TWO

Great… just great.

Like every time a new student integrated our group, Hanji made them stand up front to talk. Now I had to hear about the hobbies and liking of someone I don't know and don't care shit about. What? Do I have to hear how many times a guy likes to go to the bathroom? For fuck's sake! It's like when she made me go to the front the first day, I said 'My name's you don't give a fuck and my hobbies are none of your business'. Nah, I really didn't say that, but I wanted to. That was back when I was a dummy and a fool. I changed. So if the teacher asked me again, I would say that, totally.

The guy was speaking and I drifted into thoughts, to my own world, until he said something that made me come back into reality, -"My hobbies are writing, reading, drawing, play video games… and I also like…,"-I waited for it, but…, -"… like to read comics and yeah… that's it."- He shrugged and smiled awkwardly.

I snorted. All eyes were on me. I thought he was going to say that he liked guys, 'cause… that'd be funny and wrong. It's a guy and a girl. No guy could like another guy. It's disgusting and not cool. Guys like that were lame and so gay, and this guy on the front looked like one; just by looking at his freckles you could tell. It looked so bad on guys. Only womanish guys had them.

-"Is something the matter, Kirshtein?"- Hanji asked me from her desk, glaring at me, obviously angered. Well, she called me by my surname and that's not good. She didn't like it when someone laughed or talked while a student was on the front presenting themselves and especially if it was to mock the person. In my case, I couldn't hold myself.

-"Nothing, miss,"- I said and cracked her a smile forcefully. Her face was creepy. She always made that creepy face to intimidate someone; unfortunately for her, not me, -"Nothing's wrong with me, but… well, neh."- I shrugged, wanting to say that he had something wrong, but it's not worth the detention.

She kept glaring at me while I grinned to the freckled guy. He just stared at me with that innocent face, while holding the book in his hands as if hugging it. I discovered something else: he's a nerd. He liked to read, apparently, and that was lame. I scored another point.

Hanji growled and sighed, turning her head towards the guy, -"Well, thank you, Marco. It's nice to have you with us in twelve two."

-"Th-thanks."- He said awkwardly, still oblivious to what just happened and sat. To my disbelief, the only desks available were in my line, so he sat behind me, because he couldn't seat another row back. Idiot.

I sighed. My day couldn't get any worse. I was trying to get away from guys like him and look. I'll just ignore him.

While Hanji kept going with her class, I thought about my life.

Jean Kirshtein's the name, eighteen years old in twelve grade whose life couldn't get any worse. It's not easy to live with an annoying mother who critics everything you do and juts sit in the couch all day. It's also not easy to live with a bunch of idiots as your classmates, because really, they were all a bunch of idiots and nerds and stupid and whatever else they could be. That's why I always hung out with the other group, the other twelve grade: twelve one. They were the cool guys, the ones who did all sorts of things and were always around girls. The number One. My girlfriend is in that group. They did sports: basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, etc. They're the reason why I'm at the soccer club. Best team ever. These guys in my group were a bunch of wannabes. Oh! And from now on, I'll be hanging andhooking up with my girlfriend who hasn't texted me back. It's weird because, she answers rather quickly, just like last night. I wrote her and in a second, she already answered me.

Other than that, I studied in Trost High School, City of Rose and I lived pretty close too. There were better schools than this one like the ones in Sina and I'm not even mentioning the universities there. This one was a baby compared to the ones there. I say that without reciting the ones on Maria City, those were like gnat. Anyhow, I really didn't care. I was practically obligated to come here, but the only reason I came was because of my friends, girlfriend and because I didn't want to be with mom at home. I shiver at the thought of being a whole day with her.

I have high hopes that my live will change when I'm out of here. It will all change, I know it or else I'll make it. I want to be independent already and make my own decisions without having to depend on my mom or anyone else.

So much though made me weary, so I placed my head on the desk, looking away into the hallway. My eyes closed on their own…

-"Jean! What is the result of 360 divided by 50 and multiplied by 10 which is the exact percent of the angle in circle I just drew?"

I jerked my head up by the teacher's high voice and looked at her. I looked at the chalkboard, invaded by an impossible amount of numbers and formulas for… what? And above all… when did she write all that? Drowsily, I answered, -"Pft, that's easy… it's…,"- I focused on the chalkboard, looking for clues, but found none and just shrugged it off. A few snickers were heard.

She sighed and pointed somewhere behind me or… someone, -"Yes, Marco?"- She smiled widely at him, somehow knowing he'd get the right answer.

