New school, same self

The innocence in her eyes met his carefree attitude. He was the best student in the class, she lacked that academic skills. He had no goals but went with the flow. She was ambitious but lacked the motivation. The stars crossed and so did their paths. The new school, new place, new, people, new surroundings but her old socially anxious self. She had no idea, where to go to whom to talk. He was the first guy she saw, dressed like a hipster and not appealing at all. She decided to find someone else for assistance, but heard his words and came to know they had the same course and were practically classmates. 

There was no way she could have found someone more helpful than him on the first day! "Hello, I'm new here," she said. His glance scanned her figure then shifted back to her hazel brown eyes, 'so deep', he thought. "Sorry, we don't give tours to newcomers," he said before even listening to her and went back to join the endless conversation with his friends. 

She went back without uttering any other word. Somehow, she succeeded to find the class. He was seated at the back, headphones on and eyes closed. His legs were crossed over the desk board. She took her seat in the middle. Adjusting her skirt, she glanced back once again and he seems to be lost in the music. 'What a hipster!' she thought and made up her mind that she was not gonna be anywhere around him for the rest of the semester. He was bad news. The class ended and everyone left, except them. She was writing her notes and he still was lost in his music. And it seemed like none of them cared about each other's existence. 'How so naive and not-so-fun kind of girl is she?' was his thought. 

The next day, she wore her yellow midi dress which complimented her bronze skin tone. And made her look some taller which she was. It was the assignment declaration day that required the group efforts. Luckily, students were allowed to choose their teammates. She had no clue whom to team up with, there was no way she knew about everyone in the class on the first day. When asked, with whom she was gonna go, she said, "Sorry, sir but I've no idea about my classmates and their academics yet. Can you please team me up with a group of students with good academics, I'm still lagging due to late admission." 

The professor seemed to understand her worry and gave her a team number. She took the assignment and teammates list and their leader was a guy, she had no idea who he was or where to find him. Yet she went searching for him...

'Ronan Morris' she read on the list and went towards her classroom to ask someone about him. 

"Excuse me, can you tell me where can I find Ronan Morris?"

She asked from a girl sitting in front, with a friendly smile. 

"There he is."

She pointed at the seat at the back, where that hipster guy was sitting last day.

She went to him and put the list and assignment details on his desk. 

"What are you doing?"

He asked not bothering to remove his headphones. 

"I'm your teammate for the assignment."

She said while wondering why did the professor assign her to this team where he was the leader, she made it clear that she needed to join students with good academic skills. But this hipster didn't appear to suit that list. What a sigh! 

"Sorry, what?!"

He was shocked because he carefully selected members of his team, who were under his friend's circle. He was social but only with few friends he had. No doubt, he had a celebrity image in the college, and why not? He was rich, handsome, intelligent, the best football player, Avalon High School had. Everyone wanted to be friends with him but he was selective with his circle. And had people with similar personalities like him, with he used to hang out. And now, the girl standing in front of him was nowhere near to similar to him. 'Another one trying hard to be close to me he thought. 

"Yeah, the professor asked me to join your team."

She told, trying to offer a smile which she wasn't sure if she should or should not have. His expressions were such sore. She was just trying to be friendly because now she had to work with him for a fortnight before the completion of the project.  His expressions made it clear, he didn't like it a bit. 

"Professor didn't inform me anything about it."

He just wanted to end the conversation with her and go back to listening to his music. 

"Well, if you want, you can go to him and inquire for yourself."

Ronan was just being arrogant and there was a limit she would have taken his not-so-welcoming nature. 

She went back to the place where she was seated last day and the classes started as usual. She jotted the maximum notes that the English teacher provided them and the class was pretty boring as others seemed to be barely managing to keep their eyes open.

Their next class was canceled because the chemistry professor couldn't attend school today. Alizah has skipped breakfast this morning and was hungry. She went to the cafeteria and got a burger for herself along with Americano. 

Suddenly someone came from behind her and seated on the chair next to hers. Ronan put his tray beside Alizah's and it had the same content as her tray's. Burger and Americano. She looked at him in wonder, expecting him to say something but instead, he took a bite of his burger. And after finishing a mouthful of chewing, he turned back to her shock-stricken features. 

"I talked to the professor. And yeah, you can join the team but you would have to steady up your pace because we've already started working on it. "

He told her and took a sip from his cup of Americano. 

"Okay, I'll start working on it from today itself. Where and when can I join you, people? "

She asked nervous and excited at the same time. Indeed! It was her first assignment in the new school and she had to make sure, she gave everything to it that she could. 

"Right after school at Chloe's house. "

Ronan said. 

"Who is Chloe? "

Alizah knew bare minimum people in her new school and the question was legitimate as from her. 

"What?! You don't know Chloe? "

He started laughing and she couldn't understand what was so funny about it. This guy was totally over her understanding limits. He was so unpredictable and alien to her. 

