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"So who was that new chic? She was kinda cute."
Damon turned around and spotted Riley and some other of their friends coming towards him. He smiled a hello and watched as they all sat down at the table for lunch. "All I know is that her name was Sharon and that she's in our class. She had Mr. West first period this morning."
"That's her name? I saw her. I'm in that class with her. She seems pretty quiet," Vin, one of the other guys, said.
"And how could you tell? Mr. West lectures the entire time. When would you guys be able to talk?" Riley teased.
"Point taken," Vin replied, smiling and lifting his arms up in mock surrender. "I'm just saying she seems to be the quiet type. She didn't talk to anyone after class. Just kinda left, you know?"
"With only five minutes to get to the next class, what else would you expect of her? She's new and still finding her way around," he pointed out.
He shrugged. "She could have asked someone for help, I dunno."
"Hey guys. Hey Damon."
He turned toward the new voice and smiled easily. "Hey Ana. How were your first couple of classes?" Damon asked as he scooted his chair over a bit for the smiling brunette so she could move a chair over to the table.
"Same old, same old," she smiled back, pushing her thick shoulder length, brown hair back behind her shoulders. "English is going to be a bore and so will calculus. You'd think we could get cooler classes our senior year."
Damon laughed. "You're the one who decided to take those classes Ana. No one said you couldn't take it easy your last year."
"And if I took it easy, I wouldn't be getting anywhere after I graduate. Thanks but no thanks. I'll find some fun one way or another."
"Well, the welcome dance is tomorrow, and if I'm not mistaken, you and I are going."
"Only because we're helping set up because we're on student council. You call that fun?"
"The dancing part that happens after the setting up, yes. I think that'll be fun."
"Always trying to find the best out of every situation, aren't you?" she smiled.
"Of course I try. If I didn't, I'd go crazy," he smiled back.
A few feet away, Sharon was finally making it to the cafeteria. She'd wanted to talk to her last teacher a little bit after class about some of the extra work she'd have to do on the side to make sure she was on par with everyone else in the class. She had tried her best to stall as long as possible; lunch was next and she didn't want to deal with all the looks and whispering that was sure to go on around her. Her teacher, however, had class after lunch and needed to get some things together to get prepare and had sent Sharon on her way. Now, her eyes looked around for a place to sit and found a spot at the end of a long table nearby. With notebook and lunch in hand, she made her way to the table and sat down, trying her best to ignore the looks people were giving her and the whispering behind her back. 'Let them look and talk,' she thought. 'Soon enough, the novelty will wear off, and I'll just be some quiet chic who just likes to keep to herself.' She took the pencil from behind her ear and flipped her notebook to a clean page. Almost unconsciously, she drew her legs up and folded them underneath her as she concentrated on the blank page in front of her. She was already scratching away when she started to eat her sandwich.
"Hey, isn't that the new girl?"
Damon looked over to where one of the guys was pointing and spotted her only a couple of tables away, writing in a notebook as she ate her lunch. Both he and Vin nodded. "That's her all right."
"What's she working on? She can't be doing homework already."
"After only two classes? I would hope not, and if she is, remind me to try and transfer out of those classes if I have the same teachers as her."
"You guys are so lazy!" Ana exclaimed, laughing.
"Come on! We have to live up to our dumb jock image here Ana. Give us a break," Riley smiled from across the table.
"And you guys play on it so well."
"What? And you don't act the part of ditzy cheerleader every now and again?"
"Of course not. I'm not blonde now, am I? Besides, that's just a hobby. Cheerleading isn't my life."
Laughter interrupted Sharon's concentration and she blinked a couple of times to remember where she was. She looked up towards the source and found Damon a few feet away at a round table. He was surrounded by a bunch of people she could only assume to be fellow football players, spotting Riley in among the crowd. And there was the girl she'd seen with them that morning too, laughing right along with them. A small pang hit her. 'I miss laughing like that. I miss my friends. I wonder what they're doing back home…' She sighed and looked down at her notebook again. 'Stop it Sharon. This is your home now. You can't go back even if you wanted to. It's too dangerous. If only I had had more time to say good-bye though…'
She glanced up again and found Damon looking directly at her. She blinked, surprised. He smiled and waved hi and she shyly waved back, smiling a little bit in return. Slightly blushing, she turned back down to her notebook to hide her face.
"Come on Ana. I think we have to exercise our role as welcoming committee," Damon said, drawing himself up and beckoning the girl to follow, all the while still smiling. At the table, he pulled up a couple of extra seats for Ana and himself. "Hey Sharon. How's your first day so far?" he asked as he straddled his chair to face her.
