[Alex's POV]

All the students that were a part of the whirling and swirling see outside on the courtyard earlier, are now all filing into a large common room.

I follow Jasper and his friends inside and take place on a chair next to him, but he has been talking to the blond girl... What was her name again? Ah, yes. Otto.

I'm pretty sure that she doesn't like me, so I don't join in on their conversation. Yet, she had helped me earlier... Perhaps things aren't as bad as I thought they were?

As I am waiting patiently, I noticed a man dressed up in a white shirt with a grey tie, a dark brown trench coat, and dark grey pants stand on a stage at the front of the room. His greying hair is neatly combed backwards and fine, round, golden rimmed glasses rest on the end of his nose as he watches the students take place on the twelve rows of chairs in front of the stage. The man is lean and all sharp edges, except for his eyes and smile. They are curled in a warm smile.

"Ok, I think we're all here. Quiet down," he says, his strong voice amplified by the speakers. "Before I start; the students standing in the back, would you please come and sit here in the front? There are three empty rows here. You know, it strikes me that, the higher the grade gets, the more empty rows there will be in front. No need to be afraid, I don't bite."

The standing students hesitate for a moment but comply.

"Welcome, everybody, to this new school year at Albert Valley High. My name is Eric Oakley, but you shall refer to me as Mr. Oakley or Principal," the man on stage introduces himself. "I see a lot of returning faces, ... and some new ones. Which is good. One half of you will be third years, and the other half will be fourth years. Let's move on to the class division. Third grade is divided into five groups, the fourth grade into four. Following, the teachers representing each class will come forth on stage and announce its student's list. Please wait until the complete list has been announced before you leave your seat."

With those words, the principal steps aside and hands the microphone to a young looking female teacher who takes his place, introduces herself, and starts calling names.

"Hey, I forgot to ask. Which major will you be attending?" Jasper drew my attention to him.

"Science. You?" I answer. His face lights up.

"Oh! You'll be part of our class then! Each major has just one class per year, you see. Only the economics major has two classes," he chatters away happily in a hushed tone. I feel myself smile at his answer. Somehow, it is reassuring to know that I won't be joining a group of nameless faces.

I watch as one by one, all the third year students get up and leave. Little by little, the hall becomes less crowded and I feel myself breathe a sigh of relief. I think that I might be developing a fear of crowds.

"Hello. I am Mrs. Marvels and I will be announcing the fourth year, science major," a young female teacher says when she takes place on stage. If I had to describe her, I would say bubbly. Her face is round, and even though she isn't fat, she looks soft. It's funny to see how Jasper immediately focus his attention on her. Like a dog who spotted a squirrel. The teacher then continues to call names of students. "Micheal Carter, Tom Cook, Anthony Cooper, Xander Douglas, Odette Havens, Nick Mitchell, Nicolas Parker, William Roberts, Emanuel Rodriguez, Jasper Romano, Lindsay Swan, Jessy Thompson and Edd Walker."

Well, that went sour quickly. It's good to know now that, at the very least, Jasper wasn't lying about being a science major, even though he might be thinking otherwise about me.

"They didn't call your name?" Jasper asks me, sounding slightly confused.

"They didn't. I noticed it too," I say, unsure of what he expects me to say.

"And you're sure that you are a science major? It must be a mistake then," he says as he gets up with the others and hurries towards Mrs. Marvels. I watch as he addresses her, and they go over the list in her hands together. When the result seems to yield a negative again, Mrs. Marvels reaches towards the principal and explains him hurriedly what Jasper told her. To her explanation the principal frowns, asks her something to which she shrugs and they both turn to Jasper who points at me. I stiffen as the principal meets my eyes and I wave awkwardly. At first his brows are furrowed in a very serious expression, but when he sees me, he blinks a few times, his expression straightens out, his lips press together into a thin line and he starts walking towards me.

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Wowa?! What was that!? Did he school his face into a poker face just now? That couldn't be. He'd been so expressive and charismatic just a second ago!

"Alex Black, correct?" the principal says once he reaches me. Great, he knows me by name. Now I can be sure that, whatever reason he has to shield his emotions behind a poker face, is personal.

"Yes sir," I say politely, hoping for the slight chance that I'm reading too much into everything. After all, I had met him a few times before and he hadn't given me any reason before to think that he disliked me.

"What's all this nonsense about a science major? Your grades for languages on the entrance exam were the highest this school has ever seen," the principal says seriously. "I was under the impression that your father prefered you to continue your language studies too."

Ah, there it is; the reason for the principal's hostility. It was true that I'd aced the language aspect of the entrance exam. I even remember my dad bragging about how I'd corrected some mistakes on exceptions the teacher had made.

I have a natural talent for languages. I'm able to converse with people in French, Mandarin and Arabic. I learned a decent amount of Japanese too, from watching animes and understand a good amount of Spanish, even though telenovelas really aren't my thing. But the language the principal is talking about is Latin.

Honestly, I'd searched far and wide for a school that could provide the same level in language studies my previous school had provided me with, and there were a few, but I'd be spending more time traveling to and from school than what I'd actually be in school. So I'd chosen convenience above quality. And since the level of the language major at this school would bore me out of my mind, I'd chosen for something new entirely.

Still, there is nothing I can gain by telling the principal this. In the best case, the school would adapt its teachings to meet my level, but that would take time and would probably only produce real results after I graduate. In the worst case scenario, these truths could offend the principal and he could ostracize me or I could be subjected to his disfavor.

"Isn't that all the more reason to try something new, sir?" I ask, playing it safe. He glares at me thoughtfully for a long moment, but then sighs.

"Will you at least join our team in this year's IOL?" he finally asks with a sigh.

"I think that would count as cheating sir," I chuckle. "And honestly, I would appreciate your discretion on the subject."

The principle sighs again.

"Very well. Then there's nothing I can do, honestly. I'd hoped that, when I got your papers to enroll you in the science major, that it had been a mistake, so I wanted to talk to you before classes started. Did you receive the checklist of things you'll need for this school year?"

"Yes sir. I have all of my books and a few uniforms. The only thing I still need to buy are gym clothes."

"Hmm, ok. You can buy those here at school. Do you know where?"

"No sir, I don't know my way around the school yet."

"Understandably. Ask Jasper to show you around after classes end today. From what I can tell, the boy has taken a liking to you. Now, hurry off. It looks like Mrs. Marvels is ready to head to the classroom."

With a last "Yes sir." I hurry off towards my new class. Jasper is looking down, at the feet of the person in front of him, so he doesn't notice me nearing. I dare say he looks a little down spirited too. What's that all about?

I elbow him when I join the cue to go outside.

"I'm back! Did you miss me?" I ask jokingly. Jasper's eyes grow comically wide when he sees me.

"You're back?!" he asks, seemingly pleasantly surprised. "Did you clear up the misunderstanding then?"

"I have."

"Yes!!" Jasper cheers happily, traps me in a hug around my shoulders and lifts me off the floor like a child would do with a teddy bear.

"Huh? Jasper?! What are you doing?! Put me down!" I stutter surprised.

"Welcome aboard, Alex." Jessy joins the conversation. "This idiot was already sulking at the thought that you might not be in our class after all."

Jasper finally releases me. I thought he would refute Jessy's statement, but he didn't seem bothered by it at all.

"Yeah, good to be here."