The Not So New Student by Chandrima Saha (good books for high schoolers txt) 📖

"I'm Kiara." I said not able to recognize him yet. "Oh.....Kay!!!!!! Wait! This is silly but were you ever in Cedar Ridge Elementary?" He asked. "Yes. Then I -" I was about to begin. "Yeah, I remember, you left to India." I was impressed with this. "Cool! But who are you?" I asked not meaning to be rude. "Come on Kiara. We were really good friends in third grade."

I thought for a while. Maybe he was Andrew. Noooo!!!!! I am crazy! That's not possible. Then suddenly I remembered. He was also really nice. "You are Tyler .....Right?" I said. "Yeah!! Welcome to MHS!" "Thank you!" I said with a smile. But the Tyler I somehow have a mental image of, had glasses and was not athletic. Five years can really change a person. Tyler now did not wear glasses, was wearing a jersey and was pretty cute. The bell rang.

"Okay, talk to you later!" He said. "Bye!" I said. For the next period nothing too exciting happened. I met Laura in the next class. When the teacher introduced me, I saw her look at me. She was naturally pretty, even though she wore heavy makeup. She had bangs and her long hair was in loose curls. She said, "do I know you?" The nervous version of me took over. 'Umm, maybe....... Are you Laura?" I asked nervously. "Yes!!!! I am!!!! Ooh I'm so excited for you! How's India?" She said.  Weird question. I was literally out of questions so I just answered whatever she said. I had another class with Andrew later that day, but something weirded me out.

I saw him almost going to kiss a girl but the teacher came in. Maybe he was going to do something else.  The girl had an irritated look on her face. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't recognize her. He smirked and shrugged. "God!!!!! He looked so handsome doing that!" I said to myself. I decided to see if it was him or not. "Are you Andrew Menches?" I asked. He was tall so I had to look up while talking to him. "Yeah." He said. "Don't you recognize me?" I said. He looked at my face like I was some kind of Observation Object. "Sorry, I have to go now, but you do look very familiar." He said. Those words hurt me. How could he not recognize me? We 'were' best friends for crying out loud.

Who did he think he was? I would not talk to him anymore. If he knew me then he wouldn't do this. Was I really that unrecognizable???

I guess not because Tyler could recognize me. Why did Andrew forget about me? The rest of my day went okay, but I did meet two other friends. I met Zac and Sasha. Well I didn't actually talk to them or anything. Zac hung out with Dylan, so I guessed they would be the same type. Sasha didn't even notice me. She had a group which she hung out with. I thought I'd talk to her later one day. I guess I forgot about lunch. I just joined a table where I thought people would be friendly.

I looked around the cafeteria. There were ten tables. The jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the weirdos, the goths, the smart but rude people, the nice but dumb people, our table and an extra table for punished students. I think I chose that table because there were girls who were smart and funny. The only problem was that they were all best friends. A girl named Lisa was there who was in my elementary. I wasn't exactly friends with her, she was too quiet. I could have joined another table, but I just didn't. I'd have to be one of them, I said to myself. When I got back home, my mom started asking me her never ending questions.

"How was your day? Did you meet any of your old friends? Do you like the school? Are the teachers nice?" The best way to bypass these questions is to smile and nod your head and that's exactly what I did. I took my phone out and messaged Kavya. Because if the time differences she was sleeping now. I realized I needed to buy some stuff so I walked to the store. It felt a bit chilly. I put my hands inside my pockets. The next day at school I met Ashley. She told me that I had gym today and told me about the school.

I got in homeroom and again those whispers started. We were assigned seats. I asked the teacher. "Hi, I am Kiara, the new student. Where do I sit?" "Okay, you go sit beside Lesley and Dylan, he said pointing to a table. "Okay," I smiled and said. It was good as I could talk to him and see What was going on? I took my seat in front of him beside Lesley. I smirked at him. He said, "What?" I said, "come on Dylan, this isn't how You treat your old friend." He looked even more confused.

"What do you mean?" He finally said. "You don't remember me from third grade? "We were friends!!" I knew he didn't remember but he acted like he did. "Yeah, I remember." He wouldn't talk to me anymore, so I talked with Lesley. She wasn't the friendliest person either. It was just an introduction. Dylan looked weirdly at me. I felt like he was thinking of something. Who cared about what he was thinking anyway? Next, we had biology, so I followed Dylan into the class. As I got in, everyone was talking to someone. I was the only one who didn't have Anyone to talk to. So I opened the biology textbook and started reading it. I couldn't focus on the subject as I was thinking of the next Period. With Andrew. I didn't know if he'd even talk to the weirdo me.

