"Bill that to the lawn company that comes on Tuesdays," says a voice from the entryway of the lobby.

The charcoal colored carpet seemed to compliment the shine coming off his black shoes from the fluorescent lights above. His well ironed slacks running up to a perfectly tucked dress shirt. Mr. Tomley makes his way down the hall and passes Blake's desk. He stops. His head turns toward her as he lets a slight smirk escape the corner of his mouth.

"You must be Mrs. McDolen. Blake is it?" he asks with a sense of curiosity.

"Yes sir. It's been an honor working here so far. I'm really loving it," she responds nervously.

"Please, call me Derrick," Mr. Tomley says.

He pats the top of Blake's desk with the palm of his open hand, his ring tapping the hard wood as it makes a loud knocking sound. He smiles, grabs a sucker from the bowl on the corner of her desk and continues on his way. Blake catches herself gliding her eyes up his legs and staring at his firm buttocks as he walks away. Shaking her head to escape from the temporary trance, she puts her focus back on the paperwork in front of her.

---

Stepping out of the black SUV, Alex shuts the door and heads for the front office of his new school. One of the guards from the house, stands outside until Alex makes it safely into Freedmont Valley High School. Once inside, Alex is met by a young, early thirties brunette with green feather earrings. A brass name tag pinned to her floral dress reads "Beverly".

"Hello, how can I help you?" asks the lovely woman.

"Umm, yes, hi, I'm uh, I'm Alex, Alex McDolen and I'm new here. I'm just trying to get my schedule and find my first class."

Beverly smiles, "Just a moment, let me grab your paperwork from the back and I'll show you to your class."

Alex stands, his hands up by his chest and thumbs looped inside the straps of his bookbag, panning the room until she returns. There's a small room just outside the office with a sign, "ASL: Learning without sound" and a teenage girl inside making hand motions to a teacher sitting across the desk.

"That's the American Sign Language classroom. We have a few deaf students who need special attention, so we gave them a room of their own to learn in." says Beverly, returning with a small folder filled with papers. "Now, let's get you to your first class," she says while handing Alex his schedule. "History 102 with Mr..... Tableu I believe."

Beverly starts walking, the layout of the school is a two story "X" shape. The cafeteria in the middle and four long hallways straying in opposite directions. This place was huge compared to his school back home.

"Room 418, History 102, this is it Alex," says the tall, tan secretary. She hands him the folder of paperwork and opens the door. Alex steps inside nervously, taking off his yellow jacket and takes a seat at the first empty desk he can find.

"Class, we have a new student, this is Alex McDolen and he just moved here from...."

"Virginia," Alex responds, turning around from placing his bookbag on the floor as he looks up at the teacher. A look of shock crawls across Alex's face. "Mr...."

"Tableu." The familiar teacher interrupts before letting Alex finish.

Alex sinks down into his chair as he recognizes his history teacher.

"Mr. Helkin?" he thinks to himself. "What the hell?" Alex says out loud.

Mr. Tableu continues teaching the class, every once in awhile glancing over in Alex's direction. His ash grey hair, and pepper goatee stand out from his pale skin. Alex spends the rest of class trying to think of an excuse to leave.

"Bathroom? Headache? Family Emergency?"

The bell rings, and history class is over. Alex jumps up, grabs his jacket and bookbag and makes a beeline for the door.

"Alex, I would like to speak to you for a moment before you leave," says the teacher quickly just as Alex grabs the handle to the classroom door.

His stomach flips and his heart races as he begins to sweat while everyone but him leaves the room. Suddenly, it's just the two of them.

"I know you're confused Alex," says Mr. Helkin "but I can assure you, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why the hell are you here? Are you following me?" Alex responds.

"Yes, in a way I am. Your father hired me to keep an eye on you because he knew he was putting you and your mother in danger."

"For how long? You've been teaching me since middle school. Have you been keeping an eye on me for that long?" Alex asks.

