Hybrid

by Melissas Writings

  Nevertheless, he didn’t ask me to correct it and I was relieved. I wanted to delay telling them about my life.

  About homeschooling. Simon had once told me that it was not a big deal. People go for it; but they usually have a solid reason behind it. Since I didn’t know nor had I questioned anyone about it, so I didn’t want to tell them anything yet. Not until I know the reasons.

  He brought his hand in front of me waved, startling me out of my thoughts. Tell me something about yourself.

  I scrabbled and shifted my notepad towards him. There is nothing much to tell. My elder brother assists my dad in his current project. My mom travels with my dad wherever he goes.

  He quickly wrote something and passed me- You are lucky to be able to do whatever you want. My dad is in federal force, my mom is a teacher here. And my brother is one of the most famous personalities in this school. They all are a big pain in my ass. Then he drew a sad smiley.

  Even the small smile on my face faltered a bit as memories bombarded my head. I wish I could do whatever I want. The main problem was that after having lived in isolation for so long, I don't even know what I want anymore.

  But, I forced a smile back on my face. I won’t let old memories ruin what I have at the moment. For now I can dream of a happy life, where I have friends who love me unconditionally.

  Five minutes before bell rang; the teacher asked if anyone had any questions.

  The boy to my left raised his hand.

  “Yes, Anthony?” She questioned

  “For past two months you are teaching us about various organs in our body. What about sex education?”he asked curiously. He received a pat on his back from the student sitting behind him.

  All of a sudden it sparked the attention of everyone in the classroom. The class was no longer quiet after this question. Whispering and murmuring was getting loud with each passing second.

  “Silence, please” She requested but her eyes were emanating anger.

  Everybody went quiet. It was apparent that she didn’t like people questioning anything other than what was taught in the class.

  She looked at the boy and then directed her gaze at everyone.“If you keep behaving nicely, then I could think of taking it next week.”

  A girl sitting at the back raised one question.

  “We are behaving nicely from the past three weeks. Isn’t it enough?” she whined like a baby.

  Teacher responded “Like I said, I will think it over. Is there any other question anyone would like to ask?”

  Silence

  She didn’t look happy with the response “Well, It seems that you all have understood what was taught today. By Thursday I expect you to write everything that I have taught today. Is that clear? ”

  Yes the students said in unison.

  The bell rang and kids bolted from their seats like this class was on fire. Lucas said bye and rushed out.

  hYBrID XVII

  I was a nervous wreck way before reaching my first class. Walking with Greg was doing nothing to soothe my nerves. I was no more enthusiastic about my first day of school. May be it was because it’s been almost ten minutes and still we have not reached my class or It can be also because hallway was eerily quiet, unlike Simon’s description of his school where hallway is always filled with jostling students. In order to distract myself I had already counted the projects and the murals that were hanging in the hallways to the rooms we had crossed till now. We had traversed 15 classrooms, 3 study rooms, 2 chorus and band rooms, a mechanical drawing room, 2 swimming pools, a library, a large and a small auditorium, a Home economics classroom, 5 laboratories, 2 art rooms and an audio visual room.

  There was still no sign of my classroom. The school definitely spent a lot of money in infrastructure. They must be charging a lot as admission fees. Sammy didn’t tell me anything about the fees. Then again, it’s not like I even bothered to ask as I was more than happy to finally be able to attend a school. That was the last thing on my mind.

  .Greg had already shown me my locker which was next to the art room. At least it was in the vicinity of my comfort zone.

  I was sure of one thing that finding my way around this school was surely going to be a big problem for me.

  Greg must have noticed my growing anxiousness as he turned his face in my direction and gave me an assuring smile. “I have walked so many students to their first class of this school. It is okay to be little anxious. Kids in this school are friendly and warm. You won’t face any difficulty anywhere.”

  I was certain that he had no knowledge of my home tutoring. So it was obvious that no level of talk can help me in calming my nerves unless I experience it for myself.

  My face must have given away my distress as he slowed down his pace and said softly “Feel free to call me if you are stuck somewhere. But I am sure that you will be fine. By the end of day you yourself will delete my number.” He then brought his hand forward and then added “Give me your phone. I will feed my number in it.”

  I handed over my phone to him , he punched in his number and then looked at me “There you have my number.” He tilted his head to the left and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Forget that. I myself will call you after your first class.”

  Then he pressed the upper left key. He waited for some time and then furrowed his eyebrows and pressed the upper right key. The moment he pressed the same left key for the second time, I remembered that my phone doesn’t have outgoing call facility.

  Before I could tell him that he opened his mouth “There seems to be some problem with this handset. You give me your number.” Then he turned his body towards his right side. “We have reached your classroom.”

