4 Second Encounter

The rest of my journey to school went smoothly and I arrived at the school gates right on time. I was starting to feel nervousness set in and my chest felt just the tiniest bit constricted. 'Please let the rest of today go fine!'

I took a deep breath after that silent wish, steeled my nerves and marched into the school building. My first stop was the general office, where I needed to give them some final documents to process before I get assigned into class. Being a transfer student is hard. (Cue sad face)

Anyway, I handed over the documents and sat down at the benches in front of the counter to wait. Before long, a teacher came up to me and I hurriedly stood up. "Caitlyn Rivers?"

"That's me," I quickly replied.

"Ms. Williams, your class 1A teacher in charge. Homeroom is about to begin, follow me to your classroom." After that brief introduction, she spun around swiftly, gesturing for me to follow. I took one last glance back to make sure I had everything and scurried to catch up to her.

"All first year classrooms are on the first floor, recreational and staff rooms are on the third. Washroom are on each end of the corridors on all floors. Males to the left, females to the right. Unauthorised access to the roof is strictly prohibited. Your class is 1A, right. Here. Any questions?"

After prattling off all that information, we came to a stop right in front of a door with the sign 1A hanging at the top. "No, Ms. Williams, " I replied, shaking my head to confirm.

"Good. Now wait here until I signal for you to come in," and with that quick instruction, she opened the door and entered, leaving me out here with no more time to prepare.

I took another deep breath. 'It's just an introduction. No big deal! You can do this. Just talk slowly.' As I repeatedly chanted those lines in my head, I saw Ms Williams waving for me to enter.

I hugged my bag tightly in front of me and willed myself to move forward towards her, eyes concentrating right on the table that Ms Williams was standing behind. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, seeming to pierce through me as I took each step nearer to the center. When I finally reached the side of that table my gaze was still fixed on, I came to an abrupt halt, stiffly turning to face the gazes that had been stabbing me as I chose to fix my gaze on the big board that covered the wall at the other end of the classroom.

"Class, this is the new transfer student, Caitlyn Rivers. She will be your classmate starting today." With that opening statement, she turned to me and said "Please introduce yourself."

I lightly cleared my throat and adjusted the bag in my arms. "Um.. My name is Caitlyn. You can call me Kate." With the words out, I let out a silent breath of relief. Great! I got that out properly! Now all I need to do is not trip when I have to go sit down.

I looked expectantly at Ms Williams, waiting for her to speak. She looked at me and after seeing that I had nothing more to say, directed me to the seat at the back. I kept my head down as I walked towards the back of the room, ever so mindful to make sure I don't step onto anything that might cause me to fall, and finally plopped down onto the empty seat.

I was about to do my usual thing with burying my head down to try and disappear from existence, but remembering my main goal of wanting to change, I looked to my sides to see if there were any prospective friends to be made.

I turned to my right, ready to be the friendly and cheerful person I knew I could be, but that all flew right out the window when I saw the person looking back at me. It was him! I knew I said 'see you around' but I definitely did not mean that to happen this quickly. "Oh. Hey..." The only greeting I could squeeze out facing his all too bright aura.

"Hi, Kate! You said to call you that, right? Um anyway, thanks for that thing this morning. You ran off before I could say thanks. My name is Spencer. Spencer Williams." I heard him introduce, flashing that winning smile of his I saw this morning. 'I think I need to go buy a pair of sunglasses just so I can face him properly,' I thought to myself.