Chapter 3 – Danann High School
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 / Townsend Household / 6:30 AM
Sam's eyes shot open as he was abruptly awoken from an exceptionally satisfying slumber. An extremely loud and obnoxious sound could be heard from the right of his bed. He looked over at an alarm clock as he slapped the top of it. The clock read 6:30. He sighed as he already came to miss being able to sleep in. He slinked out of bed and began his morning routine in order to get ready for the first day of classes.
Flicking the lights on in the bathroom, he made his way over to the sink. Groggily, he took a look at himself in the mirror. He kept his lean build thanks to the regular weekly exercises that the boxing team scheduled over the summer in preparation for the winter regional tournament. As Sam was finishing his stay in the bathroom, Glenn walked in bleary eyed and yawning.
"Morning Sam," greeted Glenn as he was rubbing his eyes awake and walking over to the sink.
"Hey kiddo. I'll have some breakfast ready by the time you're done," replied Sam as he was leaving the bathroom. Downstairs in the kitchen, he saw Dr. Townsend and Mr. Townsend rushing around getting ready to leave.
"Good morning Sam. We're sorry for rushing around, but something came up at the hospital and Mark has a meeting at the fire station," she said while motioning toward her husband.
He turned toward Sam while quickly drinking a cup of coffee, "Is Glenn awake?"
Sam nodded, "Yea he should be down soon. I'll get some food for us." He walked over to refrigerator getting out some eggs and bacon. It was the first day back to school and he wanted to at least give Glenn and himself something better to eat than just cereal. He began to talk to the two adults as he was preparing breakfast, "Glenn's gonna be disappointed that you won't be able to take him to his first day of middle school."
The two parents looked at each other sadly and frowned. The short silence after Sam spoke was broken as Dr. Townsend spoke up, "We know, but these are last minute circumstances."
"We'll see him before we leave at least," Mr. Townsend replied.
"I suppose," Sam said. He didn't want to make them feel any more uncomfortable with the situation than they already probably felt. He knew they had important duties as well and it was all in order to provide for the family, but there were times that Sam felt that the two were too busy for Glenn at times. Sam had grown to be highly independent due to his circumstances, but he felt that Glenn shouldn't have had to grow to be like him.
The sounds of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs as Sam set the plates with their breakfast on the table. Glenn walked toward the table and sat down. His parents walked over to him with apologetic looks in their eyes. Mr. Townsend rustled Glenn's head and Dr. Townsend crouched down and gave her son a kiss on the cheek, which he wiped away in a childish manner.
"Sorry we can't take you to school son. Some emergencies came up at the last minute and we had to respond to them," she said while rubbing his cheek.
"We are proud of you son. Stay safe and study hard," Mr. Townsend said to Glenn. He turned over to Sam, "We're leaving now. Keep an eye on each other as you head to school."
"Mhm. See you later," he said after swallowing some food.
After the Townsends left the two finished eating in silence. As they put the dishes away Glenn turned to Sam with a sad pout, "I really wished they could have taken me to my first day at middle school."
Sam could tell that he was upset. This had become a common occurrence between Glenn and his parents and while he didn't complain to them he always let Sam knew how he felt. Sam crouched down and gave the boy a hug, "I know buddy…I know."
"I'm glad you're with me Sam," Glenn said putting on a happier face.
"Thanks Glenn," Sam replied with a smile. He knew Glenn felt hurt but as long as he was there, he'd look after him. He owed it to him and his parents.
()()()()
Danann wasn't a particularly big town, and it was fairly easy to walk to any place you wanted to quickly. The cool air washed over the boys as they left their house and began their commute. The sun was still rising up as it lit the sky with soft, muted light. Birds could be heard chirping loudly and assorted other creatures could be seen running about, finishing preparations for the fall and winter.
On their way to school they ran into Dan. Sam sent a text to Dan about what had happened earlier and the two older boys reenacted some ridiculous antics to cheer Glenn up after the disappointing morning. While they weren't especially good at comedy and most of their actions involved bad wordplay and pseudo-physical harm, but it was enough to make Glenn laugh loudly as they made their way to his school.
"Alright kiddo, good luck and have fun okay?" Sam said giving Glenn one more hug.
"Yep. I see my friends now. Bye Sam! Bye Dan!" Glenn said while running to meet his friends at the school's entrance.
