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The 16 year old sat down on the chair in the office staring at the floor. She was pretty excited to be around new people but part of her was scared. She moved her jacket zipper up and down while she waited for all the business to be properly taken care of. “Pearl? Come here a second.” Her father called while looking down at the papers at the front desk. “Ok.” She signed and stood up, walking towards the front desk. “You need to choose your electives and language.” Her father showed her the paper with the list of all the electives. “You can also choose what sports you are interested in too~” The lady at the front desk stated. “The fall sports are in the middle of their seasons so it would be hard to get into those” She added.
Pearl looked over the list of all the classes and twirled a bit of her hair around her finger. “So what will it be Pearly?” Her father asked. “I’ll take French like I did last time annnnnnd…” she stalled. “I guess I’ll take photography.” She looked over the paper again to see if anything else peeked her interest before nodding again. “Yeah photography.” The lady at the front desk entered the classes into the computer and nodded. “And your second elective?” She looked back up at Pearl. “Second elective? I still have space on my schedule?” The lady at the desk nodded. “Yes, right now your schedule is first period history, second period French, third period chemistry, forth period Algebra 2, fifth period is lunch, sixth period PE, seventh is open and eighth period is photography.” Pearl raised her eyebrows, surprised at some of the things she heard. “So I don’t have to take English?” She asked. “Well since you took AP English over the summer you’ve passed for both your junior and senior year here.” The receptionist said. “Oh wow! But why do I have to take PE still? I took two years of it at my old school~” She asked again. “Well here we just do things a bit differently, here we have 3 years of PE instead of 2 like most schools. We also have an 8 period schedule with 7 classes instead of a 7 period schedule with 6 classes. But we have the same amount of time in the school day as other schools.” The receptionist answered. “Oh, well then…hmmm…” Pearl looked over the paper, not seeing any other electives that really stuck out at her. “I don’t know dad~” She showed the paper to her dad. “Well let’s see here…” He looked over the paper of electives. “Well I know you wouldn’t want to do woodworking ~” He dad said and Pearl nodded affirmingly. “How about this one?” Her father pointed at one of the classes titled “News”. “You like to be on camera don’t you? Wanting to be a weather girl and all?” Pearl nodded. “Yeah that sounds good, I’ll take that one.” She told the lady behind the desk. “Wonderful, I’ll just put that into your schedule and I’ll print it out.” The lady said as a typed into her computer. “Oh before I forget, let me call up one of the class reps to show you around the school before the next period.” The receptionist said as she handed Pearl her schedule. She dialed a number into the landline, said a few words to the person on the other end then hung up. “He should be here shortly.” She said.
Pearl sat down in the chair next to her dad while they waited. “Are you nervous?” Her dad asked. “Nope, done this tons of times~” Pearl sighed. “I’m sorry Pearly but this is the best thing for you right now, and you shouldn’t have to worry about moving again, we’ll stay here until you graduate.” Her dad tried to comfort her. “You say that a lot but we never do, how is this different?” Pearl asked. “Well I’ll be the one commuting for work and you can stay here.” Pearl sighed and looked down at the floor. She hated how she lived the past few years. Her mother constantly traveled as part of her work and would be gone for months at a time. She liked the boxes of expensive gifts that she would send back but she really wanted her mom to be with her more often than she was currently. Her dad was also quite busy and had to travel a lot too, but thankfully not as much as her mom did. He had to work in big cities, she liked the big cities but her parents decided to move her out to the suburbs. This was so then she could have a more stable place to live where she would be ok if she was left alone for a few weeks at a time. A nice smaller town where people could look out for her, where she wouldn’t feel like she was on her own. The downside was that her family had tried many small towns before and no matter how social Pearl was and liked to be, she started to hate being the new girl. She liked the first few days of it, being the fresh new face in town but she didn’t like it when it continued on for weeks.
