Chapter 3

With his last class being Theatre Performance, Seth knew that his first day would come to a good ending. The drama class had moved from last year, since they redid their auditorium. The drama class was now a classroom with a small stage in the room underneath the auditorium. He walked down the stairs that led to the classroom and found Shane waiting to greet everyone when they walked in the door. A circle was set up in the middle of the room and Seth took a seat in a chair and took his backpack off. He saw Reggie and Clarissa walk in and take seats on both sides of him. Dylan also came in with other students who were also in theatre that Seth remembered from last year. Seth felt that this was his true calling, that he felt at home when he was with people who accepted him.

There were a few extra seats still open when the bell rang. Shane walked over to the circle and took a seat. He was about to open his mouth when the door opened and someone walked in. Everyone turned around to see who it was.

"Sorry Shane, I got held back in my last class." She said quietly, walking up to Shane who stood up.

Shane shook his head and smiled. "That's okay Mahea, just take a seat over there." He gestured to a seat two over from his.

Seth couldn't believe it was Mahea. He stared at her and watched her sit down. She saw him and waved, he slowly waved back.

"Okay, well most of you are returning to theatre from last year." Shane said to everyone. "But this year we have a new thespian, Mahea Akana." He gestured to Mahea, who waved to the class. "First I'd like to do a warm-up activity. So, let's make two circles of ten in each." Shane said, encouraging people to get up and move around. Slowly the students got into two separate circles, one inside the other.

"Okay, now I'm gonna play music, and when it stops, each pair has to say something positive about the other person, okay?" He walked over to his c.d. player. "Let's go." He said, and the music started.

It was a game kind of like musical chairs, except without people racing to chairs. When they heard the music stop, they stopped as well, and faced their partners.

"Okay, let's start with Dylan." Shane announced, walking to the two circles of students.

Dylan looked at his partner who was a sophomore, Julie. "Umm, Julie, you have a really good singing voice." Dylan said.

Julie smiled. "Thanks Dylan." She cleared her throat. "And Dylan, you have nice cheekbones for a guy." She chuckled as other students did so as well.

Dylan raised one eyebrow. "Uh, thanks, I think."

Shane had every pair say something about each other, then once the first round was over, he started the music again and the circles began to move. They went through their second round, and Mahea was paired up with Clarissa, someone she actually knew in class.

"Okay guys." Shane said loudly. "We have time for one last round." He walked over to the c.d. player. "And go." The two circles started to move and soon the music stopped. Seth, laughing and having fun with everyone else didn't notice who his partner was until several moments after the music stopped. He looked to see Mahea standing in front of him, smiling.

Seth waited until it was his turn to say something about Mahea. Until that time, he was thinking of something nice to say, something that wouldn't make him sound stupid.

"Okay, Seth and Mahea." Shane announced. Everyone turned to them and waited. "Seth?" Shane volunteered Seth to go first.

Seth cleared his throat. "Uh, Mahea…" He paused, thinking of something to say. "You have a nice name, and a nice smile." He said, his voice cracking slightly.

Mahea smiled. "Thanks." She looked at Seth then tilted her head slightly. "Seth, you have an awesome sense of style, I love our clothes and your beanie." She said. She looked closer to see some of his blond hair sticking out from under his beanie. "And it looks like you have really nice blond hair too." She smiled.

"Thanks." He answered, slightly blushing.

Two more pairs finished just before the bell rang to end class. Everyone walked to their seats and gathered their belongings up.

"Okay guys. I'll see you tomorrow." Shane said as some students filed out the door. Shane walked over to where Mahea was standing. "Mahea, can I talk to you?" He asked.

She nodded. "Sure."

Shane saw Seth and his friends leaving the room. "See you guys."

"Bye Shane." They replied.

Seth uncomfortably waved to Shane. "See ya Shane." He looked at Mahea and wondered why she was staying in class, but he waved to her too. "Bye Mahea." He smiled slightly, and without looking, walked right into the wall.

Mahea smiled and chuckled a little. "Bye Seth." She watched Seth quickly stumble out the doorway then went into Shane's small office.

"That was so dumb!" Seth thought to himself. "But why was she gonna talk to Shane? And how did he know her name when she came in late?" He wondered. " It's probably nothing." He decided, catching up to his friends who were in front of him.

"Anything happen today?" Shane asked Mahea, somewhat concerned.

Mahea shook her head. "Nope, nothing but the ordinary." She told him. "But I've got my eyes open." She smirked.

Shane smiled. "So, was it a good day?" He asked, Mahea nodded. "I guess you've made some friends?" He smiled.

"Yeah, Dylan, Clarissa, Reggie…and Seth." She smiled.

Shane nodded, smiling. "Mmhmm." He looked at Mahea who was still smiling. "Well," He broke the short moment of silence. "You better get going." He told her.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." She said and headed out of his office and out the door.

"So you coming with us to Tony's?" Dylan asked Seth as they walked off the school campus.

Seth shook his head. "Sorry guys, I gotta get home." He told them. "Maybe later. See you guys." He waved goodbye and started to walk home. It was somewhat of a long way home, but he didn't really mind walking home that day. He had a lot to think about on his walk home. He took out his mini iPod and put his headphones on. In the midst of his music, he began to think about his day.

"Today was…" He thought. "Fun. I thought school was gonna be a pain, but it wasn't. I guess my classes are okay, nothing seriously hard or anything. At least I'm back in theatre, that's like the only thing I look forward to. But…Mahea…she's so cool. I mean, she's like the only girl that's ever complimented me. On my clothes even." He smiled to himself. "Mahea's cool. I think it'll be a good year."

Mahea was picked up by her older brother Kahi, who hadn't started college yet. He was three years older than Mahea, and going to start his sophomore year of college. They got home in time to help out with dinner. Both Kahi and Mahea's mom, Sheryl wanted to know how Mahea's first day of school went, but she wanted to wait until her dad got home to tell all of them, so she wouldn't have to repeat herself. Her dad came home, and they all sat down to have dinner.

"So? What happened?" Mr. Akana, or Terry asked.

"Well, it went pretty good." Mahea told all of them. "My classes are okay. I think my hardest is probably calculus, I just don't like math."

Kahi nodded. "Man, I know what you mean."

"Did you meet Principle Fletcher?" Tracey asked her, taking a bite of his chicken. "How'd that go?"

"It went okay." She said in between eating. "They seem cool. I think everything will be fine." She reassured them as they all nodded.

Sheryl took a sip of water. "Meet any new friends?" She asked curiously.

Mahea nodded. "Yeah. Umm, there's a few from some of my classes. Then there's Reggie, Clarissa, Dylan." She paused and smiled. "And Seth." She told them. "They're all in my theatre class. They're really cool." She told them basically everything that went on today.

Each class she had, her teachers, even down to the multiple times she had to say her name correctly. Her family was happy that she had a good first day at Chesapeake Heights. Kahi and Mahea did the dishes, then Mahea got some forms her parents had to sign and went up to her room to find all the school supplies she needed for the next day.

Mahea felt that it was a good start to the school year, and hopefully nothing too intense would go on. She was especially excited about her theatre class. She couldn't wait to get started on a play, and she also wanted to get to know everyone in her class. She could only hope for the best of the school year, and try to get through it one day at a time.