Chapter 25

Daniel's pov

I wasn't joking when I told Sarah I had doubts about making friends in school because people usually ignored my existence due to my usual awkward aura

I usually didn't care but today, I tried following Sarah advice on lifting up my head mostly because I had choice but to do that. If I didn't raise my head I'd get lost this maze of a school.

Though I made sure to get to all my classes at least five minutes before it was to commence then sit right at the back of the classroom. This was to avoid any unnecessary introduction or conversations with the teachers in front of a class.

I kept getting weird stares and smiles from students but during my third class which was English, this particular girl with hair bleached so blonde you could mistake it for white, bothered me with her presence. she kept glancing back and giving weird winks while chewing gum

I honestly felt disgusted and had to stop myself from physically cringing so many times! One time, she turned back and looked at me while licking her lips. At that moment I felt like gagging and couldn't control the shiver of irritation that went through my body

'Is she okay?' Was what came to my mind before I decide I couldn't take it any longer and kept my eyes on the teacher with the focus of a lazer. That made me at a point forget she was even in the class.

After that class, I felt much more comfortable in the next class, calculus, even though it wasn't the easiest class but it at least ensured every ones attention was was in the teacher

By the time it was lunch break, I could not have been happier to hear the bell! I went to the cafeteria, paid for my lunch and sat in an empty table.

I had paid for the food with cash because Sarah and I agreed that would be for the best due to the fact that my dad gave us a black card! A black-fudging-card! And he says to keep a low profile! So we decided using cash in school would be for the best

My tray contained an Apple, three slices of pizza, a bottle of water and some other unnecessary things that I wasn't going to eat.

Before I could take a bite from my food, I saw shadows above. I looked up and saw about seven students, contisting of four boys and three girls, staring down at me and also noticed that the whole cafeteria was looking at us

"What the hell are you doing here?" one of the guys asked... more like barked at me. He had thick brown hair, grey eyes, little sprinkles of freckles around his nose and judging from a quick but thorough glance at him, I could tell he was taller than me and also well built

He looked like the typical popular high school boy from a teen movie. Normally, hearing his harsh tone I'd have silently taken my tray and vacated the table but for some reason I did the opposite

"Eating" I replied in a bored tone as I leaned forward and rested my arm on the table. I'm definitely spending to way much time with Sarah

"Go find another table. This one is ours" he replied with clenched jaws, by ours he meant him and his group of friends

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't realise people bought tables in this school" I replied with feigned ignorance

"Don't test my patience" he said bowing his head a bit to get to my eye level since I was still sitting

"Bro, it's not that deep" a guy in his group spoke patting his shoulder, this one on the other hand was blonde with noticeable blue eyes

"What's going on here, babe?" I look up to see the lip licking girl I saw in the class, part the group and stand next to my interrogator

"What going on is that this dude thinks he's tough" he replied giving me a nasty smirk. He looked ready to punch me in the race

"Who would dar-" she began talking with a hard voice but cut off mid-sentence when she looked at me "- Oh it's you. Hi!!!" she said her voice changing immediately to an annoying high pitch

I just raised an eyebrow at her but apart from that I ignored her presence. I had a feeling she was a time bomb and I'm really not digging for trouble. I have enough of that already

"I guess I'll go find another table since tables are apparently owned in this school" I said picking up my tray with my heart beating wildly

I really have no idea why I keep trying to push this guys buttons

"Perfect" He replied clenching his fists tighter than ever

"No, you can stay with us. It's no trouble at all" the girl spoke again making the group of friends look at her like she had grown horns but she ignored them and kept on doing something I don't with her eyelashes

"Don't bother. I wasn't planning on staying" I replied looking the guy with dark hair in the eye once before moving away from their table. He remained silent but began giving me a calculated look. One I recognized well

"Ok I'll see you in class" she called after me.

"I really hope not" I muttered to myself before looking around the cafeteria to find another table but unfortunately time had been wasted and all the tables had been taken

Just as I was about to give up on finding a table I saw one that luckily wasn't fully occupied. I took a deep breath and walk towards the table.

"Hello, can I sit here" I said to the group. There were two boys and also the same number of girls. They all looked up at me with shock for some reason.

