Connor My Dear Boy (FINISHED)

11

"Ah, so you're the one." said a voice when Connor entered the room.

At least two dozen faces turned towards him as he slid into the room. The man standing at the front of the room glowered at Connor, and, subconsciously, Connor shrank into himself.

"I will have you know, Mr. Kenway, that lateness will not be tolerated in this school, and especially in this classroom." the teacher, Mr. Lee, said, "You may stay ten minutes late into your lunch break after class today. Now, please take your seat in the back of the room next to Miss Grandpré."

Mr. Lee pointed to one of the only empty chairs in the room, which happened to be in between the only other two students of color in the class.

Gloomily, Connor slouched to the back of the room, ignoring the nearly silent giggles from the other students as he passed, and took his seat between the African American girl with long, black braids and the Arab boy with bright blue eyes.

Mr. Lee watched him until Connor sat down, at which point he opened his textbook and turned back towards the whiteboard, droning on about basic algebra.

Connor's face flushed and he buried his face into his hands in embarrassment.

"Sorry." whispered the girl to his left.

"Don't let him get to you," said the boy bracingly. "Mr. Lee is... Well, he's not the nicest teacher I've ever had. Isn't really nice to anyone, really, though he's especially mean to the two of us.

"You just came here? To town?" the boy whispered.

Connor nodded, but kept his eyes lowered towards his desk.

"I'm Aveline de Grandpré." said the girl, "What's your name?"

"Connor." he muttered.

"I'm Kadar." said the boy, "Nice to meet you, Connor."

Connor looked up at the boy and tried not to glare at him. He was trying to be nice, after all, even if Connor didn't particularly feel like talking. He glanced up to the front of the classroom, but Mr. Lee's back was to them, and he was talking about the Pythagorean Theorem.

"Why'd you come here?" Aveline asked, "I mean, we've heard that you're Mr. Kenway's son, but..."

Connor fell silent for several minutes before he asked, "Are there already rumors circulating about me?"

"My brother's in Mr. Kenway's class, and he mentioned you in class at one point." Kadar admitted.

Connor glanced up at him and peered at him, noticing his resemblance to Malik, the boy from earlier, though Kadar's hair seemed naturally messier, and his features weren't quite as hawk-like.

"You're the new kid right now." Aveline said gently, "There are always rumors in the beginning. There were even a bunch of rumors about me when my family and I moved here from New Orleans several years ago."

Connor hesitated and sighed. "Yes, I'm living with Haytham now."

"Why?" asked Kadar.

Connor glared at him, and the boy finally took a hint and fell silent.

The rest of the period passed uneventfully, however, at the end of the period, Connor began to pack away his things, hoping that he could sneak away with the rest of the class.

"Not so fast, Mr. Kenway." Mr. Lee snarled, "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do. I think I'll add an extra five minutes into your time this afternoon."

Connor scowled at him and made to grab his book out of his bag, but Mr. Lee once again stopped him.

"And no entertainment either." he said, "You will sit there, in silence, for fifteen minutes, then you can be on your way."

Connor retracted his arm from his bag and folded them across his chest, staring at Mr. Lee scathingly as his teacher got out his own lunch and set it on his desk. Mr. Lee began to set into his lunch, and Connor's stomach audibly growled. Mr. Lee smirked.

After what seemed like centuries, Mr. Lee finally said, "You may go now, Mr. Kenway. And let this be a warning."

Connor glanced up at the clock, noticing that Mr. Lee had kept him and extra three minutes. Furious, Connor slammed his things into his bag and stormed out of the room without so much as a backwards glance. To his surprise, he found Aveline and Kadar waiting for him.

"There you are." Aveline said warmly, smiling at him, "Mr. Lee kept you late, did he?"

"We wanted to invite you to sit with us at lunch today." Kadar said, before Connor could respond, "I know we don't have too much break time left, but you're welcome to spend it with us."

"We have a little area to ourselves just across from the main gym." Aveline said.

Connor paused, weighing the pros and the cons. He didn't know anyone yet, accept for Haytham and Desmond, but he didn't really think either of them counted. He didn't know the layout of the school yet, and thus he could not find the cafeteria on his own. Not only that, but it's damn unlikely that he would even be able to find a place to sit.

"Okay." said Connor reluctantly, "I'll sit with you just this once, okay?"

"Sounds good." Kadar said cheerfully.

"Come on," Aveline said, gently taking Connor by the hand. "We can take you."