Page 23 of S.O.S. Perk

“Uh, yeah?” He stood up and looked at the dark-haired, petite fireball who was swiftly bearing down on him.

She eyed him speculatively—at least what she could see of him as he took refuge under his hoodie. She came to a halt in front of him and gazed upward, her head barely clearing his collarbone. “I’ve found your paperwork. I don’t know how it got misplaced, but it’s all good now. Follow me to my office and we’ll get you everything you need before I give you a tour of the school and take you around to your classroom to introduce you to your teachers.”

Again, Perk grunted, hefting his mostly empty backpack, and looping it over his shoulder as he followed her through the security gate. They walked down a hallway and she gestured into a room whose door stood open.

“Welcome to Waterston High,” she said, following him in. “Have a seat.”

Perk tossed his backpack onto the floor, and took what he knew was a less-than-vertical teenage posture on the chair indicated.

“And lose the hood,” she said without malice as she rounded her desk and also sat down. “Once on school property, we don’t allow heads to be covered unless it’s a religious choice, which I’m assuming your hoodie is not.”

Not fighting her on it, Perk nodded and pushed the material down before affecting a bored look.

“Excellent,” Ms. P told him, but he didn’t miss the way her eyes widened as his face was revealed.

Yeah.He was a pretty boy. So sue him.

Perk waited for her to get back to business.

“Uh, your transcripts are all here. You’re…eighteen?” she asked in a voice that held some skepticism. Right. Ms. P probably thought he was sixteen, posing as legal.

“Yeah.” Perk rattled off his fake birthdate, having memorized it so it would come off sounding natural.

“Right,” she chuckled. “Sorry. You just look a bit older than that.”

Really? That was a first. Maybe Perk was finally coming into his own, or maybe the woman was just trying to be polite.

Still, he needed to ramp up his sullenness. “It sucks not looking your age.”

Those words should have her backing off.

“I, uh, imagine.” She cleared her throat and as expected, she got down to business. “Anyway, it says here you’ve just movedto town because your father was transferred from Cincinnati, and that you’re finishing your senior year.” She looked up from her computer screen, almost apologetically. “It’s got to be tough leaving all your old friends behind with only eight months left of your education, but we’ll try to make your transition as positive and seamless as possible.”

Perk didn’t think that would be the case if someonereallydidtransfer this close to graduation, but as he figured his fake character would do, he shrugged it off.

“I’ll deal,” he said.

“I’m sure you will.” Ms. P turned back to her computer and typed in a bunch of stuff, then picked up her phone and snapped his picture without asking him to smile.

Smart lady.

She sent the picture to her computer and jabbed a few more keys before walking over to her printer. Grabbing what emerged, she quickly cut it down to size before running the resulting rectangle through a laminator, handing him his new credentials. “Here you are. Make sure you have it on you at all times when you’re on school grounds.”

He reached out and almost said thank you, but caught himself in time. There was no need to let any of his adult personality out. He took the ID and grunted instead.

“Right,” Ms. P acknowledged again, clearly used to the ways of teenagers. She went over to her computer once more, hit a button, and her printer spit out another item which she retrieved. “This is your schedule. If you follow me, I’ll make sure you know where your classes are.”

The next fifteen minutes were…interesting, to say the least. The halls were a piece of cake to navigate since Perk had already committed the school layout to memory, but the speculative looks he got from his new, fellow students ranged from appreciative—a number of female groups—to downright hostilefrom cliques of alpha-wannabes who instantly perceived him as a threat. To the former, he flashed his dimples, to the latter, he swelled his chest and lifted his chin, letting them know he wasn’t intimidated.

Ms. P, if she were aware of the posturing going on, ignored it and kept to business as she introduced him to his teachers. Once they were finished with the rounds, she brought him back to his first class which was Algebra II, dropping him off with a smile and a “if you need anything, you know where to find me” before leaving.

Perk slipped behind the first vacant desk.

The teacher approached with a book. “We’re starting chapter twelve today. Try to keep up. If there’s anything in the material you haven’t covered at your old school, make an appointment to see me this afternoon and I’ll bring you up to speed.”

Again, Perk grunted, opening the book.

He’d been a decent math student back in the day, but it was going to take him a little time to wrap his mind once again around polynomial operations and the like. He sighed, and bent to it while the teacher scribbled rapidly on the board.

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