Welcome to North Shore High

Social Suicide

Ah. French class. The class where you pick a name that isn't really your name but then the teacher refuses to learn your real name. I think having French after lunch is probably gonna be nice. I don't really know anyone yet, and I've started to realize the only people I know the names of are Tyler, Marwan, and Kevin. But I'm sure I'll make some more friends soon. As I sat down at a desk, I swear I heard someone say something about me.

"...yeah, she was like, talking to them. And they were actually responding. It was so weird. Do you think she's gonna turn into one of them?" I tried to catch a glimpse at who was talking. It was a girl with dark makeup, shorts with ripped tights underneath, boots, the coolest jacket I've ever seen, and dark hair but the ends of her hair were blonde. "I just... I don't know, Damian, it was so weird seeing the Mathletes socialize with..." Oh, shoot she saw me. I quickly turned back around but it was too late. I looked back up and saw the girl and Damian standing in front on my desk.

"Um... hey. I'm Ellie." I tried to pretend as if I wasn't just eavesdropping.

"Hi sweetie, I'm Damian. This is Janis. So, I'm just going to get to the point, I saw you were talking to the Mathletes today at lunch."

"Yeah, they're my friends. Why?"

"You seem nice, you're cute, but..." Damian started. Uh oh... nothing ever goes right when you start with a compliment and then 'but...' 

"...joining the Mathletes is like social suicide," Janis said. I looked at Janis, and then at Damian, who was nodding his head beside her. 

"What, what?" Before I could get either one of them to elaborate, the bell rang. Dang. However, I was right about picking a name different than yours. I guess I'm now Éléonore. Sweet. The class was pretty uneventful after that, I mean, how can you top "Éléonore"? But what Damian said was still bothering me. Social suicide? Really? After class, I decided to ask Damian about it.

"Hey, so... what do you mean exactly by 'social suicide?'"

"I guess the best way to put it is, good luck making friends if you stick with the Mathletes." And then he walked off. That didn't really help much. Is that what Tyler was talking about? Is that what everyone says about them? Ugh, it's only the first day of school and somehow I already have problems. Just great.