Chapter 3 Student Guide

ℑ couldn't get over just how different Cardenas Academy was from my former school, though I should be calling it Cardenas-Dayleside Academy but that is one long ass name and I don't know if I'll get used to it.

But back to the subject, Cardenas was so much different than Dayleside, the inside of the school was painted gray and red, the lockers didn't have any stickers outside of them and literally no one was running in the hallway, what a bore.

"Is this what you were afraid of?" Dave asked as we walked down the hallway.

"Afraid?" I asked, "Who said anything about being afraid?"

"Oh, my bad, I thought you were-"

"I said I didn't like this place, I never said I was afraid of it." Come to think of it, why do people always assume that not liking something means you're afraid of it?

My eyes stopped darting around the hall when I detected a blonde girl with shiny earrings and a pack of books with her coming toward us. I wasn't downright sure we were the one she was approaching so when she got closer, I moved myself to get out of the way.

But then she stopped and said "Hey, is any of you guys number zero five four? Dagwood Ackley?"

Dave and I didn't answer, we just glanced at ourselves for a while and continued staring at the girl.

"I'm supposed to be his student guide," she added, realising that Dave and I were confused.

"I'm Dagwood Harkley," Dave said. I turned to give him a 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 look.

The girl smiled and said, "Well, that's not exactly who I'm looking for. His name is Dagwood Ackley." She stressed the 'a' so much that I could see her tongue smack the top of her mouth when she said "ley."

"Oh, right," Dave said, "that's not me then."

"Well, which of you is it?"

I sighed deeply out of ignominy from Dave's performance, "I'm sorry about that," I said, "I'm Dagwood."

"You really could have said so earlier," she frowned.

"My bad."

"Hey, are you David Ahmed, number zero two zero?" A voice said behind me. I turned to see Dave with a tall skinny guy.

"A guy," David said, shrugging, "you get all that and I get a guy." He shook his head and walked off with him.

"Well he's a character," my student guide said.

"Yeah, we actually just met today so," I turned to look at her and was momentarily surprised by her smile. "Uhm, so how do we do this?" I asked her.

"You're in a hurry, I haven't even told you my name."

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "I thought that you were in a hurry yourself."

"No, I have time," she said, still smiling, "we're gonna be doing this for a while too, so there's no need to hurry."

Her response really surprised me cause I wasn't expecting to see Cardenas students who were that nice, at least not with the very first of them I met.

"I'm Kylee Briggs," she said.

"Hi Kylee, I'm Dagwood," I replied, shaking her hand. "You know that already." I chortled nervously.

"I'm going to be your student guide today," she continued as we walked, "I have to show you every important thing and place in the school."

"Is that going to be difficult?" I asked.

"No, not really," she replied, "most of us who offered to be student guides are getting bonus points even before our texts and we also get to meet new people."

"I guess it's worth it then."

"It is," she looked up at me, beaming again. "Okay this is your locker," she tapped twice on one of the top lockers in the left row.

"Nice," I said sarcastically.

"As usual it uses a combination or you can get a personal lock if you want."

"Combinations are alright," I replied, putting some of my books into the locker.

"Stickers and stuff aren't allowed on the lockers though," Kylee said.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed."

She nodded her head in what felt a nervous manner. "But, you can stick whatever you want inside,"

"Really?"

"Just don't let the principal see it."

I shut the locker and hung my backpack behind me. "The principal?"

"Yeah Mrs Bredenhoft," Kylee replied, "she's a cranky type."

I slowly nodded my head, understanding what she meant, cranky people are my worst kind of people.

Kylee took me around almost every single part of the school that I became unsure whether she was really doing it for the bonus points or she was actually enjoying my company. She laughed a lot at all of my short jokes and told me a few stories about some of the places in the school and if I'm being honest with you, I was starting to enjoy her company too.

We were walking again in the school's hallway when I noticed a room, I hadn't seen before. It was almost like a library but the students inside were making way too much noise.

As we approached the door, I stopped to take a look inside the room, there were seven to nine students inside and they were all talking and laughing. I was quick to notice that they were the exact kind of people I was trying to avoid.

"What's this room?" I asked Kylee.

"That's the students' lounge."

"I thought you had already shown me the students' lounge?" I asked, still looking inside.

"Yeah, but this is where you know, the cool assholes kind of people stay."