"You want to sit here?" A boy with dyed blue hair at the table asked with wide eyes

"Yes?" I replied unsure of why he asked that

"You want to sit with us at this table?!" One of the girls in the group squeaked out, pointing towards the table. While the other girl just sat with mouth hanging open

"Is there a problem, or is it taken? I could look for another table" I suggested and I began stepping away from them since they all were giving me wierd vibes

"NO!" They all yelled at the same time making me instantly stop my retreat

"What we mean is, you can sit here" the boy that hadn't spoken since I got there rushed on to say

"Okay?" I said moving reluctantly to the table. He spoke again

"Pardon our manners, it's wierd that someone like you would want to sit with us" he took the shortest pause I have ever seen any one take before speaking again, giving me no chance to respond to his initial statement

"I'm Andrew, that's Andrea" he said pointing to the the girl that still had her mouth open and was blinking rapidly for some reason "that's Aaron" he pointed to the other guy "and that's Abigail" pointing finally to last person before he continued

"We like to call ourselves the A- plus" he finished with a small smile

"We do that since all our names begin with the letter A. Get it?" Abigail... I think... piped in

"Yeah I do" I replied with an amused smile. Now they we're behaving like normal people, they didn't seem all that bad

"So what's your name?" Aaron asked eagerly

"Sorry to disappoint guys but the name's Daniel" I replied still maintaining a small smile

"Disappoint? Even your name is so cool!" Andrea exclaimed suddenly

"Okay? But what did you mean by someone like me?" I asked Andrew before taking the first bite out of my pizza slice

"If you haven't noticed we're more like the unpopular group of friends A.K.A the weirdos in this school. It's kinda unusual for popular guys like you to talk to us" he said with a peculiar accent while his friend nodded in agreement

I gave them a confused look before speaking "Popular? Who's popular?" I asked not getting anything from what he said

"You!" They all exclaimed at the same time. Their in sync responses were getting really creepy by the way

"Me?" I repeated

"Yes, the whole school has been buzzing about you all day. Especially since you just challenged Chad and his friends"Aaron spoke bouncing a bit on his chair

"Even his girlfriend, Bella has been talking about you to her group. Practically everyone is talking about you. And That, in this school, qualifies you as popular" Abigail continued for him

"I-I didn't mean to get any attention. But I don't think you guys are weirdos though" I replied. Not knowing what else to say, I began eating my lunch while they continued discussing amongst themselves

They kept on talking till I was done with my food. The group I had clashed with earlier, from what they said, it seems like they're big shots in the school. I finally picked up my tray with the intention of going to my next class

"Where are you headed?"Andrea asked

"To class" I replied

"Which class do you have?" She prodded some more

"Language" I gave a one word answer

"What language?" She pestered on making me want to groan. I'm not annoyed at her on the contrary it's interesting how she keeps asking but I'm very uncomfortable speaking to people.

"French?" I replied again. Not really sure if I wanted to answer her questions at all

"Nice, we both have that class now" she spoke pointing at Abigail and herself "let's go together" she said standing up immediately

"Unfortunately, I have algebra" Aaron said with with a sigh while placing his head on the table

"I have Economics" Andrew stated simply

"Ok, I have to go now" I said turning and walking towards the cafeteria door

"Ok let's meet up after school" Aaron yelled after me

"Sure" I replied with a wave and began walking faster when I heard the bell ring

"Could you walk a little slower?" I heard someone say from l behind

I looked to my side and saw Abigail breathing hard and struggling to keep up while Andrea was lagging a few steps behind

"Oh sorry, I didn't realise you two were here"I said forcing myself to reduce my pace. Even though I wanted to do the opposite

"No problem" she replied

"But where did you learn to walk as fast as that?" Andrea who had caught up and stood by my other side asked but before I had a chance to answer...

"Also I can obviously tell you are African but where exactly are you from?" Abigail popped in

"And Why did you transfer? " the other asked not giving me time to process the previous question.

They kept at it all the way to the classroom. Even when I took my seat at the back of the class, they followed suite sitting on either side of me

I have a feeling this is going to be the longest class of my life... SOS!