"Yes, and before that even. Your father got me a teaching position at the school to keep an eye on you when he couldn't." Mr. Helkin continues, "Now, I know you probably have a lot of questions for me, but you need to get to your next class before you're late."

"Wait, you can't just spring this on me and tell me to have a good day. It doesn't work like that. How do you know my dad? And why are you here?"

"All of your questions will be answered soon enough. Now get to your next class before you're tardy on your first day." Mr. Helkin says with a laugh.

Alex slowly grabs his bookbag and swings one strap over his shoulder.

All Alex could focus on for the rest of the day was his father and Mr. Helkin. His mind racing with possibilities and answers. Lunchtime came quick, Alex needed it. The only thing he ate all day were the blueberry waffles his mom made for his first day of school. He grabs the lunch tray of grilled cheese, vegetable soup and french fries, and sits down at an empty table.

Quickly joined by two other people, one boy with green spiked hair, a black Limp Bizkit shirt and baggy black cargo pants. The other, a petite girl with pink hair and a tight blue shirt, denim capris and almost stainless white converse shoes with her legs crossed.

"Hi, I'm Sketch," says the boy with green hair.

"That you are," replies Alex with a sarcastic tone.

"They call me Sketch because I draw pictures all day. My real name is Gavin, Gavin Dewell. And this here's.."

"Macie Nyers, nice to meet you. You're new here right?" asks the cute girl with pink hair.

"Um, yeah. I'm Alex, just moved here and I don't really know anyone."

"Well, you do now. Figured you could use some friends so you're not eating alone like some loser," Sketch says with a nasally laugh.

Not knowing what to say, Alex picks up his spoon, "Thanks," and takes a bite of the lukewarm vegetable soup.

A few kids from two tables over are talking about a house fire that killed a lady and her dog a few nights ago. Alex clenches his spoon a little harder and a grimace look falls upon his face.

"Are you alright Alex?" asks Macie as she places her hand on top of Alex's clenched left fist.

Her touch calms him, and his grip loosens.

"I'm fine," Alex says. Looking up at Macie, he smiles and dips his grilled cheese in the soup.

"Wanna see some of my drawings?" Sketch butts in abruptly. Not giving anyone time to answer, he pulls out a huge sketch pad full of drawings and flips it open. "This is a drawing I did last week of Mrs. Hambridge the librarian as a sea monster."

Alex can't help but laugh. The drawing is so detailed and reminds him of the doodles he makes on the corner of his papers in class.

The bell rings and couple hundred students in the cafeteria stand up and head their separate ways.

"What's your next class?" asks Macie.

Alex, checking his class schedule sheet says, "English 305 with Ms. Tucker"

"Great! Me too!" responds Macie with a cute smile. "We can walk together. Sketch has detention down the hall."

"It was only a joke. It's not my fault Mr. Hanlon doesn't have a sense of humor." Sketch says as he walks toward the library.

Alex and Macie make their way down the hall together, talking and getting to know one another. Alex looks up and sees Mr. Helkin staring at him. Alex quickly looks away, puts his head down and walks a little faster with Macie by his side.

The rest of the day went by pretty fast. Alex put Sketch's and Macie's numbers into his phone and waited outside for the black SUV to pick him up. Riding the bus was too much of a risk, the guards wanted to keep an eye on Alex as much as possible. He sees the SUV drive around the parking lot and looks down at his phone.

He opens the text from Macie, "See you tomorrow new kid ;P"

Alex smiles, looks up at the parked car as one of the guards gets out and opens the door for him.

"What are you looking at Lurch?" Alex says jokingly as he gets inside and sits down. "Is all this security really necessary?"

"Just trying to keep you and your mother safe Alex. That's our job," says the driver of the vehicle.

"Yeah, you keep saying that," responds Alex.

The black SUV drives off and Alex pulls out his book "Dear Mr. Silence" and continues reading.