The Boy Who Fit In

BY Jazmine Sharp, Cheboygan Area High School
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          "Blake, time to wake up, breakfast is ready," I heard my mother call. 
          I groaned and rolled out of bed. My first day at a new school, exciting, I thought sarcastically. 
          I took a quick shower before going downstairs and into the kitchen. I was surprised to see that my mother had actually made me breakfast. A plate of eggs, toast, and bacon sat on the table in front of me, which I quickly gouged down. 
          I don't remember the last time I had eaten a meal like this, but now it was time to focus on school. 
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          I walked to the bus stop a block from my house and waited for my bus, 18A. After fifteen minutes I was ready to give up, but when I started walking the bus rolled around the corner. 
          I walked up the three steps and onto the platform. 
          "Good morning, young man. Blake is it?" The bus driver asked. 
          "That would be me," I replied. 
          "Well, I'm gonna try to make your bus experience as painless as possible, but since you're the last one on, it'll be a bit harder to find yourself a seat. But go on." 
          I walked past almost all of the seats, most of which came glares from the other students until I found a seat in the back with a girl that let me sit with her. 
          She had long brown hair and bright blue eyes that were framed by glasses. I didn't even notice the brown mud stained jeans she was wearing until I sat down. 
          "What happened?" I asked as I gestured to her clothes. 
          "Oh, I... I just fell," she blushed. 
          I stuck my hand out for her to shake, "My name's Blake." 
          "Ella," she smiled. 
______________________ 

Name: Blake Grey Evans
Locker #310, Grade:12 
Student Number: 10899 
Date Enrolled: 9/06/2016 

