Chapter Text
Starting at a new school would be hard. Alhaitham knew that already. He had read plenty of books about people moving to new towns, starting at new schools, meeting new friends, etc. But Alhaitham’s case was very different.
Not only would this be a new school, it was the first real school that Alhaitham had ever gone to, having been homeschooled for his entire life. He would have been perfectly content to continue this way of life, had his grandmother not insisted that he attend a real school, for once.
“Haitham,” She had said. “I think it’s time for you to go to a real school, rather than letting me be your teacher.”
“But, Grandma, I don’t wanna!” He had protested. “I’m already a grade above where I should be. All the classes will be too easy! And I don’t want to go! You won’t be there.”
Still, his grandmother had enrolled him at Sumeru Valley Middle School, though she had at least put him a grade above other students his age, so that he would not find the classes boring. It had been a complicated process, going to the school to take placement exams, photographs, long hours of paperwork, but finally, Alhaitham was going to school.
He would have preferred if he could have started in the fall, when the rest of his classmates had, but his grandmother had wanted him to attend school as soon as possible, so his first day was in the middle of the school year.
Alhaitham stood in front of the school, clutching tightly to his grandmother’s hand.
“Haitham, it’s time to go. You have your schedule, correct?”
“Yes, Grandma. I have it here.” Alhaitham reached into his pocket, taking the folded piece of paper. “I already have my classes memorized, though.”
“That’s my boy. Now, I need to get going. Look, all the other kids are already heading inside.”
Alhaitham nodded, giving his grandmother a hug. “Bye, Grandma.”
“Goodbye, Haitham. Oh, you look so much like your father on his first day of eighth grade!”
Alhaitham laughed. “Grandma, I don’t have time to hear stories about Dad.”
“Ah, you have a point. Go, get to class. You don’t want to be late!”
The first thing that Alhaitham noticed when he entered the main hall of the school was the noise. There were so many people, all of them having their own conversations. Alhaitham found his way through the halls, looking for his locker. He had gone on a tour of the school a few weeks prior, and a teacher had shown him how to open the locker, since he had never had a locker before.
Alhaitham found his locker, slowly turning the dial in the correct order. He pulled the door open, quickly placing his backpack in the small metal compartment. He took the items he would need for class, a binder with folders for each of his classes, a pencil case, a water bottle, and – most importantly – a book.
He struggled to find the best way to carry all the items, but he eventually figured out that the binder had a strap that he could sling over his shoulder, leaving his hands free to carry everything else. According to the watch on his wrist, he still had a few minutes before class began, hopefully enough time to find the classroom.
Alhaitham carefully closed the door of his locker, and began walking down the hallway. Then, a loud bang echoed through the hall. Alhaitham winced, unable to cover his ears, on account of all the items he was holding. He ran down the hall, away from the noise.
The rational part of his brain told him that it had only been the sound of someone closing their locker rather forcefully. The other part of his brain, the one that was winning in this situation, was convinced that the noise was dangerous, and that he had to get as far away as possible.
Remembering that he still had a class to attend, Alhaitham veered his course of escape up the stairs, to the second floor of the building, where his first class of the day was. The second floor hallways were even more crowded and loud than those on the first floor, as more of the classes were held up here, and the hallways were not as wide as the ones on the ground floor of the building.
Alhaitham turned his head down, weaving through the crowds until he found the class that he was supposed to be in. There weren’t many students in the room, though the class hadn’t officially started yet, so it made sense that not everyone had arrived.
Walking to the back of the room, Alhaitham stood in front of the teacher’s desk.
“Um…excuse me? Is this –”
“Ah! You must be the new student!” The teacher exclaimed. Her voice was extremely loud. “You’re in the right place, don’t worry!”
“Where do I sit?” Alhaitham asked. He wasn’t quite sure how schools worked in the real world, but in most of the books that he had read, there were assigned seats for each class.
“Hmm. How about…” The teacher looked over the room. “Let’s put you at table three. I’ve heard that you’re quite an exceptional student, so maybe you can help some of your classmates stay on task.”
The teacher led Alhaitham to a table near the front of the room, a piece of paper with the number three taped in the center. There was only one student sitting at the table, a boy with longer blond hair.
“Good morning, Kaveh. Is it alright if the new student sits with you?”
The boy – the teacher had called him Kaveh – looked to Alhaitham. “Huh? Oh, I guess that’s fine.”
Alhaitham sat in the chair next to Kaveh, placing his belongings beneath the table.
The teacher smiled. “I’m sure you two will be good friends.”
Once the teacher left, Kaveh turned to Alhaitham, holding out his hand. “Hello! I’m Kaveh, but you probably already knew that. What’s your name?”
Alhaitham nervously shook Kaveh’s hand. “Oh, my name is Alhaitham, but most people just call me Haitham. Less syllables, and it’s easier to say.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Haitham!” Kaveh smiled, energetically shaking Alhaitham’s hand. “Do you have a piece of paper? Wait, I can get one, hang on.”
Kaveh took a notebook from his bag, tearing a piece of paper from the corner of one of the pages. He wrote something down, handing the paper to Alhaitham.
“Here’s my phone number. Wait, do you have a phone?”
Alhaitham nodded. “Yeah, I do. I don’t know how to use it very well, though.”
“Alright. We should hang out sometime!”
“Sounds good –”
Alhaitham was interrupted by a shrill ring, and his hands flew up to cover his ears. That must be the bell that would signal the start of class.
“Haitham, are you alright?” Kaveh looked at him with worry painted over his face.
