It was Jim's second day; his mom dropped him off but not before giving him a kiss on the cheek. He rubbed his face, making sure no traces of lipstick was left behind.
No one paid him any attention as he walked through the doors which was exactly what he wanted. He just wanted to go through his day without anyone giving him a hard or asking him a question he didn't have the answer to and then feel stupid about it later; he just wanted to survive the day. As he reached his locker he managed to open it this time without trouble and grabbed his English book. With the thought of Brandon and his gang of bimbos, he hoped he wasn't in any of his classes. Yesterday he paid no attention to peoples faces, so he was unsure of who to look out for. And then Alison came to mind. Perhaps she would be in his English class.

It was five minutes before the bell for first class to begin as Jim made his way in the room. He took the furthest seat in the back and hung his book bag off the back of the chair. With the slam of his text book on the desk the bell rang, signaling everyone that they had three minutes to get to class. There wasn't very many kids at first but as time counted down the more students that filled up the empty seats. Jim took one last look around the room and was relieved to see that Brandon was nowhere in sight. However, neither was Alison. Oh well, he thought. Could be worse.

As the day went on a few kids introduced themselves. This Jim did not mind. It gave him a sense as to who to talk to and who to stay away from. High school was like a battlefield; every boy and girl for themselves. At least that's what it felt like for him. When he walked to his math class, feeling the weight of his stupid text book on a subject he hated so much, he almost tripped over his own feet when he saw Alison sitting up front. He wasn't expecting to see her. He stood there awkwardly, wondering where to sit. He wanted to retreat to the back, but he also wanted to sit near Alison. He felt conflicted all of a sudden. Picking a seat should not be this damn hard, he thought to himself.

Alison was busy writing things down in her little blue notebook as Jim stared at her(of course he didn't mean to) when all of a sudden she stopped and looked up, slowly turning her head in his direction, as if she felt him staring at her. The second their eyes met Jim looked away and forced himself to move. He regretfully took the furthest seat again and buried his face in his hands as soon as he sat down, feeling like an idiot.
As a few more kids piled into the classroom Jim paid no mind to them and kept his head down. With all the moving around he hadn't noticed one particular person making their way towards them.
"Hey,"
Jim remained silent, not wanting to look up.
"Hey," a finger poked him and this time he looked up. "You look like your sick to you're stomach, or something." It was Alison.
"Uh, no, I'm fine." He told her feeling nervous now. Oh man, she actually touched me, he thought.
"Good. We have a quiz today, but I don't think the teacher will make you take it since you haven't been here for long." She reassured him. "If you ever need help just let me know. I do tutoring for math once in a while." The final bell for class to start rang and the teacher made his appearance. Alison walked back to her seat and class began.
Just as Alison had said, Jim did not have to take the quiz. Instead, the teacher instructed him to look over the section in his text book during that time. A lot of it was gibberish, but that was to be expected seeing how he hadn't properly gone over these problems.

When the bell rang again(Jim really started to hate the sound) he gathered up his things and headed to physical fitness. There in the locker surrounded by other boys he took off his regular clothes and put on some sport shorts and a grey T-shirt. As he pulled out his tattered sneakers from his gym back to put them on someone laughed.
"Those are the shittest shoes I've ever seen."
Jim looked up and saw Brandon standing a few feet from him. He, of course, was dressed in name-brand athletic wear and his sneakers shines indicating that they were brand new.
Everyone else kept to themselves as Brandon made his comment. Jim felt as though a ten pound rock had just landed in the pit of his stomach. Jesus Christ, just go away, he thought.
The activity of the day was basketball. It was a sport Jim was fairly good at and he thought that once out on the floor things would get better; he could move around and keep his distance away from Brandon. However, that wasn't the case. Brandon was purposely trying to get in his way whenever he could. Jim tried to not let it bother him. He just wanted to make a score for his team, make some kind of effort to make his presence known to his tea mates; in his own way he was trying to make friends. But Brandon persisted and tripped Jim. He dropped the ball and landed on the floor, his hands burning as they skid across the recently cleaned gym floor. His knees were not saved from their accident either. It was worse than getting a rug burn.
"Sorry about that, man." Brandon stepped in front of Jim and offered him his hand. "I can't control my feet at times." He grinned.
Jim rolled his eyes and picked himself up without the help of Brandon.
The game went on; no one ever called a foul because as though the teacher didn't care. As long as there were no fists flying nobody said anything.

