"What's your first and last name?" the office lady asked me from behind her desk.

"Nina. Nina Jones," I answered, trying my best not to roll my eyes for her sake.

She smiled at me and typed something on her keyboard. "Aha, here you are!" The printer beside her turned on and started to print. "I'll have your schedule for you in a second, dear."

I forced a tight smile to my face, trying to be polite. "Thanks."

The seconds ticked by slowly as the printer moved at a snail's pace. You would think at such a nice school like this they would have printers that actually worked.

To distract myself I looked around the pristine office, noticing not a speck of dust anywhere. The hallway just outside the office started to empty as the bell rang.

The lady in front of me smiled shyly, probably sensing my annoyance. She stood up, making the chair squeak. "Sometimes you just have to-"

Next thing I knew her fist was pounding onto the printer, causing me to jerk backwards by her sudden violence against the machine.

It seemed to do the trick as the printer finally spit out my schedule. The smile she sported was from ear to ear as she handed it to me. "Welcome to Yukon high school! If you have any questions about a room or where something is, ask a student, I'm sure they'd be glad to help you!"

I nodded my head, not sparing another glance at her as I looked at my schedule and walked out of the office. My patience was already running low.

The giant hallways were empty now as students had made their way to classes a minute ago. Had the printer worked at the speed it was supposed to I'd probably be in class now.

The sound of my sneakers echoed down the hall as I headed towards my science class. Room two hundred was located in front of me. Through the small window I could see it was a packed class.

I opened the door and the entire class turned to look at me at the same time, almost like they'd practiced it. Ignoring their gazes, I handed my schedule to the teacher. "I believe I'm in your class, sir."

The teacher took my schedule from my hands and lifted his glasses to get a better look at the piece of paper. While he looked over it, I glanced back at the students who were all doing a terrible job of whispering.

"Who is she?"

"Do you see those bags under her eyes?"

"Isn't it a little late to be joining the school year?"

The teacher cleared his throat and handed back my schedule, silencing the class with one look. "I'm Mr. Hall, it's nice to have you join us," he said, smiling warmly at me. "Class, this is Miss Nina Jones. She'll be a part of our class from now on."

Every student stared back blankly, some eyeing Mr. Hall while others eyed me.

"Miss Jones, would you like to tell us a few things about yourself?" Mr. Hall asked me.

"No," I replied, not caring to share anything to strangers.

Mr. Hall chuckled. "Very well then, please find an empty desk."

I did as told and noticed how big the classroom was. In the front half of the room students were sitting in normal desks. In the back half was where all of the lab tables and equipment was set up, showing the size of the classroom alone. I took a seat and set my backpack down, not bothering to take anything out of it yet.

The girl beside me was staring me down, leaning halfway out of her chair as she pushed up the circular glasses on her nose. "I'm Shelly."

The name Shelly seemed to be a good fit for her. From the looks of it, it seemed like she was a loner nerd. People sat around her, but no one actually spoke to her.

I looked away just as the door to the classroom opened. A lanky, but muscular guy walked in with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He handed Mr. Hall a bright sticky note. Mr. Hall didn't bother reading it before throwing it in the trash.

"Take a seat, Cole," Mr. Hall stated, sounding like he was bored with the statement. I wondered if this was a daily thing between him and Cole.

Cole grinned lazily and headed to the empty desk in front of Shelly, walking like he owned the place. As he sat down, he fist bumped a guy sitting at a desk beside him. The guy whispered something to him and nodded his head towards me.

Both of them looked over at me. I stared right back, keeping my lips in a thin line.

Cole looked me up and down with his brown eyes, pausing briefly on the scar above my eyebrow. He gave me a wistful smile before turning around to talk to Shelly. "Can I borrow a piece of paper?"

She huffed loudly, like she was trying to draw attention. "How many times do I have to tell you? You can't borrow a piece of paper if you're never going to give it back." Shelly ripped out a lined paper from her journal and handed it to him anyways. "You're supposed to ask 'can I have a piece of paper?'"

He chuckled. "Thanks Shelly." Cole turned back around to face the front of the room as Mr. Hall started his lecture.

Shelly leaned towards me again and started whispering. "You know, he's like a lymphocyte. He leaves when he wants and goes to class when he wants."

I stared at her, blinking a couple of times. What did I say to that?

Her head twitched as she watched me. "You know? We're all the other white blood cells that can't leave, stuck in the classroom which is the bloodstream, but he's a lymphocyte that can leave when he wants and comes back when he wants. Lymphocytes are the only white blood cells that can leave and reenter the bloodstream when they want."

My mouth hung slightly open as I watched her. She definitely checked off the nerd part of my assumption.

Thankfully, the announcements came on, saving me from having to reply to her. The announcer welcomed back all of the students from winter break and rattled off the list of other announcements.

Eventually the bell rang as class ended. Students stood up, collecting their belongings. Out of the corner of my eye I could tell Shelly was watching me, getting ready to say something. I pulled my phone out of my bag along with the earbuds, shoving them in before Shelly could get a word out.

I weaved my way through the students and towards the hallway that was now packed, managing to disappear before Shelly could catch me.

*****

P.E. was the last class of the day on my schedule as I headed towards the locker rooms to change out. I opened the door and heard girls talking. As I came into view they stopped.

"Nina!" Shelly yelled out, standing up quickly from the bench she was sitting on. "You're in P.E.?"

