"Have a good first day back Katie!" Kurt called to his daughter. She paused in the doorway and smiled back at him.
"You too Daddy," she said happily. "and don't you or Dad work too hard ok?"
"We won't," Blaine called as she closed the door.
"Um.. Excuse me," came a voice and Katie felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a boy around her age, looking nervously at her.
"I haven't seen you before. Are you new here?" she asked. Weakly, he nodded. "I'm Katie."
"Everett," answered the boy in a shaky voice. "I… I think I'm in your year. D… Do you know where the English classroom is?"
"You must be in my year!" said Katie cheerily. "I've got English next, so unless they schedule English at the same time for two different years…" she shrugged. "Come with me."
When Everett started to make a move to a seat on his own, Katie grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. "Come sit by me."
"Are you sure?" he asked shakily. "I wouldn't want to cramp your style or anything…"
"Not at all," said Katie, smiling. "It'll be nice to have some company." Everett shrugged and slipped into the seat beside her just as the teacher came in to the room
"Ok, so to get the term started, I'm going to give you all an assignment." There was a load groan that echoed all over the room. "Not that type of assignment," said the teacher. "It won't count toward your grade or anything. It's just for me to see where you're at."
"So what do you want us to do?" a student spoke up.
"I want you to write," the teacher answered, beginning to pace across the front of the room. "I want you to write about yourself. A poem, a little short story or an essay sort of thing, that's up to you. But I want you to write about how you feel about the world."
"Hey Qu…" Katie stopped at the warning look on her teacher's face. "Mrs Puckerman," she corrected herself. "I'm really glad I'm in your class this year."
"So am I!" Quinn said happily.
"I just wanted to introduce you to Everett. He's new this term."
"Oh, pleased to meet you Everett," Quinn smiled warmly at him. "I'm Mrs Puckerman. If you have any questions or problems or anything else, feel free to come find me ok?"
"Sure," said Everett uncertainly, looking down at his shoe. "Thanks."
"That goes for you too Katie!" Quinn called after them as they started to make for their next class.
"You know the English teacher?" Everett asked as they walked down the hallway.
"Yeah," Katie answered slowly. "She… She's a friend of my parents."
"Oh, nice," Everett said. "I bet you get perks huh?"
"No, she tries to treat me the same as the other teachers do, but she says she's the one I should go to if I have any problems with anything, and I do. Go to her that is. She's really nice."
"She seemed it, yeah."
"Hey Katie," said Everett, allowing himself to fall against the locker beside hers the next morning.
"Hi Everett," she said, smiling when as she closed her locker door to see him.
"What have you got first?" he asked.
"I think we pretty much have all the same classes," she answered. "What do you have?"
"Maths," he said, sighing.
"Huh!" Katie said as they started down the hall. "Me too! How's that for proving a theory?"
"I guess," said Everett. "You are pretty smart Katie."
"And don't you forget it!" she said, rounding the corner into the classroom. He followed her, laughing a little and slipped into the seat beside the one she'd taken.
"You gotta give me some credit though," he said, finally returning her smile.
"I do, do I?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked over at him.
"You haven't seen the best of me yet, Miss Anderson," he said, winking as the teacher came in and quieted them down for class.
"See?" Everett said, handing her his paper so she could see the completed quiz the teacher had given them. "What'd I tell you?"
"That only tells me you're a maths genius," she said as she handed his paper back.
"Katie and Everett!" the teacher yelled suddenly, staring at the both of them. Katie blushed as she felt the stares of their classmates follow the teacher.
"Sorry Sir," she said, sinking a little lower in her seat.
"I was just proving my mathematical prowess," said Everett, turning the paper for the teacher to see and causing Katie's face to turn a slight shade of pink.
"It appears," said the teacher, picking up Everett's paper and looking it over. "That luckily for you, you did in fact answer all the quiz questions correctly. Well done Everett. But, that's not to say I appreciate talking in my classroom."
"But.." said Everett as Katie closed her eyes, trying desperately to be invisible.
"I don't appreciate talking in my classroom," said the teacher, leaning in close to Everett's face.
"Come on!" Everett said.
"Detention!" the teacher declared. "Tomorrow at lunch."
"Pardon me, sir, but Everett's new here. He doesn't know all the rules yet…" Katie said quietly in a desperate attempt to defend her friend.
"I would think," said the teacher, rounding in on her now. "That most teachers would not appreciate nor tolerate talking in their classrooms, let alone back chatting. That detention goes for you too Miss Anderson." Katie gulped hard as she slipped further down into her chair, her cheeks colouring a few shades darker than before.