At the end of the period the boys headed back to wash up. Jim was sweating more than he would have liked and even though he didn't much like the thought of showering with these boys he had to. If he didn't want to smell for the rest of the day he would have to bare it. Thankfully the showers had curtains so Jim was saved from the embarrassment of Brandon, or anyone else making fun of his image. There was nothing wrong with the way his body looked, but Jim knew how some of the minds of kids worked and just how big of assholes they could really be.
As he showered he unwillingly listened to current conversation going on among some of the boys in the shower room' one of them was Brandon. They were talking about some of the girls in their school and some of them were easy and which ones were still virgins. Alison's name came up on the list of virgins. Jim didn't want to listen anymore but they talked so damn loud that it was hard not to.
"I bet Alison is a screamer." Brandon laughed.
"Is she Chinese or Japanese? I know her dad is white, but what is her mom?" There was a pause. "Does she even have a mom? I've only ever seen her with her dad."
Brandon opened his mouth again and said, "I heard from my dad that her mom was from Taiwan."
"Was," said another boy in question. "So she's dead?"
"Its a shame that its not her dad that's dead. That dude is scary. No wonder he works as a policeman." Brandon said before turning off his shower. "Too bad, I guess. That just makes the game more fun." He laughed.
Game, thought Jim. You think getting into her pants is a game?
The rest of the boys finished up, leaving Jim the last one. He banged his fist against the shower wall and mentally kicked himself for not sticking up for Alison. After what she did for him yesterday he felt guilty. Even if he didn't know her very well, the way he saw it, it was no excuse.

When lunch finally came around Jim dug his hand into his pockets. He pulled out a dollar and some change. It was the money he had left over from yesterday. Shit, he thought. He forgot to ask his mom for money. There wasn't much he could do about it now and picked out a small of bag chips and chocolate milk. He took his malnutrition of a lunch and tried finding a place to sit down. He spotted Alison a few tables down. She was with some girl friends of hers. While her friends ate the school lunch she had packed her own.
Since sitting next to her was out of the question he found some place else. While he ate his lunch someone pulled on his hair.
"Hey, rat tail." It was Brandon...naturally.
"Don't touch my fucking hair." Jim warned him
"Oooh," Brandon grinned. "Hey, listen, about what you heard in the shower room, don't tell anyone."
Jim didn't say anything.
"I know you were in there listening to us and if I find out that you told someone-."
"You'll beat the shit out of me?" Jim looked at him now, irritated.
Brandon smiled. "Smart guy. I like you."
Jim scoffed and looked down at his chips to take another bite.
Brandon patted him on the back. "See you around, buddy."

