A.N: Alright, I'm back, and ready for more! Let's see how long this chapter is, as now it will be the first day of Peach Creek High for Edd, and quite a bit will happen in this chapter. Hopefully I'll have some time to work on this, as time has begun to become scarce lately. Don't worry, I won't abandon this, it's just that updates will probably be not as often. As always, I want to put out the best content I can, so if updates aren't as soon as you want just think of it as me taking extra time to make this the best it can. Also, to the guest who said that I should become an author and that they would buy this if it was a book, thank you! It's cool to hear something like that, and I always love reading your reviews. Alright, I'm done with my little rant, enjoy the read!
The rest of the week went by like a blur. Sure, some interesting things happened during the week, but nothing like seeing a new face. Sarah became quite annoying, as she kept trying to find out more about me and knocking on my door, but I would always ignore her. Yeah, it was rude, but I wasn't about to have my secret get out this fast. As I've said many times before and probably many times after this point, I don't really want to see them again. Also during that week, I finally got my class schedule. I got it on Thursday, and it actually seemed like a good schedule. When I read the paper, I thought about if anyone I knew was in any of my classes. I hoped not, but I guess I wouldn't find out until Monday.
1st Period: English 11 AP Frins, H. A22
2nd Period: Band Michaels, D. Q3
3rd Period: Chemistry White, W. C3
4th Period: Calculus Yang, L. A17
5th Period: Spanish AP Rossetti, R. Q8
6th Period: U.S. History AP Antonucci, D A28
I didn't recognize any of my teachers' names, which was a good thing to me. I also doubted that I would see Ed or Eddy in any of my AP classes and I really doubted I would see them in calculus. I had advanced classes for most of my day, I was one grade ahead in math, and chemistry was just a normal class. I knew that I would have a workload, but I liked it nonetheless. It makes me feel accomplished, and it always keeps my head busy. I wondered who I would actually see in my classes and what would happen when I went to school. That day came a lot faster than what I thought.
It was Sunday night, and I was surprised how fast it came up on me. I had had dinner with my parents, something I was glad to do, considering how I almost never eat with my parents. They wished me luck on school and I wished them luck on their travels. Normally I wasn't nervous about going to school, but I was extremely nervous, heart beating, sweating just a little, and my mind going extremely fast. It was difficult for me to go to sleep that night, but after the seventh time checking to see if my alarm was on, I was able to fall asleep.
. . . . .
My alarm went off at 5:45, and I awoke with a start. I shot up, and realized where I was and what was going on. I sighed to myself, knowing that this could either be a boring, normal day, or a very bad one. I was hoping that I could just lie low, but that would be difficult being a new student and all. I got out of bed and went off to the shower. After doing most of my daily routine and getting clothes on (which was a green and black long sleeve shirt with a pair of black pants), I ate my breakfast. I saw that it was 6:10 and that I would leave in about 40 minutes, so I had plenty of time to do what I wanted. I knew the school didn't start until 7:10, and that it would take me about 10 minutes to get there on my bike, so I decided to drown out some of my worry by checking facebook and anything else I had on my phone, but this didn't help the feeling of dread and nervousness that had grown into a bonfire in my stomach.
As the time wound down to when I would have to head off, the feeling of dread and nervousness just got worse. I checked my backpack for the third time, just trying to use up time until I would have to go off. I saw that it was 6:45, so I only had another five minutes to stay here. As much as I wished I could stay here, I just couldn't. Never before had I had a feeling like this be so strong. I felt helpless, powerless, and in enemy territory. Everything could go horribly wrong today, and the more I thought about it, the worse I felt about today. Alright, just stop thinking about it, we can get through today easily, just keep your cool, I thought. I decided to clear my head and think about all of the faces I hadn't seen before. After all, the cul-de-sac would be such a small population of the high school, what would be the chances I would get involved with them? This made me feel a little better about today, but I knew that feeling wouldn't last.