  I was so involved with Greg that I didn’t even notice that we had stopped in front of a class. So without wasting any more time, I told him my number and thanked him. He wished me luck for my first class and I rushed towards my first class.

  I wasn’t aware of the general protocol so I entered the class with Teacher's permission and slowly walked in her direction. The classroom was exactly as told on several occasions by Simon. White board with a projector mounted on the top. It was biology class as there was a human skeleton at teacher’s right side. She had a remote on her left hand. She was a blonde, blue eyes and a petite figure.

  I looked to my left, saw students sitting in their respective places and staring at me. I couldn’t continue to look at them as I was feeling little uncomfortable.

  Teacher took the plunge of initiating the conversation. She smiled and said “Hello dear, I am Marissa Claire. This seems to be your first day of school here. So I won’t ask for the Hall pass, but in future remember that one requires hall pass for entering late in the class.”

  I just nodded

  “Well, Introduce yourself, dear” She demanded with a smile.

  I gulped. My throat went dry, fear ran right through every cell of my body as I turned towards my left. I couldn’t meet their gaze so I just looked at the first table and began my introduction

  “He- hello, I am Ashley Sorenson. I am new here. I was earlier living at Connecticut…” I trailed off nervously. At a moment like this, I wished Alex was present in this class with me. Saving me from this torturous situation.

  Thankfully the Teacher bailed me out of this situation “It’s Okay. Get settled in any of the free chairs.” and then she turned towards the board.

  I started moving towards the first empty chair that I saw in my peripheral vision. There was a boy sitting in the second row. He was all black except his pale face. The boy had dark black hair and eyebrows. He also had one of his eyebrows pierced. Piercing was also metallic black in color. Each strand of his hair was in a different direction. He was wearing black t-shirt and black cargo pants. So much black. It was kinda scary.

  I cleared my throat and asked apprehensively “Can I sit here?”

  His eyebrows shot up, jaw dropped and he stared at me like I had grown two heads. When I continued standing for some time, then he regaine
d his composure “It’s a free country darling. You can sit anywhere you want.”

  I sat down and took out one notebook from my bag. Teacher was back in her teaching mode.

  “As you already know that there are 206 bones in our body.” She pointed the red light towards the ear and went on explaining about various components of inner, middle ear and how important the auditory sense is.

  Few minutes later someone nudged my elbow, I turned towards my right and saw pierced guy was looking at me. He moved his eyeballs towards my desk. I also shifted my gaze to my desk and saw something scribbled on my notepad.

  Lucas.

  Ashley

  He chuckled when he saw what I had written.

  I know. Sorenson, moved from Connecticut and you are new here. Then he drew a big smiling face.

  You look like one of us.

  What do you mean?

  He continued looking at the piece of paper for some time and then scribbled hastily.

  Vampire.

  I blinked, and snapped my head towards his direction. He was not at all perturbed by the startling look on my face. He had lost his mind. It had to be the only explanation. I had read Vampire Academy and I knew what they do. There are some, who are nice, but rest are like cruel, so heartless that they won’t think once before sucking you dry.

  Iam not. I scrawled just below where he had written.

  He threw his head back and laughed.

  He said aloud “Man, this is amazing. You are really naïve. I was under the impression that it was all an act- you asking whether you can sit here or not. I am going to have a lot of fun with you. That’s for sure.”

  Teacher’s voice rang out like a warning trumpet. “Lucas and Ashley- you both pay attention here.”

  Lucas and I obliged, but few seconds later he nudged me again. I saw the scribbling- I am a member of the Vampires Club. Then he handed me over a form. Fill it and bring it back to me. I will get it sealed from our chairman. Then you will officially be a part of our group.

  What if I don’t want to?

  That’s too bad.

  Why?

  You will make friends easily. Apart from that all the students in our group are loaded (basically all the popular guys like me fall under that category). You won’t have to put in lot of efforts. You will directly become part us.

  Can’t I become your friend without being a member of your club?

  Sure, you can. But, then you won’t get invites to our parties and other stuff. Plus, here if you don’t make friend in a week, then consider yourself inconspicuous.

  I thought about it for a while. I wanted friends. I didn’t want to end up alone. So without giving much thought I filled it and then gave him the form.

  The form was pretty simple.

  Name-

  Grade-

  GPA -

  Any friend who is already a member

  Anybody forced you to join? (If yes mention the person’s name and his relation to you.)

  Why you want to join?

  I filled everything except GPA where I wrote NA.

  He frowned but didn’t ask any question. He whispered as teacher had glared in our direction few seconds ago. “We don’t need 4+ for this. It’s just for our record. If your grades are not good, no one is going to look down upon you. Most of the students don’t care about their GPAs. They already have their family business to rely upon.”

