The walk to class initially felt like a mile to Charlie Brown; the hallway seemed to stretch forever while he was next to Heather, and he worried about every movement he made. The numbers next to the doors blurred in his vision as he kept looking for their class. He didn't dare glance over at Heather during their walk, afraid to meet her eyes.
"So, do you like our math class so far?" She asked him with her shy voice, calming down Charlie Brown a bit, since the silence had finally been broken. His mind raced on how to respond to her. Despite being infatuated with her for years, he didn't know her feelings about school and her classes. He decided to be honest, like Linus told him to be.
"I was a bit disappointed that we did dive straight into it the first day, but I would rather have the time we need to learn it than fail the test," Charlie Brown responded, smiling a bit after his response. Heather nodded at his remarks in agreement.
"What was wrong with your friend today after class? I think Lucy is her name. She looked sourer than a lemon." Heather said to Charlie Brown. He chuckled a bit at the question. He didn't want to be too mean to Lucy, but she never held back when talking about him.
"She was disappointed, like you and me, that we worked the first day of class," Charlie Brown answered. "She can get extremely crabby when things don't go her way. She may be as sour as a lemon, but she can pack a punch. This one time, she made everybody vote for her brother for class president just by threatening them," he explained.
Heather's face turned to a look of shock as her eyes widened. She had always observed from the sidelines, as she was too shy previously to make any good friends during the school year. It took her a year to realize that Lucy and Charlie Brown were friends because of how Lucy acted toward him. Charlie Brown glanced over to see Heather's look of shock.
"But she is a good person; she's just deeply passionate. Trust me, we call her crabby instead of mean because she can turn red like one," Charlie Brown quickly explained. Heather giggled at his joke. The two had gotten so caught up in talking that they had almost passed their class by accident.
The pair walked in, with Heather following Charlie Brown. She didn't know anyone, so she hoped he would allow her to sit by him. Charlie Brown's eyes darted around the room until he spotted two open spots by his friend.
"Franklin, mind if we sit here?" Charlie Brown asked
"Not at all. Who is your friend?" Franklin responded. He hadn't looked up, but he had a natural, acute sense of hearing and saw Heather's blue dress in the corner of his eye.
"This is Heather," Charlie Brown answered as he took a seat, causing Franklin to look up fast and see Heather nervously waving at him. He looked at Charlie Brown. Laughing a little under his breath. Charlie Brown rolled his eyes and took his seat.
"Good grief, Linus told you too?" Charlie Brown leaned over and quietly asked, rolling his eyes as well; Franklin looked down at his book, trying not to laugh more, and shook his head yes. Charlie Brown sighed and slumped into his chair a bit.
"But it's also extremely obvious," Franklin added. Charlie Brown got a little red with anger but remembered Heather was next to him. He started getting out his notebook and pencil, trying to impress Heather with how ready he was for class. Franklin looked up from his book and shook his head, knowing what Charlie Brown was trying to do.
"Why are you getting your stuff out already? Do you think we'll be writing in our first class?" Heather asked after a few moments; she didn't want to be rude, but it seemed foolish. Charlie Brown had expected this and readied the line he had practiced in his head.
"A good student is always ready as soon as possible for anything to be thrown his way," Charlie Brown answered, hoping it had worked as intended. Franklin snickered behind his book, overhearing the conversation. Heather raised an eyebrow at what almost sounded like a kid reading lines for their first play.
"Didn't you tell me at the wall the other day you think that even bringing a backpack to class the first day is stupid?" Franklin chimed in without looking up from his book. Charlie Brown was left speechless for a moment, thinking up a response. He whipped around and looked at Franklin, frowning at him.
"Well, I've had a change of heart; in our first class we had to do math the first day." Charlie Brown rebutted; Franklin looked up from his book, looking at Charlie Brown, then at Heather.
"Is that true?" He asked Heather; she nodded quickly. "Huh, well then I stand corrected; I'm sure Lucy was happy about that," Franklin commented. Heather and Charlie Brown laughed.
