Aaron's calmness about the increasingly small amount of time they had to get to school.
"They care if you miss school on purpose. If the traffic is slow then like ninety percent of the student body is late," Aaron said. "It should be here soon, though."
Alex peered down the street as Arron pulled out his phone as it buzzed in his pocket.
"Hey, do you want to sit with my friends and I at lunch?" Aaron asked, now texting a reply.
"Sure," Alex said, smiling a little at the fact that he wouldn't have to worry about where to sit.
Soon, the crowed bus pulled up and Alex and Aaron quickly climbed aboard, scanning their transit cards before heading towards the back where there was more space. Alex reached for one of the few straps left on the crowded bus. Aaron slipped in beside him, the back of his bag smushed against Alex's shoulder. The bus wove its way through the chaos of Queens in the morning, finally stoping close to Townsend. The cold wind bit at Alex's face as he slipped off the bus but he didn't find himself wishing for the warm weather of Puerto Rico. Instead he felt like the cold made him feel alive. Awake. More ready for the wild card that was school.
The boys trudged towards the school, a short walk from the bus stop. Alex was still a little shocked by the sheer number of people in New York City and Townsend was no exception. At Alex's school in Puerto Rico, there were about one hundred kids in the entire high school. Now, there were more than one hundred kids in his grade, let alone the entire school. He followed Aaron as they dodged around students walking towards the entrance. A bell sounded and Alex instantly thought he was late, that he would be late for his very first class on his very first day.
"Don't worry, that's just the warning bell," Aaron told him. "We have exactly eight minutes and three seconds to get to our lockers and to class. Where is your locker, by the way?"
"It's 302," Alex said.
"That's on the way to mine, I'll show you where it is," Aaron half yelled over the thundering noise in the stairwell that they had entered.
Someone smacked their arm against Alex's shoulder and didn't stop to apologize. On all sides, people rushed up the stairs, pushing past other students. It was so different from Alex's old school. Aaron suddenly dived through the wild line of kids and pushed open a door, Alex struggling to catch up to him. The hallway they entered was a little calmer, most people at their lockers instead of shoving each other, all though there was still plenty of that.
"There's yours. See you in a second," Arron said, pointing a locker out to Alex.
Alex hurried to the side of the hallway as Aaron continued on, disappearing into the thick crowd. He entered his combination and pulled the locker door open, revealing the textbooks and binder he had thrown in a few days before when he came with George to deal with all the administration papers. Pulling his bag off his shoulder and hanging on the hook inside, Alex felt the familiar routine of a school day drifting back to him after over four months without it.
"Excuse me," said a girl with long wavy black hair pulled half up and blue earbuds dangling from the neck of her jean jacket.
Alex stared at her for a second before moving over, realizing she needed to get into her locker. She was really quite pretty, smiling in a kind of easy, casual way as she swung her badge covered backpack into her locker.
"Are you new?" she asked him around her locker door.
"Yeah. I'm Alex," he told her.
"Angelica," she told him "I'll see you around." She flashed him a smile before grabbing her books and rushing off to walk with a friend who called her name.
"Schuyler's beside you? You're gonna have a good year," Aaron said, reappearing at Alex shoulder. "Let's get to class."
Aaron led him down a flight of stairs and through a hallway, people passing on all sides with bouncing backpacks and armfuls of books. They pushed through a heavy door into a dimly lit classroom half filled with students not quite sure how to be awake. The desks were shoved together in seemingly random configurations that appeared to how once been rows before the students overcame the will of their teacher.
"Yeah, so this is Mr. Arnold's class. He is a little boring, but he's also fine with us doing whatever we want so long as our work in handed in in time," he told Alex, walking towards two desks shoved together where a slightly pudgy boy with sandy hair was sitting. "James!"
"The boy looked up from his scribbled on binder. "Hey, Aaron," he said.
"This is Alex. He's new," Aaron said, seizing the corner of a nearby desk and tugging it towards the other two.
"Hi," Alex said lamely. He didn't know what it was, but something about James made him feel uneasy, like his harmless appearance was all a clever ruse. Alex dismissed it as nervousness for class and fell gratefully into the seat that Aaron pulled over for him.
More people filled the classroom as the bell rang, signifying the beginning of first period, including Angelica who gave Alex a small wave before sitting with some of her friends. The class consisted of exam preparation, Mr. Arnold, a slightly older man standing near the blackboard, jabbing it with a yardstick as he demonstrated different math operations before giving them a worksheet and retreating to his desk. Alex had been a little nervous for exams, considering how much time he had spent out of school. He had George send him coursework a few weeks prior to his departure from Puerto Rico so he could be up to date with everything happening. Looking at the handout, Alex found himself quite sure of what to do and hurried through the problems. Aaron looked a little confused at Alex's speed as he completed his worksheet, but said nothing. When the bell rang and other students tucked the sheet into binders for homework, Alex caught more than one jealous look cast his way.
"Where's Pre-Calc?" Alex asked Aaron.
"I'm a few floors down for Science. Maybe ask Angelica? I think she takes that class," Aaron told him before heading towards the door, James in tow.
Alex approached Angelica, a bit wary of her swarm of chattering friends. "Sorry, do you know where Pre-Calculus is?" Alex's voice was lost in the rising noise from the hallway.
Angelica, spotting him out of the corner of her eye, turned to face
Alexander, already smiling and asking, "How did you think math went? I'm glad there's finally someone to compete against!"
"Any time you want to go, we can have a math war," Alex replied, pulling his face into a deadpan expression.
Angelica copied him. "I don't think floor mopping is seen as warfare."
The corner of Alex's mouth twitched. Giving up, he said, "Would you mind showing me where Pre-Calculus is? Aaron said you took it, too."
"Yeah, of course!" Angelica said brightly, swinging her binder into her arms and waving goodbye to her small army of friends. "I guess it really will be a math war, then."
"Of course," Alex replied. "Are you taking a full AP course load?"
Angelica nodded, "It's great for early decision," she said.
"Where do you want to go?" Alex asked her as they pushed open a door and walked into a classroom.
"Columbia," Angelica told him. "I love the city."
"Whoa," said Alex as he looked around the room. "This is not how I thought a Pre-Calculus room would look."
The room was nothing like Mr. Arnold's class. The shades of the windows were open, light pouring into the room. The chalkboard was covered in scribbles, block writing and arrows, all busily depicting math. It was very evidently the classroom of a teacher who was exceptionally enthusiastic about their work.
"Ms. T gets that a lot," Angelica told him. "Come meet John." Angelica led him over to tall boy who was pulling sheets of notes out of his binder and onto his desk.
"Hey, Schuyler," he said. "Who's the new kid?"
"Alex," Angelica told him. "This is his first day."
"Well, that's awfully convenient. Just in time for the most stressful time of the year," John smiled at him. "Let me guess. Aaron been showing him around?"
"Yep," she turned to Alex. "Aaron does this thing where whenever he meets someone he sends them to at least one of my classes with either me or my sister. He says it's the Schuyler Test."
"Did I pass the Schuyler Test?" Alex asked.
"Oh, absolutely," she said. "See, I use this great system called the John Test. If John doesn't immediately decide that he hates you, you're okay."
John smiled. "I take it full circle and use the Burr Test. If Aaron sends you to Angelica, you must be okay."