Art is by @cageyshick on Twitter!!

An extremely tall, lanky man with a single hair sprouting from his forehead turns around to look at me, a stubby piece of white chalk in between his fingertips. The whole class, although rather small, turns in almost perfect unison with him.

They all glare at me wordlessly, no one moving a muscle. My fingernails dig into my palms.

My first day here and I've already screwed it up... I mutter under my breath. I stood there, the stale air passing in and out of my strained lungs.

It seemed like an eternity until I heard someone clear their throat. I open one eye nervously and lift my head, just the tiniest bit to see what was happening. Through the stray strands of hair covering my face, I see the tall man, presumably the teacher, set the piece of chalk down.

His piercing green eyes stare me down and he clasps his hands together and heavily sighs.

"Good morning, Miss (Y/N)," he says in a surprisingly welcoming tone. "Please have a seat."

My head snaps up when he speaks and I hastily shove the hair out of my face and rush over to the only open seat: a small light brown wooden desk in the back row next to another kid.

The kid, a light blonde haired girl with a thin build and short stature looks over to me and gives me a smile. "Hi there," she whispers, almost too quiet to hear. "You're (Y/N), right? We've heard that we were gonna get a new student."

She seemed almost excited about my presence, and that calmed me a bit. I gave her a weak smile and nodded. "Yeah, bad first impression, heh, 20 minutes late... I was helping a-"

SMACK!

A terribly sharp and loud smack fills the room and all of the students robotically turn their heads back to the front of the classroom. Posture perfectly straight, eyes forward and ready to listen.

Except for the girl sitting next to me.

"There shouldn't be any talking in class," the teacher says, clearly trying to hide agitation. "That's against the rules, ya know."

He bluntly sets the ruler down and turns to the whiteboard. Picking up his piece of chalk again, he neatly scribes "2+2=?" on the board and turns to the class with a smile, as if nothing ever happened.

"I'm Reese," the girl says quietly, her bright smile still painted on her face. "That's Mr. Baldi. He's the math teacher." Reese talked anyway, despite the teacher's warnings.

I give a small wave to her and turn my attention to the front of the class, not wanting to make anything worse.

This Reese girl stands out. Like she's not under the trance everyone else seems to be in.

"Alright, problem one!" Baldi exclaims, his voice loud despite his slight drawl. "Who wants to answer this one?"

Every single hand in the classroom shoots up. Reese repositions herself in her seat and throws her hand up in the air, glancing back at me occasionally, seeming as if she wants to show off.

Baldi crosses his arms and does a clearly fake hmm sound. He turns to Reese and points to her.

"Reese!," his voice sounds proud. "What's the answer to 2+2?"

Reese puts her hand down. After a few agonizing seconds, she says, "Four!", proudly holding four fingers up.

This is pathetic... I think to myself, a slight grimace on my face. This is a high school. We should be doing Algebra, not kindergarten again.

My mind races with questions.

Why are there so many different ages of kids in the same classroom? Is there an algebra class? Why am I at this specific school? What's wrong with everyone here...?

The teacher nods his head and smiles. "That's right!" He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a large coin. "You did great! Come here and get your prize! A shiny quarter!"

The entire class monotonously claps as Reese practically jumps out of her seat to run up and take the quarter.

We exchange glances and Baldi looks down at her with a seemingly genuine smile on his face.

Reese runs back to me, eyes shining as she examines the coin, acting like she's never sen one in her life. "Oh my god... she mutters. I actually answered a question!!" She flails in excitement and hits her knee on the desk. "O-Ow..."

I would laugh, but I'm just too confused. So bewildered. At this whole thing. The students. The teacher. The town. Everything is off.

Just as Reese regains composure for the third time in 5 minutes, the bell rings and all of the children scramble out of the classroom.

I sigh in relief and gather my things, ready to dart out with them, until I feel a hand on my shoulder and I freeze.

Reese looks back at me and gulps, wordlessly leaving without me.

"You won't be leaving for lunch today."

I shakily turn my head and see Baldi towering over me.

How the hell did he get over here so fast?

I flinch and open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out.

"I need to talk to you."

~

Oof, another chapter so quickly? Thanks for almost 10 reads also!!!