Silence. I’m perfectly fine with that but…. there is an exceptionally odd student next to me wearing muddy neon green clothes. He smells and nothing about him says that he came from France!

“Sorry about the smell!” He apologized. “I was playing football on the field and I tripped into a patch of mud.”

“It’s fine.” I muttered, noting the fact that I didn’t even remember his name. I turned my head to the side and wrinkled my nose, aware of the fact that sweat and mud did not belong in a clean, lemon-smelling classroom. Me, I was never meant for sports.

The teacher came over with a suspicious-looking smile. What was her name again? Ah, yes. Miss. Draven. Despite the name, she was actually quite cheery.

“Samantha, could you show Daniel around the campus?” Miss. Draven asked. I stared up at her as she hinted, “It would be really nice if someone made friends with Daniel!”

She walked off after giving me a smile that I now generally regarded was the devil’s suave smile. But never mind that, now I had to get to know him! Oh, what was his name again…?!

I reached up and pulled the book at the top right corner of my desk into my lap. The simple gesture probably made… Daniel think of me as some bookworm. Not that I wasn’t, but I am not a bookworm! Just a…. geek.

“So. You probably don’t remember my name.” Daniel said, running his hand through his mud brown hair. The irony, huh? He looked down at the book that lay clutched in my hand. “Let’s start over. My name is Daniel Zeen. I play football and I like playing other kinds of sports. I came from France, but I was actually born in California.”
Surprised by that last fact, I replied, “My name is Samantha Chase. I like to… read.”
Daniel looked down at the book again, my grip was pale white.
“I see.”
“Yes, you do! Now please stop talking to me!” I thought cheerily. I relaxed my death grip and start to inch slowly away from Daniel. Unfortunately, he didn’t.
“What else do you like to do?” Daniel asked, picking up the pencil off his desk. Worksheets were strewn across it, everything he missed in the past few weeks of school.
“..........MMORPG games.” I said, narrowing my eyes. It was free time, since it was a Friday and winter break started the next week. I had half-hoped Daniel would be too distracted by the worksheets to talk. Instead, he seemed to fly through them with ease.
“Computer games? Interesting.” Daniel said. “You were born here?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“Ehm…..”
“Aw, come on. I told you mine.” Daniel teased, looking up and giving me an easy smile. I hesitated, his chocolate-brown eyes gently prodding me. Why was he so interested anyways?
“.......Florida……”
“The sunshine state.” Daniel said, tapping his pencil. “Do you have that-?”
I pulled out a page of fill-in notes and planted it on his desk, noting that he had that irritating habit to tap his pencil when he was stuck.
“Argumentative essay notes?” I said.
“Thanks.” Daniel smiled and continued on. He proceeded to ask me questions about the worksheets and, once in a while, slipped in a question about my life.
“Do you have a pet?” He asked innocently.
“.........Dog.” I said, flipping open my book and feeling just a little more at ease.
“Ohhh. What kind?” Daniel asked, sounding genuinely interested.
“........Terrier.” I replied, flipping a page.
“What’s your dog’s name?” Daniel turned over a sheet and continued scribbling.
“.......Spots.” I answered again, unaware that my pauses were getting shorter.
“Spots?” Daniel asked, looking up.
“......He’s got…. spots.” I answered, twirling my finger and unsure of how to answer.
“Hmm. Oh, what was the-?”
“Rising action.”
“Thanks!”
I think he was just softening me up to ask the most shocking question yet. Really. Who asks that kind of question from someone who isn’t even their friend yet?!
“What’re you scared of?” Daniel asked me, as I turned the page.
“Mmpf?” I said, looking up. The pauses had long since stopped, but the question itself made me look up with disbelief. “.....You’re serious?”
Daniel nodded with a serious look in his eyes, but an easy-going smile on his face.
“So. What are you scared of?”
Narrowing my eyes, I said sarcastically,“Gee. I don’t know. What about you?”
“Snakes.” Daniel said without missing a beat. “Scary little biters with they’re hissing at you.”
Somehow, it didn’t sound right. Not the way he said it. Which was exactly why I believed it.
“You should know what I’m talking about when I say I’m scared of the future.” I said, sighing. I’m not even sure why I was saying that, but I’d say that he’d perfectly softened me up. “College. Work. Life. This class, Language Arts of course, is one of the few factors that control my life. Everything has to be perfect.”
“Or just as good as an A.” Daniel said, pointed out simply. “Doesn’t have to be all A-plus you know.”
“.....” I was torn between retorting a sarcastic reply or just acting offended and ignoring him.
“Meh. You’re right.” I heard myself say. “But fears are fears. This one won’t go away, even if I know that. Snakes won’t go away after all, right?”
“Hm.” Daniel said. He looked like he was going to go on, but then stopped as the bell rang. Instead, he looked over at me with a smile, the last sheet on his desk done. “How about that tour?”
“Okay.” I said, thinking maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to make one friend. I had none after all.