When it was time to head off, I rode away on my bike to the high school. The butterflies in my stomach kept coming up, and I knew that they would just get worse as I got closer to the school, but I tried to ignore them. After a few minutes of riding to school, it came into view and I rode up to the bike rack. I locked up my bike and looked around. I saw a lot of unfamiliar faces, and to my relief, no one was looking at me weird. I popped in my earbuds and put the list to shuffle to have it land on Ferris-Time. I felt scared, but I didn't let my face show it. If it was something else I was good at, it was to make a believable facade. I walked in the front gate of the school and looked for a place to sit and listen to music. This proved to be more difficult than what you might think, because I didn't know anyone, and those who I did know I wanted to avoid. Eventually, I found a place to sit down outside, so I just sat and listened to music until the bell rang to go to class.
After about ten minutes I thought I heard the bell and I opened my eyes to see everyone walking to their classes. I got up and went off to my classroom, and was glad that my parents took me here to look around the campus when I was in middle school. Now I knew I was going to the A buildings which were in the back of the school, but I didn't remember where some of the other classes were. I guess I would just figure out where they were as I went along.
I made my way to my first class and walked in to see about half the class already in their seats. I scanned the room quickly to see if I could find any familiar faces, and thank god I didn't. I walked up to the teacher to talk to her. She was a middle-aged woman, short and slightly fat to be honest about it. She wore glasses, and had curly brown hair that went down to her back.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Frins?"
"Yes?" She said, looking at me.
"I'm the new student here, I was just wondering where to sit."
"Alright, well, first let me give you some of the information about the class and the syllabus. Oh, and can you take off your hat?" Oh, great, this question, I thought, knowing that I would have to explain the reason I would have to keep it on.
"Um, actually can I leave it on? It's kind of for a medical reason." I said, not wanting to get into details about my scar.
"Oh, what's the medical reason?"
"It's something I don't really want to go into details about, but I could explain it later." I told her.
"Um, sure, just be sure to get something to me to explain it. It's just school rules." She explained, and handed me a few papers. "Oh, and the school wanted me to give you this," she said, handing me a manila envelope full of papers I could only assume were the school papers and guidelines. "Hand that into the office when you get everything in there signed, ok?" I nodded my head as the one minute bell rang.
"So where do I sit?" I asked.
"Oh, let me see..." She said, looking at what I assumed was a seating chart. I stood for a few seconds before she looked back up at me. "I think you can sit there, by Ethan." She said, pointing to a desk next to a blonde haired kid.
"Alright, thanks." I said before walking over to my seat. The desks were arranged by pairs, and I was sitting in the back next to this kid named Ethan. He was a short white kid, with blue eyes and blonde hair in a bowl cut, and from what I could tell about him based on appearance, he was a nerd. Hell, how could I judge, I was taking AP classes and a grade higher in math, who could I call a nerd? I took my seat next to Ethan, and put down my backpack.
"Hey," I said as a greeting.
"Oh, hi." He said, just looking up long enough to glance at me. I could tell he wasn't a huge social person, but neither was I, so I didn't have any complaints. Besides a few spoken words here and there, we didn't talk much, and before I knew it, the period was over. I walked to my second class, Band. I didn't know where the Q buildings were, so when I got out of class, I walked around to see if there was any alphabetical order to the school at all, but it didn't seem like there was, so I went up to a girl to see if she knew. I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Excuse me, but do you know where the Q buildings are?" She seemed surprised by my question before pointing to the other side of campus.
"They should be over there in the corner." She stated simply.
"Alright, thanks," I said before walking to the corner of campus. I knew that I only had a couple more minutes to get to my class, but I thought I could make it. I made it to the Q buildings, but as I made it, the one minute bell rang. I still didn't know where Q3 was, and now I was starting to worry, because being late on my first day wouldn't make a good first impression. After a few seconds of frantic searching, I found the room and hopped in just in time, as the bell rang just as I stepped inside. I walked over to my teacher, Mr. Michaels, who was a tall man in what looked like his thirties, and started to talk to him.
"Mr. Michaels?" He turned around to look at me, and grabbed a couple papers from his desk.
"Ah, yes, are you the new student?" He asked, with a happy face.
"Yeah, I just need to know where to sit, and I'm assuming you have papers for me?" I asked.