“I know you don’t think it’s going to be different Pearl but it will be.” Her father encouraged. “Daddy you say that every time!” Pearl crossed her arms, getting more and more annoyed. “But this time it really is different! I bought the house we’re going to be living in so you can paint your walls any color you want~” Pearl looked up. “Really?! So I can paint them pink?” Her father nodded. “You can even get one of those shelves installed in the walls like you wanted or even a hanging chair.” Pearl beamed happily. “My Pinterest boards will be coming to life!” Her father laughed, happy to see her finally excited about the move. “Also, once you’re done with school today, my assistant will pick you up and we’re going to meet for a special surprise I have planned.“ Pearl smiled and giggled slightly. “What is it?!” He father laughed and shook his head. “If I told you it would ruin the surprise Pearly~” “Pleaseeeee? Just a little hint?” Pearl begged. “Alright then, this is for your moving gift. I know I normally let you pick it out yourself but I think you’ll really like what I have planned.” He smiled. “But Dad, I like choosing my gift…” Pearl whined slightly. “You’ll still get to choose the exact one that you want but I just chose the general gift for you.” Pearl was about to say something but was cut off by the receptionists. “Excuse me Miss Pearl and Mr. McAllister, the class representative is here now~” A boy in overalls stood near the front desk, holding the strap of his messenger bag. His curly hair covered down to just above his eyebrows and it seemed like he was trying in a slightly failed attempt to grow a mullet.
“Hello, I’m Rusty! You must be Pearl!” He said with a happy voice and warm smile. “Yes I am, you’re going to be giving me a tour of the school right?” Pearl asked. “I sure am! Feel free to ask me any questions you might have!” He said with much enthusiasm. Pearl couldn’t help but smile nearly as much as Rusty did, his positive attitude being contagious. “Oh how could I forget, one last thing.” The receptionist said. “I need to print out your id card, Miss Pearl.” She then pressed some keys on her keyboard the walked to the id printer. She waited a few moments then the card printed out. “Here you go!” She handed Pearl the card. Pearl looked at it for a minute before opening her pink bag to put it in her matching pink wallet.
“So am I all set now?” Pearl asked the receptionist. “You should be! Mr. McCoy will take you on your tour now~” She paused and turned to Rusty. “And Mr. McCoy, please make sure you are able to get her to her 3rd period on time. We don’t want Miss. McAllister to be later on her first day.” Rusty nodded. “Of course! But umm…I would need a copy of her schedule so that I know what her 3rd period is and so I can show her to her classes~” He asked looking between Pearl and the receptionist. “Yes well as long as it’s ok with Miss McAllister…” She held the paper in her hand but looked to Pearl before giving the paper to Rusty. Pearl nodded to say that it was ok with her and the receptionist gave the paper to Rusty. “You have about 20 minutes for the tour Mr. McCoy.” Rusty took the paper and looked down at it while nodded to indicate he heard the receptionist. “More than enough time!”
“Well I guess this is it Pearly~” Her father stood up from his chair. “You’re going to do great today, you always do great!” Pearl smiled and hugged him. “Thank you daddy!” He picked up her backpack and put it on her shoulders and smiled one more time. “Now remember you can always call me if you need anything, if you can’t get to me call my assistant and-“ Pearl stopped him. “Dad I’ve got this, I’ve done this a lot. I’ll be ok!” She reassured him. He nodded, knowing she was right. “Well if any part of today gets hard, just remember the surprise at the end of the day.” Pearl nodded and gave him one last hug before they waved goodbye and he went back to the parking lot. Pearl turned around to see Rusty smiling at her. “Ready to go?” He asked, pointing the way out of the office into the school. “I guess so.” Pearl said.
As they walked out of the office, Rusty kept his quirky smile on his face which was quickly noticed by Pearl. “Are you always so…smiley?” She asked, not with any mean intentions but pure wonder. “Well not all of the time of course but I do like meeting new people and that makes me smile, we don’t get many transfers other then from our exchange programs and they just stay one year.” Rusty answered while he held the door that led onto the campus open for Pearl. She looked around once outside. It was seemed much larger than it did from the outside and while she could tell that the buildings were on the older side the new coats of paint made it look quite new.
