don't look back into the sun [addie]

[kalim]

Lipton High School. Kalim looked up at the sign thoughtfully for a few moments, adjusting his bag on his shoulder as he did. Although they weren’t entirely on the same wavelength, Kal did have to admit that his mother’s idea to move away from New York wasn’t an altogether terrible one. Sure he would miss his friends, but a new start away from all of the memories could only really be a good thing. He’d said goodbye to Georgia as best he could, the flowers on her grave were a mark of that, and now it was time to start putting the pieces of his life back together in Lipton.

Kal took a deep breath, put a smile on his face and headed inside the school building. Hundreds of new faces filled the corridor as Kal wandered towards the office. Nobody particularly noticed him though, they were all too tied up in idle conversation or messing around. That wasn’t a bad thing though, Kal didn’t really feel like a huge inquisition upon his arrival, blending right into the crowd suited him right now- there were far less painful questions that way. If anyone did turn and look, Kal just gave them a polite nod, trying to look friendly and approachable but yet too busy to stop and start meeting people.

Eventually Kal reached the office, a small pokey room with little natural light, patrolled by a small greying woman with a stern look. ”Ermm, I’m new. Kalim Ross” he said, a little unsure what he was really asking for. The woman stared at him for a few seconds before slowly flicking through some papers and giving a little nod. ”You have double maths. Kg14.” she said, not looking up from the paperwork ”You’ll get your timetable soon”. Kalim gave a little shrug, not exactly thrilled that his introduction to Lipton school life was a double maths lesson. Still, not much he could do about it now. ”Cheers” he muttered, attempting to sound a little bit enthused as he headed back out of the office and into the corridor.

By now, most of the kids Kalim had walked past were beginning to move en masse to their first lesson, filling the hallway with a bustling crowd which Kalim had to jostle his way through, having no idea where about Kg14 was. He frowned a little, trying to read some wall signs as he got slowly pushed along the corridor. Maybe if he just kept with the crowd, he would somehow end up in the right place? He sighed, realising that was a bit of an unrealistic idea. Kalim caught sight of another sign as he walked and turned his head to read, still walking forward whilst his eyes were fixed firmly in another direction. ”Whoa” Kalim spluttered, bashing straight into somebody as he wandered aimlessly down the corridor looking the wrong way. ”Sorry” he said, looking down at the girl who he’d just bumped into with an apologetic smile. She was pretty, gorgeous infact, the sort of girl who you’d rather meet in a more suitable situation than nearly knocking them clean over right before your double maths lesson. It was unfortunate, but then Kalim had learnt by now that life never dealt you an easy set of cards ”I’m new here, hence why a bit dazed and confused. Sorry, again..”

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[adelaide rae james]

Was she showing, yet? A small frown was formed tightly on her lips as Addie turned to the side once again in the large bathroom mirror at Lipton High. Her eyes traced quickly down her reflection, pausing over her stomach for the millionth time that morning. Though it was quite obvious that she was just as petite as ever, she still swore that she someone could see right through her and knew her secret. That she was pregnant. Only a handful of people knew, and Addie knew it wouldn't be long before everyone knew. Any day a bump would be forming and her facade would be up. She scrunched her nose slightly, turning back the other direction now. It was thoughts like these that kept her awake at night, worrying. And, it was days like these that she wished her two best friends would have been at school. It was going to be a long day without them.

Pulling at the hem of her shirt, Adelaide let out a small sigh and stepped back, studying her appearance in the mirror once more. Normally she would be standing by Fallon's locker at this time. Chatting about something simple such as boys, pop quizzes, and sometimes even babies. But, without Fallon here today, Addie had resorted to this. Analyzing herself, over and over again, just because she was paranoid. It was a new low. Pathetic really, considering the fact that she had never been so insecure as she felt right now. It almost felt... vulnerable. The teen shook her head, taking a few more steps back and leaning against the sink. Addie James was not insecure. Even if she felt it, she needed to get a hold of herself and appear confident. She didn't want to show such an undesirable trait. It was just so... unlike her.