S1 
English 12+ 
King, Sarah 
Room 31, Period 1  

Biology 12 
Dawson, Haley 
Room 401, Period 2 

S1 
Phys Ed. 
Peters, Scott 
Room 219, Period 3   

S1 
Geography/Economics 
Donnelly, Lisa 
Room 110, Period 4

S1 
Calculus 12 
Simmons, Lucas 
Room 107, Period 5   

S1 
Drafting 
Turner, Drake 
Room DRAFT, Period 6  
__________________________________________________________________ 
          I looked up from my schedule and saw Ella walking up to me. 
          "Hey, Blake. Oh, can I see your schedule?" 
          "Sure, here," I handed her the piece of paper. 
          "My locker is right next to yours! Oh, and we have English, Bio, and Calculus together," she giggled. 
          "Cool. Maybe we could sit next to each other." 
          "Definitely. We should head to class anyway. Do you have your stuff?" 
          "Yep. I just... lost.. my book," I scratched the back of my head, "Oh, wait. Found it!" 
          I quickly tucked my books under my arm and started walking behind Ella toward room 312. 
          "Good morning, class. Please find a seat, you will be sitting here for the rest of the semester. When you're seated, start silent reading. If you don't have a book to read, I will give you a pass to the school library." Mrs. King stated in a monotone. 
          Ella and I sat at the two desks in the back of the class. 
          After fifteen minutes of silent reading, Mrs. King spoke again. 
          "May I have your attention, please. Thank you. Now, since it is your first day of school, I won't assign anything difficult. Your first assignment will consist of you and your partner working together to find an inspirational quote, and you will write a one-page essay on your findings describing what it means to you. You will be working with the person sitting next to you. Such as Abby and Dylan, Blake and Ella, Susan and Alayna, and so on and so forth." 
          For the remaining half hour, all Mrs. King talked about was the procedures and expectations for her class. A few students even fell asleep. 
          When the bell rang I packed up my stuff and Ella basically tried shoving me out of the door, but not before Mrs. King could grab my arm. "Blake Evans, you're the new student. How would you like to help out in the school play this year?" 
          "I guess I wouldn't mind. What play is it?" 
          "This year it's Romeo and Juliet. With your brown hair, blue eyes and strong build, you'd make the perfect Romeo!" 
          Ella's mouth dropped, "I'm sorry, I think I might have just heard you wrong. I thought you said you wanted him to be the lea-" 
          "I did," she interrupted. 
          "Do you have a female lead yet?" Ella asked. 
          "Try-outs are next Friday. You can try out just as easily as anyone else, Ella. Now hurry along, you don't want to be late to class." Mrs. King pointed at the door. 
          We had a few minutes to get to class so Ella showed me where the restrooms were and then showed me where our bio class was. 
          We sat in the back again, Ella on my left side and nerdy looking kid on my right. Glasses with thin frames and braces, along with three books on his desk. His backpack was hanging on the back of his chair and looming quite closely to the floor; it probably held more books. 
          The teacher was a tall, blonde woman stood behind her desk shuffling papers. 
          "Sit down, everyone. Today we will be learning about molecular construction and decomposition. There will be no homework today, but I fully expect that you pay attention because you will be taking a quiz on Thursday containing the material we learn today." 
          Ella whispered to me, "How much are we going to bet that she trips over her own heels before class is over?" 
          I snickered. 
          Mrs. Dawson looked over at me, "Mr. Evans. Would you like to stand up and introduce yourself to the class?" 
          I stood up and cleared my throat, "Hi, my name is Blake." I sat back down. 
          "Is that it?" Mrs. Dawson asked. 
          "Yes ma'am," I replied. 
        She looked back at the board and continued with the lesson, glancing at me throughout the hour until the bell rang once again. And, once again, my arm was caught by yet another teacher. 
          "I've heard good things about you from your most recent educators, Mr. Evans. Have you ever been involved in an engineering club, or anything science related?" 
          "I have. A couple years, I guess," I chuckled nervously. 
          "Stop by tomorrow afternoon to check out what we do around here, I think you'd like it," she gave me a quick wink and went back to shuffling papers on her desk as she had before class started. 
          Next I had Physical Education. I found my way to the boys' locker room on my own. After changing into my gym clothes, I headed into the gymnasium. Most of the guys just stared at me, and the girls were whispering furiously between glances toward me. 
          There wasn't much to see, I was a bit more muscular than the rest of the guys, but I didn't see myself as sexy or attractive. 
          During gym, we ran laps for ten minutes straight, most of the girls just walked. The other forty minutes were used for dodge ball. I was one of the first to be picked for a team, and I bet they were glad they did because our team won! 
          After class, Mr. Peters stopped me. "You did very well today, Blake. Are you into sports?" 
          "Thank you. Some, I guess." 
          "Would you be interested in joining the football team?" He asked. 
          "Oh, I don't know..." 
          "Don't worry about it. Think about it and let me know by the end of the week, alright?" he winked at me. 
          "Sure thing," I smiled back. 
          I walked back to the locker room, which was still crowded, and went to take a shower before lunch. 
          After changing back into my other clothes, I walked toward the cafeteria. Ella appeared out of nowhere beside me in the lunch line. 
          "So, how was gym?" she asked. 
          "I pretty much aced it." 
          She giggled. Her laugh is so adorable. 
          "I'm supposed to think about joining the football team." 
          She stared at me, wide-eyed. "It's your first day and the coach already asked you!?" Disbelief was evident in her tone, which made me smile. 
          "Yeah," I smirked. 
          We got through the lunch line and walked outside to a picnic table in the courtyard. It was a nice day out.
          "Okay, so far you have been asked to be a part of," she started counting on her fingers, "the school play, an engineering club, and the football team. What's next? Mathletes?" she snikered. 
          "Probably. I'll ask Mr. Simmons just to antagonize you." I said with a wink. 
          After we finished eating, we threw our lunch trays away and she walked me to my Geography class. 
          Ms. Donnelly is my first teacher today that didn't stop me after class, which I was grateful for. Two more hours, then I can go home. 
          Ella and I didn't sit next to each other in this class, our teacher had already planned a seating chart for the class. 
          This calculus class won't be difficult. I remember taking this last year at my old school. I didn't finish, though, since I got pulled out of school early because of the move. 
          I finished the homework assignment in just under twenty minutes. 
          This time, when the bell rang, I went to the teacher myself. 
          "Mr. Simmons?" 
          "Ah, the new student, Blake. How can I help you?" 
          "Do you happen to have a mathletes club of some sort?" I asked. 
          "I do. If you would like to join, I must warn you that if your grades for this class fall below a C, you won't be able to participate." 
          "I understand, sir. I wanted to prove to a friend that I'm fully capable of joining the mathletes on my own," I snuck a glance a Ella, who only grimaced at me. 
          He smiled, "We meet on Fridays." 
          And with that, Ella and I exited the classroom. 
          "You're such a show-off," she scoffed at me. 
          "Well, I try. Thank you for noticing," I grinned. 
          She smacked my arm playfully and giggled. That laugh again, it's so cute. 
          My last class was a blur, I don't remember much except that the teacher called on me for all of the answers I didn't know. 
          When the final bell rang, I grabbed my books and exited quickly before Mr. Turner could find an excuse to keep me a second longer. 
          When I reached my locker I found Ella standing there, playing with her hair. 
          "It's about time. What'd you do? Trip over a sloth that was eating a snail?" She snorted. 
          Balancing all of these clubs and classes while thinking about Ella is difficult enough before I've even started them, let alone once all of the event dates collide. 
          Everyone's so worried about fitting in that they forget how to balance all of the activities out. My problem is that I fit in too well. And that is going to make this year a long one.


About the Author: Jazmine Sharp is a sophomore at Cheboygan Area High School.  She loves to read, write, and draw. She's in love with music. She has very supportive friends and is open to many new ones.

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