My First Love

*Clara's P.O.V I was raised in an all boys household with my father and 4 older brothers, my mom passed away when I was young due to fragile health, so I can't remember her much. I do know, from my brothers, that she was a sweet and caring woman who always saw the best in others. She even saw the best in my older brothers which still comes as a shock to me, no matter how many times I hear it. My older brothers have a habit of doing dumb stuff to annoy me as much as they can. My father tries to stop them and their pranks, but they always find a way to do something to make me roll my eyes. I enjoyed school because I didn't have to be around my older brothers there since I was the only one in highschool. A majority of the girls at my school would always talk about their crushes, but I never liked someone, at least not yet. Not only are my brothers very annoying, they're very overprotective of me, threatening any boy who would stare at me for a second too long. I hated when they acted like that, but it's not like I had a love life in the first place. I was already around boys constantly in my house, I didn't want to spend the very little free time I had left with a boy. Today was the day I was starting at my new school, Oakland High, which is where my final year of high school will be spent. My dad got a new job opportunity with better benefits and work hours so he took it with our permission. My family and I recently moved to a new town, except for my two eldest brothers because they moved out already and had their own places. I wasn't sad about moving since I didn't even have friends in our old town. The kids there always thought I was too "nerdy" for biding my time by reading books instead of social media. It was silly to me how they thought I was a nerd just for preferring to read books so I didn't care to be their friend anyways. It did get lonely at times not having any friends, but I figured it would be better to have no friends than to have friends who judged me. I secretly hoped that I would be able to make friends at my new school who weren't judgmental. I was most excited to check out this town's local library since it'll have some different books than my old town library. Before I could check out the new library I had to make it through the first day of highschool as the new kid which was a bit nerve wracking if I'm completely honest. I ate my breakfast ignoring the loudness of my 2 brothers and my father, and rode my bike to school. I reached the school grounds and locked my bike to the bike rack. Maybe this school would be better than my last one, well, I guess I'm gonna find out soon. I entered the inside of the school, with my headphones playing audiobooks from my favorite authors. Somehow, that always seemed to calm me down. I looked at the schedule that I received from the school which has all my classrooms and the map to all the classrooms in the school. Somehow, the map seemed to make finding my first period classroom more confusing. I saw a kid who seemed like he was a senior and after some hesitation, walked up and asked him if he knew where Ms.Hara's classroom was. He was talking to a girl who looked very displeased that I interrupted their conversation. He didn't seem to mind at all though, in fact he seemed happy that someone had stopped the conversation between him and the girl, even if it was for a split second. He stared at me for a bit, his eyes focusing on me, he stopped staring and cleared his throat awkwardly. He said that he had that teacher's elective last year and that she was in the second to last room towards the left of the center hall, if he remembered correctly. I thanked him and apologized for bothering him before a group of people came rushing over to talk to him. I wondered who he was, but all I knew was that he seemed like he had a good reputation at the school. I followed the boy's instructions and easily found Ms.Hara's classroom which looked only half full. She was near the doorframe looking ready to greet students and give them a paper which was probably all about her classroom and the rules, what she's like, etc. I walk up to her and am greeted by a warm smile. She says hello, and hands me the paper. "I've never seen you, you must be a new student." she says kindly. I told her yes and how I moved her recently. She asked me if I was enjoying the town and hoped I was settling in well. I told her yes to both of those things, and after we finished our short conversation she told me to sit in whatever seat I wanted. I walked to a seat that was next to a window and in the middle row of the classroom. More students came into the classroom including the boy I talked to earlier, along with another boy he was talking to. The bell rang and class started with the classroom seats filled. Ms.Hara gave an introduction of herself and who she was. During the introduction I could feel some kids staring at me, probably cause they've never seen me before which made me anxious. After Ms.Hara was finished introducing herself and going over rules and classroom expectations, she asked each of us to introduce ourselves to the classroom. I didn't feel like having to introduce myself, but I had no choice. When it came my turn, I gave my basic introduction which was very, well, basic. "My name is Clara Tanning and I'm 17 years old, I'll be 18 in a few months. I grew up in Countridge, and moved here very recently. I love reading books a lot." I said quietly After the whole class introduced themselves, the bell rang a few minutes later. I whipped out my schedule trying to find my second class, but I was struggling yet again. The boy who helped me find Ms.Hara's class came up to my desk. "Still struggling?" he said with a little chuckle at the end and a seemingly gentle smile.