East Kids - Tessa & Elijah

Chapter 2

Tessa

As the engine of the black car fades away, I pull the key out of the ignition lock and put it in my handbag. I briefly straighten the mirror to check my hairstyle. My hair is the only thing I always like about myself, while I am completely dissatisfied with the rest of my body.

I quickly release my gaze and pull black sunglasses out of my pocket to hide my nut-brown eyes. For me, the eyes are the gateway to the soul that I try to hide from the other students.

Nobody from school has to know everything about me. If only I let the things reaches the ears of the society that I want them to know, I keep control. That is why I am such a control freak. I would be ripped apart in the air if something private came to the surface.

I pluck my dark jacket and blue top before getting out of the car.

Almost all the parking spaces in the car park are full, which is because I am already quite late. Nevertheless, I am deeply relaxed as I slam the car door and walk straight into the modern East High school building.

I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and open the chat with my mother. It just occurred to me that today is a parents' evening at my school she absolutely has to go to. Otherwise my teachers will soon call my parents. So far Mom has either never come or she has come much too late. I can understand that she really works a lot, but the school can't.

As soon as I have typed in the message, I open the swing doors and enter the building. The corridors are also completely empty. Now I hurry a little to do not get into too much trouble. I can still afford to be ten minutes late, but after fifteen minutes it gets really tight.

Since mobile phones are actually forbidden here, I quickly put it away and stop at the door leading to our class. My pulse is completely calm when I simply enter without knocking.

Immediately the heads of all the students turn in my direction. A satisfied grin creeps up on my lips: "Hey." "You're too late, Miss Grayham", my teacher with glasses crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Yes, I know", I say relaxed and let myself sink to my seat in the last row: "Sorry."

The others really have to make an effort not to laugh immediately. "Do you think that's funny?", the teacher's strict gaze is firmly directed at me. I'd love to say 'a little', but since I don't want to be detained again, I stubbornly shake my head, but my voice is a little sarcastic: "No, that's not funny." He pinches his eyes tightly, but says nothing more about it. Instead, he simply turns back to the blackboard and begins to write down some mathematical equations.

I've just started unpacking my books as my name comes up again. "Don't you want to come to the blackboard and do some math for us, Miss Grayham," I slowly raise my head and stare past the teacher at the blackboard.

The numbers and letters on the blackboard are not incomprehensible to me, but I have no real desire to calculate in front of the whole class. "No, not today", I sink a little into myself.

Our teacher, Mr. Gererra, only gives me a quiet laugh and then throws the chalk at me through the room without warning. It is immediately clear to me that this is an invitation to go to the blackboard. That's why I prefer to pick up the white piece and stand up groaning. With him I have now finally missed it. The next parent-teacher conference will certainly not be fun for me.

I feel the looks of the others burning at me. I don't usually feel uncomfortable with something like that, but I still don't like to go forward. The chance to do something wrong has suddenly become unpleasantly high.

After I have managed my tasks more or less well, I can finally sit down again. Relieved, I breathe a sigh of relief and hurry to finally get back to my seat. Oh great, already demonstrated on the first day of school. Seems like I always come back to black.

"Now that we've finally reactivated our math skills after the holidays, we're coming to our new students," announces Mister Gererra.

At this moment I remember again that after the catastrophe last year, the school insisted on awarding scholarships to five normalos from the city so that they would also get the chance for a better education.

This move may seem insanely generous to many, but I know better. The scholarships weren't only awarded because they want to be kind. That is far removed from the heads of this school. They simply want to clean up their reputation, which was damaged last year.

"Can you please start introducing yourself", he makes an exuberant hand movement. Immediately I notice the five new ones. Finally they stick out like colourful dogs. When none of them get up to follow the demand, he raises one of his blond eyebrows: "Well, if none of them do it voluntarily, I'll call you in turn." The insecurity of the Five is written on their faces. "Miss Alici, please start," he continues.

A girl with brown hair rises from her place in the second row. Unfortunately I can't see her face, but her body has, admittedly, a beautiful shape. The voice of the person addressed is soft, but she doesn't seem shy: "Uh ... okay ... my name is Isabelle and I live with my family in Queens. I have a little sister who doesn't go to this school, and I usually go to the beach with my family during the holidays." Apparently she can't think of anything else, because she falls silent and looks at our teacher questioningly. He gives her a friendly smile: "Great. Mr. Flynn, would you please tell us something about yourself?

As soon as a dark-haired boy gets up and starts talking about himself, my concentration drifts away. Why should I listen to this? I won't have anything to do with these people later anyway and even if I do, I don't care if they have siblings and where they come from.