I felt like I had been fighting the urge to fall back asleep all through Mrs. Gorman’s syllabus lecture in English class. I hoped a change of scenery would help keep me more awake, and I was getting just that as I walked into Mr. Payne’s biology classroom. It was one of the double-size lab rooms, with eight counter peninsulas for lab groups and a classroom area arranged entirely into tables.
I was disappointed to see that Jon wasn’t in this class (I could have used that, seeing his friendly face) and a bit disgusted when Sarah McMillan walked in. While gorgeous, she was a cheerleader who was always bitchy and not much of a friend to people that weren’t in her circles. Like this girl.
“Hey Sarah,” I said as she walked past. “Nice to see you.”
“Karyn...” Sarah grumbled. “Can’t say the same about you,” she scoffed.
When Biff Meadows, the freshman football quarterback and promising prospect for the Lake Point Panthers this year, walked past, the greeting was quite different. She leapt out of her chair and gave him a massive public display of affection, hugging for over a minute. Guess that’s why they were the freshman homecoming royalty last year, I thought.
“Come on, class, it’s day one,” Mr. Payne scolded the two. “We have business to get down to.” Sarah and Biff quickly sat down at the same table, prompting me to look around at those seated next to myself in the second table from the front. There was Jay Duncan, one of the class nerds; Yuki Meshida, whose family was from Japan; and Shane Carlson, who would have brought his skateboard in the room if the school hadn’t forced him to keep it in his locker during the day. Guess this is the random assortment table.
“I know you’re going to have a lot of syllabus reviews today, and this is usually a boring first day where you don’t get to speak often, so I figure that this class will be a little different. We’ll get to our syllabus in biology, but first, let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Mr. Payne, and I’ve been teaching biology here at Lake Point High School for six years. How about you each give a little fact about yourself?” He gestured to the front.
“I’m Aaron Knox, and when I’m not in school, I play the guitar and I wanna be in a band someday,” a guy said while standing up at his seat.
“So I’m Chelsea Caldwell,” a girl began, pausing to rub her eyes. “And when I go to college, I wanna major in sports medicine.” Huh, like in English. What’s going on?
A couple more people rubbed their eyes as they introduced themselves. It then fell to my table.
“I’m Kar...yn Black—” My voice cracked suddenly, right in the middle of my introduction! I tilted my head a bit. What is this, nerves? My voice continued to waver as I then continued, “I’m act...ually the only redhea...d in my fam...ily, belie...ve it or not!” Holy crap!
I felt my face turn very red as I sat back in her chair, and Jay Duncan stood up. “I’m Jay D...uncan, and I’m a b...ig St...ar Trek fan,” he proclaimed while scratching at his chest, in a voice that also seemed to falter at times and go up. Wait… His voice too? I could have sworn I heard a feminine register for a bit there too. Strange. And why is he scratching his chest?
Melissa Smith stood up next. “Hi I’m Melissa Sm...ith, and I—” _She had to pause to rub at her eyes, then continued. “I li...ke to rea...d—” She reacted loudly as her throat burned with a mad itch, clutching at it as she scratched vigorously. Resuming her introduction, she tried to get through it very fast. “I like to read co...zy my...ster...ies— Holy fuck!” she stammered as she had to start scratching at her chest, then realizing what she was doing, stopped and got very red in the face also.
“Miss Smith, I know this is only the first day, but I cannot allow profanity in my classroom,” Mr. Payne warned, sternly. “If you do it again, I’ll have to issue you detention.” Melissa quickly apologized with a wavering voice that seemed oddly deep for fleeting moments, then, deciding it better to not finish her introduction, promptly sat back down.
Tim Brant stood up to give his introduction next. “Hi, Ti...m Brant here,” he said as multiple people in the class scratched vigorously at various places on their bodies. “Vi...deo games,” he began as he scratched his chest, “are my bread and bu...tter! Also I like to—” Fearing what might happen to him next, he just stopped talking and quickly sat down again.
Yuki and Shane introduced themselves without a hitch, but the rest of the icebreaker went on with several more voices cracking, a few people moving to scratch their necks and chests, and more eyes being rubbed. By now, there was much panicking and people getting loud as the rubbing and scratching continued.
“Class,” said Mr. Payne, “if this isn’t gonna work, I need you to please be silent so I can go over the syllabus!” But none of us really heard him, all intently focused on their own bodies, lost to the world for the time being. Mr. Payne sighed and just walked around, passing out his syllabus to everyone. When the noise finally let down enough for him to talk, he dismissed everyone from the room.
So it’s not just Jon and me… Just what is going on!? I thought as I walked out.