Biology class was okay, as the topics were easy. Next period I had English, so I went to the class. The starting bell rang. The teacher Mrs. Martinez, told us all to get up as she was arranging us to groups of Four for the next two weeks for a project, which she said she'll explain later. Since I literally knew no one in the class except for Andrew and Tyler, I had no specific partner expectations. "Okay, this is how we'll pick groups," Mrs. Martinez said and showed us a jar with folded Pieces of papers. "Your names are all written in the Chits and I'll pick three for each group." She explained. "Got it? "She asked. We all nodded our heads. Apparently no one was very delighted with her plan. She started. "Cassie, Mason and Jason you are a group. Ashley, Taylor and Jordine you are another......." She kept on calling names till six of us were left. "Fawn, Stella and Cameron you are another and," She looked at us three and said, "Andrew, Tyler and Kiara you are the last group." I looked at my teammates. They were looking at everyone ....... Seriously this was so not what I had expected. It just was not real.

"Choose a creative name for your team."Mrs. Martinez said. We Three moved to a group seat. "So what name do we choose?" Tyler said. I had no idea. "Kiara, you were really smart in third grade. Come on, think of a name!" Tyler told me. I raised my eyebrows. Andrew seemed to wake up from his dream. He looked at me then at Tyler. "Wait? You know her? Isn't she new?" He asked Tyler. "You should remember her; she was your best friend!" He said. "What? "Andrew said. I felt that I should speak.

"Well I tried to tell you." I said looking straight into his face for the first time. He had really blue eyes... 'Whoa! Kiara! I'm sorry! I completely forgot! Yeah we were best friends! "He said. I just nodded and smirked at him. Only he thought it was a smile. Tyler looked like he was watching an interesting movie scene. "Okay! So let's decide a name now! We have, like, a minute left," I said glancing into my watch. "Okay, how about reading rangers?" I suggested. Andrew seemed okay with it, but Tyler said, "No, it's too common." "Okay, um how about triforce?" Andrew suggested. I thought it was perfect, but I did not want to look like I adored whatever he said so I was like, "yes, it is good," and looked at Tyler.

He seemed okay with my idea. Just then, Mrs. Martinez said, "Okay, your time's up. Write your names in a piece of paper with your group name." we wrote our names. Well Tyler wrote it. Amazingly, he remembered my last name. Then Mrs. M started telling us what we would be doing.

"Okay, now you must be wondering what we are doing, so I'll tell you. Okay, we are going to work on poetry. I will assign you poets and you will choose two poems and do research on them. I will tell you what exactly you have to research for. For now, choose a number. We'll see who gets who."

After all the choosing, we found out that our poet is Shakespeare. Before discussing our topic any further, the bell rang. I knew that this period would be interesting. I mean, grouped up with two of my closest friends in the elementary is nothing but exciting.

Next, I had French. Since I had no idea of the language, I chose to take first level. Apparently, no one I knew before was in that class. I felt lonely. However, I knew I had to make new friends. I looked around for anyone approachable. There, I saw a girl with long blonde hair. She was sitting alone. The teacher had not come yet.

Therefore, I went up to her and introduced myself. "Hi, I am Kiara. What's your name?" I said to her. "I'm Fawn." She said with a smile. Before we got to say anything, the teacher came in. I went back to my seat in class.  

I didn't know that she'd be so easy to talk to. She was nice to me,  like everyone, but there was something interesting about her, which  made me want to be her friend. She was always cheery and perfect. I  couldn't talk a lot to her but I found out she's in my gym, choir and  French class.

Next period I had study hall. The only study hall I had  in a week. I entered the class and looked at my seat. I was just next  to the whole gang of populars. By populars I mean the group of guys  who were extremely hot and were not approachable by me. I know it's  weird. I am a weird type of person too. I sat down on the chair, and I  took out my stuff and reviewed what I needed to organize. I know,  third day of school and organizing!

Due to boredom, I started  daydreaming .... "Andrew I like you." "Kiara I like you too." " So will we officially  be declared a couple? " "We should, but what about that blonde girl  who's after you?"