Homeroom was very uneventful. The teacher, Mr. Harper, simply called our names for attendance, then gave the final ten minutes to ourselves. I spent them reading my book, one of my favorite pastimes. 

My first period was geometry II, which would be a breeze for me. Math had always been my best subject, besides art. Jordan Bryant was in that class with me, as well as seventeen other students.

Jordan seemed pretty nice. From the small amount of time that we had spent together, I figured she was more of a shy, smart girl. She spoke very timidly, almost as if she were embarrassed she was wrong, even though she typically wasn't. Jordan had a very pretty hairstyle. She styled her blonde, chin length hair by pinning the front strands on the back of her head, similar to a half ponytail. Her clothing taste seemed fine enough, although bland. She was wearing plain jeans, a sky blue tee shirt, and grey Nike sneakers. I wouldnt classify it as a first day outfit, more of an 'It's halfway through the school year and I give up,' sort of outfit.

I listened very attentively as the math teacher explained what we would be doing during the year. Mostly packets and workbooks, although she did mention the opportunity for a few projects along the way.

First period flew by, and suddenly I was being led by Jordan to second period English IV. I sat beside Jordan, near the windows on the left side of the room. I glanced around the class, grimacing. The teacher had hung several posters explaining parts of speech and genres of books. Unfortunately, they were made up of contrasting colors, to draw attention from the students. When you mixed contrasting colors with tetrachromacy, you stirred up a big, fat headache. I transferred my gaze to my fellow classmates, amusing myself by guessing who was friends with who, who despised each other.

I noticed a group of guys and two girls surrounding a cluster of desks. One of the girls was lounging across a boy with bright blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. The girl herself had beautiful auburn locks and deep brown eyes enhanced by mascara, a smirk gracing her plump, lipstick clad lips. The other girl was giggling hysterically at something the other two boys were bickering over. The taller boy had brown eyes and short brown hair, while the shorter boy had longish, ginger hair and bright green eyes. The girl that was enthusiastically encouraging the knuckleheads had golden blonde hair with streaks of different shades of blue, mostly turquoise, and shimmering grey eyes.

"If you're wondering," Jordan commented, "those are the cool kids. The popular group, you could say. Those two displaying their affection for each other are basically the golden couple of the school. Reece Pearle acts like the queen of this school, and has played field hockey basically since birth. She's captain. Nathan Gladwell is the quarterback of the football team, and is essentially Reece's equivalent."

I nodded. "Interesting."

"Yeah, I supposed. That tall guy over there is Garrett London, and the smaller one is Trevor Eden. They're basically the jokesters, always happy to give someone a laugh, like they are doing for Britney. Britney Sanders is newly appointed to the group, but is still quite the deal. She's not the brightest, but is pretty nice from my experience."

I smiled. "Cool. So, you're pretty observant, huh?"

Jordan shrugged. "I suppose. I don't really have many friends at school, they all go to this private school that specializes in sciences. My family can't - um, we can't really afford that level of education. So I'm stuck by myself."

I frowned. "Well, I'll gladly be your friend."

"Thanks," Jordan said, glancing down bashfully.

Just then, the teacher confidently waltzed into the classroom, three minutes late.

"Sorry about that, class. I had a personal situation to deal with." 

He paused and - was that a wink? Did the teacher just wink at us? I mean, sure, he seemed young, but wasn't that unprofessional and immature? I sighed, frustrated with the new standards being set by this strange place called school. First there was angry staff, then ecstatic staff, now playful staff? Adding that with the different classes of students, I was puzzled to say the least.

"Well, my name is Robert Gale, but you can call me Mr. Gale, or Robert, or even Robbie if you're feeling feisty. Welcome to English IV, class. I heard that we had a new student, but is there anyone else new to Pensacola?"

Mr. Gale scanned the room, finally dropping his gaze on me. He smiled and let out a happy sigh. "Oh, Miss Grey, I've been looking forward to meeting you. Would you mind giving the class a brief synopsis of you?"

"No problem, sir. My name is Veronica Grey. I have never been to a public school before, because I've been homeschooled all of my life. I really love art, and I'm looking forward to that later today." I smiled nervously at the teacher, who was still staring expectantly. "Oh, you want me to - Oh! I have this thing called tetrachromacy. Basically, my mother passed this gene to me that gave me an extra retinal cone, which allows me to see millions of colors. About ten times more than most people, actually."

Mr. Gale smiled, satisfied. "Thank you, Veronica. In case you have never had my class before, or have never heard from others about me, I'll let you know something about me. If I couldn't make it as an English teacher, I was going to try for a doctor, or some profession in the science field. I know, ambitious, but it had always been a passion of mine. That's why Miss Grey's condition fascinates me so much."

I noticed Jordan perk up when Mr. Gale mentioned science, making me understand how much she adored science. I felt sorry that she didn't get the chance to go to the prestigious school with all of her other friends.

"Well, moving along," the teacher said, clasping his hands. "In this class, you'll be expected to complete several assignments. I'll give all of them to you at once, and you'll be responsible to get them done in the allotted time. It'll be a generous amount, though, so there shouldn't be any issues there. Questions?"