"Later Glenn," Dan said waving goodbye to the sixth grader.
After parting ways with Glenn, Sam and Dan kept heading down the road to their school. They continued to make small talk about their future classes and plans for the weekend.
"So I got an email from that website," Dan said looking at his phone. "You should be getting one soon as well."
Sam still couldn't believe that Dan roped him into that ridiculous website. He sighed, "Alright, what does it say?"
Dan chose to ignore the sigh and answered his question, "It said to go to the intersection of Main Street and Apple Street on Friday at 7:00PM. The app that was sent to my phone should function then."
Sam felt uncomfortable with how detailed those instructions were. "That seems really creepily specific. Are you sure you should be going?" he said with concern in his voice.
"It'll be alright. I mean that is a fairly populated street, especially during that time. Also, apparently a couple other people got a similar message but with different intersections on Main Street," Dan answered with a bit of a reassuring tone.
"I suppose you are right," Sam replied still feeling uneasy about the whole thing. Suddenly his phone buzzed. He reached for it and checked what was sent to him. It was an email from the same site. He hesitated slightly but opened the message. It said the same thing that Dan had told him. He was relieved for Dan. They had the same location and time and would at least watch out for each other.
"Nice. At least we get to stick together while using this app," Dan smiled.
"Yeah. It sure is a relief," Sam replied.
Dan nodded. They were almost at school and continued their small talk. As they were approaching the gates to the school's property, a shout could be heard coming from the hill behind them.
It wasn't particularly clear or noticeable until it got closer. Finally the shouts could be audible enough to make out a "Heads up!" coming from them. Dan was still talking to Sam but glanced over at the exclamation. His eyes grew wide as he saw a slim figure coming at them at an incredible speed. It was a girl on rollerblades careening down the hill.
"Look out!" Dan shouted as he leapt out of the way of the girl that was flying toward them. Sam, however, wasn't as lucky and didn't notice until it was too late. She slammed into the unsuspecting boy with her helmet banging his head and knocking him flat on his back. The girl was knocked over, but perfectly fine thanks to some safety equipment she had on.
"Oh shit! Are you two alright?" Dan exclaimed as he went to check on the two of them.
The girl got up quickly, dusted herself off, and shot her hands up to her mouth in shock. "Ohmygolly! I'm so sorry y'all! I was worried about getting to school late and didn't realize 'bout that hill there. Figured I panicked when I saw you two at the bottom of the hill and lost control." The girl rolled over to Sam who was getting picked up by Dan. "Are you alright?"
"Uh yea I think so. How about you?" he asked as got back up, still feeling a little woozy from the collision.
"Aww, I'm fine and dandy! Didn't even hurt. I'm just glad you're okay," she replied with a sigh of relief and an enormous smile. She took a closer look at Sam and saw a large bruise on his forehead then immediately frowned. "Oh shoot! Ain't that a bruise? I'm so so so sorry about that! Ugh, what a terrible first day!"
"No really. I'll be okay. Uh…what is your name?" He was drawing a blank on the girl. He didn't know everyone at school, but she definitely didn't seem familiar, and her accent wasn't one he recognized from anybody.
She grabbed his hand and shaked it vigorously, "Name's Ashley Winburn, but all my friends call me Ash!" She quickly pulled her hand back after she noticed how wobbled around her handshake was making Sam.
"Eh hee hee, sorry again. Sometimes, I get a little too excited with meeting new folk," she said with an awkward grin and giving herself a light rap on the head.
Sam was getting pretty annoyed and about to say something, but Dan interrupted with their introductions, "I'm Dan Park and this is Sam Locke. Are you the new student?"
"Sure am! My dad is the new preacher for the local church and we moved here from Georgia," she said her awkward grin transforming into a great big smile.
"Well welcome to our small northeastern town. It is a quaint place, but still has enough activities to keep us from getting bored."
Ash nodded in agreement, "I sure do like the place. It sorta reminds me of my old town in some ways."
Dan then turned around and spread his arms out wide as if presenting something, "And this is Danann High School, three stories of higher learning," he ended while making a quotation motion with his fingers. He turned back around and walked them closer to the school and continued his description, "The school building is actually not that old. Ten years ago they tore down the old school and constructed this new building."