"Yup, here they are," he said, handing me the papers he grabbed from the desk. "As for where to sit, just anywhere. We don't really have a seating chart in here, so just get comfortable." He seemed like a really laid back teacher, something I like to see in a teacher. I looked around and saw that the desks were in groups of four or five, most of the seats taken up. I looked around, and I found Jonny. Oh thank god it's not someone else! I thought, seeing a familiar face. I went and sat in the group he was in, which was just him and some other guy with long brown hair that went down past his eyes and down to the back of his collar in the back. He reminded me of Randy, except he wasn't asian. Now that I think of it, it's weird not seeing so many different races, as New York was a mixing pot. In Peach Creek, though, it was hard to find someone that wasn't white. I decided not to think too much about it and sat down next to Jonny.
"So, you're taking band too?" Jonny asked me when I sat down.
"Yeah, I didn't know you could play," I told him.
"Well, I've been looking into the trombone, and I've been playing it for a few months now. Can you play other instruments besides the guitar and steel pedal guitar?" He asked.
"Nah, I haven't really had enough time to learn other things."
"Hmm, then you can't play in the band. Ah well, luckily for you this is more of a general music class than an actual band club." Jonny replied. After talking back and forth and being introduced to the class, the rest of the period went smoothly. I could tell that I would like this teacher, but I realized I had a question I had to ask him. After class I went up to him to talk to him.
"So, when should I bring my guitar?" I was wondering about when there would be lessons involving actual instruments and when I should bring mine.
"I'll tell you when to bring it, alright?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Alright. By the way, where are the C buildings?" I asked, wondering where my next class was going to be.
"They are just over there in that corner." He said pointing to another corner of the school.
"Alright, thanks!" I said as I walked out of the classroom. Jesus, I'm gonna have to be walking all over campus, aren't I? After a few minutes I found the building I was supposed to go to. I walked into chemistry and saw the teacher at his desk, typing at his computer. Mr. White was a balding middle aged guy with a wrinkled face. He seemed like a pretty normal guy to me, so I felt like this class was going to be the most normal out of all of my classes.
"Mr. White? I'm the new student." He looked up when I said this, and he seemed to look at me like he was observing me.
"Ah, yes, Eddward, right?" He said, getting a couple of papers from his desk.
"Please sir, is it alright if you call me Daniel? It's just the name I've been called." I said, a little nervous, thinking that there might have been someone I knew in the room who might have recognized the name.
"Alright, let me get that written down on the roll sheet. Oh, and these are for you." He said as he handed me a few papers. I stayed by his desk as he wrote down my name on the roll sheet, and he looked at the seating arrangement for a while before looking back up at me and looking around me to the desks.
"Um, you can sit there, in the desk to the left." He said pointing to a pair of desks to the right of me. I knew which one he was talking about, because there was only one pair of desks not taken up yet. I went and sat down next to a girl with long dark brown hair, glasses, and wearing a white long sleeve shirt. I said hi, and she said hi back. Besides that, we didn't have any other interaction. The class seemed like it was going normally and boring, until I heard a certain name called out.
"Kevin, can you answer number three?" My eyes shot open and I waited until I heard his voice to turn around.
"Um, I think it's carbon?" He said, more of a question than an answer. I looked behind me to see where the voice came from, and saw Kevin in a dark green hoodie with his red hair in a buzzcut. How did I not know he was in here? I mentally scolded myself, thinking about the dire consequences if I happened to give myself away right in front of him. I looked away, and now knew how much more of a challenge this class would be. While I was glad that it wasn't someone like Ed or Eddy or someone who would recognize me right away, I was still stressing over the fact that I had Kevin in my class. Not only that, this class would become a hell of a lot more stressful once my secret was out. The rest of the period was me just trying to lay low and learn more about that class. I was worrying about what would happen if my secret got out, but once I was out, I took a few more seconds to get a look at Kevin. He had changed, his face more masculine, his body more muscular, and he seemed to be older than what I remembered, but I guessed that I would think that about everyone I would see from the cul-de-sac. After seeing how much had changed about Kevin, I went to my fourth period class, calculus.
I walked over to the A buildings yet again to my class, and I was able to find my class without having to ask. I walked in, and found that the desks were in rows of two, just like most of the classrooms I had been in today. I walked up to the teacher, a short asian woman with glasses, and introduced myself.
"Hello, Mrs. Yang? I'm the new student." I said, and she turned to face me.
"Ah, yes, you're the junior, right? Eddward-"
"Please, call me Daniel." I told her. Even though I knew no one from the cul-de-sac would be in this class, it's just how I've always been called, and if I was called by two different names, it would make things confusing.