I smiled at her reply. There was a girl with black straight hair and red lipstick sitting on a table, My eyes locked on her quickly because she seemed to be the center of attention in the room.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Oh, she? That's Sloane Galloway, she's like the meanest of the mean," Kylee replied.

"Is she?"

"Yeah, I see you looking at her that way but I suggest you stay away from her cause she's trouble."

The girl caught my stare and we looked at each other for a moment.

"Mhm hmm," I nodded as a reply to what Kylee had said.

"I'm serious Dagwood, she's trouble."

"Alright, alright," I replied, turning back to her. "Hey, can you just call me Dag?" I asked, "my friends used to call me Dag, so-"

"Yeah, of course," she replied with another beautiful beam, "alright Dag, you should be on your way to a History class."

I was bowled over for a split second before I asked, "You know my classes?"

She chortled and looked at me for a moment like she was surprised that I was surprised that she knew my classes. "Of course, I know your classes silly, I wouldn't have been able to show you where they were if I didn't."

Facepalming, I giggled... or was it a blush? I'm not exactly sure but I did smile. Why was she being so nice to me? It made me feel weird and wobbly inside.

"Do you have history class too?" I asked her, fingers crossed.

"Nope, I've got Chemistry," she playfully replied.

"Oh, you're a science girl," I said, adjusting my glasses. I can't believe I forgot to tell you that I wear glasses, it's like my total mojo.

"You're actually the first nerdy guy I've seen who's into arts." She walked back slowly, smiling like she did the first time she spoke to me.

"Who says I'm a nerd?"

She laughed, "I've gotta go to class, bye."

"Bye... uh" 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬! 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥, 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥, 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥! I hit my head with my palm each time I thought the word 'stupid'. You could have asked her if you guys could meet again, or for her number or something, so stupid. I adjusted my backpack and walked into history class.

I wasn't sure how to feel when I saw Dave sitting in the class and playing with his pen. My initial idea was 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮, but just then, his eyes caught mine and he grinned like crazy then motioned for me to sit next to him.

I squeezed my lips and smiled forcefully. I wasn't trying to be mean, I promise, I just have this problem of avoiding people who are being weirdly nice to me, if any of that makes sense. I sat beside him and he immediately started talking.

"This place is huge," he said, "I don't think I'm going to remember my way out of the building."

"I'll show you," I told him. I didn't really mean that.

"Did you see how huge the cafeteria was?"

"Yes Dave, I did. Can you stop talking for a second?"

He frowned. "Well, you're a little grumpy."

The man who walked into the class minutes later introduced himself as Mr Houston. Mr Houston looked like one of those teachers who wanted to do something great like invent the first time travel machine but life had something different for him so there he was, teaching history. He had this funny mustache and I could swear what he had on his head was a wig, there was no way that was his normal hair.

He talked about some stuff about the wealthiest countries and all those history stuff that I don't really wanna bore you with, he was about to talk about mercantilism when a phone blipped. The entire class was quiet for a while and everyone seemed to know where the sound came from. It was from behind me, but I didn't want to turn around, Dave did though.

"Sloane," Mr Houston said. It was as though my ears perked like that of elves when I heard the name.

"Yes, Mr Houston?" Her voice was soft and still very arrogant in a warm euphonious way I just couldn't exactly explain.

"Since you are so invested in that device of yours, I assume that you have already searched what mercantilism is so why don't you just tell us."

"Uhm, I haven't s-"

"Sloane?" Mr Houston repeated, "Stand up and tell us."

I could hear her chair scrape as she adjusted it backwards to get on her feet, I succumbed to my curiosity and slowly turned my head to look at her.

Sloane had hair as black as soot and eyes as brown as amber, a bit cliché but true. Her red lipstick shimmered on her bright face and her skin was glistering olive, her eyes darting around nervously as she looked at Mr Houston.

"No answer?" He asked, "Well I'm not going to just let you sit down, someone has to bail you out." His eyes danced around the students in the classroom as he played with the piece of chalk in his hand.

"Anyone?" He asked the class, "Sloane is going to keep standing until someone answers on her behalf."

There was an ear-splitting silence in the class, nobody did or said anything.

"So nobody knows what mercantilism is? Nobody wants to bail Sloane out."

𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵, I kept telling myself. The next thing I knew my right hand was in the air, Dave stared at me like I was a mad man.

"Oh, there we go," Mr Houston pointed at me.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨? I thought to myself as I got up, the entire class turned in my direction and I think I died for a split second.