The building had a fairly modern feel to it. There was a glass entrance that encased the main lobby all the way to the ceiling. Large tan stone walls made up the exterior of the building with windows embedded in the walls. They walked inside of the building, pausing to wait for her to take off her skates, and they took a look at the interior. The ceiling was high up in the lobby with two curved staircase in the center of the room leading up to a landing in the second floor and doors leading to hallways where classrooms were. A large banner could be seen over head with an image of the school's mascot, a knight. Students' footsteps could be heard clacking on the hard spackled-colored tiled floor.
"So have you been around the school much? Do you need directions to your classes or anything?" asked Dan as they finally made their way to the doorway of the main office.
"Oh thanks, but I'll be fine. You boys need a hand with anything?" she asked looking concerned at Sam who was still a bit out of it.
"Nah, I'll just get him checked out by the nurse and we'll head over to homeroom," Dan said patting Sam roughly on the back, which earned him a glare from the dazed boy.
"It was nice meeting y'all!" she said giving them a beaming smile and waving goodbye as she walked into the main office of the school.
"She definitely has the southern drawl," Sam said shaking his head as they made their way to the nurse's office.
"She seems nice," Dan remarked.
"A bit too peppy and smiley if you ask me," replied a slightly annoyed Sam.
"You're just a sourpuss," Dan chuckled as they eventually went inside the building. He knew Sam was just sore at the whole situation, but didn't really hold any ill will toward the girl.
"That is a mild way of putting it," he grimaced while rubbing his forehead, "You seem to be forgetting the fact that she slammed right into my head and almost tore my arm off with her handshake."
Dan smirked, "You should have been paying more attention."
Sam gave Dan a look of incredulity, "What? I was talking with you! It is your fault I was distracted in the first place."
Dan waved his hand trying to change the subject, "Why are you bringing up ancient history? Besides aren't you used to taking those sorts of hits from boxing?"
"Yeah, but I'm usually expecting the hits then, not on a casual walk to school," Sam sighed. It certainly wasn't something he anticipated on the first day of school. He could handle any sort of bully or angry teacher on his own, but girls flying at him in rollerblades definitely caught him off-guard. He shook his head just trying to erase that embarrassing moment from his mind, "Whatever. Who wears rollerblades to school in this day and age?"
"Dunno. I haven't seen those in a long time," Dan shrugged. The pair stopped by the nurse's office who gave him an ice pack. Afterward they made their way to their assigned lockers and got ready for homeroom.
()()()()
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 / Danann High School – Room 220 / 8:00 AM
Sam was still nursing his bruised forehead. He was going to have a hell of a time explaining what happened to the Townsends, and he imagined the boxing team having a field day about him being knocked flat on his ass from a girl on rollerblades. The pain was lessening for sure, but there was a nice mark on his head reminding him of that encounter.
He rolled his eyes. This sure is a strong start to the new semester.
He and Dan walked into room 220 and saw their seating arrangements on the board. They were separated by a couple of seats, but they were grateful that they were at least in the same homeroom. Homeroom at Danann high school was a short morning event that was really only used for attendance and announcements.
"Good morning gentlemen," said a voice standing in the front of the room. A middle aged man was standing in front of the blackboard taking attendance.
"Hello Mr. Ingle," replied Sam. Dan just made a short nod after Sam's greeting. Mr. Ingle was their homeroom teacher.
Mr. Ingle had a reputation for being an excellent teacher that strove for students to think abstractly. He placed an extreme importance on critical thinking and application of knowledge instead of just rote memorization. This lead to him being strict with his teaching, but he cared for the students and was liked by most of them. He had taught Sam and Dan during their freshman year English course, and they were lucky enough to have a familiar face as their homeroom teacher.
The two were making their way to their seats when Dan stopped by a girl who was reading a book.
"Hello Jill," Dan said with a smile.
"Eep!" she squeaked out quietly. She didn't notice him walking toward her desk, "H-hi guys."
"How was your summer?" he asked.
"G-good," she stuttered out, hiding her head in her book and avoiding eye contact with Dan. She quickly recounted her summer vacation to the boys, "M-my family went out to the w-west coast to see my a-aunt and uncle. W-we got back l-last month."
"Cool! Sounds much more exciting than my summer to be honest," Dan replied. He sighed as he was remembering his summer, "I had to spend the first month and a half at some dumb summer leadership program my parents forced me into. It wasn't too hard but it was pretty dull."
