Noah’s POV _______________
We pulled into a parking space and I swallowed hard, not knowing what today held. The knot in my stomach tightened.
“Hey,” Onyx bumped his shoulder against mine, pulling me back from spiraling thoughts.
“You’ll be fine,” he said, a brief reassurance before he climbed out of the car, grabbing his backpack and swim bag.
“Are you coming?” Ruby asked, already halfway out of the car. I mumbled a “Yeah,” and followed her, pushing open my door.
People stared. It was unavoidable, given I hadn’t gone to school here before.
“Let’s get your schedule, okay?” Ruby asked, and I nodded again, already feeling overwhelmed.
“Good morning, you three. What can I do for you this lovely morning?” The secretary in the main office asked, her voice bright.
“I need my schedule, please. I’m new. Noah Bennett.” I told her, and she nodded, clicking away at her mouse, typing, then printing it out.
“Thank you very much,” I said, and she smiled.
“You’re welcome. Have a nice day, dears.” I thanked her again, and left the office with Ruby and Onyx.
“So your locker is close to ours. We’re all in the same hallway, so we can show you. And we have English together, and you and Ruby have Global together, then all of us have the same lunch.” Onyx laid out the plan, and I followed him to English while Ruby headed to art.
We walked into the classroom and took a seat in the center of the room with me next to Onyx.
Eventually the period ended and Ruby came to show me where our class was.
And just like the period before it came and went and as did the rest of my classes until lunch finally arrived.
Both Ruby and Onyx came to my class and we all went to our lockers to exchange books, materials and such before finally heading over to the cafeteria. Though our lockers were somewhat close.
“Hey Onyx. Hey Ruby,” someone at their lunch table said as we walked up.
“Hey, who’s this?” one guy asked.
“This is our stepbrother, Noah,” Onyx introduced me.
“Hi,” I said quietly, looking up at the group.
There were girls from the cheer team and boys from the swim team. Not many people. Maybe three girls including Ruby and four boys including me and Onyx.
Then my eyes locked with one boy.
He had tan olive skin and black hair.
“Noah, this is Sky, and Lexie, they’re on the cheer squad with me,” Ruby introduced her friends.
“And this is Asher and Paxton. Asher is on swim with both me and Pax, but Pax is the team captain.” Onyx said, introducing me to the other two boys.
I nodded, and swallowed once I saw the intensity in Paxton’s stare.
Both Ruby and Onyx sat down, and I saw the only seat left was next to Paxton.
I gulped and quietly sat down.
“So are you trying out for any sports?” Asher asked me.
I nodded.
“Oh cool, which one?” he asked, curious.
“Track,” I said, and he nodded.
“Yeah, I know our track team is very competitive and doesn’t just let anyone on. Good luck,” he said, and I nodded again, a silent thank you.
Lunch eventually ended, and I went through the rest of my classes. It turned out that Paxton was in my study hall for my last period class.
He ignored me, and I ignored him. It was easier that way because he unnerved me.
“Time for tryouts,” I hummed quietly to myself as the bell rang signaling the end of the school day.
I went to the boys locker room and got changed. Even though it was crowded due to many different sports tryouts today I managed to get changed quickly and walk to the track outside where we were meeting before the tryouts actually began.
Let the tryouts begin.