Sean had been told that WB High had no shop or auto classes, but it didn't really sink in until he got to school. After stopping by the office and explaining his absence the day before (which warrented raised eyebrows, but reluctant acceptance), he was escorted to his first class (French), and introduced to the teacher, Mlle. Deslauriers. Sean had taken some French back in Toronto, but he soon discovered just how little he actually knew.
"Bienvenu, Sean, vouliez-vous prennez votre place, s'il-vous-plaît?" Sean looked at her, eyebrows raised and mouth gaping slightly.
"Um... No habla anglais?" He was well aware of what he'd said, but he desperately hoped it would get him a laugh. It did--and, for that matter, a friendly smile.
"Sean, you can take your seat," the teacher said. She pointed to a chair near the front of the room. "Don't worry, you'll catch up quickly, I'm sure. And if you don't, well, I'm sure your classmates will tell you that I'll be on your back until you do." Sean couldn't help but grin back. He had expected the first day--and the first class in particular--to be much more difficult. He'd thought that the memories would overwhelm him the instant he entered the halls, yet even being aware that they hadn't didn't automatically bring them to mind. He sat down and pulled out a pen and paper. It was the last time that period that he wasn't completely confused.
Within the next hour, the teacher piled about a dozen work sheets on his desk, and asked him to stay after class, which he did. "Ton livre," she said, handing him a textbook. He at least knew that much French. "Je vais vous aider. Come tomorrow at lunch if you can, and the next little while. I saw your marks, and they're decent. You should be okay. D'accord?"
"Uh. Je n'est pas supposed to be dans le classe here," Sean said. "I think. Um. Je fait le extra-credit beaucoup."
Mlle. Deslauriers chuckled. "You'll be fine," she said. "Trust me. I've worked with less. Sure, you've missed a few months. You'll just have to try harder. Now get to your next class or I'll have someone yelling at me." He nodded and left, knowing that his protests would do him no good. He made a mental note to talk to the principal about switching out of French, then realized that his other options hadn't been any better.
The rest of the morning followed more or less the same pattern. He was behind in most of his classes, and ahead in a select few, but the teachers were generally quite willing to help him. He was somewhat surprised at just how friendly they were--he supposed that was the result of living in a fairly small community.
He ate his lunch outside. There were a few flakes of snow in the air, but he'd always liked the outdoors, and he wasn't quite ready to face a cafeteria full of people, or a lunch hour inside the school. There were still things which he had yet to figure out how to handle. He was happy by himself, anyway. He'd never really minded being alone the way many of his classmates did. He wasn't anti-social, by any means, but he just didn't care much either way. He was, however, slightly suspicious when a slim brunette approached him about two minutes after he sat down.
"Hi," she said. "I think you forgot to introduce yourself to me. I'm Sunny." She stuck out her hand, which he took after a slight hesitation.
"Um, Sean," he said. "Sean Cameron." He tried not to laugh as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and then carefully leaned against him. He very tactfully moved away. "It's nice to meet you? I guess?"
"Of course it is," said the ditz-known-as-Sunny. "You so want to get on my good side. I'm on, like, every committee in this place, so I completely control your social status." She offered what he supposed was in her mind a dazzling smile. "And your yearbook picture, of course. Or pictures, if I really like you." Once again, she moved closer to him.
"Um, I have to go," he said. "I should... go. And do stuff." He'd always been mildly frightened by girls of her type. He offered one last wide-eyed smile, and then found his way to the bathroom. He might get the reputation of being severely constipated, but eating in a bathroom stall beat dealing with Sunny, and the clones that always followed such females.
School proved to be a welcome distraction from everything else. He found himself more immersed in his studies than he'd ever been at Degrassi--not that that was necessarily saying a lot--but more importantly, it kept his mind off Ellie. He briefly reminisced about their tutoring sessions the year before--she'd always been a good student, despite everything--and then pushed the thought away. He knew he couldn't be with her until he got over her, at the very least.
He only had two classes that afternoon--Math, and much to his dismay, Drama. Much like with the French, it hadn't exactly been a choice, but he decided to make the best of it. After all, he reasoned, he was a damn good actor in every other part of his life. It wasn't always easy to pretend to the rest of the world that he was doing just peachy, but he'd pulled it off almost without fail.
He was, of course, immediately forced into a group with Sunny.
"Okay, so I thought we'd do Romeo and Juliet, right? And I could be Juliet and you could be Romeo of course. Because you're the hottest in our group. And everyone else can just be the other people. 'Cause they don't really matter that much in the play, so if they aren't totally good looking, that's okay." She paused to catch her breath and was off again talking before Sean had the chance to say anything. "So you're like new and everything, but I'll make you a copy of the script and oh! This is going to be so awesome! I bet you're a great actor."
Sean was getting fed up, so he decided to break the rules of good manners and interrupt. "Um, I'll just stick to working on the crew or something, I think."
"No way," Sunny said. "You're too cute to stay behind the scenes. You're going to be the star, and I'll be the starlet. Or whatever. Here, you can borrow my copy of the script since I already know half my lines. Just don't learn the highlighted part because of course I'm Juliet not you. I'd better go tell Robert he's been booted though." She flitted off, and Sean tried not to groan too loudly.
He didn't quite succeed.