He looked over at Sam motioning for him to mention his own summer, "Huh? Oh…uh I didn't do too much, just conditioned for the boxing regionals, practiced my trumpet, and took Glenn to his baseball games. There wasn't much time to go out with the Townsends."
She seemed to perk up at the mention of the sport, but it was fairly subtle and Sam didn't notice it. They made a bit more small talk Mr. Ingle called for the students to take their seats.
"She's jumpier than usual," Sam noted about the girl, whispering to Dan. Jill had a habit of getting rather startled easily when she was absorbed in her books. Not many people knew too much about Jill. She had always stayed quiet in classes. She had pale skin, long fiery red hair that went past her shoulders and hazel eyes. All of that contrasted her clothing which often consisted of dark dresses with white frills.
Her dark clothing along with her quiet demeanor had conjured up many differing views about the girl, such as she was an "emo goth" and things along those lines. However, Sam and Dan managed to get acquainted with her a while ago, mostly thanks to Dan's meddling, and came to the realization that she was just a timid girl and hid away in books due to that shyness. Sam didn't think her wardrobe helped prevent her from standing out, but it was her style and it didn't bother him at all.
"It's the first day back. I'd give her some time," Dan whispered back. He took his seat behind the introverted girl and pulled out some manuscript paper. Sam just nodded as he made his way to his seat further back and to the side of the room.
As soon as everyone was situated, Mr. Ingle began reading off the announcements for the first day of classes. It was fairly mundane stuff: reminders for students to turn in forms, what was for lunch, club meeting schedules, nothing terribly exciting. It was already enough to put students to sleep. Sam just gazed around the room. He saw a couple of other familiar faces, but no one he was really acquainted with. Dan was still writing his music, wanting to get some more work on that done before being inundated with proper school work. Jill was still reading away. Sam didn't get a good look at the title, the book was wrapped in a custom cover, and he didn't want to invade the meek girl's privacy.
A loud knock could be heard from the door, interrupting Mr. Ingle's reading of the school's announcements. Everyone's heads turned toward the gate-crasher. The door swung open before he could even respond. Sam didn't have a good viewing angle at the door, but the voice from the other side was one he instantly recognized.
"Hey teach! Sorry I'm late, but here's a note from the office. Just had to finalize some things with the folks in administration," came a feminine voice that had a southern drawl to it.
Oh no. It can't be. It'd be too much of a coincidence! he frantically thought to himself. However, his fears would be affirmed as Mr. Ingle spoke the name of the newcomer.
"Ah Miss Winburn yes, I got a call from the office before class started. They notified me you'd be slightly late. Please come to the front and introduce yourself," Mr. Ingle said motioning for her to come in.
"Alrighty then!" "Hey y'all. Name's Ashley Winburn, but you can call me Ash! I'm from Augusta, Georgia and moved here over the summer. My dad is the new preacher for the town's church. I love rollerblading and extreme sports, cooking, and sweets! Anything else sir?"
"No that's fine. Now let's find you an open seat, shall we?
Sam scanned the room, curious as to where she was going to sit. He noticed her waving at Jill, while said girl gave a weak wave while hiding in her book. I wonder if they know each other.
He continued to look around until he saw an empty seat behind him and realized that, in all likelihood, she was going to be placed there.
"Ah there seems to be a place next to Mr. Locke," pointed out
Oh please, don't make a scene. He didn't want any attention to be called out to him, which he figured would happen due to her bubbly personality, and he tried to futily hide himself from her view.
She noticed him anyway, "Oh hi Sam!
Sam flinched with her exclamation toward him and his ears grew red with embarrassment. He wasn't really embarrassed for himself, but the memories of what happened earlier ran through his mind and he'd hoped that she wouldn't mention anything about that. The only relief that he had was that very few people actually saw the collision besides Dan and no one in his homeroom actually saw it. Rumors would spread more slowly, and he wouldn't have to hear anything from rumor-mongering idiots for a while.
"I take it you two are acquainted?" Mr. Ingle questioned sounding a bit cheerful at this potential revelation.
She nodded her head vigorously, "Yessir. We ran into each other this morning on the way to school. Him and Dan were outside the gates and showed me around."
"Ran" is putting it mildly, Sam thought while rolling his eyes.