"Oh, she had a whole tantrum about it in the hallway," Charlie Brown said, rolling his eyes.
"She didn't look happy at all; she stormed out of class before I was done packing up," Heather added, giggling through her words.
Meanwhile, Lucy had finally arrived at her next class, social studies. She studied the room, noticing the desks were in clumps instead of rows. She looked for a place to sit until she spotted Violet sitting by Patty in their desk clump. Lucy walked over, thinking that they had kept the third seat for her, as the three had always been close.
"Hey Violet, hello Patty, how is it going?" Lucy asked as she put down her backpack and prepared to take her seat.
"That seat is taken, Lucy," Violet snapped at her in her snobbish tone. Lucy froze and looked up at her, confused, as the three were best friends.
"Frieda is going to be sitting there," Patty answered Lucy's question before she even asked. Lucy picked up her backpack slowly, opening her mouth to say something several times, but not doing so because the teacher was watching. Lucy walked towards an empty desk cluster to get away from them.
"Imagine your younger brother being in the same grade as you and not skipping any; how embarrassing," Violet stated, as Lucy retreated, and Patty chuckled at the comment. Lucy clenched her fist in rage as she approached the table, fuming as she slumped into her seat and dropped her backpack.
She laid her head down on the desk in sorrow, just waiting for class to start. As the minutes passed, more students filtered in and took their seats. The students got louder, but Lucy could hear every time the three girls laughed. Assuming every time that they were laughing at her. She heard footsteps approaching, getting closer to her; she didn't dare look up in fear of it being Violet.
"Hey, you're Lucy, right?" Lucy felt relieved that it wasn't Violet. She looked up and saw a familiar face with blonde hair but couldn't remember where she had seen her before.
"Yes," Lucy said quietly.
"I'm Janice; we met a few years ago. I'm good friends with your brother!" She responded, grabbing Lucy's hand from the desk and shaking it, startling Lucy with how much energy she had. Janice sat next to Lucy, excited she knew someone in the class.
"How's your day going?!" Janice asked Lucy right after sitting down, still bursting with energy. Lucy didn't answer for a second after processing all the information she had just heard.
"It's, uh... fine," Lucy responded, glaring over at Violet's table and seeing them crack jokes, probably at Lucy's expense. Janice noticed this and noticed Lucy's odd overall behavior. She wanted to ask what was bothering Lucy, but she knew Lucy wouldn't want to share that with her, not yet.
"So, what did you do in your first class? I had P.E., and wow, we played all these fun games. I'm so excited to go back to that class!" Janice asked, trying to distract Lucy from what was happening across the other table.
"We had to do math on our first day; it was terrible! The erasure of first-day games is upon us," Lucy responded, forgetting about what Violet had said to focus on how mad she was at her math teacher. She also hoped that by responding to Janice, she would calm down a bit; it was too much positivity for Lucy's taste.
"Wow, I can't believe that. Well, I'm sure this class will go way better."
"It's already going worse than the last one," Lucy muttered under her breath, resting her head on her hand, hoping for class to start soon so it could be over and lunch could start. Janice frowned at her attempts to make Lucy feel better; it had been a couple of months since she and Linus had talked, but she was trying to remember what made Lucy happy.
"What do you think of this boy called Schroeder? I've heard some things about him; I think he's a piano player," Janice said, smiling now, remembering what Linus had told her. Lucy perked up a bit and looked at her.
"He's not just a piano player; he is one of the best! I could listen to his tunes for hours and hours, ohh Schroeder." Lucy explained, closing her eyes and entranced by the thought of Schroeder. Janice recoiled a bit, not expecting a great response from Lucy.
"That was a bit eccentric," Janice muttered to herself. Lucy remained lost in thought, forgetting the whole ordeal with Violet. The bell rang, and the remaining students took their seats. To Lucy's delight, the teacher announced that they would simply introduce themselves.