Again, she blinked up and found herself staring into his eyes. "Uhh, it's all been all right so far I guess," she answered, smiling a little bit. "How about you?"
He shrugged. "Not too bad actually. Anyway, Sharon, this is Ana. Ana, this is Sharon."
"Nice to meet you Sharon," Ana smiled, sticking out a hand.
"Nice to meet you too," she replied, taking the offered hand and shaking it.
"Anyway, as part of the welcoming committee, Ana and I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow night, the school's holding a welcome back dance. If you don't have any other plans, we'd love it if you could come."
"Oh, I don't know. My family just moved in a few days ago and we're still trying to get settled in."
"Oh, I see," Ana replied. "Well, if you decide you need a break, you know where to go then. And definitely let us know if you or your family needs any help with anything, settling in, finding the best local places to shop or eat or hang out, whatever."
Sharon smiled widely this time. "Thanks for the offer Ana. That'd be nice."
"Anytime. That's what we're here for."
Just then, the warning bell rang, signaling that class was going to start again in five minutes. With a quick smile and wave good-bye, Damon and Ana rushed back to get their backpacks as Sharon stood up and started heading back to the main building. She looked down at her schedule and smiled. 'My one and only relaxing class. Finally!' She made a left and found herself in a different wing of the building. She found the room number and put her hand on the doorknob.
"Sharon!"
Her hand dropped back and she turned to see Damon rushing to catch up with her. "Hey. Following me now?"
"It depends," he smiled, catching up to her. "Do you have art right now?" She nodded. "Then that'd be a yes, I'm following you," he winked, opening the door for her. She laughed easily and the two found a couple of seats next to the windows.
As the teacher handed out his syllabus and went through it, Damon found himself glancing over to Sharon. She looked like she was daydreaming what with the soft afternoon light coming from behind them and her leaning over with her chin in the palm of her left hand. For the first time that day, he allowed himself to take a good look at her. She was dressed casually – no impressing anyone on the first day obviously. A worn in pair of jeans hugged her legs on top of the sandals she wore. She had been wearing a light jacket earlier to keep out the chill in the morning but now that it was afternoon, the jacket was tied around her waist. On top, she wore a simple black tank top. Her hair flowed past her shoulders in a loose ponytail and it looked to be as dark and rich as Ana's, but while Ana's hair was naturally a little on the curly side, Sharon's was straight. He noticed that she was wearing little flower earrings that sparkled a little in the light. He turned to her face. Sharon wore little make-up. Just a little bit of lip-gloss, if anything else. Right now, her mouth was turned up a little at the sides, smiling a little at the teacher's attempt to crack a joke. Her dark brown eyes were intent, focused on their teacher, Mr. Flynn, and still lit up with a little bit of the laughter from before.
'Riley was right. She is cute,' he thought to himself as the class finally broke up to do some sketching for the last ten minutes of class. He tilted his head to one side as he stared at the blank piece of paper on the easel in front of him. 'Come on Damon. Do you really have to think about what you want to sketch?' Grinning a little to himself, he started to sketch a familiar object.
Sharon concentrated hard on her work. Even if it was just a way to get the class to just waste the last ten minutes of class, she took pride in her artwork. When she worked, she escaped from the world. She left behind the hurt and pain, the anger and sadness. When she drew, she didn't have to impress anybody. This was her release.
"Good job Sharon. That looks really good."
Damon looked up from his paper and turned to his left where Mr. Flynn was critiquing her work. "Thank you," he heard her say before Mr. Flynn came over to his easel.
"Dragons again Damon?" he smiled.
"Unless the topic is assigned, you can't get me to do work on anything else," he grinned back. As the teacher moved on, Damon stole a look at Sharon's work and caught himself whistling. "He's right, you know."
Sharon looked up. "Huh?"
"Your drawing," he answered, pointing to her sketch of a girl's face. Well, it was more of a girl's eyes than the face actually. While there was a basic outline of a head and a few light lines to indicate the nose and lips, she'd worked hard on the eyes, getting them to stand out almost life-like from the stark white of the paper. "It's really good."
She blushed lightly. "Thanks Damon," she replied. Just then the bell rang and the class immediately started to pour back out into the halls. "I guess I'll see you later then," she said as the two started to go opposite directions upon leaving the room.
"Definitely. Have a good rest of first day," he smiled.
"Thanks. You too," she waved before losing herself once again to the mass of people.