"Perfect, I'm sure he'll also be more than willing to help you with your way around the school," Mr. Ingle said looking at Sam with a bit of mischief in his eyes.
Sam wanted to facepalm right there. He figured that Mr. Ingle was messing with him. Mr. Ingle had known him long enough to understand Sam's aversion to close relationships, and Sam realized he probably did this on purpose to get him to form a friendship with her and for her to have a reliable guide around the school in the form of an acquaintance.
Why couldn't he get Dan to do this? he mentally complained. He looked over at Dan who just wore a tremendous grin on his face and was stifling a laugh as he held his pen over the manuscript he was composing. Sam threw him a dirty glare and looked back toward the front of the room as Ash started walking toward her desk.
He grimaced as some whispers were heard from around the room. People knew he wasn't an outgoing person, although most didn't know exactly why. Ash had a sunny smile as she sat in her desk, and Sam managed to force out a meager smile in response. It wasn't that he didn't like the girl, it was just that they didn't have the best first impressions and from what he could tell she had a bit of an overbearing personality.
Before he could exchange greetings with the girl a voice bleated out near the back of the room, "Ya sure that's a good idea Mr. Ingle? It's not like Sam's a popular fellow or anything."
Sam's expression went dark. It was Mark Cunningham. He was one of those kids that had a ton of "friends" in the crowds that people inexplicably wanted to be a part of. To Sam they were just a bunch of prejudicial, snobby, pretentious brats and if you weren't in their crowd you weren't worth their time. He hated that.
Sam sighed. He may have not wanted any sort of interest drawn to himself, and he certainly preferred to avoid confrontations, but now that he was being called out, he may as well defend himself, "I may not be a social butterfly, but at least I have sense enough not to ask out a girl and try hitting on her sister right in front of her afterward."
Many stifled laughs could be heard throughout the classroom; although Dan let it be known that he found the statement hilarious. They had remembered last year's incident vividly and the resulting slap that nailed Mark in the face afterward.
"What did you say!?" Mark exclaimed nearly jumping out of his seat.
"You heard me, you self-indulgent, preppy, idiot." Sam said while remaining seated and outwardly calm, but there was a twinge of tension in his voice.
Mr. Ingle just slammed his palms on the desk, "Enough! Both of you!"
"Need I remind you that you are on thin ice this year Mr. Cunningham? We don't need any smart remarks about your fellow classmates," he said with a stern look at the teen who had been avoiding eye contact with the man. He turned over to Sam and began to lecture him as well, "And Samuel you know better than to get drawn into others' goading remarks."
"Sorry Mr. Ingle," he said looking down at the ground like a child who had been scolded by a parent. He let his temper get to him and his outburst brought further attention to himself, which was the exact opposite of what he wanted to do.
Mr. Ingle forced the pair to make up with each other, which they were reluctant to do but did it to prevent any further wrath from the teacher. From his seat Dan rolled his eyes. He never liked forced apologies, especially when it was for jerks.
Sam decided to put the whole incident out of his mind. He looked back at the new girl. It was the first time that he actually got to take a good look at her without the wooziness. She was actually quite pretty. She had short, neck length, blonde hair that she must have taken extensive care of, because you couldn't even tell that she had been wearing a helmet for most of the morning. Her eyes were a bright blue color and her tanned skin made it seem like she spent a majority of her time outdoors. He decided to pay attention to the announcements before someone got the wrong idea of him staring at her.
As the period was winding down and Mr. Ingle had finished his announcements, he gave them some free time to socialize before heading to their first class. Ash leaned forward and tapped Sam on his shoulder, giving him a short start. He quickly turned around and was staring into her sapphire orbs. She whispered to him in a slightly concerned voice, "Hey, what was that all that stuff earlier 'bout?"
"He and I don't necessarily get along," he said while turning around and gathering his things, preparing to leave the class.
"He's a dick," Dan chimed in as he walked over to where Sam and Ash were. He was blunt about how he felt about people and wasn't going to let up on his opinion about Mark.
"What do ya mean?" she seemed curious about everyone's relationships.
"I mean that he is a part of the exclusive popular crowd," he said with a scoff, making it very clear he didn't care for those types of cliques.
She just finished with a monosyllabic "Oh" and the conversation began to slowly dwindle into awkwardness.
Sam chimed in wanting to ask about his observation earlier, "Do you know Jill?"
