Chapter 12 – High Expectations
January 9th, 2012
It had been three weeks since Christmas and Carl's activation. Since then, the tree had come down, Carl was quickly grasping the personalities of the Robinson family, and when it hit the second week of January; Jessie's first day of at Joyce Williams High School, home of the Hawks.
The school consisted of three buildings and a football stadium/soccer and track field. The main building was long and five stories tall and contained all the classrooms. The second building as tall a square; it held the gymnasium and the locker rooms. The third building was the smallest of the three and long and narrow; there was the campus theater. The layout was the main building closest to the street, the stadium directly to its right. Behind it was a courtyard and outdoor theater that separated the main building from the gym and theater.
Bud, Lucille and Lewis had dropped her off and made sure she got her schedule, but now as she walked towards her first class, she was alone. She walked along the empty hallway on the first floor, classes already underway. She looked down at the schedule in her hand and looked at the number on the door she now stood in front of. She took a deep breath, placed her hand on the handle and opened the door.
The teacher, a thin brunette by the name of Mrs. Genève Anderson, stopped talking and looked over at Jessie. She had her long brown hair up in a bun and was wearing an old and worn white lab coat that reminded Jessie of her brother. Mrs. Anderson smiled and gestured for her to enter to room. Jessie walked forward into the room and the door closed softly behind her.
The room was long and brightly lit. Three columns of workbenches filled the room, all the students of the class looking towards Jessie. Jessie looked away from the class and back towards Mrs. Anderson.
"You must be Jessica Robinson," greeted Mrs. Anderson, stepping away from the workbench at the front of the room to greet Jessie. "Welcome to first period Biology."
"Thank you and please, call me Jessie," she replied, giving the teacher a small, thankful smile.
"You can sit beside Adam Connors. Adam, please raise your hand," a hand near the rear of the room rose up into the air. Mrs. Anderson gestured for her to take her seat. Jessie nodded and quickly made her way back to where Adam sat.
When she reached the workbench four rows from the back, she spotted the open seat beside Adam. He was a tall, muscular brunette. His dark brown hair matched his brown eyes, his jaw was strong and square and he wore a blue and gray (the school colors) letterman jacket. She quietly sat down on the open stool and dropped her dark blue side bag to the floor beside her.
He looked over at her and she felt the heat rise in her cheeks as he studied her. She looked back up at the now speaking Mrs. Anderson, what she was say Jessie had no idea for at that moment, Adam spoke. His voice was a deep baritone. "So, think you can help me out with my homework sometime?"
"What?" Jessie snapped, her head whipping around to look at him with a curious expression.
"I need at least a 'C' in her to stay on the football team. Think you can tutor me?" he asked again, his brown eyes scanning her up and down once more.
"How can I help you when I barely know what's going on myself?" she snapped quietly at him. What was he playing at?
"But aren't you a genius like your brother?" he asked her. Her face fell blank and her eyebrows shoot up towards her hairline. So that's what this was about. He, and probably everyone else on the campus, thought she was like Lewis. Her shock quickly disappeared as her eyebrow furrowed together to glare at Adam.
"No, I am not. And I would appreciate if you would not judge me so quickly," she stated loudly. The entire room had gone quiet and everyone had turned around to stare at her. She glared around at them all. "That goes for you too. I'm not like my brother. I may look like him but we are different."
Her statement to her classmates was met with silence and dropped jaws. At the front of the room, Mrs. Anderson was smiling at the effect Jessie had had on her fellow students. She cleared her throat and everyone turned back to her. "Now that Adam has stopped bugging Jessie, can we please get back t the lesson?"
The class was a mumble of apologies. Jessie smiled up at her teacher. At least someone in the room had understood she was not a genius like her brother.