"Alright, Daniel, there are only two other juniors in the class, so as you probably know, you are advanced, and this class is already in the middle of the year, so it can be confusing. I'm planning on calling your parents in here so we can talk about everything and get a plan set up, but in the meantime, here are some papers for the class that you need to sign." She handed me a couple papers to sign, like every other teacher has handed me.
"Alright, I can tell my parents that you need to talk to them and get these signed. Thanks." I said as I turned around, but turned to her again. "What seat should I take?" I asked, knowing that I hadn't been assigned a seat yet.
"Well, for now, just sit in the back, the whole row back there is empty. I can find a seat for you based on your grades. People who need more help sit up front so they can pay attention better, but because I don't know enough about you yet, just sit back there."
"Alright, thanks." I said as I went to my seat. I put down my backpack and got out my binder as the one minute bell rang, and while I said no one from the cul-de-sac would be in this class, I was technically right, but I was so scared by who I saw come into the door. I saw a flash of blue from the door, and it caught my attention, so I looked up to see what it was.
I wish I hadn't.
I saw a very familiar face, way too familiar, and it stopped my heart. Sure enough, it was Marie Kanker, right there, in the front of the class. Shit shit shit shit, what? How? Wha? I don't... My mind went completely blank, confused, scared, but to my slight relief, she didn't see me. Instead, she just sat at her regular seat in the front of the class and got her stuff ready. For a second, I was wondering if I was in the wrong classroom, but I realized that I was indeed in the correct room. My mind was sent into a panic, here was one of the three people I didn't want to see, and she was in my class. The one class I thought no one else would be in, and here she was. I didn't even know she would be in here, how? Is she that smart? The bell rang, signaling that class had started, but my mind was still in a frenzy. What happened next didn't help whatsoever.
"Hello students, welcome back from winter break. I hope you all had a nice new years, and we have a new student in the back there. You prefer to be called Daniel, right?" When I heard her start to call on me and point me out, I immediately ducked down and acted like I was getting something out of my backpack. My face was flushed, I was in a panic, and my eyes closed shut, expecting to hear my nickname being yelled out by Marie. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and I feared I was going into a panic attack, something that only happened to me once, but was so horrible. I waved my hand and said hi while still keeping my head below the desk. I hoped that my act would work, and when Mrs. Yang went back to her lesson, I waited for a few seconds before popping my head back up. I glanced at Marie, and found that she was still facing away from me, to which I was thankful for. After I recovered from my panic, I tried to lay low, in hopes that I wouldn't be noticed and pointed out again. Great, now I have to watch myself in this class. I thought. It seemed that the farther I went into my day the farther into my past I went, seeing faces that were all too familiar to me. After a very stressful fourth period, I went on to lunch, a time that I hoped I could just relax and not have a care about my past coming up. Turns out, I was way far off.
I got my crappy school lunch, something I always despised, and tried to find a place to sit down and jam out to my iPod. Trying to take my mind off of Marie and my past, I thought about what I should pack for lunch tomorrow. I thought over choices, and I eventually found a place on the grass next to a concrete wall that no one was occupying. I sat down and put down my food and took out my earbuds and immediately put on Shurk-The Prophecy, one of the more heavy hitting songs on my iPod. I turned the volume up to completely block out all other noises around me and started eating. As repulsive as school food was, I was content with eating their pizza. I finished within a few minutes and threw away my trash, and went back to the spot I was sitting in. After a few more minutes of listening to some of the louder and heavier songs on my playlist, I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up. I hadn't realized that I kept my eyes closed while rocking out, but I kept them closed long enough for someone to come up to me. The girl I saw standing above me was quite pretty, with long blonde hair, and a nice, curvy body. I took out an earbud and turned off my music.
"Yes?" I asked, not knowing why she interrupted my music session.
"Can I sit down?" She asked in a voice that sounded familiar, and it sent chills down my spine.
"Sure," I replied, motioning toward a spot next to me. She sat down and looked over at me, and I grinned before saying, "What's your name?"
"My name is Nazzarine, but you can just call me Nazz." I choked and looked away from her. Fucking Nazz now? Who else is going to come up to me? I tried my best to put on a normal face and looked back at her.
