My First Day at a New School

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            Less than half-a-day has passed since I’ve been in this school, and I’m already sitting with the girl of the grade, the girl of every boy’s dream, the perfect girl. She’s utterly perfect, not too short, not too tall, not too round nor too stick-like, mesmerizingly intelligent, and, in my eyes at least, drop-dead beautiful, stunningly beautiful. I’ve always had my luck run out on me with girls, buy hopefully that won’t be the case this time. She’s too perfect, too ideal, too much of the missing piece to the puzzle for me to mess up. My name is Lucas, and this is my love story; albeit a high school love story.

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    Okay, I guess we have to introduce ourselves now. We’re Luck and Fate, Lucas’s guardians. We know that sounds ridiculous, but hey, we’re being serious. We argue a lot, especially about situations in which Lucas either has a lucky moment, or when it is just fate; probably more than we should be, but we have tons of arguments about those two topics.

    "Lucky Lucas, Lucky Lucas. Your luck will never run out, not as long as I’m around.”

    “Are you sure about that? He’s had his fair share of miserable failures, especially with girls.”

    “That was your doing Fate, you know that.”

    “Luck can overcome fate you know.”

    “Although I hate to admit this; we both know that luck must bow to fate, for fate is what determines the road ahead. I can only comply.”

    “Teehee, you’ve always been the textbook-perfect one Luck.”

    “Oh, shush Fate, you’ve broken so many rules it’s not funny anymore.”

    “Pssh, I’m Fate, I can do whatever I want.”

“You’ll never learn, never, ever, ever, EVER.”

    Fate burst into peals of laughter, and with reluctance and a look of annoyance, Luck faded off into his personal crevice in Lucas’s Mind.

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            This all started when I decided to move school, discarding the broken shard and shrapnel of my past. This was the only school that offered me a 100% scholarship, along with exceptional university promises, for both my academic and athletic abilities; lucky for me as a lover of both. Simply put, I would be a fool to turn the school's offer down. So, come the start of school, I was up before my 5:30 alarm, ready for the re-writing of the slate. This would be the first day of a new school year, the first day of my new story.

    Since school started at 7:30, I had some time to play some basketball. Grabbing my Nike iD kicks and outdoor ball, I headed to the town's public court. Once I arrived there, I tapped the rusted gate open, walked in and started dribbling the ball with my left hand. As I pounded the ball to one of the baselines, I closed my eyes and breathed in the frigid air, then exhaled. Feeling the court under me, I opened my eyes and blasted down the court, starting with my left, and then dropping the ball between my legs to the right. Pausing for a brief second, I burst down the right sideline, low as a super car. I then pulled up at the three-point line, crossed the ball over behind my back to my left, drove left, snapped the ball to my right between my legs, and exploded to the rim with my right hand. A few steps away, I took a final step, came to a jump stop and shifted into a jumping position with the ball palmed in my right hand. Jumping, I then let loose and slammed the ball home with vicious energy. I let go of the rim after hanging on it for a split second, and took the ball from under the hoop after a soft landing. After that burst, I spent the next thirty minutes shooting three-pointers, hitting the bottom of the net each time, over and over.

            As school hours neared, I could see some other students walking to school out of the corner of my eye as I sat on the bench, bushed. I checked my watch, and in utter shock found that it was already 7:00. Unlacing my shoes, I quickly slipped into my everyday sneakers, stuffed my ball in my bag, and ran to school with my kicks in my hand.

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            I walked into the hall with my bag slung over my shoulder, scanning the crowd for a friendly face among the other elites here in this school. Recalling my homeroom number, 11 A, I moved across the hall and found my homeroom. The door’s hinges squeaking harshly as I opened it. I peeped in, and saw the group of people I would mainly spend the rest of this year and half of the next with — my new classmates, oh, and my homeroom teacher too.

            My new teacher was a burly man in his forties, with some gray seeping into his auburn brown hair that rolled around his ears that were perked up like a dog. He bore a resemblance to a cheerful bulldog. He smiled at me from behind his desk as I walked in, calling out, “Hi, my name is Mr. Roland, you must be Lucas, correct?”

    I replied, “Yeah, I am Lucas.”

