Me and Eiza soon arrive at our first class. I suddenly stop in front of the door as my nerves kick in. Eiza notices and smiles warmly at me, then says, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Nobody will judge you."

     I smile and follow Eiza inside the classroom. Upon entering, I immediately notice the black haired boy in the cyan hoodie. But thankfully, he is busy on his phone to notice me. But it seems like my luck has run out because when the teacher notices me, she announces to the class, "Okay class, even though we just got back from winter break, we have a new student that transferred to our school!"

     Everyone starts paying attention and looks over at me. The teacher looks at me and says, "Why don't you introduce yourself to us?"

     For a moment, I can't respond from the nerves, but then I feel someone pat me on the shoulder. I turn to look at Eiza, and she whispers, "Don't worry, you'll do great. You can just simply say your name and age, and then you can just sit down."

     I calm down and give her a nod. She goes to sit down at her desk, leaving me in front of the class. I look at my new classmates in front of me, and I start speaking, "Umm, my name is Darryl Noveschosch, and I'm 16 years old."

     The teacher nods at me, then turns to the class and says, "Does anyone have any questions for Darryl?"

     Thankfully, nobody speaks up. The teacher turns back to me and says, "Alright then, thank you, Darryl, for introducing yourself. I'm your English teacher, Ms. Sembowski, but everyone calls me Ms. Niki. You can take a seat next to Eiza."

     I nod at her and start walking to my desk. I notice that the boy in the cyan hoodie is looking at me, following my every move, especially as I'm walking near his desk since my desk is 2 rows behind his. But once I'm behind him, he doesn't turn around to keep looking at me. I take my seat next to Eiza, who looked a bit annoyed, but I don't know why. She turns to look at me and whispers, "Did you notice that guy in the cyan hoodie that kept looking at you?"

     I'm slightly surprised that she said that. I respond to her by saying, "Yes, I did. The one with black hair right?"

     She nods at me and says, "I would recommend that you don't interact with him, if you don't want to end up heartbroken."

     "W-what? Why?"

     "Because he's the biggest player at school. He has dated and broken the hearts of multiple boys and girls at school. But he mostly does it to girls. I think he has even gotten 1 or 2 couples to break up because of him."

     I stare at her blankly. A player? I don't think there was actually one in my old school. I've never met one before. And he dates both boys and girls? Huh, normally a player would go around dating those from their opposite gender. Eiza continues and says, "The way that he kept looking at you gets me worried that he might want to mess around with you."

     "R-really?"

     "Yeah, so I would recommend to keep your guard up."

     "O-ok... thanks for the warning."

     After that quick conversation, Ms. Sembowski- or Ms. Niki started to teach the class. After that class, I had Algebra 2 with Eiza. Then Eiza showed me to my next class, Physics, before going to her next class since we weren't in the same one this time. Before she left, she quickly told me the direction to the cafeteria since after this class we had lunch.

     When I went inside the class, I immediately noticed one thing, the player was in my class. He also noticed me as I walked in, so I quickly looked away, trying to pay him no attention, and went to my seat. After I sat down, I took out my journal and pencil. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw the player looking around the room, and then he got up from his seat. The worst part is that he was walking towards me. I tried to pay him no attention, hoping that I was wrong and that he wasn't going towards me. But he stood in front of my desk, so I had to pay attention to him. He gave me a smug smile and said, "Hello, Darryl. My name's Zak, it's a pleasure to meet you."

     He extended his hand towards me to shake. It would be rude to just ignore him like that, so I shook his hand and said, "Hi Zak."

     "So... how do you feel on your first day here? Made any friends yet?"

     I smile a bit excitedly and say, "I like it here so far, everyone's been nice to me, and I made a friend."

     Zak smiles warmly at me and says, "That's good. Most of the students and staff here are nice."

     "R-really? That's- good to know..."

     Then there is silence over the both of us, not knowing what to say. Zak stares at my face, and even makes eye contact with me. I try to break eye contact and not look at his face as I blush from slight embarrassment. I have to admit, he is quite handsome. No wonder he has dated so many people. Zak notices my expression and giggles. He looks at me and says, "You seem like a nice guy yourself."

     "Um... thank you?"

     "Would you like to-"

     Zak gets interrupted by the teacher announcing that class is about to start. Without saying another word, Zak goes back to his seat. When class ends, I make my way to the cafeteria, trying to remember the instructions Eiza told me. Only to find out that I'm confused and probably lost. Oh no... where do I go? Suddenly, I hear someone call my name. As I look to the direction of the voice, I find that it's Zak. He comes up to me and asks, "Are you lost?"

     "Y-yeah... I am."

     "If you want, I can lead you towards the cafeteria."

     I hesitate for a moment, wondering if I should accept his offer. Eiza did tell me to try not to interact with him... but then again, I'm too nervous to ask anyone else for help. I accept Zak's offer. He smiles and starts leading me to the cafeteria. For a moment, we walk in silence. I notice some students look at us. Some are whispering to each other. I guess it's because I'm with Zak, who is popular, and a player. The other students must think what Eiza thought as well. That I'm his next target. Though, I'm not sure what to think of the situation. Zak could be trying to get me to fall for him, but he hasn't been flirting with me or anything, at least- I don't think he has. I'm snapped out of my thoughts when Zak asks me, "Are you gonna sit with anyone during lunch?"

     "Actually, yes. I'm going to be with my new friend at lunch."

     "And who's this friend of yours?"

     "Her name is Eiza."

     Zak's face shows that he's deep in thought, as if trying to remember who Eiza is. His expression changes, which tells me that he must know who she is. He says, "Ah, Eiza... she's a good person. Good thing she's your friend now. You might get to meet her other friends."

     "Oh really? That's good... oh wait- so you do know her?"

     Zak looks a bit nervous as he says, "Yeah, I know her, but she doesn't really like me, so we don't speak to each other much."

     I want to ask why, but the answer is pretty obvious. It's because Zak's a player. We keep walking in silence until we arrive at the cafeteria. Zak looks at me and says, "Well, I hope you have a nice lunch."

     He waves goodbye and starts walking away, probably to go be with his group. I scan the room, trying to find Eiza. Then I hear a voice call my name. I turn to see Eiza waving at me at a table with some other people. I go and sit down at the table next to her. She smiles at me and says, "Hi Darryl! I want to introduce you to my friends. Their names are Ant, Jude, Geo, and Arran."

     I smile and look at the four boys, smiling back at me. I introduce myself to them, and we start chatting with each other. We enjoy our lunch by eating and getting to know each other.