“Wow!” Pearl said, a little surprised at what she saw. “Not what you’re used to?” Rusty asked, raising an eyebrow. He grew up in the Apollo Valley and was used to everything in it, with one of the top schools being Starlight High School. He longed his whole life to go and was thrilled when he got there, he wanted to do everything that the school had to offer. Take all possible electives and be in all clubs and sports. Things didn’t work out quite that way for him but he still had just a little under 2 years left since he was a junior.
“Not at all! Most of the schools that I’ve been to were indoors or looked more like college campuses.” Pearl said while she continued to turn her head from side to side, soaking in the school. “Well this is just Starlight for you! It’s not as big as big city schools but it’s the best in the valley!” Rusty said proudly. Pearl turned back to him and raised an eyebrow. “How did you know I was from the city?” “Oh umm well…” Rusty stuttered. “Well you know how you are…” He motioned to her well put together outfit that was composed of a pink skirt, spotless white sneakers, a pink jacket that went over her white shirt that was tucked into her skirt with a matching pink bow.. “And I am uhh…” He motioned to himself. He wore beaten up converse shoes, a pair of overalls that had also seen better days and a brown thermal long sleeve under it along with a black shirt over the long sleeve. “Most people from the valley and nearby don’t dress like you do so I just thought that you were from the city but I really shouldn’t have assumed~” Rusty smiled a slightly weak smile and looked up at Pearl.
Pearl couldn’t help but smile. He looked cute when he was embarrassed for some reason, well he seemed cute from when they first met but maybe she just didn’t really truly notice until that moment. But then again she thought most boys were cute maybe her feelings weren’t that significant. “Well don’t feel so bad, I am from the city. I was mostly raised in San Francisco but I also lived in LA too, that’s where I just moved from actually, but I have lived a lot of places in between.” She said and fiddled with a part of her backpack strap. “Oh! Well I was right!” He laughed nervously, blushing slightly. “What brings you to the valley though? I mean if you lived in big cities before why do you live in a small town now?” Pearl thought for a moment, she seemed to have forgotten. She never gave it much thought really, when she was told that she was going to move again she merely packed up her things and left. Her parents always tried to explain how moving would help their jobs and the family but Pearl didn’t really care. She just wanted to be in one spot but she knew that wouldn’t happen. Well she didn’t think it would until she first moved to the Apollo Valley. Her father seemed to like it there and while her mother was still abroad at the moment and couldn’t see it in person, she also liked it.
“My parents jobs, well mainly my dad’s. He has to work between, LA, Sacramento, San Diego, Reno and Vegas. Since here is close to the California-Nevada line he thought it would be best to move here so I could stay in one spot.” Rusty looked a little perplexed. “He travels a lot for work?” Pearl nodded. “Yup. His schedule is a little weird but apparently our living situation now is supposed to be better.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if it is though, but I’m just tired of being the new girl~” She sighed. Rusty smiled to her. “Well I’ll try to help so you don’t have to feel like you’re new! I’ll show you all the classes that you’ll need to know about and any information that you might need!” Pearl couldn’t help but giggle at his enthusiasm. “Sure! Lead the way tour guide!”
After the tour, Rusty and Pearl walked back towards the direction of Pearl’s 3rd period class, Chemistry. “Well thank you for the tour Rusty, it was very helpful.” Pearl smiled. “Well you’re welcome, it was my pleasure!” Rusty smiled too and kicked a rock nearby. There was a small awkward silence between them for Pearl opened her mouth to speak but just then the bell for 3rd period rang. “Oh well I would walk you into class but I promised my little brother that I would meet him by his algebra class for a pep talk before his test. He’s really nervous.” Rusty said with a slight chuckle. Pearl smiled. “That’s very noble Rusty.” Rusty blushed a little. “Well I better go, we only have 8 minutes for the passing period and I need to get to the other side of campus and back.” “I’m sure you can make it, you seem pretty fast!” Pearl encouraged. Rusty smiled before saying goodbye and parted ways with Pearl.
