Even though she hadn't been to school in four months, to Kris O'Brien she felt like she had only left for a weekend. Everything was exactly as it'd always been. There was Sam Carter, leaning against a pillar, reading a comic book she'd seen him reading at the end of the previous semester. Kris said it again, it felt like she'd never left.
She caught sight of Erika Wilson, who always managed to uphold her usual reputation as the It Girl of Columbia University. Because Erika's brain was more focused on brawn, Kris was surprised that she'd even managed to get into the private school. Kris's guess was that her parents had made a hefty donation, involving abysmal amounts of money. Everyone knew that Erika came from a rich family.
Kris hoisted her backpack higher up on her right shoulder. The only sort of reputation she was able to uphold was as the year's bookworm. Kris was in her junior year of college. She would take on a career as a Biology high school teacher.
There was one other thing that was a redeeming quality about Kris, and it was her unexpected skill in hand-to-hand combat. It was why she had gone to the dean's office on her first day of freshman year, during frosh week a count of 4 fights had been awarded to her. All of which she had won, of course. But the dean had been less than happy.
Emily Benson crouched on the grass next to Inez O'Conner. Hanna Wong was beside them, and they were all three giggling at a picture on Emily's cell phone.
A distance away from Kris, she saw Miranda Roland playing football with some of the boys, including Graham Marcus and Elliott Baker. The auburn girl caught the football in her hands and tossed it towards Reese Ryan. She laughed and ran as Reese threw it to Graham.
Kris rolled her eyes. Had they really just been on a four-month summer vacation? She had mostly stayed on campus in her dorm, though a trip to Connecticut had been taken in the last month. She'd only just gotten back a couple weeks ago.
She heard a bell that sounded like an elementary school fire alarm. All of the students immediately dispersed, and Kris headed inside to her first class of the year.
Ms. Wright, one of her teachers, began her daily lecture. "Don't think that I'm going to go easy on you just because you've just come back after your break," she said. "Each year gets harder, as you are all very well aware. You will be broadening your mind this year, and I advise you to keep handing in your homework on time." Erika snickered, and Ms. Wright sent her one of her signature death glares. "As amusing as you find this now, I hope I do not need to remind you, Ms. Wilson, that I was still missing some of your assignments at the semester's end, and have not received them as of yet."
Most of the class giggled as Erika fell silent. She glared daggers at them all and turned her attention to her BlackBerry. But Erika's phone was cause to bring up another subject. "And, as always, phones are probated in this classroom, so I will have to ask anyone with a phone in their hands to turn it in and save yourself the embarrassment for when I take it from you in five seconds."
The students' laughter faded, and most of them were forced to hand in their phones to Ms. Wright. She began the lesson after her lecture, and the bell rang an hour later.
Most of the students were muttering. It was much the same in all of Kris's classes. Students either were forced to turn in their phones or got detention for having them. Kris had, thankfully, left her phone in her backpack for her classes except for the breaks.
After she had finished school, she drove back home to her dorm. It was a big mess, especially since she had just gotten back from a trip and had had zero chances to clean the place. Her roommate had transferred, so she was all by herself now.
Her teachers weren't lying when they said they weren't going to go easy on them. She had what amounted to two hours of homework that night. She wasn't particularly smart, but she knew she should get it done all at once or she'd never finish it all.
Maybe Kris should have enjoyed the easy familiarity. Because the routine that was to come would be one hell of an unexpected event.
