Mystery-man/Guide-boy walked over to me with a goofy grin on his face. Yeah, totally checkin’ me out. “Hi, I’m Mike; Mike Newton, and I’m g-gunna show y-you around t-t-today, seeing a-as its your f-f-first day.” Wow he stutters a lot for someone outgoing enough to guide a complete stranger around all day.
“Okay, Mike, thanks. I’m guessing you know where,” I looked at my schedule, “Physics class is, then?”
“Yep, we have that, and few of your other classes together. I’m a new-kid-buddy.” This guy is way too weird.
“And what in the world is that?” I had no idea the whirlwind that simple question would stir up.
“The way NKB works is that when a new student comes to South Bend, a buddy with a similar schedule is assigned to them for their first day as a guide.” Wow, I don’t think he has to breathe.
“Oh, okay, cool. So you have a similar schedule to mine, huh?” I hand him my schedule paper. “How similar?” He’s nice and all, but I CANNOT deal with him all freaking daylong!
He takes my paper and looks over it, making a mental checklist. “I have first-block-physics, third-block-geometry, fourth-block-lunch, and seventh-block-PE with you. I’ll meet you after every class if you want, and show you to your next one.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay. I have to work on my map-reading skills anyway.” I gotta get rid of this kid sometime today. I feel bad about it now: being so mean to him.
“Okay, then. We better get to physics before Mr. Wolf gets mad and locks everyone out again.” Mike hurried me along the corridor. We arrived to the classroom and stopped when we got inside. “Mr. Wolf, this is Ashley Davies. She just started today.”
“Thank you, Mike. Now do me a favor and let the girl speak for herself.” Oh, I like Mr. Wolf already.
“Like he said, I’m Ashley Davies, and I just moved here to live with my dad, sherriff Davies.” I kind of hate being in the spotlight but my mom’s boyfriend is a total rockstar, so I’m kinda used to it. My mom wants to tour with him; that was her dream that I was talking about earlier. I felt like I was holding her back from that.
“Welcome, Ashley. I’m Mr. Wolf, and it looks like the only one left without a lab partner is Spencer Carlin.”
Spencer Carlin… that name didn’t seem like much then but that moment was the beginning of a new, interesting chapter of my life…