Pearl walked into the classroom and found that a few students were already there. She walked up to the front to find the teacher at his desk, busy looking over some of his students papers. He looked up once he noticed Pearl standing by his desk. “Hello, can I help you?” He asked. “Hi! I’m a new student and this is supposed to be my 3rd period class I believe.” The teacher nodded and looked down at one of his papers. “Ah yes are you Miss McAllister?” “Yes that’s me!” Pearl said with a happy and energetic voice. “I’m Mr. MayGab but most of my students call me Mr. M” He introduced. “I’m Pearl, I don’t know why people her call me Miss McAllister, it seems strange.” Pearl said with a raised eyebrow. “Well that’s just the way we address students her at Starlight High School.” Pearl nodded but still felt strange about it. It was like one of her older fancy private schools complete with uniforms and equestrian classes instead of PE.
“As for your seat Miss McAllister, you’ll be sitting in the back next to Mr. Davidson.” The teacher motioned to the back of the class where a rather tall boy leaned on the lab table talking to some of the other boys in the class. “Mr. Davidson~” Mr. MayGab called out, making the boy look up. “We have a new student with us today that will be sitting with you. Please introduce yourself to her and be nice. I expect the same of you Mr. Enzo, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Turnov.” Pearl walked to the back of the class to take her seat with the eyes of all 4 boys staring at her. She was normally used to getting looks from guys but now it just felt weird. She felt like she was being stared at like she was a novelty and it made her slightly uncomfortable. She sat down and held her backpack close to her and looked down at her lab table . The stares continued for a few more seconds that felt like an eternity to Pearl and she found herself missing Rusty. “Miss McAllister?” A voice called to her with a slight country twang, the voice that belonged to the one called Mr. Davidson. “Y-yes, that’s me” She stuttered. “You’re new here, ain’t you?” He asked and Pearl nodded. “Huh~” Was his only response. There were a few more moments for awkward silence and staring before Mr. Davidson asked another question. “Well do ya got a name?” “P-Pearl” She said nervously, still not looking up at any of the boys. “Pearl McAllister, pretty name” He said and Pearl couldn’t help but blush slightly however still keeping her head down and away from the boys near her table.
The one refereed to as Mr. Enzo was very friendly compared to the others, despite trying to look cool like his peers he couldn’t hide his excitement of meeting a new girl. “Welcome to Starlight Perla!” He then took Pearl’s hand and kissed it and kissed it as a greeting. Pearl smiled at him, feeling a bit more comfortable. “Well thank you very much! “Leonardo but I am also called Leo as well, I don’t care which you call me. Rusty must have shown you around the school yes?” Pearl nodded. “He did! He is a really good tour guide! But how did you know?” “Rusty and I have second period together, Advanced Italian.” Leo said and it was at this point Pearl couldn’t help but ask a question about his accent, since he just mentioned taking Italian.
“You have a very good accent from just learning Italian. How long have you been learning it?” Leo laughed lightheartedly then answered Pearl. “Every since I was a little boy, I am from Italia! I am part of the exchange program!” He said with great pride. “Ivan also in the program too~” Mr. Davidson said, pointing at the boy that was standing up next to Leo in a red leather jacket with his arms crossed. “All the way from Russia! One of my friends actually went there in the whole exchange process, says its pretty cool there~” Pearl nodded slowly, noticing that one of the boys that was sitting had his eyes stuck to her. Eventually she turned back to Mr.Davidson. “And you are?” “I’m Gunner and he’s Tyler.” The one originally called Mr. Davidson said. Tyler kept staring at Pearl strangely until Gunner called him out for it, punching him in the arm. “Y-yeah I’m Tyler…Tyler Stevens, Tyler George Stevens ~” He stuttered and Gunner rolled his eyes. “She ain’t gotta know your full government name! And quit drooling over her, you’re bein’ weird!” Gunner said, punching him again. “Hey!” Tyler said, annoyed about the punch but it seemed to work because he snapped out of his trance with Pearl. Tyler then lunged at Gunner to try to get a punch back at him only to miss and nearly hit Pearl, causing her to let out a small shriek.
