First Impressions

A herd of boisterous students stood clustered around the Ridgeside University notice board, pushing each other to try and see their schedules for this year. Behind the crowd, a petite girl with pale, pure skin and emerald green eyes waited for the crowd to disperse, her straight black hair blowing behind her gently as she stood there patiently. She wasn't fond of feeling crammed together, and had always been too shy to be assertive, so she was happy to wait.

"Alice! Hey, Alice!" A bubbly girl with Auburn curls and beautiful caramel eyes pushed past the students to reach the black haired girl. "Alice I found you, finally!!" She rested her hands on her knees and bent over, catching her breath. "Did you find out what classes you have yet?"

Alice shook her head and gave a small smile, "Not yet, Chloe. You know how I am..." She hung her head, feeling a bit embarrassed by her lack of confidence. "I just figured it was easier to wait".

"Say no more, girl, I got this under control", Chloe was always full of energy and was never afraid to go for what she wanted. Alice watched Chloe spread the crowd apart, shouting jokingly, "Move aside, move aside, there's a star coming through! Lay out the red carpet folks!!"

Alice laughed to herself, she was thankful to have a friend like Chloe. She gave Alice the push she needed sometimes, but was also there to save her when she was too much of a chicken to act. Alice, on the other hand, was the book worm that breezed through school and helped out Chloe whenever she needed it.

They had been best friends since they were children as they had grown up next door to each other. They met sixteen years ago, when they were six. Chloe had dashed out of her house with a dollar in her hand to buy a treat from the icecream truck. Alice was sitting on her front steps, staring at the truck with her money clutched in her hand, too afraid to buy one. Chloe had run over and spoken to her, licking her icecream happily "Hey, the trucks gonna leave soon. Aren't you gonna get something?" When Alice replied her cheeks were red and she hung her head nervously, "I...well..I dont know what I want really and I'm a bit shy...I can't choose. I dont want to waste his time..maybe tomo..."

Before Alice could finish her sentence Chloe had swiped the dollar from her hand and skipped off to the truck. She came back soon after, carrying a second chocolate topped cone like the one she had for herself, and cheerfully strode back to Alice and sat with her. "These are my favourite, the cones even have chocolate at the very bottom inside!" Chloe loved to talk, and Alice was a good listener and appreciated that Chloe accepted her for the quiet, but helpful, mouse she was, and so they became inseparable friends.

Alice smiled at the memory as Chloe made her way back through the wall of students, eyes lit up in excitement and papers in her hands. She quickly handed Alice her schedule and spoke, "Looks like we have English together, and our breaks are at the same time but that's it. But you have Economics with Mr. Larson! I heard he's a hottie! You're so lucky, I got Mrs. Brown for economics " She rolled her eyes and joked, "I would rather watch paint dry than listen to her drone on". Both girls laughed before Chloe gave Alice a hug, squeezing her tightly as she normally did, " We better get to class, wouldn't want to be late on the first day! Do you need help finding it?"

In truth, she would have loved help, but she hated feeling like Chloe had to babysit her just because she was timid and too scared to ask anyone else, so she put on a brave face and shook her head, "Nah I think I'll be fine, thanks C. Catch you later!".

Alice looked down at her schedule, " Okay, room 409, building C. Economics". She looked up and gazed around the school yard, there were buildings scattered around the campus, and she couldn't see any signs showing which building each one was. She sighed, and began walking to try and find her class, too stubborn to ask for help.

* * *

When she finally found the room she had searched for so desperately she stole a glance at her watch, "8:23," she sighed heavily "well...maybe I'm not the only late kid on the first day?"

She silently hoped that this would be easy. She opened the door slowly, the wooden door creaking open loudly and echoing through the large chamber room. Mr. Larson, who had been writing on the board and saying something about daily expectations, froze his writing as the door shut with a low thud, and roughly placed down his marker.

"Miss Hurst!" He turned swiftly to face her, his light blue eyes narrowed in annoyance, hands behind his back in a stance that demanded authority. "You're. Late." His words were chopped short, intimidating Alice who was now bright red, holding in tears from her humiliation. But he continued roughly, "TWENTY-FOUR minutes late, to be precise! See me after class." With that, he turned back to his writing and Alice slid down in her seat, hiding her face in her books and note taking for the remainder of the period.