Ash nodded with renewed vigor and another one of what was becoming a trademark smile, "We met over the summer as my folks were movin' into our new home. She was such a nice gal and got me situated with the neighborhood.
"Wow cool. Weird how we all just happen to know each other right?" Dan said pointing to the three of them and motioning to Jill who was still absorbed in her text.
"Yup! It's kinda relievin' ya know? I was 'fraid of not bein' able to make friends quickly, but I'm glad I ran into you guys!" she exclaimed causing Dan to stifle another laugh after seeing Sam's expression drop.
"Yeah, it sure was a good thing you found someone with a good head on his shoulders," he said while holding back laughter at his own joke. Sam was not amused by Dan's lame pun.
It took her a minute to process what he meant before she realized it and put her hand close to her mouth in shock, "Oh yea…sorry 'bout that." She still felt bad and a bit embarrassed about crashing into Sam.
"I told you before, there is no harm done," Sam sighed. While it was a bit painful and annoying that the morning's incident was brought back up again, he didn't hold it against the girl. It was just an accident; an accident that occurred because of her…energetic nature. The bell rang and they began to head to their next class.
"Anyway, Mr. Ingle asked me to help you around so let me take a look at your schedule," Sam took a cursory look over at the classes and came to a stunning realization. He looked over them three times over just to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but every time the results were the same.
"You're in five of my classes?!" he exclaimed, mouth agape. Dan couldn't stifle another laugh and burst out laughing at Sam. He'd have to endure this energetic ball of…spunk for five out of the seven classes he had. He rubbed his forehead. He foresaw this semester being a potentially draining experience for him.
()()()()
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 / Danann High School – Outdoors / 12:30 PM
Lunch was a welcome reprieve from the hectic morning that was thrown at Sam. After guiding Ash around the school to her classes and explaining the structure of the school, he introduced her to the cafeteria. Danann High's lunch period was fairly lax with how and where students could eat lunch. As long as you were stayed out of certain designated areas, you could eat anywhere. Seniors and juniors with transportation could even leave campus as long as they were back in time for the next period.
They found a table outside near one of the lawns. Dan was going to meet them there. He had to give the original copy of his song to the jazz ensemble instructor so copies could be made. Ash tried to grab Jill but she had secluded herself in the library, and she didn't want to disturb her.
Sam pulled out his lunch. It was just a modest sandwich with a protein shake and some fresh vegetables. He noticed that she didn't have anything to eat and kept peeking toward his sandwich.
"Don't you have something to eat?" he asked.
"Oh! Uh…I was scared that I was gonna be late to class, so I…kinda rushed out without money or my own lunch," she mumbled the last part.
Sam slapped his forehead. It was only one day and this girl was already going to be the death of him. He tore his sandwich in half and handed it to her. She looked surprised.
"Oh! Thanks but I'm fine," she said waving her hands. Her stomach growled, and an awkward silence followed afterwards until she laughed it off, "Really!"
He forced the food into her hands, "Just take it. I made too much anyway. I don't want to have a full stomach before going to the boxing meeting this afternoon."
That was only a half-truth. They weren't going to actually work out today, just meet any new freshman that wanted to join the club, but he needed an excuse for her to take the food.
Ash looked at the sandwich and gave him a grin, "Hehe, thanks."
He felt his ears burn brightly and turned his head away, "Don't mention it. Besides don't waste your money on cafeteria food. It isn't that good."
They continued with their lunch, while Dan came over with his own food in tow, "Hey guys, I'm back. Jazz director got the manuscript. He's gonna make copy's and distribute them at the meeting after school."
He took a seat and saw her eating a part of Sam's sandwich, "Isn't that yo–"
Sam quickly swallowed and interrupted Dan, "Don't worry about it."
Dan shrugged his head and pulled out another blank piece of manuscript paper, a pen, and his tablet as he was eating his own lunch.
Sam's eyes narrowed, "You are already working again?
"I got lots to do. I need to finish this music app so it'll help me work on this piece for the winter concert."
Sam shook his head, "That is a hefty amount of stuff to do man. You are going to overwork yourself."
Dan waved his hand while shaking his head, "Nah, I'll be fine. Besides my courses don't seem too hard this semester. My folks aren't going to make it easy on me to get my music written, so I got to get every bit of time I can get."