Addie closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to regain her natural confidence. It had to be getting close to time to head to homeroom, and her math teacher seemed to have little tolerance for any personal issues. He was hardly a man to care about anything but whatever pointless math lesson he had to teach that day. Tardinesses were not something he put up with. Her insecurities and paranoidness would at least have to be put on hold for the duration of his class. It wasn't like she was doing exceptionally well in there, anyway. A 'C-' was hardly impressive. It would do her some good to concentrate just this once.

The teen stepped away from the sink, taking one last fleeting glance at the mirror before grabbing her purse and heading out of the bathroom. By this point, the school was becoming rather crowded. She gave a quick glance at the clock, realizing that the buses had already let off. Less than ten minutes and school would officially begin. Addie quickly made her way down the hall to her locker. She twisted the three digit combination carelessly into the locker, screwing it up twice before finally just shoving her knee into the middle of the locker door. Once it popped up, Addie knelt down, picked up her textbook and slammed the door once more. Though it was against the rules to knee or slam your locker, it seemed as if every teen here did both of those. Teachers never really cracked down on the rules, and Addie really wasn't in the mood to abide by them. Not today.

She had just turned to start down the hall toward home room when suddenly, she collided with someone. "Hey-" Stumbling back a few steps, Adelaide struggled to regain her balance in her heels. Once she did, she shifted her book to her other arm, her lip pulling into a firm line. As she looked up, however, her gaze settled on a boy. He looked fairly uncomfortable, even a tad lost. And he didn't look familiar at all. He started to apologize and then confirmed her belief that he was, indeed new. Her facial expression soften slightly, biting her lip to hold back from any formerly mean remarks she had. He was cute... sympathy couldn't hurt. "It's... fine. I should have looked before cutting across the hall." Giving him a small smile, she glanced over him once more. Yes, he was definitely cute. "uh... welcome to Lipton, I guess." Addie bit her tongue, holding back anymore words. The boy looked to be around her age, and so it would do her no favors to be mean to him. Her crappy morning wasn't any of his concern, anyhow.

[/blockquote][/justify]

[kalim]

Understandably the girl initially looked pretty annoyed to be nearly knocked off her feet but apparently the forgiving kind, her expression quickly softened into one which Kalim was pretty sure showed she wasn’t going to smack him round the face with the high heeled shoe she’d just nearly fallen from. He smiled down at her, her slight frame noticeable even whilst she was perched upon her heels. ”Seriously, thanks for trying to make me feel better” he began with a laugh ”But it was definitely entirely my fault”. Kalim knew she was only trying to be polite in not pinning the blame completely upon his shoulders, but that was definitely where it lay. He wasn’t normally a clumsy boy, but the combination of lots of thoughts and the confusion of a new environment seemed to have got the better of him this morning.

”Thanks” he smiled genuinely at her semi-welcome. She seemed a sharp tongued and assured kind of girl, one whom was struggling slightly to come across as genuinely interested in this new kid’s drama- probably having far better things to do. Still, Kalim was a people person, and the challenge of trying to get a little bit more out of this girl suddenly began to appeal to him. Moments ago conversation had been the last thing he’d wanted but he was now a little intrigued by the faux-polite and decidedly gorgeous young lady he’d just nearly landed on top of. ”I used to navigate the streets of New York, so not sure how Lipton High School is causing me such a challenge” he shrugged with a smile ”I don’t suppose you could show me to the maths block though could you?” he asked ”Save me landing on top of some other unsuspecting girl” he added cheekily.

It would go one of two ways, Kalim was sure of that. The girl would either make up some excuse about being too busy and let him go on his way, or his troubles would encourage her sympathy enough that she would take him to the maths room, giving him a bit more time to get to know her. It was way too early in both his grief and his time in Lipton to be thinking about love but chatting with hot girls was always a fun pursuit for blokes. He wasn’t going to deny the fact he would enjoy a little flirt with the pretty and petite girl who stood close to him now in the packed corridor. It wasn’t going to lead anywhere, just be a bit of harmless fun. Kalim wasn’t entirely sure though whether the girl was up for fun, she seemed a little preoccupied and less than interested in chatting with the new guy. ”I’m Kalim by the way” he mentioned suddenly, realising that he had rudely neglected to introduce himself properly.

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