I am woken up by a loud shrieking noise. Not my alarm, my mum's voice. She always wakes me up before my alarm decides to ring. "You do not want to be late on your first day. You also need to collect your timetable." I groan in response."2 more minutes plleeaa-". I stop mid-way when my mom pulls the blanket away from my body. She never lets me sleep. I stand with a lot of trouble and walk blindly towards the bathroom. While I brush I hear my sister also screaming so she can sleep. We do have the same genes.

After a quick bath I walk downstairs and I immediately smell upma being cooked. I knew mom would cook this on my first day. "I'll drop you off today", my dad says as he reads the paper. I don't mind. There is a tight knot in my stomach which gets tighter every second. The driver was there only for the first day but now my dad is supposed to ride. He first drops my sister off at her middle school and then takes me to my high school. "Be safe, make new friends and do not let what anyone says affect you. I love you, and also don't forget to have fun", my dad says after he kisses my forehead. I feel like a little girl on her first day of school but it feels good and also scary. It feels like my heart will just pop out of its cage. I watch as my dad drives away before I go inside. My palms feel sweaty as I walk into the building. I see a white metal board reading "office" and I walk towards it. A young lady in a pink dress sits at the reception. "I am a new student, how do I get my timetable and locker?", I say when I walk up to the desk.

"Your name?", she asks with a kind smile. "Nyra Sharma" She types something on her desktop and prints out a paper which has my timetable on it. Then she hands me a small chit which has 4 digits on it, my locker password. "Your locker number is 367." I give her my small smile and do a half pirouette instead of normally turning around out of practice. I so look forward to try out for the dance team. I was on the dance team in India but I don't know about here. There might be so many better dancers over here.

I begin my search for the locker so I stick my time table to it. With a lot of effort I find it. The locker next to mine belongs to a tall girl who is pulling her books out when I reach. "You do not look from around here", she says after closing her locker. "I am not. I am from India"

"I have heard about India. I am Emily by the way", she says cheerily. Well a bit too cheery for me. "Nyra", I say as I put my hand out and she takes it. Well a good start for an introvert and socially awkward person like me. "Well what's your first lecture?" ,Emily asks.

"umm...it's chemistry. Yours?" , I say after looking at my timetable. "Well I have calculus but Jake has chemistry. Speak of the devil and he shall appear." , she says while looking at someone behind my back. I turn around to see a guy of about 5"10 walking towards us. He is actually kinda cute. "Looks like someone ran out of concealer this morning to cover the dark circles", Jake says.

"Well good morning to you too Jake." He ignores her. "Who is this beautiful lady right here?", he says while winking at me. "This beautiful lady is Nyra",I say with my best fake smile.

"She is in Chemistry with you", Emily says.

"So shall we?" Jake says as he brings his hand out. I laugh and take his hand and we start walking. "You are supposed to say bye before you leave guys", Emily yells behind us and I laugh while Jake gives her the middle finger. "I like your sneakers", he says. "Everybody does", I retort with a huge smirk on my face.

"I liiikeee you. I can see us being best friends. Oh and Nyra is an interesting name"

"I like me too! Oh and well thank you and I don't know about best friends but we can be really good friends."

 "So much pride", Jake huffs.

We reach the class as the conversation finishes. If it wasn't for Jake, I would probably get lost. Some students are already in class. I go and sit on the first bench in the seat beside the window before anybody else does. "Nerd much?", Jake say while giving me a skeptical look. The class slowly starts filling. The seat next to mine is taken by a small girl who stuffs her face in a book as soon as she sits down. I am not that big of a nerd.

An old lady walks into the class and scans the crowd. "You mush be....Nyra", she says after checking her register. "Introduce yourself to the class"

She ought to be kidding me! I hate speaking in front of people. I hear a loud cheer from Jake in the back and my glare immediately shut him up. "Come on we do not have all day"

I finally stand up. "Well...my name is Nyra Sharma and I am from India. I dance and look forward to be on the team." I can see a few guys smirking while looking at me up and down while some people were whispering. This is why I hate speaking in front of people and my hands still haven't stopped shaking.

"Welcome to this school. So today we will see if we remember chemical symbols from last year."

The first symbol she writes is Sodium Bromate. Just as I am about to tell the answer some other guy yells it. A guy with glass 2 seats on my right is the one who answered. I decide to ignore this time. He answers the next formula also before me. I won't let it happen again. My competitive mode was turned on. I answer the next one before Mrs Mathews can completely write it. I look over at the guy with a huge smirk on my face, but he is already looking at me. I think I just stopped breathing after looking at his blue eyes. Oh crap. My smirk immediately fades away.

"Ms Nyra, Mr Liam I know you two know stuff but please give others a chance for gods sake." Liam was still glaring at me so I decide to just look ahead. The lecture finally gets over and I wait for Jake as he very slowly gets up. I adjust my sweatshirt in the time he takes to get to the front. "Things got a little competitive huh?" is the first thing he says. "Geez, he was being so competitive. I am not used to it. But his eyes...they are so damn distracting"

"I know right!", he is weirdly excited. We walk towards our lockers where we find Emily. I collect my books for the next class and Emily tells me the directions perfectly to it. Thank god I have her. I can't forget those eyes.

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So upma is an Indian breakfast like a thick porridge from coarse rice flour.

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