Chapter 2- Kindergarten
It was the first day of school. I don't want to go.
"Do I have to go?" I say, purposefully not making this easy for The Doctor.
"For the millionth time, yes, you have to go." He's basically dragging me into the school, and I knew that I was acting way too childish for my age, but all I wanted was to go home. As we go down the hallway, I notice how cramped in everything is. The Cafeteria is basically just a big empty space between two hallways, in between the stage and the library. The library doesn't even have it's own room. I have no idea where they put the tables, because they aren't out in the cafeteria. My classroom is the second room down the hallway, and I meet Ms. Greene for the first time. She has the kind of red hair where at first it looks like brown, but then after studying it you realize it is really red. Like a velvet red. Her brown eyes seemed kind enough, and she had a heart-warming smile.
"Hi there! What's your name little guy?" She says, she goes to squeeze my cheeks but I lean away before she could get ahold of them.
"My name is Henry." I say quietly, not because I'm shy, but because I'm still not happy about being here.
"Welcome to the class Henry! Go ahead and pick a seat before everyone else comes. I'm sure the class will simply love you!" Alright, she's so cheery it's making me sick.
I go to sit near the back, and I hear the bell ring, and all I hear a stampede. I hope it's not only my class. I wince from the bell, it's too loud for my ears.
As the kids start to file into the classroom, they start to sit in random spots, some even sit near me. A kid that has floppy brown hair and a mischievous smile sits next to me.
"Hi! My name's Zack. What's your name?" He says, with just a hint of a latino accent. I almost say The Guardian, but then I catch myself. "My name is th-Henry." I say, and his eyes flicker with the realization that I changed the answer. I hope he doesn't point it out.
"Nice to meet you. Are you new here? Or just changing from a different class?" He asks, and I almost let out an audible sigh of relief that he didn't point out my error.
"Yeah, I came from England." I answer, and I think that we might become friends soon. One can hope.
"Cool! I love england. Do you like tea? I hear alot from my Grandpa, and-" I zoned out. I realize that's not very nice, don't bother me about how I can listen better, I just didn't care. Then Ms. Greene comes in.
"Alright class! We have some very important schoolwork we need to do" Lots of groans from the class "And then we will study for our first spelling test!" she says all this as she faces the board and starts to write down a list of words that I guess we have to study. Then she passes out these little paper books that have like 5 pages that I guess we're supposed to read. I read the cover, 'The rabbit and the Hare'. I flip through it and I'm done with the book. I raise my hand to signal the teacher.
"Ms. Greene? I'm done with the book." I say. She turns around with a skeptical look on her face and asks, "Really? What's the lesson of the story?" She asks. I think she expects me to pale and look away, but I continue to look her in the eyes.
"The lesson is slow and steady wins the race." I say this, and her face drains of color. "Wha- but- How? How did you read it so fast?" she says, and I realize that this level of reading isn't normal for humans. Especially not for this grade level of humans.
Everyone is looking at me in awe, whispering among themselves, and the teacher is just standing there in shock. I look over at the board and see the words put up there. Words like 'about' and 'why' and 'because'. I then turn back to the teacher and ask, "Can I take the spelling test now?" And the whispers just increase and the looks of awe just double. Ms. Greene looks like she's about to faint. Then the bell rings, and I jump, and everyone starts to pack up and head somewhere. I turn to Zack and ask, "Where do we go next?"
"We go to Music, or Gym, depending on the day, and today's-" He turns to the board- "Tuesday, so we go to music." He says music with a sour face, and I wonder why he doesn't like music.
As we come to the door, I realize how the entire school is set up. It's separated into 2 hallways, and in between the hallways there's the music room, the bathrooms, the stage, the cafeteria, and the library. We go into the music room, and they start to sit in spots on the floor, I realize that they are in rows, but I don't know where I can sit so I just sit next to Zack. The Music teacher, I don't know her name yet, walks in, and it seems like she instantly notices that the rows aren't right because I'm in the middle row. She looks right at me. I think she's trying to be intimidating, but I don't play that game. I look right into her eyes with a defiant look, and I see that she's surprised that I didn't back down.
"Hello class," she says, and the class instantly answers.
"Hello Ms. Malone," The class says as one, and she sits on a high stool in the back of the room.
"Anyone care to introduce me to the new kid in the class?" she asks, but no one gets up to answer. They all look at me with a face of regret, and I think they're worried about me. Really, it's just a teacher, what's there to be scared about?
I get up and turn to her, and force a smile, and say, "Hi, Ms. Malone. I'm Henry." I say, and I'm not sure what to expect back.
"Hello, Henry, would you like a new seat?" She says, and I think she's used to kids buckling instantly when she says something. Well, she's in for a whopper.
"Nah, I'm fine where I am, thank you." I say, and her face fills with shock and I feel all the kids looking at me. I'm pretty sure they're as surprised as Ms. Malone.
"Well, I'm afraid that I have to move you. How about you sit over there, behind Brittany?" she says, and Brittany instantly raises her hand, I guess so she doesn't get in trouble with the teacher. I really have no idea why they're all scared of her. I move towards her, and sit a good distance behind her so I'm in a row to whoever's to the left of me. She starts to pass out these bags, and when the kids get them I see that there are recorders in the bags. She gets a new recorder out of a drawer, and gets a new bag, a set of those labeling stickers, and gives them to me.
