The shrilling sound of the bell rang causing most of the class to groan; first lesson on a Monday morning were never fun. Everyone scrambled to their seats scared that their teacher; Mrs Darbus who gave detention for the littlest of things would deem them late. "Right class!" She began, and everyone paid attention, or seemed to; most of them looked awake when in reality their minds were long gone. "We have a new student." This perked a few heads. "His name is Ryan Jones, he's a transfer student from New York."
Everyone looked up at the new kid; he looked familiar but no one could put a dent into where they had seen him before. He had blond hair, hidden behind a black beanie, blue eyes and wore simple black jeans with black converses and a grey zip up sweater. "Ryan why don't you sit next to Troy. Troy raise your hand so he knows where to go." Troy; basketball captain and Mr popularity raised his hand with a small smile and Ryan headed over to him silently.
"Hey man," Troy smiled casually at him.
"Hey." Ryan shrugged back.
"What classes do you take?" Troy asked, instead of answering him Ryan simply handed him over his time table. "You need someone to show you around?" Troy asked curiously, Ryan nodded awkwardly. "We're in the same class next I'll show you to your lesson."
"Thanks." Ryan said quietly and then spent the rest of the lesson listening to Mrs Darbus.
Home room ran for thirty five minutes before Mrs Darbus had done all the assignments and deemed the rest of the time free. A few kids had joined themselves onto Troy's table, including Chad, Zeke and Jason. They all smiled warmly at Ryan before discussing the upcoming game. "Do you play?" Chad, the curly haired boy asked Ryan. Ryan at first wondered what he meant but then noticed the basketball spinning on his finger and shook his head.
"Do you do any sport?" Jason asked.
"I play a little baseball." Ryan said not looking at anyone.
"Ryan." Mrs Darbus called and Ryan looked up a little anxiously. "You've got an appointment with the principal." Ryan grabbed his bag from the floor, "Do you know where it is?" He shook his head. "Troy could you show him where to go? And why don't you wait for him then you can show him around."
"Sure thing." Troy grinned and the two boys walked out of the room together. "So, New York what's it like?"
"Busy." Ryan replied.
"How come you moved?" Troy asked curiously. They didn't get a lot of new kids, especially in the middle of a semester. Ryan didn't answer him and that clearly showed he didn't want to talk about it so Troy didn't push it. "So, I'll wait here." Troy said once they reached the principals office. "Then I can give you the grand tour."
"Thanks," Ryan said softly and then headed into the office.
-x-
Troy had been sat outside the office for about ten minutes before Ryan came out. "Everything okay?" Troy asked.
"Yeah." Ryan replied. Troy frowned, Ryan wasn't a boy for many words, which was weird for him as he was used to being around everyone who was loud so the silence struck him a little hard.
"So the grand tour," Troy grinned.
"You don't have to, I mean...I'm sure I can find my way."
"Nonsense." Troy laughed. "Besides, I don't fancy going back to home room." Ryan smiled weakly and then followed Troy trying to remember where everything was. Troy did most of the talking as they walked, pointing out classes that Ryan had and telling him what teachers to look out for and who were okay. Twenty minutes later they arrived at their first class; Calculus.
"Hey Mr Jonas!" Troy smiled brightly at the bald headed man behind his desk, they still had a few minutes left till the bell rang and they were the only students in the room. "We got a new kid."
"I heard." The old man smiled at Ryan. "You must be Mr Jones." Ryan nodded shyly. "As you already know Troy why don't you sit with him. That okay with you Mr Bolton?" Troy nodded. "Okay go sit down and I'll show you what we've been doing, if you needed any help just ask." Ryan smiled in thanks and sat down next to Troy.
"So you don't talk much." Troy commented. Ryan just smiled apologetically at him. "It's cool, maybe you're just shy. But don't worry, we're a nice bunch here. Well... most of us." Troy smiled. "But you can sit with me if you want at lunch."
"Thanks, but I wouldn't want to impose." Ryan said quietly and then Mr Jonas came over and showed Ryan the work they would be doing and then the bell went.
