He was nervous to enter high school. He was taller than in primary school, fitter and maybe a little better looking but he was also scared. Scared of everything that could happen. Jeb had always been a cowardly kid but this year it would be worse than ever because she was here. The shadow he had lived in for the greater part of his life, the person that made him feel so incredibly inadequate.
"Jebby!!!" She squealed from behind him as she hugged him, she was softer than he remembered and he felt himself blush with embarrassment. "We're finally in school together! I checked the roster, we're in the same class too!" He felt her turn him around and hug him, he groaned and tried to break from her grip with no success.
"Don't call me that!" He whined as she laughed and looped an arm around him. "I hate this!" She felt hurt at his words but laughed it off as she did everything else.
They entered their classroom and were immediately crowded by students because Ruth had always been popular. Everyone was also interested in the boy the famously alone Ruth had her arm around. No one had managed to be friends with her but she had managed to become insanely popular because she was often shown on TV. She was a popular character on a soap opera and was beloved by the country, she had already won two prestigious TV awards for the role.
"Ruth! It's so nice to see you again!" One girl cried as she saw her idol. "I'm so privileged to be in your class!" Ruth sighed, she hated the amount of attention everyone gave her. "Who's this with you?" Upon hearing the question, she had an idea.
"Sorry buddy." She whispered into the ear of her best friend, making him blush very quickly. "This is MY idol, the one person I respect most that's not an adult. This is my Jeb." She said proudly, as if showing off a doll in show and tell. The attention turned immediately to Ruth's Jeb and everyone let their gazes leave her, giving her time to sneak away. She grabbed a table near the front, holding both her and Jeb's bags, and placed them in their seats.
Jeb, on the other hand, was being barraged and hounded by teenagers. He had never had so much attention and began to enjoy it until a hand pulled him away from it all and onto a seat. "Why'd you do that?" He pouted, making Ruth chuckle.
"Because the teacher's gonna kill you if you take away too much attention from him." She answered. Indeed, the teacher had come to the front of the class and begun writing on the board. "You're welcome." She sang at him before sticking out her tongue. He felt anger boil at the pit of his stomach but quashed it, she had, in fact, helped him.
The teacher sighed and began speaking after the class finally settled down. He finally saw the face of the teacher, he was an older man, most likely the handsomest teacher a school could hire. He heard a girl at the back sigh and laughed inwardly at her, he glanced at Ruth who was concentrating on the board rather than the man.
He found himself grinning, she was smarter than all the other girls, at least, she wasn't concerning herself with the handsome teacher. She almost seemed to dislike him, he shook that thought away. Ruth liked EVERYONE. That's why everyone was obsessed with her.
The teacher had written an equation on the board and then turned to the class. Jeb couldn't even begin to comprehend the question and turned around to see what everyone else looked like. To his relief, they were all as clueless as he was.
"Can anyone answer this question?" The teacher's white teeth seemed to gleam with his smile, no one put up their hand. "I'm going to start choosing randomly if one of you doesn't step forward." So he chose randomly on a girl called Jess.
Jess nervously approached the board and tried to start solving it with a white board marker, but she gave up quickly. Then, a boy called Edward tried, he too failed. Jeb made sure to make himself seem small, he didn't want to feel their embarrassment.
"Ruth," the teacher had a unique smile on his face as he said her name, "can you answer this question." She nodded, returning the smile and Jeb rolled his eyes. She began answering the question the class had been stuck on for a while, not hesitating with each step once. The answer seemed to glow with every movement of the marker, when she was done, the class applauded. How cringeworthy, Jeb thought as she sat down.
"What did Ruth do that the rest of you didn't, right at the start?" The teacher asked. The lesson went on for another hour after that, by the time it was done, the girls and boys of the class, including Jeb, had a much more positive view of the teacher. Unlike Jeb, everyone was gushing over Ruth who grabbed him and whisked him to the roof of the school.
"That was such a boring lesson." Ruth groaned as she flopped onto the ground of the roof, "I learned nothing." She seemed to be pouting, for a moment Jeb thought she looked rather cute. He caught his thought and beat it up in his head before answering her.
"I liked it. Unlike you, I haven't been called one of the smartest minds in the world and been moved up three grades and then down one - by my own choice when I could've been moved up another two." His bitterness was hidden, barely but enough that she laughed.
She got up and hugged him. "That's why I like my Jeb, you never treat me like I'm different. You just make me feel like… like no matter what, I'm just a person. Thank you for that."
"Yeah and you make me feel like I need to shower, get your sweaty arms off me." He pushed her away, blushing furiously.
She laughed again and pet his head, he felt something in the pits of his stomach, something he had never felt before.