Anna was almost looking forward to geography; biology had been a lot better than English, so maybe Summer was right. Besides, she had been educated before and thought she still remembered most of the geography she’d been taught. It had been a long time ago, but so what? How much could it really have changed since then?
She’d been told she could sit anywhere, but as Anna looked around, she saw most of the chairs were already taken. Finally, she found an empty seat towards the back. She sat down and was aware almost instantly that someone was staring at her. She looked up and saw Carmine sitting in the desk one up and to the left. As soon as Anna made eye contact, Carmine grinned.
“So you’re in two of my classes, then. Cool.” Carmine said warmly. When she heard this, the girl behind Carmine looked up from the book she was reading.
“You’re in two classes with her?” the girl asked Anna, jerking her thumb in Carmine’s direction. Then grinning wickedly, “Poor you!”
“Hey!” Carmine exclaimed, pretending to look hurt. The other girl just laughed. Carmine turned back to Anna.
“This is my friend Sharon.” And to Sharon she said, “This is Anna – she just moved here.”
“Anna, huh?” Sharon said, looking thoughtful. Then, reaching a hand toward Anna, she said, “Hey…let me see your schedule.”
Anna thought for a minute. She’d really hate to lose it, and handing something over to a stranger never seemed like a good idea. As Anna sat there contemplating, Sharon waggled her fingers. “Here – hurry, before class starts.”
Reluctantly Anna handed it over just as the teacher stood up from behind his desk.
“I haven’t finished grading the tests from Friday, but they look good so far.” he said. “So now we’re going to start the section on Europe…”
Anna looked over at Sharon and saw she wasn’t paying attention; she was still staring at Anna’s schedule. Anna wasn’t concentrating either. She kept wondering what Sharon was doing. What if she didn’t give her schedule back to her? Where would Anna go next? Twice now, she had been one of the last people to leave – what if she couldn’t catch Sharon in time? Still, she managed to tear her eyes away from Sharon and look back at Mr. Wilson; if she’d learned one thing in her life, it was to never show anxiety. But she kept an eye on Sharon anyway.
With two minutes left, Anna heard the soft sounds of zippers zipping and books closing. When the bell rang, it seemed like everybody stood up except for Anna. She zipped her backpack up as fast as she could, not even bothering to put her books away; she’d just carry them in her arm.
Anna had seen that Sharon and Carmine hadn’t left yet, so she still had a chance. She stood up quickly and turned to face them. As she looked over at the two girls, she saw the reason they were still there – they were waiting for her. Anna was glad. Now she could get her all-important schedule back, and maybe, just maybe, they wanted to talk with her too.
Sharon smiled at Anna and handed her schedule back to her.
“We have the same lunch.” she said. “Wanna join us?”
Anna was surprised and more than a little relieved. Lunch was next, and since she hadn’t really struck up any friendships yet, she’d figured she’d be eating alone. Even though she was starting to question the accuracy of schools in the movies, she still stuck by the portrayals she’d seen; it was the only knowledge of school she had. And one thing all the movies agreed on – you shouldn’t eat lunch alone. People who ate lunch alone in movies never made any friends – and she sure didn’t want to be like that! She smiled happily and said, “Alright.”
“Good.” Sharon nodded. “Do you guys need to go to the lockers before we head out?”
After making a quick stop at the lockers to swap their books, the three of them went down to the cafeteria. They stood outside the door for a few minutes and waited while hordes of students walked right past them.
Anna wasn’t sure what they were waiting for exactly, but she didn’t want to ask. She’d already made one mistake when talking to Carmine, and she didn’t want to make another. She’d hate to look stupid – or worse, weird in front of people she’d just met! And if she messed this up – who knew? She might end up eating lunch alone for the rest of the year! Maybe they just liked to stretch for a bit before lunch.
Nobody said anything for what seemed like forever. She was just about to break down and ask what was going on when two other girls approached them. One was an average-looking girl with mousy hair cropped to her chin. She had a book in her hands and glasses sticking out of a shirt pocket. The other had pitch-black hair tied up with deep, blood-red ribbons. She had gleaming honey-colored eyes and a small smile. As they came within earshot, Sharon shouted out over the noise of the other students, “You know, we really need to find another place to meet.”
“Definitely.” the black-haired girl said, nodding slightly and twirling the end of one of her ribbons.
Carmine leaned over to Anna and whispered to her that the brunette was Joanna and the other was Mina. “And Mina just moved here from Japan at the beginning of the year, so she’s new too.”
Anna smiled and said hello to both of them. When the greetings were over, Sharon asked, “So, who needs to buy lunch?”
As it turned out, everyone had brought their lunches with them. Anna had made a sandwich because she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to buy anything at school. The other four knew the line was so long, it took almost the entire period just to get to the font. Sharon knowingly informed Anna that her older sister said the lines were only bad for the first two or three months; after that, they got better.
They found a place to eat at one of the tables inside the cafeteria. Once they were seated, Sharon flashed a knowing smile at Anna.
“So,” she said. “How do you like Mrs. Boyd so far?”
Anna wondered for a second how Sharon knew she was in Mrs. Boyd’s class. Then she remembered Sharon had been in possession of her schedule for all of geography. But what to say about Mrs. Boyd?
“She seems…well…very happy...” It was the best she could do, not wanting to commit herself either way just yet. Sharon laughed loudly.
“That’s one way to put it. Me, I think she’s just downright bizarre. She doesn’t remember anything! And she goes off on these weird tangents that don’t mean anything. How she ever got to be a teacher is beyond me.”
Anna laughed in spite of herself. She noticed Mina was smirking slightly. Joanna spoke up.
“Well, I think she’s nice. And she obviously enjoys teaching.” Anna was surprised at how adamant Joanna was in sticking up for Mrs. Boyd. She studied Joanna for a minute, trying to figure out why she would care.
“I guess.” was Sharon’s reply. “But, she doesn’t know anything! I don’t see how she keeps her job.”
“Tenure.” Mina said with a gleam in her eye.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing she doesn’t notice what goes on around her.” Carmine interjected. “If she did, she’d see that everybody thinks she’s weird!”
“I feel bad for her.” Joanna told the group. “I mean, how would you feel if everyone thought that way about you?”
“Don’t worry.” Sharon replied. “Mrs. Boyd doesn’t notice. She just thinks she has about eight hundred friends that each come and visit her for an hour every day!”
“Really?” Anna asked. She had been perfectly happy just watching everyone else talk, but this last comment caught her off guard. Could any teacher – even someone as out of touch as Mrs. Boyd appeared to be – really think that way?
“Well, probably not.” Sharon conceded. “But she really doesn’t notice the strange looks she gets most of the time. Maybe she just thinks that’s how everyone naturally looks.”
“Oh…” Anna said, unsure if this made her feel better about Mrs. Boyd or not. Anna heard a quiet laugh, and looked up to see Mina grinning at her, but not saying anything. Joanna, however, did say something.
“Well,
I’m glad she doesn’t notice. I’d feel even worse if she did.”
“Maybe.” Sharon said, but she nodded in agreement. “But either way, you have to admit, she sure makes class interesting.”
Anna found herself smiling; she had to agree there.
The rest of the day passed quickly for Anna. She was a little disappointed to learn that none of her new friends were in any more of her classes, but at least her teachers were much better than Mrs. Boyd had been. Anna was surprised – and relieved – to realize that she was actually looking forward to coming back the next day.
Chapter 4: Life in the 1700s