Chapter 2:

New In Town

Shattered


As classes began, Mr. Leaves greeted his students and had everybody introduce themselves. When it got to Rayner's turn, the classroom fell dead silent for a moment. There was an awkward tension in the air until Mr. Leaves clasped his hands together loudly and continued on with class. Mr. Leaves spent the day going over math problems from previous courses to refresh everyone's memory for future lessons.

After he finished some equations he said, "Now don't worry. I don't expect anyone to take notes on the first day. This is just a refresher of things you should've learned in your previous math classes."

About thirty minutes later, there was a knock at the door. A voice followed after the knocking as well.

"I'm here," they said. It sounded like a girl's voice. "My parents let me come to school today."

"Ah, it must be the new local," stated Mr. Leaves. "Alright class, get ready to meet a brand new face in town."

At that point, the students in class started an uproar of confusion and excitement.

They said things like, "New in town? That's not possible. Who the hell would come to our dingy little town?"

As Mr. Leaves had let the student walk in, everyone centered their gaze towards the door.

"Hello, everyone," the student greeted. "My name is Blake Goswin." Blake had short light-brown hair that flowed down to the back of her neck. She had pale skin and sky blue eyes. She wore a pink sleeveless shirt with layered frills underneath a white cardigan. She also wore a pair of blue shorts and pink sneakers with light yellow socks that rose up past her ankles. Her backpack was a pink drawstring bag she had on her back. Rayner wondered how much stuff she could fit in her bag as it looked much smaller than the big black backpack he came to school with.

The students instantly bombarded Blake with several questions regarding her hobbies and reason for moving in. As Mr. Leaves saw that Blake was getting overwhelmed by everyone, he ordered the class to settle down and save their questions for later. He then pointed Blake to her assigned seat which happened to be the desk in front of Rayner.

The other students gasped as they learned that Blake would have to sit in front of Rayner.

"Hey, Teach," said one of the students. "I don't think you should put her in front of Kingsman. She'd be better off sitting somewhere else."

"Then would you like to switch seats with her?" Mr. Leaves asked.

"Um... No thanks."

The other students began calling him a coward for not switching with Blake.

"I don't understand what all the fuss is about," Blake commented.

As Blake walked over to her seat, she looked over at Rayner and smiled.

"Morning, seat buddy," she said.

Rayner paused as Blake looked at him because he didn't believe she was talking to him at first. 

After a moment, he said, "Oh, um... Hey there."

"Not gonna tell me your name?" Blake spoke in a playful tone as she said that. "I already said that my name is Blake. Its only fair if I get to know my seat buddies name."

"Right, sorry! I'm Rayner. Rayner Kingsman.

"Hm, you seem tense, Rayner," Blake stated. "I'm guessing you're not a morning person."

"You could say that," said Rayner. The true reason was that he was just nervous but he didn’t feel like correcting her.

"Alright, I'm gonna sit down now. Let's talk some more, Rayner."

"Yeah, sounds good..." Rayner couldn't believe that he just agreed to that so easily. Throughout the rest of class, Rayner found himself gazing in Blake's direction and while pondering to himself.

Maybe she and I could turn out to be friends, Rayner thought to himself. No, I'm getting ahead of myself. Once she learns about me and my reputation, she'll probably avoid me like everyone else. I should just tell her myself and get it out of the way. It beats getting my hopes up until the situation blows up in my face.

As homeroom ended, several of the students walked up to Blake and asked her if she needed help with finding her classes.

"I'm alright," stated Blake. She then motioned over to Rayner and said, "Rayner offered to help me out so I'm fine."

The students were in shock that Blake stated that she was going to be around Rayner.

"Would you like to join us?" Blake asked afterwards. The other students nervously declined and walked away.

"Yeah, I figured they would run off if I said that," Blake said aloud.

"Um, hey," uttered Rayner.

"Heya, Rayner," Blake said, happily. "Sorry about pulling you into that." Blake walked over to his desk and planted her hands over it as she talked to Rayner. Rayner slowly got up from his seat as Blake looked in his direction.

"No, its fine," assured Rayner. "But... would you like some help finding your classes?" Rayner hesitated when asking that question as he was internally arguing whether or not to come out with it.

"Yes, actually. That would be kind of you. I was in such a rush that I immediately went to find homeroom before finding out where the rest of my classes are."

"Can I see your schedule real quick? I can point out which buildings your classes are in."

"Sure thing."

Blake pulled out her schedule for Rayner to take a gander at. After looking it over, Rayner pointed out where her classes would be and which buildings to go to. He explained that they're currently in the math and science building that's in between the English and History buildings. He pointed out where she would need to go for electives and other classes too.

As Rayner noticed that Blake shared a lot of classes with him, he looked up at her and said, "Hey, are you a senior?"

"Yes, I am," Blake responded. The two stopped to compare their heights for a moment. Rayner was about eight or so inches taller than her. "Okay, so I'm a little short," commented Blake.

"It's fine," stated Rayner. "There are other girls in our year that are around that height too. I was mainly asking because I noticed we have handful of classes together. Plus it's hard to tell which grade someone is in when it comes to math class."

"You're right about that. So what class do we share next?"

"We actually have science together next period. I'll see you in class in a bit."

"Hey, hold on. If we share next period why don't we just go together?"

"I don't think that's a good idea..." Rayner stated. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but I have a bit of a bad rep at school."

"I don't care about that," Blake said. "Besides, I see nothing wrong with you. You seem a bit anxious but you're not a bad person as far as I can tell."

"Oh..." Rayner felt a warmth within his heart as Blake said that about him. A small smile began to form on his face as he then said, "Alright, Blake. Let's head to our next class together then."

"Alright," Blake replied. "Lead the way, seat buddy." Blake giggled as she followed Rayner to their next class.

As Rayner walked with Blake close behind him, he had a more positive outlook as he thought to himself again. Let's see how this will turn out. Maybe it'll end up being better than I think it will. Only time will tell.