“Green, it’s just school. Exactly the same as every other school we’ve gone to. And, probably exactly the same as any other schools we’ll go to in the future,” I said as we walked through the front gates and into the courtyard of our new high school.

Green glanced at me dubiously, “Even college?”

“Okay, maybe not college.” I allowed. 

Together we made our way through the crowds of freshman and upperclassmen looking for their classes.

Green sighed, “I can’t believe we only have one class together this year. That was definitely planned out.”

I laughed and nodded along with her as she went off about how our new principal, and her long-time neighbor, had never forgiven the time we accidentally threw a ball over his fence and broke his window. 

It wasn’t our fault that the ball hit my arm weirdly and went soaring over the fence and straight through into his living room. But he didn’t believe us and probably never would. What he did believe was that we were trouble, even though we’d never done anything else to him, accidentally or otherwise.

“Well,” I interjected. “At least he can’t separate us at lunch, right? I’ll meet you right here.”

“By this tree? M’kay,” she responded before turning with a wave and walking towards her first class. 

I turned in the opposite direction, weaving through the groups of kids.

How do they all know so many people? The only people I know are Green and that random kid from my English class in 7th grade.

Struggling to remember the exact room number for my first class of the day and not wanting to pull out my schedule and look like the freshman I was, I stood to the side of the courtyard gazing at a map stapled to the wall depicting the first and second floors of a building. 

“No way you actually said that!” someone exclaimed.

I glanced sideways to see a group of about five boys, jumping around and shoving a blue boy standing closest to me.

Are they bullying him or something?

I took a step forward to help when he shoved the boy next to him in retaliation and started laughing along. 

Boys.

I released a breath through my nose, moved back toward the map, and resumed searching for my science class. Unfortunately, the boys were loud and distracting. Even worse, they seemed to be getting closer somehow. 

I tried to move out of the way of their stumbling group, but just as I moved, one of the boys was shoved in my direction and crashed directly into me. 

We both went stumbling a few steps and he grabbed my shoulder to steady me as I fell against his side, “Oh man. Hey, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” 

I just stared at him, disoriented, as he rambled, “I’m really sorry. We didn’t mean to bump into you. We were just goofing around. You’re okay, right?”

I’m gonna be late for class.

“I’m fine. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” I responded hastily, pushing myself out of his grasp and back to my position near the map. 

He just stood there with his hands slightly outstretched, waiting for more, but I had nothing else to say. The rest of his friends continued murmuring in the background, apparently unwilling to interrupt. 

We engaged in an awkward stand-off before I finally broke the silence, “Really, I’m okay. Could you please excuse me? I have to get to science.”

An orange boy stepped forward slightly from the group, coming to his friend's rescue. I vaguely recognized him as someone Green had mentioned in the past. 

This is the boy she was stalking on Instagram, isn’t it?

“Do you have science with Mr. Beige?” He questioned.

I quickly thought through the list of teachers on my schedule, “Yes, I have him first today.”

He walked up to the map on the wall and pointed at a classroom on the second floor, “This is his class, my brother had him last year. He’s a good teacher.”

I went to thank him but before I could, another one of the boys chimed in, “Blue has him first today too. He can walk you there.”

The other boys started giggling, nodding along, and I turned to see the first boy, Blue, still standing there, in the same position he was when I last looked at him. 

Why is he staring at me like that? Is this a prank? I know it’s still high school but does this count as hazing?

The orange boy discreetly nudged him and he took a step forward, “Um, yeah. We can walk together. My sister also had Mr. Beige so I know where his class is.” 

He seemed a bit hopeful, probably wanting to make up for bumping into me. I was skeptical because of the laughter coming from the rest of the group, but Blue seemed sincere and the orange boy had to be at least slightly trustworthy if Green was interested in him.

“Okay,” I responded cautiously. “Yeah, let’s go together, I guess.”

At that, his friends began walking away with a “See you at lunch!” thrown over their shoulders.

The orange boy lingered, waving goodbye before heading to his own class.

I should tell Green I saw Orange today, she’s going to be so mad that she wasn’t here to see him.

Together, Blue and I began walking up the stairs. 

“So,” he started. “What’s your name?”

I looked at him, a bit stunned, “Red.”

Isn’t this supposed to be an awkward silence moment?

He kept looking forward, leading us through the hallways inside the building, “Oh, cool name.”

I nodded awkwardly. It was a cool name, but it was also an obvious one.

This is the weirdest thing to ever happen to me in my entire life.

I felt the need to respond, “You’re Blue, right?”

He glanced at me quickly, “You know me?”

“No,” I said carefully, shaking my head. “Your friend said your name. And, well…”

We both looked down at where my hand waved between us, gesturing towards his color peeking through on his hands.

“Oh, yeah.” He laughed, a bit disappointed. “For some reason, I thought…” He trailed off.

I looked at him, but he stayed facing silently forward, leading us to our class. 

We walked quickly and reached the classroom about two minutes before the bell. Blue held the door open for me as we walked in and went to introduce himself to Mr. Beige. 

Splitting away from him, I tracked down my seat in the seating chart and settled in. Just as I began to relax, pulling out a notebook, Blue began walking down the aisle next to mine.

You have got to be kidding me. What are we, connected or something?

He walked towards the back and sat in the seat directly next to mine.

Maybe Green is right, maybe everyone here does hate us. Why else would I be put through such an awkward interaction at 8 a.m. on a Monday?

I ignored him as he sat down and before he could try and engage me in any more awkward small talk, Mr. Beige began class. He quickly went through the syllabus and began explaining some of the basic materials we would need for the following weeks. I went to write it down but realized I didn’t take a pen out of my bag. 

Please tell me it’s in here.

I searched through each of my bag pockets, but none contained the pen I hoped to find. I could feel Blue watching me from the corner of his eyes but I was unwilling to ask him for a favor. I just wanted to avoid him forever. 

If he felt the need to repay me just for accidentally bumping into me, he’d probably expect me to pay him back somehow for the pen, and I was not about to be in someone else’s debt.

There has to be another way.

Mr. Beige had just moved on to the next slide when a late student walked in and he paused to explain things to them. As our teacher went back to the first slide to re-explain things quickly, I finally set my bag down and sighed, relenting, as Blue turned to face me.

“Hey,” I begrudgingly turned to him. “Do you have a pen I can borrow?”

He seemed to have been waiting for me to ask because he had one in his hand before I even finished the question. 

A blue pen, funny.

“Yeah, sure. Here.” He responded easily. 

I thanked him quietly and wrote down everything Mr. Beige had said. The rest of the class was uneventful. But because it was the first day, classes ended earlier than normal. 

“Here,” I said to Blue. “You can have your pen back now.”

He looked down at me from where he was standing putting his backpack on and raised an eyebrow.

“Nah, it’s all good. You don’t have one, right? Then, you can keep it. Consider it an apology for running into you earlier. I’m really sorry about that.”

He’s still on that?

I nodded slowly, “Okay, yeah, thanks. And, it’s fine, I told you.”

He blinked at me before asking, “What do you have next?”

“English,” I responded.

“Oh,” he seemed disappointed. “I have math.”

“Ah, that sucks,” I said sheepishly. “Well, bye then.”

“Yeah, see you around.” He replied. 

We both walked out of class and separated in the hallway. This time, I pulled out my schedule. No need for any of the events that happened this morning to repeat themselves.

He was okay, but I hope I can avoid his friends outside of class. They seem like the type who would tease me for talking to him.

It would be fine. I probably wouldn’t have any more classes with him or any of his friends for any of the next four years. My high school experience was going to be completely relaxing and nothing unexpected would happen, ever.