(Jack's P. O. V.)
I entered the hallway. It was weird being in another town, where I knew nobody. Starting school a few weeks late was tough. There was complete silence in the halls. That makes since, everyone was in class. I looked down at my paper schedule, trying to make out what class I had. I glanced at the clock, it was 11:24. I had English, in room C-19. Somehow I found myself hopelessly lost, and that I walked in a compleat, circle. Why did this school not have maps? I stood in one place, waiting for the bell to ring. Next period I had lunch. Now there's a class that's impossible to fail! A shrill sound filled the halls. The bell. I have never heard a noise more unpleasant than Seaford High School's bell. Kids came pouring out of the classrooms, the once silent school was now filled with screams, and laughter. I followed a group of kids to the lunch room. From a distance, of course. All the kids entered a room with large double doors, and they all looked about my age. I walked in the lunch room, grabbed a tray, and walked over to the "food table." To be honest, then smell made me gag, but I tried to be polite, and throwing up would not make a good first impression.
"Hi, it's my first day, what would you recommend?" I asked the lunch lady. She stared at me blankly.
"Not this stuff. I don't know what half of it is!" She said. Wow, she didn't even at least try to cover up the fact that their food tasted horrible. Well, at least she's honest. I heard something about to drop, and my super fast reflexes caused me to spin around, and catch it with my foot. When I kicked it up, I realized that it was an apple. I looked up at the girl who dropped it, and she smiled.
"Alright, that was almost cool. I'm Kim." She said. Okay, so she's not easy to impress.
"I'm Jack. I'm new." I said quickly.
"Yeah, I can tell. You still have that new kid smell." Kim scrunched her nose in fake discussed. I chuckled softly. Her face turned to pure shock, but only for a second.
"Um, can I have my apple back?" She laughed. Well, this is embarrassing.
"Oh, sorry." I said, handing it to her. "Well, maybe I'll see you around Kim."
"Maybe you will." She walked away. I noticed that every kid in the cafeteria was starring at me. They were in shock, and confusion. Well, none of them were as confused as I was. Was something wrong with Kim? Or are the just looking at me because I'm new.
"Hey, new kid." A guy whispered, gesturing for me to come over. I walked over to them. "I'm Eddie." I looked at a skinny, red haired kid.
"My name is Milton." The boy said.
"I'm Jerry, the swag master." Another kid said. I sat down at their table.
"I'm Jack." I said.
"Why were you talking to bird girl over there? You know she's kinda the freak of the school, right?" Jerry asked. I looked back at Kim. She was eating alone at the lunch table. Wait, wasn't there people sitting there before she sat down? Oh, they must have left when she sat down. I looked back at the gang.
"Bird girl? Why would anyone call her bird girl?" I asked.
"Haven't you heard? She has a spirit bird that can talk!" Milton said.
"She has a talking spirit bird? What is it?" I asked.
"It's, a red tailed hawk." Milton said uncomfortably. My jaw dropped.
"Aurora?" I asked. They nodded. Mom told me about that story. It was a legend that every kid is told.
"Does she know about-" I started.
"No." Eddie said. Wait, what? Kim doesn't know about her own legend? I guess it would just be better not to tell her about it. I started to eat my food. It tasted as bad as it smelled. Okay, I'm defiantly going to try packing a lunch every once in a while. I got to know the gang a little bit more. Turns out, they all do karate! It's one of my favorite sports, even though I haven't done it in a while. Long story, I won't get into it right now.
The day was going pretty well. I had a lot of classes with my new friends, and the teachers seemed nice. Although the principal was a total nutjob. Seriously, what good principal would watch two kids get into a fight, and bet against other kids about who would win? I glanced down at my schedule, art was next. I asked Milton where the art room is, and he said it was strait down the hall, the third room on my left. I entered the room, and found that there was only one table open. It was completely empty. I walked over to it, and noticed that kids started whispering to each other. I looked around at them briefly, but they all glanced away. Sitting down, I saw something written on the table.
Freak.
Suddenly, the door burst open. I saw a girl run in. She brushed her blond hair out of her face. I recognized the girl instantly. It was Kim.
"Ms. Crawford, I hope you have a good reason to be late." I heard the teacher say.
"I-I'm sorry. I saw that a blue bird finally laid her eggs, and I wanted to count how many there were." Kim said. The class started to giggle. Even the teacher laughed. Kim looked down, and walked to the table I was sitting at. She didn't look up. The teacher walked over to me. She smiled.
"Hi, I'm Mrs. Donnelly. Welcome to our class. What's your name?" She asked.
"Jack." I said.
"Well alright, Jack. We are going to be working on shading with different types of pencils." She said cheerfully. Kim looked up, she didn't smile, but she did look interested. Mrs. Donnelly past out pencils to everyone. I took one, and started to draw a turtle. It wasn't very good. Art just isn't my thing. I glanced over at Kim's drawing, and I was amazed. She was drawing a red-tailed hawk. Only it looked like it was a photo. Each feather was a completely unique, and it's eyes were fears, giving me goosebumps.
"That's a very good hawk." I said. She looked up at me.
"Um, thanks. Oh, and red-tailed hawks are actually buzzards. But red-tailed buzzard doesn't exactly sound right." She laughed. She then looked back at her paper, and continued to draw. Mrs. Donnelly walked over to us.
"Very good, Jack! That's really good for your first day." She said. Mrs. Donnelly looked at Kim's drawing, and frowned. "Birds again, Ms. Crawford? Can't you do something different for a change?" She said. Mrs. Donnelly shook her head, and walked away. Kim looked shocked for a minuet. I was too. Why would a teacher say that? Kim got up, crumbled her drawing up, and threw it away.
"Why did you do that?" I asked.
"I don't want to get a bad grade again." Kim said.
"Were you really given a bad grade because of drawing your spirit bird?" I asked, not thinking about what I was saying. Kim gasped.
"How did you know I had a spirit bird?" She asked.
"Oh, Milton, Eddie, and Jerry told me." I said.
"Oh." Kim said. She got another piece of paper, and started to draw again. Only this time it was a ball. Just that. A ball. The bell rang, and we all got up. Just before I left, I looked down in the trash. I saw the drawing that Kim made, and took it out of there.