New Guy

    Kevin Sterling’s alarm on his Galaxy S4 sets off , signalling the start of another day of school . He was too tired to care , considering that he slept late the night before to complete assignments . He just turned off the alarm and shoved the pillow back under his head . ‘ 5 more minutes and I’ll be up’ he thought .

“Rise and shine sleepyhead , get up ! You don’t wanna be late again do ya “ Kevin’s brother , John , said as he shook his two-years-younger little brother to force him up .

“Ugh just 5 more minutes and I’ll be up , promise “ Kevin replied with a tone of annoyance and tiredness .

“ Nope ! You always say that and you end up sleeping more and being late . I’m not allowing that . Come on get yourself dressed . Get up .”

Kevin , without a reply , lazily got up ,  not exactly annoyed at John and made his way to the bathroom to bathe . He got himself dressed and stuffed the completed assignments he did yesterday into his black , rather beaten up bag . He goes to school everyday with his brother by bus . They both exited the house and their bus arrived right on time , skipping breakfast as always .  

He got off the bus and entered the school . His brother , John , went off another direction to go join his group of friends . Everyone was still leisurely hanging out at the school compounds because first period is still about 30 minutes away . This was one of the few days Kevin was this early , and it’s mainly because of his brother , who also usually woke up late . If John’s early , he’s early . Just like that .

Kevin’s friend , Michael Foster , was waiting for him at the main gate entrance . It’s almost been a routine for at least one of Kevin’s friends to greet him at the entrance . Kevin’s a really cool guy and his personality is very likeable , which makes people feel really comfortable around him . He has an exceptional number of friends , Michael being one of the closest ones .

“ Hey whaddup Kev ! “ Michael said as he reaches his arm out for a fist bump , the way Kevin and his friends commonly use to greet each other . “ Sup “ was the only thing he replied as he was still a bit tired from all the tiring work from last night .

“ Dude did you watch the Champions League match last night ? I tell you it was beast . United got ass-wooped by Madrid , man .” Michael opening up a topic of conversation . “ Didn’t get to see it . Had some annoying work to settle , tons of em . I thought it’s better to put settle that or else I’ll get a tongue-lashing by Ms. Rosy . There’s always highlights . “  he replied .

“ Heh you poor thing , that explains why you look rather tired today . I really do think teachers should stop over-loading students with insane amounts of assignments and homework . They’ll end up getting the students more stressed rather than getting more smart . “ Michael stated .

“Couldn’t agree more” Kevin said . The two continued on talking some more as they walked towards their lockers to get their books and got ready for first period .

It was 8:00 a.m. , time for first period . It was Science , and their class teacher came in at around 5 minutes later . She , however , didn’t start taking attendances right away as she usually does , because there was a student who came with her , a new student . All eyes in the class locked on to the figure standing in front of the whiteboard .

“ Alright everybody , settle down . Today we have a new student who will be attending this school and studying in this class from this moment onwards . Please introduce yourself to the class .” the teacher , Ms.Rosy , said to the class .

“ Hi , my name is Riley , I hope you all can get along with me well ” the student said with a simple and straight to the point introduction . He looked emotionless and didn’t show any type of anticipation or interest on his face . He had stylishly done dark-brown hair with blue eyes and good-looking features despite his emotionlessness . Everyone in the class started whispering to each other , sharing to each other their first impressions of the guy . Some girls even look excited , probably because of his attractive visuals .

“ Alright Riley , pick an empty seat and settle yourself in the class . Everyone else , I hope you all behave and be good to Riley .”  Ms.Rosy said as he signals Riley to go ahead and pick a seat . He walked and sets down his stuff on a desk infront of Michael and Kevin , not bothering to bat an eye to anyone at all . Kevin , trying to make a good first impression of himself to Riley , tapped him on the back and greeted him “ Hey there my name’s Kevin . Nice to meet you .” he said as he carves a friendly smile and offered a handshake . Riley however showed no interest in Kevin and only nodded while barely looking at the friendly teenager . He did the same to the person next to him when he tried greeting him . It seems though he is trying to avoid any conversations with anyone at all . Science class then started and the routine teaching and learning are carried out as usual .