Sam relented on the issue, but still felt some slight concern. Dan was expressing his workaholic tendencies again. Since his parents tended to push him toward a life path that he didn't want, he had to use all his spare time working on his musical and programming hobbies. They continued with small talk as lunch was quickly passing by. While they were telling Ash more about their town, someone decided to walk up behind the trio and he slammed his palm on Sam's shoulder."
"Hola amigos!" the newcomer exclaimed as he slapped Sam's shoulder again, "How are you all? You seem like a new face. Rare to see you warming up to anyone, Sammy-chico."
Dan nodded at the guy who was still slapping Sam's shoulder "Hello Raffi."
He stopped slapping Sam on his shoulder when he saw the agitation on Sam's face, "Sam. Dan. Mind introducing me to your new friend?"
Ash jumped up and threw out her hand at "Name's Ashley Winburn, but my friends all call me Ash!"
"Raphael Hernandez, a senior and member of the Honor Society, at your service," he said shaking her hand gently. Raphael was a very tall individual with black hair and brown eyes and a very tan skin tone. While he was wearing rather plain clothes, he held himself with a large amount of confidence and his height reinforced that strong character.
"We've just met today," Sam said and explained how they met earlier today, while omitting certain parts of the story. Raffi was a nice guy that took time to know a lot of the students in the school. Sam knew a little about the senior and was only really acquainted with him.
"I see, I see," he nodded to Ash, "Well you are in good hands with these two. They are good fellows."
"Heh, thanks!" Dan said, scratching the back of his head while enjoying the praise.
Sam also felt pretty good at Raphael's words. However, it dawned on him that something was missing or rather someone was missing. Wait if he is here then that means she is…oh no.
"Raphael, there you are!" called a voice walking quickly to the table. Sam felt like a prophet as another one of his fears came true today. A girl with long black hair tied in a ponytail walked up beside Raphael.
"I've been looking all over for you! I need your opinion on something that the student council is talking about," she said to him not noticing the trio at the table.
"Oh I'm so sorry! I failed to notice you," she said with a polite bow.
"Yea you're good at that aren't you?" Dan muttered under his breath.
Either she didn't hear him or just ignored him, "Samuel, it is good to see you. Would you please introduce me to your acquaintance? I don't seem to recognize her."
"Sure. Kimberly this is Ashley. Ash, Kim," he said motioning to each of the girls.
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm a senior in the student council and a cheerleader for our school," Kimberly offered her hand, which Ash took and gave her a strong handshake. Kim eventually pulled her hand back and rubbed her wrist while giving Ash a weak smile. Her eyes then turned to Dan, and Sam could feel a chill blowing through the air.
"Kimberly," Dan said averting his gaze from the girl.
"Daniel," she replied as her eyes looked down at the scribbles on his manuscript paper and the tablet with his headphones plugged in. She scoffed, "I see you are still wasting your time on your ridiculous music and computer nonsense."
Sam's head rolled back and he just stared at the ceiling. I just wanted a peaceful first day! Is that too much to ask for?
Dan shot straight up, "I still see you are a part of the bureaucratic do nothings and that cult of superficial, prejudicial girls"
She slammed her hands on the table, "The student council works in the best interest of all the students! And cheering is good for our sports teams and fans morale!"
"And my personal projects are no business of yours!" he shouted back at her.
To say that there was bad blood between the two would be an understatement. It wasn't really antagonistic hate but more of an intense rivalry between the two, despite being in different grades. Although some would rather classify it as the former, it never got too bad. The rivalry had been going on for as long as Sam could remember.
Kim felt slighted ever since Dan beat her in the elementary school spelling bee. He was a grade younger than her but managed to overcome her, the smartest student in her grade. It didn't help that Dan was a bit over jubilant after that victory. Ever since then, they got into a cycle of one upping each other and insulting each other's interests. To be frank, it was fairly common and an annoyance that escalated into utter nonsense. Today seemed to be no different.
"Good thing Jill didn't come with you. This would have scared her away for a while," Sam said while rubbing his temples at the absurdity of their argument.
"Is there something wrong with those two?" whispered Ash to Sam.
Sam just sighed as he whispered back to her, "They are always like this. There is a bit of a stupid rivalry between the two."
"Kinda like you and that guy in homeroom?"
"No, nothing like that. I just dislike that prick. These two, well let's just say it is akin to sibling rivalry on steroids. They constantly have to one up each other," he said trying to put it in mild terms.