Study hall was next and Jim sighed, happy to be away from the forever suffocating aroma Brandon gave off. His ego was even worse.
With his stomach yelling at him from still being hungry, Jim flung his book bag on his desk and rested his head on it. He was so tired from the day already that he did even notice the bell ringing. He heard someone take a seat next to him but he ignored this. He could hear more kids piling into the room. They all say in their little groups and talked. So much for study hall, but what Jim care?
"Are you sure you're not sick?"
Jim picked his head and saw Alison sitting next to him. "What?"
"I said, are you sure you're not sick?"
Jim decided to respond with a smart remark. "Yeah, I'm sick of this school."
Alison laughed. "Already?"
Jim eased up a bit. He made her laugh and that made him feel good. "And you aren't?" he asked her.
Alison sighed. "I'm sick of school in general." She pulled her ponytail out and grabbed a brush from her shoulder bag.
Jim watched as she brushed her hair, mesmerized by how long and shiny it was. He then remembered what the boys in the shower room said about her and the faintest smile that he did wear was gone now. "I didn't think you would hate school." Jim admitted.
Alison put her brush back in her bag and said, "I think the majority of the population doesn't like school. Just because I'm good at it doesn't mean I enjoy it. The better I do the sooner I can get out of here."
"You want to graduate early?" Somehow Jim wasn't surprised by this.
Alison nodded. "Yeah,"
Jim wanted to ask her why she chose to talk with him and not with someone else. Was it because he was new? He didn't have the guts to ask her, plus he felt like that would be rude.
They talked about how their day was going and the remaining classes they had next. Even though Jim wasn't a fan of small talk it gave him the opportunity to get to know Alison better. Her favorite colors were sky blue and pink; she preferred both chocolate and vanilla; fall was her favorite season and the New Year was her favorite time of the year along with Halloween. It suddenly occurred to Jim that they were playing twenty questions. Did he bring it up by accident, or did she?
"What's your favorite number?" she asked him, trying to think of another question, however silly it might of been.
Jim thought, and he thought, and then he grabbed for some note book paper and wrote down a ten digit number. He slid the piece of paper on her desk.
"That's a big number." She said and then added, "I don't have a favorite number, but if I had to chose it would be zero. I know its not a number, but the more you add behind a number the bigger it gets. Its the ultimate place-holder."
Jim laughed a bit at this. That wasn't an answer he was expecting and he was mildly impressed.

At the end of the day when school finally ended he got a text from his mom explaining that she was stuck at work till closing. This was normal for Jim. His mom often worked long hours to try and make ends meet. But if she wasn't picking him up then that meant he would have to take the bus. He sprinted out the hall and out the front doors, trying to make it in time, but just as he reached the bottom of the steps and bus took off without him. He shouted for it to stop but it never did. Jim was forced to walk home.
When he managed to make it home after a thirty minute walk Jim received another text from his mom.
"Pizza rolls and hot pockets are in the freezer if you get hungry. I'll try to bring something home from work." Jim's mom worked at a diner and would sometimes bring him home a burger and fries, or his favorite: a steak.
As he entered his house there were still boxes left unopened. He and his mom and been living here for a week now and still had so much to go through.
He wasted no time and popped some pizza rolls in the microwave. He didn't feel like waiting ten minutes for the oven to cook his food. It was faster with the microwave. Even though it didn't taste nearly as good or have that perfect crunch to it, Jim was too hungry to care.
When his food finished he plopped himself down and turned on the television. He flipped through the channels while he ate his food, burning his mouth in the process. Suddenly, his phone buzzed. Thinking it was his mom again he picked it up and saw that it was from a number he didn't recognize. It read: Hi.
Jim ignored it and went back to flipping through the channels. Moments later his phone went off again and it was from the same number, only this time the message was more intriguing. The message read: Pretty clever what you did during study hall; giving me your actual phone number as your favorite number "LOL".
"Holy shit!" He said out loud. He wasn't expecting Alison to do anything when he handed her the piece of paper. He wanted to respond right away but he was having difficulty with a response. When he thought of something to say he deleted his text half way through, knowing he could do better.
Alison sent another text. "This is Jim Hawkins, right?"
Jim's heart was racing. If he waited too long to respond he thought it might make him look like an asshole. "Yeah, it's me. By the way, that IS my favorite number." How stupid, he thought. He sent the text anyway and almost immediately she responded.
"Okay good. And yeah, I'm sure it is." She said, ending her sentence with a laughing emoji.

Their texting game of twenty questions lasted for a while until it suddenly stopped. Jim was the last to send a text, but she never responded. He waited and waited but he didn't hear from her for the rest of the night. He didn't think he said anything wrong and guessed that she was probably busy with something. Jim tried to not let it bother him. He was sure it was nothing to worry about.