    “Please, take a seat,” he beamed as he waved his hand to the desks that were set up in a semicircle. Checking his watch, he added, “Why don’t you go and get to know some of the kids here, you still have a good five minutes.”

    As I sat down beside the guy that seemed the nicest in the class, I smiled in reply, “Thank you Mr. Roland.”

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    Watching from Lucas’s eyes, Fate commented, “He seems to have a nice homeroom teacher, that’s good.”

    Luck retorted, “Well duh? Lucas is always lucky to get the best in life.”

    “I could change it all you know Luck,” Fate chuckled.

    Luck glared at Fate until she burst into laughter and faded away to observe Lucas’s day as it passed

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            Apparently, I choose to sit next to the most social guy in school. Everybody knew him, he knew everybody. Well, a conversation quickly sprung up between the two of us, and well, he was quite the busybody. It went something like this:

    I muttered a soft hi as I sat down, and the guy next to me turned with a smile that would freak out the Cheshire Cat. He rattled off, “Why hello there! The name’s George, nice to meet you! What’s your name? Which school are you from? How old are you? Do you have a girlfriend? What subjects are you good –“

    I interrupted, “Hey, my name is Lucas. I’ll answer your questions, but could you please slow down, I did not catch half of what you said.”

    “—at… Oh, so sorry, I am like that, my head works faster than my mouth. Okay, so Lucas right?”

    “Yes.”

    “Okay, cool. When’s your birthday?”

    “March 17.”

    “And you are… sixteen or seventeen years old?”

    “Seventeen.”

            “That’s cool, where did you go to school before this?”

            Before I could answer him, the bell rung, and Mr. Roland stood up, calling class to order. I breathed a sigh of relief, since I didn’t want to share my story, I didn’t want to have it known, I didn’t want to make history repeat itself.

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            “Alright, good morning class, my name is Mr. Roland, and I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the rest of this school year. I will be teaching you Physics 11 Extended and Math 11 Extended, as well as offering the afterschool Robotics 101. I’ve been here for 5 years, as some of you know, and I’m glad to meet you all. Now, let’s go around and share our name, favorite sport and subject shall we? Lucas, we’ll start with you.”

            I stood up, feeling the slight awkwardness of the get-to-know-each-other phase that every new student has to face tingeing my cheeks.

            “Hi, my name is Lucas, my favorite sport is basketball, and my favorite subjects are Mythology and Numerology.”

            I sat down quickly as George stood up and chattered away his details. We went around the classroom, sharing our details. I noticed that basketball was the majority sport of choice, and the subject choice was really diverse, but what really stood out to me was that last girl, sitting at the edge of the semicircle with a group of friends. Her name was Samantha, and according to George, she was the prettiest girl in the school. I could easily see why. Two other guys also stood out a bit to, they had the strongest basketball presence among the basketball player. The weaker but still prominent presence was Chris, he was a small forward I assumed, around my height, but more set, while Ryan, the stronger – no – strongest presence, was definitely a power forward, slightly taller than me and more ripped. If I were to make the basketball team, I would have to take the starting small forward position from Chris, which would be interesting.

            After homeroom, where we were allowed to mingle and talk, our classes began, and I headed off into the academic-social-emotional jungle that a first day in a new school is.

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            Break was after our third period, or as I would remember it, the time I earned Ryan’s respect. George had called me over to talk with Ryan, one of our classmates. Apparently, Ryan was the best player on the basketball team, and he, along with Chris, wanted me to play with the other guys. So we decided to play ball.

            We called 3 other 10^th Graders, and started a 3-on-3 match. It was pretty balanced, with Ryan and Chris along with the starting point guard against the starting shooting guard, the reserve power forward and me. Talk about matchups. We shot for the ball, and since I was the new kid, they made me shoot a three for the first possession. I walked to the middle of half court and the three-point line, and then launched my meteorite three – a high arcing three that wouldn’t hit the rim as it passed though the net. Swish. Ryan and Chris had a look of smug approval on their face, and the shooting guard gave me a pat on the back as called, “Lucas, you take it.”