"Hi Nazz, my name is Daniel. Sorry about that, I just choked on nothing for a second," I said with a chuckle. She laughed for a little before returning to our conversation.
"I'm wondering if you're new here, I haven't seen you before." She asked me.
"Oh, yeah, I just moved in from New York, so I'm not surprised you haven't seen me. It's my first day at this school, so I still don't know where everything is or who's who."
"Oh, well I can help you with that. Do you want to join my group and we can tell you everything you need to know about this school? It's just me and some of the other girls from our cheer squad. I'm the head cheerleader, if you didn't know that already."
"Hm, nice. I'll be honest, I think I'll stay here for today and just get through today. I would be happy to join your group some other day, but not today. Thanks anyways." I said to her.
"Alright, well how would tomorrow sound?" She asked.
"That sounds good, I can join you tomorrow," I replied.
"Alright, sounds great," she said with a smile before getting up and rejoining her group, who was just out of my view. It was at this moment that I realized something horrifying. What if she knows who I am? WHAT IF SHE GOES AND TELLS PEOPLE!? As paranoid as I sounded, it was a very real possibility. I scrambled up, but calmed myself down, and just to calm my fears, I walked around to see where Nazz went, and quickly found her as I walked around. She was in fact sitting at a table with all of the other cheerleaders, so that made me calm down, as now I knew that she didn't know who I was. I made my way back to my spot and sat back down to listen to music. After some more time had passed, I heard the bell ring and I got up to walk to my class. But before I could actually make it to my class, Nazz stopped me again. Inside I was freaking out, wondering if she actually knew who I was, but I played it cool on the outside.
"You promise that you're actually coming to our table tomorrow?" I could practically tell that she was giving me puppy eyes at this point, but I was actually going to go, so I don't know why she was acting like this.
"Yeah, I said I was going to be with your group, why?" I asked, wanting to know why she seemed like I HAD to be in the group tomorrow.
"Ah, I can't tell you...yet. Don't worry, I could explain later. Bye!" She said as she waved to me, walking in the opposite direction. Alright, that was weird. I thought. I had no idea what was going on, but I assumed that I would figure it out later. I went to my next class, and Spanish was surprisingly normal. I walked into the classroom and found my Spanish teacher sitting at his desk, just like all of the other teachers when I walked into class.
"Mrs. Rossetti?" I asked as she looked up to me.
"Ah, yes, you're the new student. Spanish AP, nice. You do know that in this class we only speak spanish, right?"
"Yes, I am aware of that, why else would I take this class?" I replied. After the normal routine of getting my papers and syllabus, I sat down for a normal period, and while I tried to drown the thoughts of Nazz, Marie, Kevin, and anyone else who was in my past who decided to show up randomly. As I was thinking about it, I actually hadn't looked at Marie all that long, and for a second, I thought about if I had mistook some other girl as Marie, but I knew that it had to be her. For that short second that I saw her, I knew it was her. Also, who else would have blue hair here? Then I remembered what Jonny told me, and how sad she was. I felt a sort of guilt and sadness toward her, as I never actually wanted to make anyone sad, I just wanted to fade away from the cul-de-sac. Once the period ended, I was still feeling sad and guilty, but I knew that I only had AP US history left, so it made my day a little easier.
I walked into my last class of the day and walked up to my teacher. He was a middle aged man, and he seemed like a normal and laid back teacher. As I walked up to him, he noticed me.
"Eddward, right?"
"Yes, but I prefer to be called Daniel." I told him.
"Alright, I can do that. Here are the papers you need, I'm sure you've been through this already, so I won't explain." He replied. Oh, good, he is laid back, I thought.
"Thank you, sir. By the way, where should I sit?"
"Well, sit anywhere at this point, I'm giving a new seating arrangement at some point this week, so you can sit anywhere that there's an opening." He said, gesturing toward the classroom.