One of the girls I had noticed before, Britney, raised her hand.

"Miss Sanders, go ahead."

"What are the general guidelines for the projects? Like, what types?"

"Oh, all sorts. You have a few essays, a couple short story assignments, and must complete a book with three hundred pages or more. I think that's it for this semester, though."

Britney nodded, biting her lip. "Got it."

"If that's all, we'll be switching gears again. Everybody, gather at the back of the class, from tallest to shortest."

An excited chatter arose in the class as we got up and shuffled around the room. I found myself placed a couple people in front of Jordan, and on Britney Sanders' left.

"Hi," she greeted, smiling.

"Oh, hey."

"So, I was wondering, what's the deal with your Tetris thingy? Like, is your vision super good or something?"

I breathed out a laugh. "It's called tetrachromacy. You can remember because tetra means four and I have four retinal cones, the things in your eyes that let you see colors. I guess the best way to describe it is that everything has speckles of different colors. Have you ever seen a robin egg?"

Britney nodded. Her big grey eyes were wide with fascination and awe. That's what I loved about learning the most: the satisfaction it brought when you finally began to understand.

"They're this really pretty turquoise color, mainly, but there is also little tiny dots of dark blue, and purple, and white, right? So imagine if all solid colors were like that, with bigger specks that were less sparse. You get it?"

"Yeah, that's insane."

"I know, right?"

"Hey," Britney began, "what are your - "

Sadly, the class had finally situated and Mr. Gale began the instructions before my companion could finish her statement.

"Congrats! It took you guys four minutes to organize yourselves!" He laughed. "Anyway, I'm going to count you out into groups, and each group will have to come up with their own argument about the topic I assign. I should have four groups of five, so two debates will take place."

Then he began counting down the line by fours, until he ended on four with Jordan. I was a two.

"Okay, ones over there, twos over there, threes over there, and fours right there." With each group, he pointed to a separate corner of the room.

I scurried to my corner, and found my self in a group with Nathan Gladwell and Trevor Eden, the king of the school and his joker. Two other classmates were in our group that I hadn't met yet, although they clearly knew each other well, as they instantly began making out in the corner. I recoiled and turned to the boys.

"Hello," I stated.

Trevor smirked, while Nathan smiled kindly.

"Wassup?" Trevor drawled. "I'm the Trev-Dog."

I rolled my eyes. "Uh huh. Sure seems it. I'm Veronica."

"Nathan, but you can call me Nate if you wish." The tall boy stuck out his hand and I shook it politely.

"So, are either of you any good with debates? I sure hope so, because it seems those guys won't be much help."

Nathan laughed. "I'm not the worst, I suppose. Trevor here will provide us with the charisma, and you've got the facts, I'm sure, so we'll be fine."

I shrugged. 

"So, you said that you're the new girl with the eye...mutation, right?" Nathan asked.

"If that's what you want to call it. Why?"

"I'm going to take over your tour for now. Next period we have biology with Ms. Morse. Your other guide, Jordan, has physics I'm pretty sure. Either way, I'll be with you until last period, when that dummy - " He pointed at Garrett London, the tall boy from before. "will end your day."

I raised my eyebrows. "Sounds dramatic."

Trevor laughed. "I like this one. She's got a sense of humor."

I smiled. "I try."

Mr. Gale wandered to our group. He raised his eyebrows at the couple in the corner, before turning to Nathan, Trevor, and I.

"Your group will be debating against group one. Your topic will be partnerships. The other group has to argue why partners aren't beneficial, so you guys must sell the idea that working together is helpful. You have ten minutes."

He trotted to group three, and I turned back to the guys, wide eyed.

"Ten minutes? We better start planning. Do either of you have paper?"

"Yeah, one sec."

Nathan rushed to his desk and rustled through his stuff, eventually returning with a few pieces of lined paper and three pencils.

"Great. So, do you want to have each of us speak, or one main presenter?" I asked.

Trevor voted one speaker, while Nathan suggested we do a part each. Before the boys could begin their pointless banter, I interjected.

"We can each have a part, as that's the most fair. Anyway, we have to argue why partners are a good thing, right? We should come up with three points. Any ideas?"

"Well, they can help you generate ideas, like we're doing right now," Nathan mentioned.

I nodded, scribbling some notes. "That works. What are you thinking, Trevor?"

"Maybe we could say how they can help keep you on task."

"The other group could easily counter argue that they make you more likely to mess around," I stated. "No offense, just my thoughts."

He shrugged. "Then I've got nothing."

I inwardly groaned, before quickly coming up with two more leads. "Okay, how's that?"

Nathan hovered over me, reading over my shoulder. I glanced at his face, taking in his concentrated expression. Then I glanced around, looking for a specific person.

Turns out, Reece Pearle was staring right back at me.

Oh boy.

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Another fabulous cover by qaxela, thanks again <3

Chapter two and we've already got some drama haha! Did you like it? If you did, leave a vote! See you next Monday with some more!