Which he did, -"It's 72, miss. That's the exact percent of the angle. If you multiply it by ten, you can get the other angle as well."- He said as he wrote something in his notebook. I looked around and noticed that everyone had theirs out. Since when did they have to take the notebooks out? I was the only one without mine out; hell, I didn't even have notebooks to begin with. Just a few. Not enough for all the classes though.

-"Very, very good, Marco,"- Hanji expressed cheerily, -"I knew you'd get it right."- She glanced at me and I scoffed, looking away.

I clicked my tongue, irritated and placed down my head on the desk again. Wow. We had a smartass in our group. Another one. Yay.

I kept sighing and wondering off into space for the rest of the class. When the bell was about to ring, Hanji called to me, -"Kirshtein, if you could please stay, I'd be grateful."- Her voice was gentle, but her face wasn't.

I cursed mentally as the rest of the group left, leaving me being the only one in this damned classroom.

Or so I though.

Because the new guy stayed. Then, one thing was for sure and it proved I was right: he was gay and he liked me. No way! I tried my best to stay as far away as I could from him, walking towards Hanji's desk.

-"Jean,"- Hanji sighed and crossed her hands together, resting her chin on them, her elbows on her desk;-"I'm worried about- oh, Marco, let me speak to him first and then I'll be with you in a minute and thirty two second with fifteen microseconds. Please don't go."- She smiled to him with those stupid puppy eyes.

He laughed a little and smiled back to her, -"It's okay. Take your time."- He smiled sweetly, but I knew that in the back of his mind, he said 'Hurry up, bitch or I'll be late for my next class'like any other nerd would. Speaking of next class, I heard that the teacher was absent, but I wasn't gonna tell him that. Freshmen like him should find out on their own.

-"Thank you,"- She then turned her gaze to me and spoke lowly, her face full of seriousness,-"I'm really worried about you, Jean. You didn't paid attention to my class. Irresponsibility will only take you down and this year has just begun… you've been carefree and ignorant. You didn't used to be like that. What's the matter? Are there some problems in your home that you want to talk about? I'm all ears for the students, especially the students from mygroup."- She was speaking in low tone, almost like a whisper, probably to prevent the new guy from hearing. It wasn't working though, he heard the scolding Hanji just gave me and I knew because of the worried expression he had. It was the same one as Hanji's.

I sighed angrily. Who was she to scold me like that? Besides, nothing was wrong with me. I just choose to enjoy life more. True, I changed, but it was for the best because I used to be a wimp and a fool. I chose that I wasn't going to let anyone take advantage of me because of that. Above all, I'm a grown up. Things change, I change. I need to be strong and let the childish drown. It's cool anyway. Life's like this: if you couldn't be one of the best, then be impressed. I chose to be the best with the best.

I wasn't going to tell her any of that, so I just shrugged ignorantly and gave her my best 'I don't really know, and don't care' face and really, I didn't. At least something good came out of me: I'm being honest for once.

She sighed wearily, -"I can't believe you…,"- But before she could continue, I was already out and her worried face worsen. With any other student, she would've gone wild mad because what I did was disrespectful, but she didn't for me and that meant that she really was worried. From the look on the newbie's face, I thought that he might ask her about me, so I stood near the door and listened, -"Good grief, I don't know what else to do about him...,"- That wasn't meant for anyone to hear and she quickly realized that someone was waiting for her, -"Oh! Marco, did you need me for something?"

-"Uh… yeah,"- I heard him say. His voice sounded bothered, -"It's my schedule and… I'm kind of lost".

-"Oh, of course you'd be! Let me write you down the teacher's names. Okay… this one is in the upper level and…"- I heard the sound of scribbles and muttering as she told him each of the classroom's location, -"There you go! If you have any doubts, just ask!"

-"Okay. Thanks!"

-"Sure thing!"

I heard footsteps coming closer and I dashed away. Well, he didn't ask anything about me, but that didn't change my mind from believing that he's gay.

I kept walking, unaware of where I should go. Oh, yeah… my next class. Suddenly, I forgot and took out the paper with my schedule.

Math- Upper level

Science- Upper level

Spanish- Upper level

English- Lower level

LAUNCH

Art- Lower level

Chemistry- Lower level

Physical Education: Court

These papers were still unfinished. They didn't have the teacher's names beside their classes, probably because there were new teachers to coming. I grunted, already tired. Next is science and I felt like cutting it. I didn't want to see Hannes –if he's still the teacher- and hear his stupid talk about animals and how they reproduce and shit.

I texted my girlfriend, Where r u?