"Okay, now that's funny. I wish Chloe could have heard it!"

"Heard what?"

A purple-haired girl comes perplexed and sits close to Ronan. So close that their butts were touching each other sideways. 

"Hey, Chloe. Meet our new teammate for the project. "

He looked at Alizah and asked, 

"What's your name? "

"Alizah Iris."

She answered. 

"What an old-fashioned named."

Chloe commented and started laughing as Ronan chuckled. That's it! Alizah couldn't take any more of their humiliation, she knew they were doing it on purpose. 

"I will see you guys right after the last class ends. "

She told them and left without even eating her meal. She would better starve herself rather than taking humiliation from those brats. 

They both didn't seem to care about Alizah's exit and were busy talking and laughing on their own. Ronan could barely tolerate Alizah's existence around, she was practically contrasting to him. 

After classes, Alizah was to meet Ronan, Chloe, and other teammates. She wasn't sure if she should be doing her assignment with them, but then she couldn't step back because every other team already had the desired number of members and if she decided to leave this team then she would be left alone and would fail her first assignment in the school. Anyhow, she had to bear it for her grades' sake. She went to the last bench, where Ronan usually sat. 

"Hey! Are we ready to go for the assignment? "

She asked. 

"Let Chloe come first. "

He said and Alizah scanned the classroom but Chloe was nowhere to be found. Did she bunker the class? Because every other student was still in the class, packing up or talking to each other. Anyone has barely left. She chose to stay silent and didn't ask anything from Ronan. 

Alizah took a seat on the adjacent chair and waited for her. Fifteen minutes already passed and there was no trace of her, everyone else had already left the class. It was just Ronan and Alizah in the classroom. Ronan seemed to be lost in his music again. 'what was so addictive about his music that he barely took his headphones off?' Alizah thought. 

"Where is Chloe? Why isn't she here yet? "

Alizah finally asked not being able to keep patience anymore. 

"I don't know."

His lame reply grated on her nerves and she left the class to search for Chloe. 

'Where the heck is she?' Alizah thought while searching in the canteen area but she wasn't there. 

She went to the basketball court after she found every other place where she could be and there Chloe was dribbling the basketball. 

"Seriously? You find this time to play when we should be working on our group assignment? "

Alizah yelled, not able to control her anger. She has been tolerating them since morning and she wasn't good at dealing with such people. 

"Cut the crap, Iris. What's wrong with you? "

Chloe didn't even look at her while talking but was busy trying to put the ball through the basket. 

"Aren't we supposed to go to your house for the discussion of the assignment work? "

"Oh yeah, I know but I thought a little late wouldn't concern much. Don't you have anything to do yourself? Go and let me practice, I'll let you know when we are ready to go. "

She said and started dribbling and running across the court. There was no point debating with her and Alizah wasn't a good debater, she was mostly silent when it came to talking to others. She wasn't much of a social person. 

She went to the garden and sat on the grass. She brought her knees near her chest and rested her head on it. She didn't realize when and why she started crying. She wasn't able to cope up with her life in this new school. Although no one knew she was actually a poor girl and was here in scholarship, she desperately hid that fact because she knew her life would be a mess if that news got out and people would most probably target her. There was no place for lower-class people in Avalon High. But here she was, struggling with her high school life even without letting anyone know her truth. 

"Are you okay? "

A tall, muscular guy in his football jersey asked as he saw Alizah. She looked up at him and wiped tears off her face. She wondered if he was another one of those students who made her feel out of the place. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. "

She answered simply, not sure if she could be friends with him or not. Because people weren't mostly genuine here and there was no way she was going to trust anyone anymore. 

"Do you need water? "

He asked offering her his bottle of water.

"No, I'm good. "

She said and got up from the ground. And now she stood at the guy's shoulder level. 

"Are you new here? I haven't seen you before. "

The guy offered her a smile. 

"Yes, today is my second day. "

"Which subject classes are you in? And school is already over, were you practicing for something? "

'Oof, his endless questions! ' Alizah thought. 

"I don't think you're in any of my classes, so there's no need to discuss classes because we don't share any."

That was true, Alizah hadn't seen him in any of her classes. 

"I guess, I'm your senior. "

'Oops! A senior.'  she should better be on good terms with him if she needed to avoid bullying and ragging from seniors. She has heard a lot of those stories where rich students in these rich schools use to bully others who aren't of their level. 

"Oh! I didn't know. "

She admitted. 

"I know, my bad, I should be introducing myself first. I'm Shawn Morris. "

'Morris?! '

"Morris? Are you related to Ronan? "

She asked. 

"Oh yeah, he's my cousin. You both must be sharing classes, I guess. "

He said and Alizah just nodded. Could she trust Shawn? Why was he even talking to her? His cousin and Chloe barely tolerated her existence then why wasn't Shawn bothered by it?