Everdale Academy was a private institution. The tuition was pretty expensive, but Ethan's Mother wanted the best for her precious children. Even if it meant she had to work overtime regularly. Unfortunately, her son didn't know to appreciate this and cared only little about school.
Arriving at the elegant school building, Ethan proposed,
"Let's go. I'll accompany you to your classroom."
Emmi lightly nodded in response. She was visibly anxious about her first day, so she appreciated Ethan accompanying her. The Academy consisted of a middle-school and a high-school department. Emmi was in her second year of middle school, while Ethan was in his first year of high school.
The door of Emmis' classroom was open. It seemed like most students have already arrived. Together with the nervous Emmi, Ethan took a step inside. He could instantly feel many curious pairs of eyes staring at the brother-sister duo. After taking a moment to examine the room, he went towards the teacher's desk. There, a middle-aged man of around twenty years of age was frantically looking through a stable of educational material. Ethan interrupted the immersed teacher,
"Hi, excuse me. Are you Mr. Cameron, the teacher for class 2-4?"
Immersed in his paperwork, he needed a moment to notice that someone asked him a question. He slightly raised his head to take a look at Ethan. Meanwhile, not stopping to rummage through his pile of documents. He replied,
"Yes, that's right. Can I help you with something? You don't look like a middle schooler."
"I don't, but my little sister here does. Her name is Emily Goulding, and I believe she'll be joining your class starting today."
Mr. Cameron seemed startled. He examined the cute girl hiding behind Ethan's back.
"Oh, a new student? I'm sorry, but you must be in the wrong class, I haven't heard anything about that."
Ethan pointed at the paper on top of his desk with a stoic expression. He noticed the record of Emmi's transfer lying on his desk while the man was busy searching for something. Ethan replied,
"Are you sure?"
Mr. Cameron followed Ethan's finger and skimmed through the document. His face reddened a little, and he scratched the back of his scalp.
"Oh. Yes, yes, of course. You two moved here from Stepford. You should've said so earlier." Shifting his gaze back to the young girl behind Ethan, he added with a soft smile, "So you must be Emily? I am your new teacher Mr. Cameron. If anything is troubling you, always feel free to talk to me."
Emily gave a slight nod while biting her lower lip. Looking at the ground, she added,
"Good morning, teacher."
Ethan interrupted,
"Right, I'll trust you to take care of Emmi, Mr. Cameron. I'll have to hurry to my own classroom now." Turning around, he placed his hand on his sister's head and encouraged her, "No need to be so nervous. You got this. I will wait for you at the gate after school, okay?"
Receiving a head pad in front of her new classmates infuriated Emmi. With a deathly stare, she looked her brother in the eyes.
Ethan was hoping to see this expression after teasing his sister a little.
Successfully having delivered Emmi, Ethan was now on the way to the high school department. Due to Mr. Cameron being unprepared, he was running a few minutes late. Entering the building and hurriedly climbing up the stairs towards the second floor, he arrived at his classroom. Class 1-4. It was now time to verify his suspicion. Ethan had already noticed that the whole building felt oddly familiar. He had no trouble locating his homeroom. However, Ethan needed definitive proof. And now was the time.
Resting for a second, he wiped the few droplets of sweat from his forehead and gathered his thoughts. After knocking on the door twice, he opened it. Ethan gulped. Admittedly he was just as nervous as his younger sister. The first person he noticed was the girl in front of the class, writing a math formula on the blackboard. Ethan apperantly interrupted her as she stopped moving her hand, which had a piece of white chalk in it. The girl turned towards the door to take a look at the intruder. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. She wore a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses and had light freckles on her cheeks. Overall she gave off the impression of an intellectual scholar. Objectively she was also quite good-looking. Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. His tensed up expression turned into one of delight. The corners of his mouth pulled up, forming a joyful grin, causing the female student to become bewildered.
Ethan knew her! Alice Pelvin, the first ranked student in the whole grade and daughter of Principal Pelvin. If she didn't ace an exam, nobody else would get even close to receiving full points. In Ethan's past life, she graduated with an outstanding degree and enrolled in one of the most prestigious universities right away. Later on, she worked as a consultant for some of the countries top businesses.
By recognizing her, Ethan finally knew. His grown-up life wasn't a dream. He truly traveled back in time. Ethan had a hard time acknowledging that the young lady he met at the store was responsible for this. A higher being should be sophisticated and wise, not a pitiful child purchasing candy in a supermarket. No matter what, she fulfilled his desire. Starting today, Ethan should probably pray to her on a daily basis. If only he didn't already forget her name. Repressing these thoughts, he concentrated back on reality. Currently, around twenty pairs of eyes were fixated on him. Ethan knew them all, at least their names.
Ethan addressed the female teacher sitting at her desk. She was very young and quite a beauty. Her conservative outfit didn't manage to hide her well-developed figure. She had her golden hair tied up into a bun. Though it was a professional hairstyle, it only made her look even more attractive. At Everdale Academy, she was the target of many passionate fantasies for males and the target of envy for numerous women. This enchanting woman was Ethan's homeroom teacher.
"Good Morning Miss Irvin. Sorry for the intrusion. I'm the new student attending class starting today. My name is Ethan Goulding."
Miss Irvin's expression didn't change. It was apparent that she had already guessed who the intruder was. She replied,
"First day and already more than five minutes late, that's quite an accomplishment, Ethan."
She paused, awaiting an answer from the new student.
"I apologize. I know you value punctuality, so I assure you it won't happen again."
The teacher smiled. The rest of her face keeping the same stoic expression. She replied,
"Oh, you assure me? Well fine, everyone, this is your new classmate. Introduce yourself and you may take one of the free seats."
Ethan gave a nod and followed her instructions.
"Hi, everyone. Name is Ethan Goulding. I only recently moved here with my Mother and little sister. I hope we can get along well and sorry for interrupting the lesson."
Excluding Alice's table, who was currently at the blackboard, there were two free seats available. One was next to the window in the last row, with the other one being in the center of the second row.
Previously, Ethan chose the one next to the window. He liked to gaze through the window during class to waste some time. The seat was also the most isolated from his classmates. This time, Ethan resolutely wanted to make a better choice. Reaching a decision, he went towards the chair in the center of the room. Being gawked at from all around felt a little uncomfortable. Ethan knew, however, that this was not a lasting situation.
He smiled at the guy sitting to his left, who lazily slouched on his chair. He was called Andy. Andy was quite popular and an essential member of the Academy's tennis club. He returned the smile with a nod, but didn't look too enthusiastic. Perhaps he would've been more thrilled about a new female classmate, Ethan imagined. On his right sat Hana. Wearing a questionable short skirt and a top that exposed much of her ample bosom, she looked like a typical gal. She didn't seem to pay attention to Ethan and instead concentrated on filing her nails.
Miss Irvin concluded the short pause and asked Alice to continue explaining the equation. It seemed like they were currently reviewing last lessons' homework. The students had to solve differential equations. While Ethan graduated from the Academy with a lousy degree, this was mainly due to lack of motivation and self-discipline. In reality, Ethan wasn't stupid. He simply didn't want to invest his time in things he had little interest in, like school. Second-year algebra didn't pose a problem to the current Ethan, though. After watching Alice demonstrate a few equations, he remembered the strategy for solving them promptly.
He even considered volunteering to solve an equation himself, but after some deliberation decided against it. While he didn't mind impressing his new classmates, he would most likely just appear to be a smartass.
After the first period ended, Ethan was caught off-guard by Miss Irvin, who asked him to follow her to her office. Still slightly dizzy from the sheer amount of math, he complied and followed along.