"Yeah," I replied, noticing the headband she was wearing. Her bangs still peaked out, defeating the purpose of the headband.

She started to bounce on her toes. "Yay! I figured you played a sport or something because you're pretty toned for a girl, but this is going to be so exciting!"

I sighed and closed my eyes, willing patience to be my friend at the moment.

After everyone had changed, we headed to one of the three gymnasiums the school had. Inside the gym the guys had basketball practice going on. They were going through some shooting drills while the music blared.

Shelly skipped to my side and bounced a couple of more times before settling down. "Why do you always stand like that?"

"Stand like what?"

She laughed. "Like that," she said pointing to my arms. "You always have your arms crossed and your eyes are always narrowed."

Slowly I uncrossed my arms. My dad had always stood this way. It was how he surveyed his surroundings, always ready in case something was about to happen. I didn't realize I was doing it until Shelly pointed it out.

"I-"

"Okay, ladies! Time to run today!" a lady with fiery red hair spoke. She had a tracksuit on with a whistle hanging around her neck. I assumed she's the P.E. teacher.

"Coach Beckett!" Shelly shouted, raising her hand in the air. "This is Nina, she's new!"

Shelly tried to grab my elbow to pull me towards Coach Beckett, but I dodged it successfully. The other girls around us smirked, not bothering to hide their amusement.

Coach Beckett ignored them and stuck her hand out to me. I placed my schedule in her hands, watching her as she looked over the paper. "Nice to meet you, Nina," she said, handing the piece of paper back to me. "I'm the track coach, but fill in as P.E. coach until basketball season is over. Then I head over to coach my track kids."

I nodded my head, understanding she wouldn't be our coach for the rest of the school year. She did however catch me off guard when she started clapping her hands together, very loudly.

"Girls, we'll be running laps around the gym today. Remember, run around the lines, we don't want to disrupt basketball practice."

The other girls around me nodded their heads and walked perpendicular to the baseline, guessing it was where they always start from.

Coach Beckett went the extra mile, figuratively of course, and raised her arm in the air. Her whistle was in her hand and blew it as her arm dropped.

I don't know if Coach Beckett was just a track coach at heart or expected more out of the girls around me, but every single one of them jogged at a pace like they were trying to see who could go the slowest. Coach Beckett frowned and walked to a chair next to the wall, pulling out her phone.

Shelly was beside me going on and on about having to run and why we shouldn't. She's like that annoying fly that won't go away. There was only so much I could take of her.

Before Shelly could finish her sentence, I took off, picking up the speed. Jogging at the pace the other girls were jogging at was both physically and mentally painful. I ran on the outside of the girls so it was easier to get around, passing them one by one.

By the end of P.E. Coach Beckett was standing and smiling with her hands on her hips. "Good job today girls," she said, smiling brightly at me. "Y'all can leave once the bell rings. Nina, can I have a word with you?"

Shelly's eye caught mine and I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the end of my t-shirt to avoid her gaze. She frowned before heading back into the locker room with the rest of the girls.

As soon as I was within an arm's length of Coach Beckett, she placed her hands on my shoulders. I flinched at her touch which resulted in her face faltering. Thankfully she ignored the interaction and placed her hands back on her hips, still giving me her best smile. "That was some great running you did out there!"

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Have you ever done track before?"

"No," I answered truthfully. The only running I'd ever done was on my own or with my dad. He was the one to get me into it. He always said it was important for us to stay in shape. When we ran together, I was always chasing after him, which resulted in me pushing my pace every single time. "I run a lot on my own," I answered her simply.

She nodded her head. "Oh, I can tell! Would you be interested in trying out for our track team? You could run the mile. Can you sprint too? We really need some sprinters if you could do that too?" Coach Beckett was talking a mile a minute, just like Shelly was.

"I'll think about it," I said, cutting her off.

"You have about a month to think about it. Keep me posted." She reached to squeeze my shoulder, but stopped shortly, making it an even more awkward interaction as her hand hung just about my shoulder. Coach Beckett yanked her arm back like it was on fire. "See you tomorrow, Nina."

I watched her leave the gym, leaving me alone with the basketball team. As I was about to leave, something hit my foot. Glancing down, I saw it was a basketball.

"Hey," a voice called. Looking up, I saw it belonged to Cole as he jogged towards me. I hadn't realized he was here the whole time. He smiled cheekily at me. "My bad."

Without saying a word, I picked the basketball up and handed it back to him.

He raised an eyebrow while keeping his smile. "You don't say a lot, do you?"

"No," I replied plainly.

He laughed, palming the basketball with one hand and running the other through his sweaty blonde hair. "So, you're Nina?"

"Yes."

Cole laughed again. I didn't understand what he found so funny. "I see Shelly's taken a liking to you."

I shrugged my shoulders. "So."

He pressed his lips together, glancing away for a split second. "So, she doesn't have a lot of friends. You dodged her when you left class this morning and I saw you avoid eye contact with her just a few minutes ago. I know she's a little odd, but she's a nice person. Wouldn't hurt you to get to know her."

I eyed him carefully, wondering why he bothered. But now I knew my assumption was spot on about her. She was a loner nerd with no friends. At least her and I had the no friends part in common. Before I could respond, his coach called out to him.

"Fulton, quit flirting and get over here!"

"Yes sir," he called back. He looked at me next. "See you later, Ace."

My nose scrunched up in irritation. "My name's Nina."