"I probably shouldn't have led her here," said Raffi with a nervous laugh.
Sam shook his head; as much as it annoyed him it was probably best that they got this out of the way early, "Nah, this was inevitable. Might as well have them go at each other's throats early and maybe they'll be satisfied enough to not say anything for the rest of the week."
"We can only hope," Raffi sighed.
Ash slowly nodded in understanding. The argument started escalating into completely random school subjects, school policy issues, and then they began to make ridiculous contests between them. She was about to step forward and try to stop the two, but Sam stopped her, shaking his head.
"I'll take care of this. Throw Dan's things in his bag and get ready to jet. He won't mind," he said to her. Dan and Kim were too busy in their arguing to actually pay attention to what was being said between the three onlookers.
"Gracias Sam," Raffi whispered to him. Sam nodded as he walked toward the arguing duo.
"Well, I bet I can recite more numbers of pi than you!" Kim said after Dan won a game of rock paper scissors.
"Oh yeah? You're o – ack!" Dan was interrupted as Sam pulled him away.
"Oh would you look at the time! We have to go do that jazz ensemble thing don't we Dan? And I have to show Ash to her next class. Well we'll just leave you two to your business," he said with a fake smile as he grabbed Ash who had finished putting Dan's things in his bags and dragged the two inside the school and toward their next few classes.
()()()()
Tuesday, September 4, 2012 / Danann High School – Front Lawn / 4:00 PM
The club meetings had been thankfully short. After the headache he had today, Sam just wanted to relax. He picked up the sheet music from the jazz ensemble. Dan had left after that and Sam stopped by the boxing club's room. He did get harassed from the boxing club members about an incident they heard rumors about earlier, but thankfully no one really pressed him any further.
As he was leaving the school grounds he saw Ash in front of the school. Her skates and helmet were in her hands and she was looking back at the building with a wistful smile.
"Hey. Why are you still here? In a club?" he asked, but then he noticed the saddened look in her eye, "Hey are you alright?"
She nodded turning that look into a more cheerful expression, "Yeah, I'm just thinkin' about how different things are here compared to back home. I left a lot of things back there…" She began to trail off with a sense of nostalgia in her voice.
Sam wasn't sure how to console her. Moving to a new environment wasn't something that he directly experienced, but he did know how it felt to have your life change and how alone that can make someone feel, "I can imagine having to move in the middle of your high school years would be tough."
She nodded, "Yea but I made some friends pretty early and that sure did help. I must be a lucky gal meetin' you and Dan earlier today!" Her mood brightened considerably and the two began walking away from the school. She had an inquisitive look in her eyes as she spoke up again, "Thanks so much for helping me around today! One last thing, do ya know anything about skate parks or somethin' around these parts? Jill didn't really know much 'bout it when I asked her."
"Oh right, you mentioned you liked extreme sports in homeroom, bet that caught some people by surprise. I guess I should have known when you slammed into me this morning, but that might have gotten thrown out of my memory," he said while rubbing his head. She just made a nervous laugh as Sam just smirked at her expression. He stroked his chin thinking about any place that could fit her description, "As for places to skate, I'm pretty sure The Lounge has at least something for that. Not many people actually do much extreme skating, but there are some small ramps and such. Other than that, sorry you'd probably have to head over to another nearby town."
"I see. Can you show me the way to The Lounge sometime?" she asked head tilted.
"Sure," he nodded. They continued down the road until they had to split off into different directions toward their respective homes, and they exchanged goodbyes.
I suppose it wasn't all bad. He mused to himself as he walked toward his home.
A/N: So yeah…it has been over a year. Sorry about that. A ton of things popped up in my life, and while it may have seemed like I've abandoned this, I want to make it known that I plan on continuing. I'm extremely sorry that this came so late though. I had it prepared for over a year and just never got around to proofing it and making sure there were no contradictions. I've had most everything planned for a while, but never was able to work on this due to circumstances that devoured tons of time from me. But I'm back now, and I'll let you know what happens ahead of time. I'll be firing on all cylinders and try to get things out ever two weeks to a month depending on what I have to do for school.
Back to the story at hand. At this point I just wanted to introduce school life and new characters that would be important to Sam's future growth. We are extremely close to what most people want to see though, Personas.