Mr. MayGab looked up and saw what was happening. “Mr. Stevens! That type behavior is unacceptable! I do not except any sort of roughhousing here!” Tyler looked up at the teacher and tried to defend himself by explaining the situation but Mr. MayGab shook his head. “I know that you and Gunner are good friends but I still don’t except roughhousing in my class. You will need to get an incident card from either the office or from Rusty when he gets here.” Tyler groaned loudly and slumped in his chair. “No fair, you always get to get away with everything~” His comment was directed at Gunner who sat behind him and the latter knew but merely smirked.
“Rusty is in this class?” Pearl questioned, referring to what the teacher had mentioned. Gunner scoffed and leaned back in his chair. “Is he ever not?” The others laughed finding what he said to be funny but Pearl didn’t understand, her confusion visible in her facial expression. Gunner noticed and stopped laughing. “Rusty is a goody-two shoes, sits at the front of the class, finishes labs early and helps other groups he’s…he’s…” Gunner tried to find the word. “Nice? Kind?” Pearl asked. “More like annoying.” Gunner said, satisfied if this choice of wording. “Insufferable~” Tyler suggested. “Well look who swallowed a thesaurus this morning…” Gunner said under his breath.
“So where are you from? What’s your story?” He asked. “Umm well I just moved here from LA but I’ve moved around like 8 times before that~” Gunner raised his eyebrow at her answer, almost impressed. “So how do you like the valley so far?” Tyler asked, eyes still glued to her in an awkward way which got him another light punch from Gunner. “Well it’s ok I guess I just haven’t really settled in much yet, but I can say it’s nothing like the city at all!” Pearl said. “I would love to live in a big city! Memphis, Seattle, Austin, Boulder anywhere just away from here.” Gunner mused.
The late bell rang, signaling there was only one minute left before a student was tardy. Rusty then burst though the door and quickly sat down in his seat near the front in the same aisle as Pearl. Pearl looked down the aisle to see Rusty quickly fumbling though his backpack to find his homework and Gunner laughed. “Bet this is the latets he’s every been!” Tyler laughed as well. Pearl didn’t understand what they thought was so funny about it. She knew why Rusty was a bit late and she thought it was noble. She was a about to explain to Gunner and Tyler why Rusty was late when Rusty came up to the table and tapped on Tyler’s shoulder while he was still laughing. “Mr. MayGab said you need an incident card?” Tyler imminently stopped laughing when he was handed the card. “Fill it out and give it to the principle you know the drill…” Rusty said and walked away.
Pearl wondered why he didn’t say hi to her then, thinking maybe she should have said hi first, or maybe that he just didn’t see her or something. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by Gunner’s laughter. “Y-your face! When he gave you the card!” He laughed and Leo chuckled a little. “All the emotion in your face is a…” He tried to find the word he was looking for but couldn’t so he made a “poof” gesture with his hands and laughed. Tyler was about to say something when Mr. MayGab spoke to the class, staring the class period. “Quiet everyone and get into your seats~” Ivan sat down in his seat across from Gunner next to a girl that look almost just as intimating as him but looked a bit more light hearted. “Bye Perla!” Leo said before going to the front of the class and taking his seat next to Rusty.
Pearl opened her notebook to take notes on the lecture but as she did her thoughts began to distract her and she soon found herself just staring at the back of Rusty’s head. She thought about her interactions with him so far as well as Gunner’s view of him that didn’t seem quite positive. She wondered why he hadn’t said hi to her. She thought up so many reasons in her head but soon resolved that a she was just overthinking. She then wondered why she was overthinking in the first place, why did she care? She then decided to stop thinking about it and just take notes. After all, Rusty was just her helpful tour guide, it probably wasn’t anything more than that. Probably.