            And so, I squared off against Ryan, since he wanted to test me. I decided to pull back a bit, and see if he would mark me close or lag off. Wisely, he marked close. I then switched into drive mode, and took off towards my right. Right after I planted my right foot, I pulled back, sending Ryan skidding onto the floor. A peal of ohhs and ahhs went around the crowd that surrounded us. I shot the three, and nailed it. A few possessions later, the bell rung, ending the scrimmage with the score of the round at 15-7. The victor? My team.

            Try as hard as I could, even as I was playing basketball, I couldn’t really get Samantha off my mind. Classes went past like a breeze, right until our English class, fittingly Samantha’s favorite subject. It was as we walked into class that Samantha called out to me, effectively setting up the conversation that would make me fall head-over-heels in love with her; her intelligence, looks, quirks and most of all, her character. Better yet, was the discovery that this was indeed mutual love at first sight, I can’t say if this was luck or fate, heck it must have been a mix of both in my favor.

            “Hey, Lucas, come sit with me,” Samantha called across the room, patting the table beside her.

            I could feel the death stares I was getting from the other boys, but I gladly obliged.

    “Sure Samantha,” I replied, as I moved to her side and sat down.

    “Please, call me Sam,” she answered, smiling an angelic smile.

    “Okay then. So English is your favorite subject right,” I asked.

    “Absolutely, well, generally all languages are fascinating to me, but English more than others, mainly because of its history. It is such a young language, yet it’s now one of the most common ones, on top of that, it has so many rules and is so flexible, it becomes interesting. Other languages like Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, traditional and simplified, are also so intriguing to me,” she returned with s sheepish look on her face, “I must sound like an absolute nerd, don’t I?”

    I chuckled, “Nah, it’s alright. Nerdy girls are more fun in my opinion, and hey, you’re not alone. I’m obsessed with mythology and numerology of all things!”

    Sam’s eyes were like those of an excited child opening Christmas presents, “You’re saying that you don’t mind nerdy girls?”

    “Well, yeah, I would say I prefer nerdy girls, I wouldn’t survive with a non-nerdy one… Why?” I replied, taken aback.

    Blushing a pinkish-red, she whispered, “You see, I’ve been lonely for the past 2 years, and all the boys in this school care more for athletic girls. I’ve tried to become better at sports to get a boyfriend to keep me company, but even though I’m the vice-captain for the basketball team, Ryan, the best player on the basketball team, ignores me. I do like him, he’s pretty smart and super good at sports, but I can’t get him to notice me. Chris on the other hand, he likes me, but Ryan’s beaten Chris 1 vs 1 so many times it’s not funny. On top of that, Chris is too much of a snob for me to like him anyway. But this year, you came. I was watching you play basketball during break, you crossed over Ryan, Chris and then Jake, who as the starting point guard, has never been crossed over! Simply said, Lucas, I love you.”

    By now, her face was a deep red, I was rather shocked, but I slowly moved my hand over to tough hers beneath the table. Holding it, I could barely utter in reply, “Sam, I… I love you too…”

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    The rest of school passed in a blur, until lunch came around. By now, the school was buzzing with the gossip of:

    “Hey hey hey, I got something new girls, it seems that Sam’s gotten a boyfriend now!”

    “Ohmigosh, like, seriously?”

    “Really?”

    “That took her long enough!”

    “I am not kidding! It’s that new kid, Lucas, who embarrassed Chris, Jake and Ryan in 3-on-3!”

    “You sure about this?”

    “Yes. Hurry, spread it so we can embarrass them.”

    So yeah, we were in love, and I suppose this relationship was official. But it did not end there, because that day’s lunch… Never tasted a sweeter one, never.

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    Fate and Luck were sitting, well, floating, beside each other, smiling at each other with beaming grins.

    “I TOLD YOU SHE’S PERFECT FATE!”

    “IT WAS MY IDEA LUCK!”

    “NU UH, IT WAS MINE!”

    “WAS NOT!”

    “IS TOOOOOOOO!”

    Their argument was interrupted by the appearance of another presence, Lucas’s essence.

    “You two are so childish! Just agree on one thing okay: you didn’t screw up today! Now let’s just sit back and enjoy the show,” bellowed Lucas as he grabbed both Luck and Fate and held them in a hug.

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The End