"What was your name again?"

"Dagwood."

"Alright mister Dagwood," Mr Houston excitedly clasped his hands, "be a knight in shining armor for miss Sloane here and tell the class what mercantilism is."

I ran my hands through my hair before answering, "Uhm, Mercantilism is an economic theory that a country's strength is measured by the amount of gold or money it has, that a country should sell more than it buys and that the colonies exist for the benefit of the Mother Country."

Mr Houston gawked at me, not saying a word for a couple of seconds. "That's... that's like a... that's a textbook definition, did you get that off somewhere?"

"Yes," I replied reflexively.

"When?"

"Uhm... a long time ago."

Mr Houston smiled before picking another chalk after losing the one he had been playing with earlier. "Alright then, Sloane looks like you owe Dagwood one, you can both sit down now."

When I was sat, I tried to take a peek at her again and when I did, she was already looking at me, smiling appreciatively. I smiled back and she mouthed the words, "Thank you."

☞✧☜

As I had predicted, after school I wasn't able to find Kylee anywhere though at first she wasn't the girl I was thinking about.

"You need to stop looking for her man," Dave told me, "I thought you said Kylee told you to stay away from her?"

"I did?" When did I start telling him stuff?

"What do you mean 'you did'? You're pretending to be looking for Kylee when you're actually looking for Sloane, aren't you?"

"No, I'm definitely looking for Kylee." Kylee had met with Dave and me in the cafeteria and told us to meet her by the waters garden where students stayed to hang out after school but there weren't a lot of students there and she wasn't there either.

"Okay, but since it's quite obvious now that Kylee isn't here, who are you then looking for?"

"I'm not looking for Sloane, I'm just checking if I'll see her, it's not the same thing."

"That's bull." Dave raised an eyebrow at me cynically.

"Ugh." I facepalmed.

"You know, you never really struck me as someone who liked girls."

I scowled at him, "What's that supposed to mean, you thought I was gay?"

"No, I mean, I didn't think you're the kind of person who had time for girls, you know you're..." Dave's words slowly faded away as my eyes caught Sloane walking and laughing with a group of her friends. She stopped laughing when she saw me then she whispered something to her friends which made them smile as they looked at me.

She waved and my heart stopped for a second, I wanted to-

"You are not listening to a damn thing I'm saying are you?" I blinked repeatedly as Dave's words brought me back to my senses.

"Huh?" I asked.

"She's over there, isn't she?" Dave asked.

"Yeah," I replied, acting nervous all of a sudden, "Hey, I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Are you fucking serious right now?"

"What?"

"Look at you, man," Dave said unapologetically, "you are a first-class hundred over ten full-time nerd and look at her, she looks like takes breakfast in all those long dining tables with teaspoons and kettles and fancy maids."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" I asked him.

"It means she's way out of your league, man," He shrugged, "like if this is your league," he brought his hands down close to my feet, "her league is right about here." He raised his hands up above my head.

"I get it."

"Like you're no way close to-"

"I get it!" I grabbed him on the shoulders, "now shut up."

"I'm just tryna get it to sink into your head y'know, she's like a fucking Disney Princess and you're-"

"It has," I squeezed his shoulders, "it's sunk." We both stared at each other for a while as I slowly let go of his shoulders. "By the way, I think that's your mom." I pointed to the woman who was standing next to a car waving in our direction.

"Yeah, that's her," Dave concurred.

"I thought she was a lawyer, how does she have time to come pick you up from school?"

"My mom's not a lawyer," Dave looked at me confusingly, "she's a real estate agent, come on."

He tapped my shoulder and scampered towards Maurice. I'm not saying anything but the excessive cleavage started to make more sense.

I slowly turned back to take another peek at Sloane, she caught me again and smiled, the wind blowing her hair against her face as she fought to fix it behind her ear. She waved at me like she knew I was about to go, I was surprised at first, but I slowly waved back.

Turning to where Dave's mom had parked her car, I made a 'wow' expression with my mouth, I couldn't help myself from blushing either.

I don't care about what Dave said, I might be a nerdy doofus and Sloane might be a Disney princess but I think she might actually like me. I mean think about it, Belle fell in love with a beast and Tiana kissed a freaking frog so I don't think a nerd is that much of a stretch.

Walking towards Maurice's car, I decided I was going to talk to Sloane the next day, maybe even ask her out. What's the worse that could happen?