This time, she answered quickly, I already see u ;)

When I turned and saw her, my jaw drooped and I realized just how beautiful the school's uniform looked on her, because on me it was horrible. Short skirt that reached above her knee, exposing her thigh tanned flesh. Girls were supposed to wear long black socks to prevent guys like me drool over. Either way, most girls didn't wore them –it was better that way. Hey, we guys have eyes and we gotta see what we like. The white buttoned shirt was a little too tight and while having the first button free, her chest was clearly visible. Perfect. Around the shirt was the grey vest that had the school's weird logo. It was the side of the face of a brown haired woman with a crown. Now, to the top. My girlfriend had blonde almost white straight hair and her eyes were a blueish purple that perfectly matched her makeup, especially her pink lips. Her name was Trisha and…that's it, but I had a feeling that was her nickname. I don't really know.

She put her lips together and walked over to me nicely, even with those high heels boots. Leaning over, she kissed me. A sweet, but startling shiver ran through me when she pressed it even more. Between the kisses, she asked me, -"Don't you have class now?"

-"Uh… yeah, I think so. Not sure..."- My voice was shaky. She put me nervous.

-"Then, let's go somewhere else."- She whispered to my ear and pulled me away. We walked, hands together, into a nice cozy hub where the pairs hooked up. It was called the Love Nest and even now, class period, there were like five or more pairs making out. In the hub were nice red couches rounding up a table, which had a lot of gum glued below. Behind the couches were long windows that when you looked down through them, you could see the lower level's round courtyard where students always played different stuff. That kind of looked like the one million courtyards Hogwarts had. Wait… where did that come from?

We sat beside a couple that were really into it and my heart almost stopped. This was it; the moment of truth, where we were really going to get intimate. She wrapped her hands around my neck, -"Ready?"- Her voice was so sensual…

My heart beats were so fast that it wouldn't surprise me if she heard it, -"Y-yeah… bring it, b-baby."- That was horrible. My voice was so messed up, unlike hers. She kept it cool, while I was losing my mind.

I leaned closer, but before we could begin, I heard a familiar voice, -"Umm, excuse me."

I looked up to the new freckled guy, -"Oh… hey."- I muttered, clearly angry at him for interrupting my special moment. Was he following me or what?

-"Sorry to interrupt… but I…,"- His voice was shaky. He was nervous, ashamed for interrupting us. He sounded just like me a few seconds ago, -"I'm lost and-"

-"Again?"- I asked and snorted, trying to be cool to impress Trisha, -"Science classroom is in the lower level."- I lied, grinning. I knew I had to look hot for Trisha. She gave a look and raised an eyebrow, opening her mouth to comment, but she closed it.

-"Oh,"- He put on a doubtful face and looked at the school's schedule paper, more lost, -"Okay. Thanks."- Turning around, I saw his backpack. My jaw dropped. It was the DC Heroes backpack that was impossible to find and I always wanted when younger. I felt a prick of jealousy, but quickly shove it away. I had long since forgotten all that stuff.

I had no idea if he went to the lower level or not; if he did, he's a total idiot.

-"Wow,"- Trisha said beside me, -"You're a real bad boy, you know that? I like it."

That quickly sent good feelings in me and I smirked. My bad boy attitude faded, replaced by nervousness, -"You k-know me."

-"Is that a new guy in your group?"- She asked, even though she knew the answer, because she seemed to know everyone on this school, especially guys and that bothered me a little, -"He's adorable."

That bothered me even more and pissed me off. Without thinking, I pulled her head towards mine and smashed my lips into hers. She didn't complain and that meant she remarked Marco in that way on purpose. I liked that.

I was so pissed off at him that I remembered his name. God.

We were at the level of our tongues dancing, when someone poked my shoulders, -"Hey you."

Trisha gasped and broke the kiss, familiar with the voice. I gazed up, breathing heavily and inspected the motherfucker.

I never saw him in my life, but his little composure was intimidating. He didn't even reach five meter height, but of course, I wasn't going to show him fear, and even less if Trisha was beside me, who did seemed quite in shock. I stared at him. He was white skinned, almost pale like a vampire's. To add more, his hair was black with the undercut style and perfectly shining. His eyes were a little bit disturbing; the pupil was small and grey, but had that sharp intensity of seriousness and intimidation. He seemed like a business man with that black formal suit that guys wore on their proms, but I had a feeling he was a teacher… a new one.

I just stared at him and he stared back at me with that piercing look while frowning. It was like a competition. He seemed more of a bad boy than me, -"It appears to me that you have class now,"- He leaned down and put his hand back, -"And you better get your ass moving."

In the end… he won.

And I was pulled away by my own force.