Chapter 9- Cora

I woke up early and got up and turned off my alarm clock that wasn't going to go off for another 10 minutes. I got dressed in the outfit that Sam had helped me pick out last night, a knee-length purple dress that brought out my eyes with cup sleeves and flip-flops. Sam had spent all day with me yesterday telling me everything that I would need to know for school but I was still nervous yet so excited. This is the day I've been waiting for, I thought to myself. I left my room and went to the bathroom to do my hair. It took a while since my hair is so curly so by the time I came out, Sam was waiting to use the bathroom. "Sorry I took so long."

Sam shrugged and yawned. "It's fine."

She went in the bathroom and I went back to my room to grab my stuff before heading downstairs. I ate a granola bar while waiting for her to finish getting ready. When she came down, she grabbed a granola bar and we left the house. We started walking and met up with Cole and Daemon along the way. Sam had been going over a few things about school with me but stopped when they came over and started talking to them about teachers and classes and other students so I just hung back and followed. When we got to the school there was a lot of people waiting outside talking in groups and others going inside and just so many people and noises that I suddenly froze. After a moment Sam realized that I wasn't with them anymore and came back.

"Hey, are you okay? You look really pale." She gently tugged on my arm. "Come on."

I gulped nervously and went inside with Sam, Cole, and Daemon. Cole and Daemon left to go find their lockers and Sam led me to mine.

"Alright Cora, you remember how the classes go, right? Block scheduling. Four classes today, four different classes tomorrow, and repeat. Lunch after the first two classes on both days. And you have the map of the school with you, right?"

I nodded nervously. "I remember. And yes, I have the map."

"Okay, good. The bell is about to ring, I'll lead you to your first class." Sam led me to my class and wished me luck before heading to her class.

I walked into the room, head held high to hide my nervousness, and took a seat near the window in the front of the room. Not many people were in there yet and there was no teacher in the room. I started taking some stuff out while I waited and looked around the classroom. Math, something called Calculus to be more specific. It should be easy from what Sam showed me. Syrena have photographic memories which will make school pretty easy. It's a shame I didn't grow into it until I was 13, if I had it when I was younger I could remember my mom and brother. I sighed quietly at the thought. A bell rang, making me jump, and more people came into the room, including the teacher. By the time the second bell rang, everyone was seated and the teacher, a young peppy-looking blonde with bright blue eyes, was standing at the front of the room.

"Good morning everyone! I'm Mrs. Turner for those of you who don't know me. I hope everyone had a good summer?" She looked around the room like she was expecting someone to answer but no one spoke. She made a little tutting sound and shook her head. "Come on people, wake up. I'm going to assign you your textbooks which you'll be responsible for bringing to class every day." She went over to a bunch of piles of books and started handing them out. "Write your name on the front page of your book." She started on the other side of the room and made her way towards me, pausing when she got to me. "Oh, I almost forgot, we have a new student everyone!" She finished handing out the books and came back over to me. "Cora, right?"

I nodded shyly, intimidated by everyone staring.

She smiled. "Nice to meet you Cora." She went over to her desk and got a bunch of papers. "And these are the classroom rules." She passed out the papers. The rest of the period was spent going over rules and grading and homework.

When the bell rang I jumped, startled, and quickly packed up, relieved that the period was over. I left quickly and almost ran into Sam who was waiting for me at the door. "Hey, how was your first class?"

I shrugged, "Boring, we just went over a bunch of rules."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, that's how all of today and tomorrow will be, just going over stuff. You remember where your next class is?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I have to turn here, see you at lunch." I parted from Sam and went to my next class, english. This class went by pretty much exactly the same as the first and before I knew it the bell rang and I left the room. I met up with Sam and went with her to meet up with Daemon and Cole for lunch. Cole went to get a table since he packs lunch while Daemon, Sam, and I went to buy lunch. Cole had gotten us a small circular table in the corner and we all sat after getting our lunches. I only ate some of my lunch since I didn't really like anything other than fish much. All of the other Syrena hate anything other than fish but I can tolerate it. We chatted a little about our first two classes and then talked about what classes we have next. Cole and I both have gym together next period. When the bell rang Sam and Daemon went the other way and Cole and I went to gym. Cole led me over to the bleachers and we sat up top in the corner. I looked around nervously as more and more people filled in. "T-there are a lot of people…"

Cole nodded. "Yeah, gym is always crowded. There are three different teachers and therefore three different classes at once. You and I have the same teacher. Sometimes classes do activities together but other times every class is doing something different so you have to stick to your own class."

The bell rang and one of the teachers got up and addressed everyone. "Good afternoon. I'm Coach Fritz." She pointed to the two male teachers in turn. "That's Coach Serone and Coach Ame. We will be going outside next class so make sure you bring clothes." She took a seat and began chatting with the other teachers.

I looked at Cole. "Is that it?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much."

"So what do we do the rest of the period?"

"Just chill." He looked at me.

I looked away. "Oh, okay."

I saw Cole tilt his head out of the corner of my eye. "Were you home schooled in Jersey? You seem really new to the concept of school."

I looked at him again and blinked, unsure of what to say. "Um…"

"It's fine if you were, it's nothing to be ashamed of or anything, you can tell me."

I looked away again. "Um, yeah, I was."

"Ah, that makes sense. So why don't you live with your parents anymore?"

"I lived with my dad, I don't know my mom. I wanted to start going to public school and my dad heard that this was a really good school from George so he sent me here figuring Sam could help me out with getting used to school." I sounded like a convincing story to me, I just hoped it made sense to him.

Cole nodded. "Makes sense."

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. All this questioning was stressful. But it would be more stressful if someone were to find out the truth. "Yeah, how about you?"

Cole shrugged. "I've lived here with my mom my whole life. No dad in the picture."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. You said before that your mom has purple eyes, are they contacts?"

He shook his head. "No, it's her natural color."

That can't be, she can't be Syrena, can she? "What color is her hair?"

"Blonde, really blonde. Like, almost white."

As far as I knew I was the only Syrena that had blonde hair. All Syrena have black hair. Except for me which is strange. "Oh, okay." I decided to just drop the subject. Luckily the bell rang a few minutes later and I rushed to my last class, art, that I have with Sam. Sam was waiting for me and we sat together at a table. We went over rules and what materials we would need by next week for the class and spent the rest of the period chatting. When the bell rang Sam went to her locker and I went to mine before meeting up with Daemon and Cole outside. When we got to the house, Cole and Daemon kept going and Sam and I went inside.

"Dad isn't going to be home for another hour so we-" She broke off as her phone rang. "Hello?...Oh okay...No problem...Alright, see you later." She hung up. "That was my dad, he has to stay later today so when he gets home we'll order food. Want to go hang out in my room?"

I nodded and followed her upstairs. I dropped my stuff off in my room before going with her to her room and spending time with her until George got home.