Most of the students couldn’t help but let their focus off of the lessons and instead direct it to Riley . They were all making assumptions of why Riley hasn’t been talking to anyone nor does he even show even the tiniest signs of interaction .

The recess bell rang and Riley has been dead silent and haven’t said even a single word , literally , excluding the introduction of course . Some girls tried to get friendly with him but he completely ignored them with a face that seemed like he had a deep thought running in his mind . He showed zero interest in them , even though some of the girls are really pretty . This attitude of his made the girls think that he’s playing hard-to-get .

The class went out and head for the canteen . Riley got up and stuffed his hands into his all-black hoodie , walked out of the class and took a further,  less crowded way downstairs . The girls just can’t stop admiring his , as they say it , cool attitude and didn’t see even a bit of him to be dark and emo . That final part was what the guys thought of him .

Kevin and Michael however came up to Ms.Rosy to ask her about Riley “ Hey that new guy , what’s up with him . He completely ignored everyone in the class . The only interaction he gave was a nod that didn’t look sincere . Why is he all gloomy and acting like a robot ?” Michael curiously asked the teacher , eager to get at least a bit of detail about Riley .

“ I usually don’t answer these things to anyone else , but since you guys are well-behaved people and people I can fully trust , I’ll tell you . Just promise to keep this between yourselves . Even if you wanna tell anyone , make sure they are 100% trustworthy and the type that won’t get on a person’s bad side no matter what. ” she stated .

“ Sure.”

“ Well , no one exactly knows the full back story of Riley , and he has never mentioned his second name , or it seems that he doesn’t want to . He has been frequently switching schools throughout his young age . Just this year alone , this school is already the 5th one he attended . Some people even said that he's not even born here . That basically says he might be someone from another country . He wasn’t kicked out or expelled , and he was actually doing good and was even considered a genius by some of the teachers , passing all the tests he had with almost perfect scores , though he only took one test in each school . But he himself asked to be dropped out because of reasons he refused to tell . He also has never ever spoken about his family or any type of relationship he might have . So that’s all I’ve been told about him . My best guess of his silent attitude is from complicated family-issues , but I can’t be 100% sure . I’m actually concerned about him and I’m just like you guys during the lessons , focusing on Riley . I wanted to call him up to answer some questions I have regarding my lessons , but I decided to observe him a bit more .” Ms.Rosy explains and telling the two friends about what she knows of Riley .

“ Maybe he had a traumatic incident in his life that completely changed him or somethin . “ Kevin reacted to the explanation .

“ Maybe . But as I said not even a single person knows any clear details of his life , so I suggest both of you to supress any questions regarding his life as possible . He may seem quiet , but the quietest ones are the most sensitive . He might end up raging just at the thought of those types of questions . Don’t spread this info any wider .” Ms.Rosy added with a rather slow voice that at the same is not suspicious if any one else caught the conversation .

“ Alrighty then . Thanks .” Michael ends the conversation . The teacher just nodded and stood up from her desk , leaving the class .

“ So do you wanna try and be close with him ? Or at least make yourself an acquaintance to him ?” Michael asked his friend .

“ Not quite sure . I don’t know how to approach super quiet guys . You and the others are loud and talk a lot , so I’m not familiar to those type of people. You ?” Kevin replied as they walked down the stairs towards the canteen .

“ Pretty much the same . But I really want to know what’s up with him . HEY , I got an idea , how about we follow him at the end of school sometimes next week ? Who knows , we might get to know more about him . For now , we’ll just stay back and observe him a bit more … if he’s still the same , we’re gonna go with that . ” Michael eagerly suggested due to his curiousness of Riley .

“I never stalked anyone , but I guess I’ll go with it . I wanna know too .” Kevin replied .

“ Alright we’ll let it off for now . But next week , we’ll stalk him .” Michael said with a determined face .

“ We’ll definitely sound really creepy if anyone hears this haha.” Kevin said with a smile to his long-time bestfriend .