“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting the loud noise.” Alhaitham slowly lowered his hands. “Don’t you think it’s too loud?”
“Hmm? Not really. Does noise usually bother you?”
Alhaitham thought for a moment. “I’ve never had problems with loud sounds before today, but I also tend to avoid crowded places, so it might be that I’ve never been exposed to things like this before.”
“Yeah, that does make sense. Ugh, the hallways must be awful.”
“They are,” Alhaitham assured. “And this morning –”
“Everyone, that was the bell. Class is starting now.” The teacher began to take attendance, pausing when her eyes passed over Alhaitham’s table. “We have a new student with us today! Alhaitham, was it? Would you like to introduce yourself?”
Alhaitham shook his head.
“Come on, just say a few things about yourself. Where did you go to school before?”
Alhaitham stayed silent.
The teacher came over to his desk, frustration growing behind her eyes. “Alhaitham, at least say hello to the class.”
Alhaitham shook his head.
“Alhaitham, you need to participate –”
“Hey!” Kaveh spoke up. “He doesn’t have to tell us anything. He probably is pretty overwhelmed, since it’s his first day.”
“Kaveh, I appreciate your willingness to defend him, but Alhaitham needs to learn to participate. How is he going to do presentations if he can’t even introduce himself?”
Alhaitham covered his ears. The teacher’s voice sounded like it was directly next to him.
The sound of the teacher’s argument with Kaveh seemed to grow blurry, as Alhaitham tried to focus on his breathing. Eventually, Kaveh seemed to have convinced the teacher to stop pressuring Alhaitham to introduce himself, and the teacher got on with the lesson.
Alhaitham mostly paid attention, but he already knew the material that was being taught. When the teacher placed a worksheet on his desk, he began filling it out, finishing it in a matter of minutes.
Beside him, Kaveh was still stuck on the first question. When he noticed Alhaitham watching him, he smiled nervously. “I’m not the best at this.”
“Would you like me to help?” Alhaitham spoke quietly.
“Oh, sure.”
“So, first you need to solve for x.”
Alhaitham and Kaveh sat in the grass outside of the school during lunch. Alhaitham had officially been at the school for three days, and he was actually starting to like some aspects of it. He had most of his classes with Kaveh, and it was nice to walk into a room and see a familiar face. He liked having someone to talk to, even if Kaveh could sometimes be a bit energetic.
There were also a lot of things that Alhaitham didn’t like about the school, like how the bell rang several times each day, and how the hallways and cafeteria were excessively loud.
“Hey, Kaveh,” Alhaitham began, “I was just thinking, would you like to come over after school today? I asked my grandma, and she said it would be Ok if I had friends over.”
“Yeah! That sounds like fun! I have to ask my mom, though.” Kaveh looked around, making sure there were no teachers nearby, before taking out his phone, sending a quick text to his mom. “It will probably be a while before she responds, but I can call her at the end of the day if she still hasn’t seen the text message.”
At the end of the day, Kaveh waited for Alhaitham to get his belongings from his locker, looking down at his phone. “My mom hasn’t responded yet. I’m going to call her.”
She picked up almost immediately, and Alhaitham could hear her speaking loudly on the other end of the phone.
“Kaveh, sweetie, what is it?”
“I was wondering if I could go over to a friend’s house for a little bit? He invited me.”
“Which friend is this?”
“His name is Alhaitham. He just started going to my school this week.”
“Oh, that’s fine.”
She hung up the phone.
“Ugh.” Kaveh sighed, returning his phone to his pocket. “My mom is either super overprotective, or she doesn’t even care about my whereabouts at all. She’s been in that second mood a lot more ever since my dad – well, it doesn’t matter.”
“We should get going soon,” Alhaitham said, looking around the hall, which was still crowded and full of noise.
“Yeah. Is the walk to your house very far?”
“No, it’s pretty close, actually. Here, I’ll show you the way.”
“So, Kaveh, what kinds of hobbies do you like?” Alhaitham asked as they walked home.
“Hmm. I like to draw, and I also play piano. What about you?”
“Reading. Sometimes I like to write.”
“That’s cool! I’m not the best at reading. I always get distracted, and I read really slowly. Combine those two factors, and it takes me weeks to read a book,” Kaveh laughed. “What kinds of books do you like the best?”
“All kinds of books, I suppose. My favorites are historical fiction and fantasy.”
“Ooh, fun! If I do read a book, it’s usually a mystery. Those are the ones that can keep my attention the longest.”
“Mhm. I – oh, we’re here.” Alhaitham gestured to his house, leading Kaveh up the driveway. The house was small, and sometimes reminded Alhaitham of a cottage. Alhaitham pushed open the door, letting Kaveh inside. “Grandma, I’m home! I brought a friend over!”
From somewhere further in the house, Alhaitham’s grandmother responded. “That’s wonderful, Haitham! I’m in the library.”
“Library?” Kaveh asked.
“We call it that, but it’s really just a little room where we keep all of our books,” Alhaitham explained, setting his backpack down by the door. “Here, do you want to go play outside? We have a big garden in our backyard.”
“Ooh, that sounds cool!” Kaveh exclaimed, following Alhaitham through the house.
Alhaitham paused in front of an open archway off to one side of the hallway. “Grandma, me and Kaveh are going outside to play in the garden.”
His grandmother came out into the hallway, waving to Kaveh. “Hello! You must be Haitham’s new classmate! You two have a good time. I can tell that you will be good friends.”