A Strange Way / Wessa

Chapter 11 - The Day Continues

Tessa

Tessa hurriedly left Will after deciding their project. She rushed into class, to find her faced flushed. The girl that she had eaten breakfast with, Sophie, was already there. "Oh my! You're in Latin?" Sophie exclaimed, smiling widely.

"Yeah, where were you at lunch? I didn't see you or Luna anywhere." Tessa replied, her smile was more shy than her new friend's. Sophie giggled, "Luna and I got assigned to be lab partners, in Science. We got an assignment on the first day of school."

"Oh, thanks for the notice then. I have Science next period." Tessa thanked. She slid into the seat next to Sophie, then, waiting for class to start. Before it was officially time for class to start, Sophie turned to Tessa and said, "We have a new teacher, by the way. Our old one had quite an accident and then decided it was time to retire. I don't know anything about this one."

Just then, an elderly female teacher walked in. "I'm Mrs. Dark, your teacher. Open your books and do the worksheet. After that, there are ten more worksheets and if you do not complete them they are homework. If you do complete them, silent read until class is dismissed. Automatic detention if you speak."

The worksheets were passed down silently and the class got to work. Tessa couldn't help but sigh, though. There was no way she could do this much in such a short amount of time. For the remainder of the class, no words were spoken and her and Sophie began to write notes to each other on a piece of paper.

Sophie: What worksheet are you on?

Tessa: Four, there's no way I'll finish before class is over.

Sophie: Me neither. After school, we can meet up and work on school stuff with Cecily and Luna.

Tessa: Sounds good.

After that, the two worked until the bell rang.

In the hallway, the sound was a surprisingly pleasant change from the stark silence of Mrs. Dark's room. Tessa felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around quickly to see Cecily grinning at her. "Time for Science! You'll love Mr. Branwell." Cecily ushered Tessa into the classroom. Her and Tessa sat down next to each other. The rest of the students began to fill the classroom, and the girls began a conversation.

"Sophie told me we have a lab project on our first day." Tessa whimpered. Cecily rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah, we'll have to do a lot of projects in here. They're all fun, though. Mr. Branwell is a bit of an inventor, so sometimes we get to test out his products."

Tessa smiled with a comical expression, "That explains why Sophie was so chill, then. This is really good, we can do any projects any time we want in the dorm. No need to schedule to meet up." Cecily replied, "Yeah, and Mr. Branwell lets us choose lab partners for every project."

Their conversation was interrupted by a grown man with fiery red hair, wheeling his way into the room. "Students! Hello, how was everybody's break?" he asked. This must be Mr. Branwell, Tessa thought. There was a wave of 'Great, sir' mumbles around the class room. Mr. Branwell grabbed the role and glanced at it.

"Oh! I forgot, we have a new student here today. Stand up, if you may, Ms. Theresa Gray." he cheerfully instructed. Tessa shyly stood up and said, "I'm Theresa Gray, but I kind of prefer to be called Tessa. A lot." The students looked her over and she noticed a few nods of approval here and there. In the same manner she stood up in, she sat down. Awkwardly waving.

"Okay, now that we're introduced, we have a new project this week! We're working in pairs, so go ahead and choose quickly." Mr. Branwell introduced. The class was quickly divided into groups of two, and Cecily and Tessa were perfectly happy to work with each other. Chatter began to fill the classroom, and Mr. Branwell brought some papers to the front of everybody.