"Here you go. Write your name on the label, and when you're ready, come to me so I can get you ready." As she says this, I'm studying the recorder, and when she walks away I start to play the recorder. At first it's just trying out what sounds they can make, but then after I see what sounds they make I start to play in an actual song that I remember from Gallifrey. It was probably never heard of here, but I knew it by heart. The sounds of kids talking and Ms. Malone playing the piano die down as they turn and get lost in the music that's coming out of my recorder. Then, I start to play in the tempo of my hearts, and I just completely blow everyone away. I don't think they've ever heard anything like it. Ms. Malone is the first to break out of the trance. "Where did you learn that song?" she asks, which the sound level broke my concentration and everyone else breaks out of the trance.
"Wha?- oh, I learned it in England." I lie, and everyone starts to go back to what they were doing.
"I've never heard of that before! What's it called?" She asks, and I see that I've actually peaked her interest.
"Um, The Drumbeat, I can't remember who wrote it, though,"
"And how is it that you just started, and you already can do songs like that that need all the notes?" she asks. I don't think I'm going to fit in. At all.
"I'm a fast learner," I say with a shrug. I really am. Well, on Gallifrey, I'm an average learner, but apparently here I'm the fastest they've ever seen. I notice that Zack is looking at me with admiration, and for once I'm not sure what is going to happen this year. The bell rings, and we all get up and start to put our bags away. I'm not sure what to do, so I just follow Zack's example, and we put our bags in a basket. I follow Zack, and I see that we're going back to Ms. Greene's classroom. I was ready for the test.
"Hey, Zack, are we going to have the spelling test today?" I ask him, I like to get things done as soon as possible.
"No, we're having it tomorrow. How can you read so fast? How can you play recorder like that? How-" He would have continued, but I stopped him.
"I'm ahead of most people in school." I say as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Which to me it was, as humans rarely can keep up with a Time Lord school system.
"Could you help me become like that?" he asks, which showed me how much they looked up to me. It was touching, and I felt an emotion that I haven't felt ever since I was on Gallifrey. Happiness.
As we came up on the classroom, I saw Ms. Greene up at the board writing something. I then noticed my stomach was grumbling. I couldn't wait until lunch.
XX Skip To Lunch XX
I was in line for lunch, and I couldn't wait.
"What's for lunch, Zack?" I asked, poking him with each word. I get excited about food.
"I dunno, tacos?" He says with a excitement to match mine. I wanted something, meaty, like a hamburger.
"I can't wait! Do tacos have meat in it?" I ask, and he looks at me like I asked whether dirt tastes good or not.
"Of course, dude! What do you think this is, a vegan school?" He answers, and I was a bit confused, because I've never heard of a vegan.
"Vegan? Why would there be vegans?" I ask, my eyebrows scrunched up in concentration.
"Do you even know what vegans are?" He asks, an amused look on his face. I really had no idea.
"Uh... no, not really..." I say, embarrassed that I didn't.
"They're someone who doesn't eat meat." he says, and I was relieved that he didn't judge me because I didn't know.
Then, he gets up to the cafeteria lady, and he says his name to the lady.
"Zachary Cordero." He says, and she types some things in and waves him on. Now it's my turn.
"Um... Henry Smith." I say, and she types some things in that I think is my name and she waves me on. I then walk up to a cooler full of milk, and I grab a chocolate milk. Then, I take a plate from the next window, and then we walk across the lobby to the salad bar thingy, and get some sides.
"Hey, Henry, come sit me!" Zack calls to me, and I follow him to a table. There are already some kids sitting there.
"Hey guys, this is Henry-" Zack motions to me and then points to each of them in turn- "And Henry, This is Brittany, Kevin, and John." I wave to them, give them a confident smile, and sit down next to Zack.
"Hi! Weren't you the one who played that weird song in Music class?" Brittany says, and I smile at the memory.
"Yeah, I love that song, I learned it when I was young." I say, and they all nod. I think they're all in my class.
"Well, nice to meet you Henry," Kevin says, in mock politeness.
We're all sitting at the table, talking about random things that pop into our head, when someone else comes and plops down at our table.
"Hey guys!" she says, and looks over at me. "Who are you?" she says, not in the bad, snobby way, but in the nice, curious way.
"Hi, I'm Henry." I say, and smiles warmly at me.
"Hey, Marissa!" Zack says, and I notice immediately that he cares alot about her; A bit more than just a friend.
"Well, what we you guys talking about?" she asks, and we all say, "Dinosaurs!" I know what kind of person she is. The kind that is liked by everyone, rarely is rude, and the one who gets way too many broken hearts in high school.
"Hey, Henry, you ok?" Brittany asks, and I notice that I zoned-out.
"Wha- Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I say, and then we continue our conversation until the lunch bell rings.
Well, this is The Guardian's first day in kindergarten, and he leaves many surprised individuals in his wake. What will happen when he aces the spelling test? Oops, spoilers! And about the song, I made up the title, it might be a real song, if so, I've never heard it. :D so anyways, this is chapter 2! no likey, go bye bye! :D