𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨🌼 (JACK WILL X OC)

• 4 •

• Amber •

Here we are. First day of school.

We left the house early and began our walk to school. Once in the courtyard, I tapped on Auggie's astronaut helmet. "Why don't you take it off already?" Auggie shook his head no, and quickly walked ahead with mom. "I'll meet you..." mom paused, "right here. After school. Right here, ok?"

Mom leaned down to face me and smiled. "I love you." She whispered. "I love you too, Mom." I whispered back. Mom repeated it with Auggie, then stepped back. I gave Via a tight squeeze as well before walking with Dad and Auggie to the entrance of Beecher Prep.

"Now," Dad began as we reached the entrance, "I gotta stop here because past this point is a No Dad Zone and you two don't wanna walk up with your parents because it's not cool." I frowned. "But your cool." Auggie told him. "I know I'm cool but technically most dads aren't, so...and neither are these helmets." He said, removing Auggie's plastic astronaut helmet.

"Two rules." Dad told us. "First, only raise your hand once a class no matter how many answers you know. Except for science, crush them. Second, you two are gonna feel like you're all alone but you're not. You two have each other." I nodded and grabbed Auggie's shoulder. We both hugged Dad goodbye, and I grabbed Auggie's hand. We paused at the front of the school for a moment..."Ready?"

"Not at all."
"Oh stop."
"Fine. Ready as I'll ever be."
"Good. Let's go."

The moment we stepped foot onto the courtyard, kids were staring and whispering, making a path for me and Auggie to pass through. Auggie's grip on my hand tightened greatly to the point where I couldn't feel my hand at all. We made our way inside and towards our home room: Mr. Brown.

•

We walked into the classroom and the first person I spotted was Charlotte. I waited to see where Auggie choose to sat so I could sit close, but he already knew my strategy. "Go sit with the girls. I'll sit in the back." He ordered me. "No way!" I exclaimed back. Auggie rolled his eyes and made his way to the top left corner seat.

Since Auggie say there, I decided to sit in the chair behind the chair next to Auggie. It seemed like a good place where I could make sure nothing bad was going on with Auggie. "Hey, Amber!" Charlotte greeted. I turned to her and waved before turning back to a miserable looking Auggie. "Hey, settle down, everybody, settle down." Mr. Brown grinned. "Everybody find your seats? Yeah?"

Jack came rushing in last minute, sitting in the chair in front of me and next to Auggie. I took a deep breath and waved with a smile. He returned the favor before plopping down in his seat. "All right!" Mr. Brown clapped. "Some of us are lucky enough to know each other and some of us are new. Hi there." He waved at me and Auggie.

"Ok! My name is Mr. Brown and..." Mr. Brown paused as Julian came running into the classroom to sit in front of a big and bulky hazelnut haired guy. "Yeah, I'm so...sorry. I was just helping set up chairs for the assembly." Julian lied. "Don't worry about it." Mr. Brown shrugged it off and went back to teaching.

"Can anybody tell me what this word means?" He asked, pointing at the word 'precept' on the board. "Anybody? No?" I looked around and bit my lip before raising my hand. "Yes?" He asked. "Aren't precepts like rules for really important things?" I suggested. Mr. Brown nodded and smirked. "Like mottos!" Charlotte shouted out.

"Like mottos or like lines from a fortune cookie. Right? Precepts can help motivate us. They can help guide us when we have to make decisions about really important things." Mr. Brown explained. "So why are you talking to me about precepts this early in the morning? You might ask. Well, let me tell you. Because precepts can also tell us a lot about ourselves.

'Who is it that I aspire to be?' That is the question we should be asking ourselves all the time. What kind of person am I? So! This is what we're gonna do. Everyone is gonna come up with two things that they think everybody else should know about them."

I saw Auggie tense up across from me so I sent him a reassuring smile to try to cheer him up. "All right, I'll go first." Mr. Brown remarked. "Number one, I used to work on Wall Street. For a long time. And two, I left Wall Street to peruse my dream and teach. Who's next?" Julian's hand shot up and Mr. Brown pointed at him to start. "Julian Albans. And, I think it's cool you're pursuing your dream." I rolled my eyes. What a big teachers pet.

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chapter four!

i really hope that y'all are enjoying the story so far!!

-maya🤧