Troy was amazed at how smart Ryan was; not that he didn't look like he was stupid. But he knew all the answers in class, when the teacher would ask a question to the class Ryan would say the answer under his breath and a few moments later the teacher would say that was the right answer. Troy wondered why Ryan never spoke up, he was smart and he should show it, he guessed again that he was just shy.
"I'm in your next class too," Troy smiled. "English." Ryan just nodded. "I'll introduce you to some of my friends too, so you know more people." Ryan didn't say anything just nodded again and when the bell rang he followed Troy out of the room.
"Hey guys!" Troy grinned to a group of people. Ryan counted at least five. "Guys this is Ryan he's knew." They all turned around when they saw him, and Ryan's blood ran cold. "Ryan this is Chad, my main man."
"'Sup dude," Chad offered a grin to him which Ryan replied shyly.
"Then Zeke, Jason." The two boys nodded in acknowledgement. "Chad's girl Taylor, Kelsi, and Sharpay." Ryan smiled weakly at them all. Sharpay gave him a dirty look with threatening eyes that made Ryan want to run and hide.
"So where are you from?" Taylor asked with a huge smile.
"New York." Ryan replied quietly.
"Dude that's so cool!" Chad grinned. "I've always wanted to go!" Ryan smiled back. "So... what do you major in?"
"Music." Ryan replied, this earned him another glare from Sharpay. Troy had seen the death glare and wondered what Ryan had done to upset Sharpay so early on. Maybe she saw him as competition though music wasn't connected to the performing arts, not really.
"Me too." Kelsi smiled. Ryan smiled back. Troy once again introduced Ryan to the teacher, she was old like Mr Jonas but not as friendly, she eyed the blond boy and then handed him a large book which Ryan gulped at.
"I'm..." Ryan started but was cut off when Chad threw the basketball towards Taylor who screeched and the ball crashed on a shelf knocking over a bunch of books.
"Mr Danforth!" The teacher screamed and Ryan took his seat silently, he didn't want to interrupt her bad mood.
The class was hell. Ryan had been sat with a boy he didn't know, and who wasn't as friendly towards him like Troy was, in fact Ryan was pretty sure he had heard the boy groan and called him a freak. Ryan stared at the book, and when the teacher told them to start reading, Ryan turned to the first page and everything seemed like a blur to him.
"Mr Evans!" The teacher snapped at him.
"Yes mam?" Ryan asked.
"As far as I know the first page of this book isn't that interesting, any reason why after fifteen minutes you are still on the same page?" The whole class had turned to look at him.
"I'm..." He mumbled.
"Well?" She asked hands on her hips.
"I'm dyslexic." He said in barely a whisper. "I can't read what it says."
"Oh." The class started to talk between them.
"What a freak! He can't even read!" The boy who sat next to him laughed and Ryan just wanted to sink lower in his chair, especially when the teacher said nothing to him.
"Right... well..." The teacher looked at a loss for what to say.
"Have you got your statement of educational needs Ryan?" Taylor, Chad's girlfriend asked kindly from behind him. Ryan nodded. "Well we need to take it to the principal then he can get the help for you." She smiled at him.
"Well Taylor you can take him as you seem to know what to do with this." She said. Ryan grabbed his bag quickly and rushed out, Sharpay stuck her foot out causing him to trip over it and the class laughed at him once more. "Well don't make a deal out of it, you're disrupting the lesson!" Ryan blushed and felt his eyes moisture and ran out of the class, Taylor following.
"Ryan, are you okay?" She asked softly. Ryan nodded through his tears. "Shh, it's okay." She said softly placing a hand on his shoulder. "Didn't your parents tell the principal when they looked into the school?"
Ryan shook his head and one by one the tears began to fall. "Hey it's going to be okay." She promised. "It's not unusual, a lot of people just don't talk about it."
"I'm a freak." Ryan mumbled.
"No you're not." Taylor stated. "People are just ignorant to the unfamiliar. Now, come on lets go get you some tissue for your eyes then we'll go to the principal. We have a group of students who help those who aren't as good in lessons, I'm one of them. So I can help you with everything if you want."
"You would?" Ryan asked weakly.
"Yeah, I will." Taylor smiled at him.