"Alright, thanks Mr. Antonucci." I said before turning back to the classroom, but when I did, I saw her again. It was Marie. My heart stopped, I felt my breathing getting shallow, and I felt cornered again. She was sitting at the group toward the left of the room, so I went and sat in a group on the right side to make sure I was far away from her. Once again, in a class with Marie Kanker. This is an AP class too! Jonny didn't tell me that she was smart, what changed? I was confused, first in calculus and now an AP class. Was this the right person? I decided to sneak a look at her while I could, and I saw that it was indeed Marie Kanker, despite getting a more mature face and her hair seemed to be more disheveled, she seemed pretty normal. She wore a face of disinterest and a slight scowl, something I'm sure had become her trademark by now. I noticed that she was wearing a long sleeve hoodie that was black, with some sort of design on it. I looked for one more second before deciding that that was indeed Marie Kanker. My mind had calmed down, but I was still worried about how things might go later on in the next few weeks and months. In the end, it turns out my worries would be realized a lot faster than what I had hoped.
After a whole period of lying low, I was able to leave the classroom, but I decided to take my time packing my things, because Marie was close to the door, and I was hoping that she would leave before me, but that was not the case. After almost everyone else had left, I put on my backpack, and I took out my iPod to put it on shuffle. I was walking toward the door, but as I did, Marie was walking to the same place. I tried not to panic, even if my mind was screaming at me that any mistake could end my secret, I went on, and got to the door before she did, and I opened it and held it for her. She didn't say anything, and she still wore the same uninterested face that she had on since I first saw her. For apparently having the reputation as the biggest bully, I hadn't seen anything yet. Maybe she's in a good mood, I wondered.
. . . .
I got home, and immediately went for my bed. Without my parents home, they wouldn't scold me to do my work right away. Today was a stressful enough day, so I wasn't wanting to pile homework on top of it. I sat in bed, and rested, thinking about everything that had happened in that day alone. First, Kevin in my Chemistry class, then Nazz at lunch, and now Marie in two of my classes? Why did this have to happen? Why did my past have to just burst in like this? Why couldn't it have just snuck in and taken longer to come up on me? Why did I have to come back? My entire mind was filled with these types of questions, but then it occurred to me that this day could have gone so much worse. Kevin could have figured out who I was. Marie had two periods and two times where she could have easily seen who I was, but instead, I remain unseen. I just have to lie low for a while longer. At least until I'm ready...which will be never, won't it? My mind swirled and stewed in my thoughts for an hour, before I decided to quit dwelling and get to homework.
Even when I was doing my homework, I kept thinking about everyone, when I realized I never saw Ed or Eddy. Thank God for that, I told myself in my head. Once I was done with my work, I got up and went to the kitchen to fix myself something. I made myself some dinner, ate it, and I spent the rest of my day working on songs and other such projects to keep my mind off of the thoughts racing through my head, the most pressing one being that Marie Kanker was in two of my classes, and not only that, advanced classes. Did I see her wrong this entire time? I asked myself, and found that it was a really good question. I thought about what else I had assumed wrong about Marie, and how much she had changed. I thought about this among other things, but this was what ended up keeping me up that night.
"I was so wrong about her, I guess," I spoke softly to myself. I laid in my bed looking up at the ceiling, wondering about this day. My mind was blank, yet it was full of thoughts. I felt confused, and anxious, worried about tomorrow, and the upcoming weeks. I didn't know what to expect for the next few weeks, and how much I was worried about how easily my secret could come out at this time. After pondering this for an hour, another thought occurred to me. Where were Ed and Eddy? I know I didn't see them, but I want to see Ed again. I don't want to talk to him, I just want to see if the big lug is doing ok. After numerous thoughts about tomorrow and the next week and everyone from the cul-de-sac, I fell into a sleep, with my thoughts becoming distorted and strange, but I let my sleep take me, as I did have school tomorrow, but I knew it was going to be a hectic day.
A.N: Thank you all for the reviews and favorites! This is something I really enjoy doing and it's cool hearing your reactions to it. By the way, I added a couple easter eggs in the teachers names, but that's pretty easy to spot. Hope you all loved this chapter, and in the next few chapters, things are going to go down with Marie and maybe Ed and Eddy, I'll have to see what happens with that. Anyways, if it seems to be moving slow, that's just the way the pace will be, but not for long! And as always, I love reviews, so bring them in! I'm open to advice, but keep in mind, some of the plot is already worked out by me, so don't be disappointed if I don't take it. Anyways, I'm glad to get back to this story, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
P.S: If there are any errors or italics out of place, notify me so I can fix it and make the story better. Thanks!