Wirt hurried to school, with Greg following closely behind. The year had just begun, and he was two weeks in. Wirt had found the year to be lackluster already, with Jason Funderberker asking Sara out and them apparently being the power couple of tenth grade. It made him cringe just to think about it.
He didn't blame Sara though. They simply didn't work out, with Wirt's self-confidence sabotaging his attempts to be sociable. At least her and Jason could be happy together.
The bell rang just as he managed to get to his class, the teacher's dissapproving gaze making him shrink into his long sleeved shirt. The only thing that kept him from stammering an apology (and making an embarrassment of himself for the billionth time that year) was the curious look of a young girl behind the teacher. She had reddish-brown hair, with dark freckles and a permanent blush on her cheeks.
"Had your fill yet, Wirt?" The teacher, Mr. Rogers, asked.
Wirt jumped and, embarrassed, quickly walked to his desk to sit down. The girl was still staring at him.
"Now that everyone's here, I'd like to introduce our new classmate. Class, this is Bridget." Some kids greeted her half-heartedly. Others simply stared or waved.
"Wirt, since you seem to be so interested in her, why don't you show her around for the time being?"
Wirt blushed and looked down while classmates around him snickered. Mr. Rogers had always hated him, though he'd never know why.
Bridget, as she was introduced, walked over to Wirt.
"Hi, so your name's Wirt, right? That's what the teacher called you."
"..Yeah. Hi, Bridget. Welcome to Something Something High School. As you can see, it's a wonderful place." Wirt said bitterly, the sting of social mockery fresh in his mind.
"Aw, c'mon, I bet it's not that bad, and call me Birdie, it's what my foster parents do."
Wirt blinked in surprise. "Foster parents? So.. you're not really staying, are you?"
"No, I guess not. So I guess we'll just have to make the time last, right? This is the first school I'll have remembered going to, so it'd better be a good time." Birdie smiled at him.
Wirt gave a small smile back, contemplating what Birdie had just said. "Yeah, let's have fun."
Wirt could tell that everything was about to get either horribly worse, or infinitely better. He wasn't quite sure which.