𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝗼𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝗼𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲✩

ii. SETTLING IN

The next morning came too fast. You opened your eyes and adjusted to the golden sunlight coming through the window. You lay there for a moment, taking in the sound of chirping birds. To the right of you, Knox was turned on his side facing the wall. He slept quietly, for the sound of the 6:00 am bell didn't wake him. You got out of your warm bed and walked over to him. You placed a hand on his shoulder and said softly,

"Hey Knox, it's time to get up." You shook him lightly.

"No, I hate this place. The classes are always the same," he moaned in protest.

"I know. What's the use in failing though," you laughed in attempt to lift his spirits. At this he turned to face you with a smile on his face. You held eye contact for a few seconds before he agreed to get up.

"I'm going up to the third floor girls' bathroom to shower," you remarked as you gathered your toiletries and towel. 

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At 7:00 sharp, breakfast was served in the dining hall. All of the girls sat at one side of the hall, while the boys sat on the other. Once again, because you were in corridor 7, you had to sit with the boys. The walk to the table had all the girls' eyes on you because they didn't get to sit with the boys.

You made your way to the rectangular table 7 to see Knox gesturing for you to sit down in between him and Charlie Dalton.

"Jesus, Charlie, did you get any sleep last night?" Neil queried from across the table. He said what you were all thinking, Charlie had horrific bags under his eyes that weren't there the day before.

"I most certainly did, Neil. And a full three hours at that!" The table giggled.

"Say, Y/N, lend me some makeup for my eyes, will ya?" With these words from Charlie you let out a small giggle.

"Sure, Charlie," you laughed.

"Hey! She knows my name guys!" Charlie joked, once again making the table laugh.

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Your first class of the day was Chemistry. Your chem lab partner turned out to be the shy blonde boy, Todd Anderson. You were sat in the back of the class, which Todd seemed relived about, behind Knox and Charlie.

"In addition to the assignments in the text, you will each pic three lab experiments from the project list and report on them every five weeks. The first twenty questions at the end of chapter one are due tomorrow." The chemistry teacher stated, firmly. Everyone in the room sighed, except for you and Todd. The work at Welton was horrible, but tolerable, in your opinion. That's not exactly why you hated the school. By Todd's behavior so far, you knew he was anxious, and you felt compelled to make him feel a little better. You decided to talk to him on your way to Latin.

"Hey Todd," he jumped "I'm guessing you don't really like big groups, but I wasn't going to go to the study group, but if you want, we could go together and do the chemistry questions?" He looked nervous.

"U-Um sure. Thanks. Oh wait, will Neil be there?" He said back, quietly.

"Oh I'm pretty sure yeah." You returned. He silently walked into the Latin classroom. Mr. McAllister started off the lesson by having you repeat Latin words after him. After this, you were supposed to be taking notes, but you took up all your time thinking about the new English teacher you were eager to meet. The old English teacher was such a bore, and even though English was your favorite subject, he made it awful. Before you knew it, the bell rang. Next was the subject everyone dreaded, except maybe Meeks. Trig. 

"Your study of trigonometry requires absolute precision. Anyone failing to turn in any homework assignment will be penalized one point off of their final grade. Let me urge you now not to test me on this point." The math teacher, Dr. Hager spoke in his gruff and annoyed voice, towering over the students. The rest of the class went by excruciatingly slow until finally, it was time for English. Since you were so busy not paying attention, you went up to Knox. Neil patted him on the back and walked away when he saw you.

"Hey, could I maybe borrow those notes at the study group later?" you asked. 

"Oh sure no problem. I'll just leave them with you because I have to go to dinner at the Danburry's." He sounded annoyed at the name.

"Who are the Danburrys?" You asked back.

"Big Alumns! How'd you swing that?" A new boy spoke. He looked at you and spoke quickly. "Richard Cameron. Just Cameron."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Y/N Y/L/N." you spoke back to him while Knox was already responding to his question.

"Ugh friends of my dad's, they're probably in their nineties by now." Knox was not excited, to say the least. Once again, Knox placed his hand on your waist, directing you into the English classroom. You sat down in the far back corner of the classroom, Knox in front of you, and Charlie to your left. In this class, you had the opportunity to meet the final member of the friend group.

"Hi, I'm Gerard Pitts, but you can call me Pitts, everyone does." A boy with a flat topped haircut smiled at you.

"Oh, hello, I'm Y/N Y/L/N, you can call me Y/N," you responded.

"Will do," he laughed, and had a great big smile on his face. He was sweet.

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