My stomach grumbled as I approached the cafeteria, reading the brail sign next to the door. I knew I was late when I heard a large commotion coming from the filled lunchroom. I slowly entered, my feet scraping against the floor as I struggled to find a place to sit. Just as it was getting difficult, a warm hand was placed on my shoulder. I whipped around, probably assaulting the person with my dangling hair.

"Hey! It's Alana. You know, from the hallway this morning?" I nodded my head and followed her to her lunch table.

As soon as I sat down, I was introduced to a large group of what I assumed was junior girls. Alana made sure that I knew everyone's names, since I couldn't exactly remember their faces. I met Gabby, Cece, Kat, Rose, and Amanda, all of them greeting a warm hello. I was seated in between Cece and Rose, and we got on real well. Rose was into sports and was on the soccer team as well as the track team, while Cece was into performing arts and was an active member of the concert choir.

"So how has your first day been going?" Alana started.

"Pretty well, except for the fact that I've been late to every class." I said, shoving a carrot stick into my mouth.

"Why have you been late?" Kat interjected.

"Uh..." I stuttered, not sure how to answer the question without embarrassing myself. "I can't see. I'm blind." There was an awkward silence about the lunch table until Gabby interrupted.

"Well at least you have an excuse not to take the SAT's!" Gabby joked. Everyone started laughing, only my laugh was a forced one. I crammed another carrot stick into my quirked mouth, trying not to make it look like I was uncofortable in the situation.

A loud thud came from the other side of the room, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one that heard it, due to my great senses of sound and touch. My head whipped to the source of the noise, the back corner of the crowded cafeteria.

"Did anyone else hear that?" I stated, my heart beat increasing.

"Hear what?" Alana asked.

"That loud bang. It came from the other side of the room." I replied, leaning my ear towards the noise. Alana and Gabby stood up in their seats, getting a better view and putting a sight to the sound. I felt them sit back down in their seats as a small vibration ran through the table.

"Nate Stern." Gabby huffed.

"Oh, not him again." Cat groaned.

"What is he doing now?" Rose sighed.

"What do you think he's doing?" Alana said.

"Wait, who's Nate Stern?" I interjected.

"Only the most popular jock in the school." said Rose.

"He's a big jerk, and he's pretty intolerant of anyone who isn't a cheerleader or another jock." Alana replied.

"But there was one exception!" Gabby smiled excitedly. A groan could be heard from Cece. "He dated Cece last year and-"

"Enough!" Cece exclaimed. I couldn't blame her. It must have been pretty bad if she was this upset about it still.

"Who's his victim this time?" Rose interrupted, obviously trying to deter the subject of Cece and Nate.

"Bay Wicker." Alana sighed. Wasn't he my lab partner?

"You know, I feel pretty bad for him. I know he's got some issues, but Nate's been picking on the poor kid since kindergarten." Gabby explained.

"Oh, Miller! He's a senior. Do you have any classes with him?" Rose asked.

"Er... yeah. I'm pretty sure he's my lab partner. But he's honestly kind of rude." I replied, not sure what to think of this 'Bay' kid. I mean, he was wicked rude to me in our lab earlier, but he probably doesn't have any friends since Nate keeps bullying him. Maybe that's why he's so stand-offish?

"Yeah, he's not really one to make friends easily. His mom died when he was in seventh grade, and he hasn't been the same since." Cat suggested. That made more sense.

"He turned all emo and stuff." Alana started. "Dyes his hair and paints his nails black."

"He's so creepy!" Cat scoffed.

"I think he's kind of cute..." Cece mumbled under her breath.

"Oh please! You think that Weird Gregory is cute!" Rose teased.

...

After lunch was my counseling period. Part of the disabled students program was that I had to meet with a personal counselor everyday. One could say that I wasn't really looking forward to it. And it's not that I didn't like the sessions themselves, it's just that I would rather have an elective like art or gym during this period.

I slowly found my way to the counselor's office, knocking lightly on the door that read 'Ms. Monte'. I felt the small thuds that were transferred through the floor from inside the office as someone moved across the floor on greet me. A small breeze of wind was felt as the door was flushed open.

"You must be Miller Bloom." a warm voice welcomed.

"Yes." I said, not sure how to respond otherwise. Ms. Monte placed her hand on my back and guided me into the office.

I felt around for a chair, then sat down, letting the heavily cushioned arm chair swallow me whole. I heard a coffee machine that was brewing a fresh pot in the background, somewhere over by the window where soft breezes entered the room.

"Nice to meet you Miller. I'm Ms. Monte." She let her hand graze mine so that I could return the handshake that she offered to me. I heard as she sat down in the chair opposite mine, sipping from an almost empty cup of coffee, why I assumed she was brewing another pot.

"Nice to meet you too."

"So, how has your first day been going to so far?" she questioned. I thought about it for a moment, not wanting my day to sound too great but avoiding it sounding awful, because it really wasn't either.

"Um... besides getting to class late every period, I guess it's been going alright." I replied, satisfied with my answer.

"Has anything bad happened yet? Has anyone been rude to you?"

"Nothing particularly bad has happened, but..." I started. I didn't know whether to mention Bay or not. She probably knew who he was, noticing that he was a troubled kid and all, but he might be called down or something if I got him in trouble. The only thing I wanted to do today and for the rest of the year was stay out of people's way. "... the hallways have been really crowded." I fibbed. Technically it wasn't a lie, but I had to make up something to fill the awkward space where Bay's rudeness was supposed to be.

"Yes, it's usually the freshmen that cause that problem. But that's great that everything has been going well so far!" she cheered, standing up from her desk chair to pour the freshly brewed coffee into her now empty mug. She sat back down in the chair, loudly slurping from the dripping cup.

"Yeah..." I muttered. I ran a loose hand through my wavy hair. This conversation wasn't really starting to pick up at this point, so I just sort of sat there awkwardly and picked at the hanging skin on my fingernail. 

"Well, I think our time might just be up for today." said Ms. Monte solemnly after another half hour had gone by. I heard as she stood from her chair to grab the door for me. I slowly stood up, grabbing my back pack from behind my own chair and using the farthest wall as a guide to find the opened exit. 

"Thank you, Ms. Monte." I smiled, hoping it was sent toward her direction. "Have a nice day."

"You too, Miller."