  Nevertheless, he didn’t ask me to correct it and I was relieved. I wanted to delay telling them about my life.

  About homeschooling. Simon had once told me that it was not a big deal. People go for it; but they usually have a solid reason behind it. Since I didn’t know nor had I questioned anyone about it, so I didn’t want to tell them anything yet. Not until I know the reasons.

  He brought his hand in front of me waved, startling me out of my thoughts. Tell me something about yourself.

  I scrabbled and shifted my notepad towards him. There is nothing much to tell. My elder brother assists my dad in his current project. My mom travels with my dad wherever he goes.

  He quickly wrote something and passed me- You are lucky to be able to do whatever you want. My dad is in federal force, my mom is a teacher here. And my brother is one of the most famous personalities in this school. They all are a big pain in my ass. Then he drew a sad smiley.

  Even the small smile on my face faltered a bit as memories bombarded my head. I wish I could do whatever I want. The main problem was that after having lived in isolation for so long, I don't even know what I want anymore.

  But, I forced a smile back on my face. I won’t let old memories ruin what I have at the moment. For now I can dream of a happy life, where I have friends who love me unconditionally.

  Five minutes before bell rang; the teacher asked if anyone had any questions.

  The boy to my left raised his hand.

  “Yes, Anthony?” She questioned

  “For past two months you are teaching us about various organs in our body. What about sex education?”he asked curiously. He received a pat on his back from the student sitting behind him.

  All of a sudden it sparked the attention of everyone in the classroom. The class was no longer quiet after this question. Whispering and murmuring was getting loud with each passing second.

  “Silence, please” She requested but her eyes were emanating anger.

  Everybody went quiet. It was apparent that she didn’t like people questioning anything other than what was taught in the class.

  She looked at the boy and then directed her gaze at everyone.“If you keep behaving nicely, then I could think of taking it next week.”

  A girl sitting at the back raised one question.

  “We are behaving nicely from the past three weeks. Isn’t it enough?” she whined like a baby.

  Teacher responded “Like I said, I will think it over. Is there any other question anyone would like to ask?”

  Silence

  She didn’t look happy with the response “Well, It seems that you all have understood what was taught today. By Thursday I expect you to write everything that I have taught today. Is that clear? ”

  Yes the students said in unison.

  The bell rang and kids bolted from their seats like this class was on fire. Lucas said bye and rushed out.

  hYBrID XVIII

  A girl came towards me while I was packing my stuff. “Hey Ashley, I am Chloe.” She was a brunette, with green eyes and pale white skin. She was taller than me and had freckles on her nose. Overall she was pretty.

  “Hi” I said a little nervous.

  The teacher’s voice reached my ear “Ashley, your tutor for biology is Chloe. She is a straight A student. Whatever we have covered, she will help you out in that. If you still have some doubts you can come to me at any time.”

  I thanked her and we left the room. Greg kept his word and checked up on me the moment my first class ended. I explained how sweet everyone is here. His response was "See, I told you everything will be fine." I grinned at the response. So far school was a good experience and I liked it here. Even though I was missing Simon like crazy, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world.

  After ending the call, Chloe chirped excitedly “I can tell that we are going to be great friends. Unfortunately all my friends have different schedule today. I will introduce you to them in cafeteria.”

  Once it was over, Chloe joined me for Math class. Since her timetable was same as mine for the first half, we proceeded towards our next class.

  Out of nowhere Lucas strolled past us and winked at me.

  “What was that all about?”

  “He wanted me to join Vampire club. So we ended up chatting a bit.”

  “oh… ok.” For some reason she didn’t look happy at all, but she didn’t show it. She didn’t ask any further questions also related to Lucas. Soon she started telling me about her friends, their names to begin with.

  Math class was also okay. She sat next to me and told me abo
ut her family. Her father was a lawyer and mother was a housewife. She had a younger sister who was studying in 6th grade. When it was my turn to tell her about my family, teacher arrived and saved me the trouble.

  Chloe was again made my tutor for math.

  As soon as the class finished Chloe dragged me towards Cafeteria. Cafeteria was filled with students. We went straight to the queue.

  My eyes wandered to the kids sitting in the middle of the cafeteria.

  Going by the look on her face she didn’t like them. not one bit. “They are the popular jocks of this school. They all come from extremely wealthy family. Most of the boys are football players and girls are cheerleaders.” Chloe further added with a scorn on her face. “The girl sitting on the lap of that gorgeous guy, Blake is Kate. Everybody worships them like they are God and Goddess of this place.” I don’t know why was she looking at her like that. She was one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen in my life. She was wearing a denim skirt and white blouse. Chloe was shooting daggers at her during the time her face was turned in their direction. “She has slept with almost every boy in this school.”