In southern California, there is a sunny and verdant town, with one bowling alley, one movie theater, and one high school.
There's also one cemetery.
Would everyone like to take a packet of algebra exercises to prove they remember all of the important stuff?
Jay gives as close to a sympathetic smile as she can manage - she hasn't had all that much practice at the one, so it might come up a little wrong.
And then: algebra. And Jay ends up with on hand tugging absently at her hair, because sure, she can do this, but she's never had to do it on paper before.
Luckily, notation is the first thing they're being tested on! So she should probably learn fast! She can always take advantage of the tutoring services the teacher mentioned at the start of class.
Jay, thankfully, is good at picking up on things quickly, but she does ask the teacher about the tutoring service, just in case she needs it, under the guise of her previous school having been focused on something else.
It is not that unusual to need a review!
Would Jay prefer someone taking the same level of math as her, or an AP student?
The teacher can probably find someone either way.
Almost definitely someone the same level! Although she isn't all that fussy and will take anyone, so long as it gets her caught up. Is that everything she needs to do in this class?
The teacher suggests that Jay give him contact information to give to her tutor, once he finds someone suitable, but other than that, class seems to be over.
Jay quickly scribbles down her phone number - it's a burner phone anyway, after they're finished here it'll never be used again.
That done, she heads off to gym - the one class she's probably actually looking forward to, because physical exercise, yay!
Physical exercise, yay!
She doesn't recognize anyone, which gives her the opportunity to meet someone new! How exciting!
They are apparently doing fitness testing today, and Jay follows her assigned group over to an area set up for pull-ups. And there's a pause as precisely no-one steps forward to start. Jay sighs and steps forward to start.
"It's not that difficult," she mutters, aware that her arms are probably going to hate her later, but she pushes herself a bit harder than she normally would. When she drops and gives up, she's not entirely sure how she's going to manage push-ups, but she will persevere. She moves over to the girl who had been keeping count.
"I lost track," she lies. "Care to tell me how I did?"
"Better than any of the mediocre competition. I suppose showing off is a good way to worm your way into the social ladder, but try not to be too obvious about it; no one likes a girl with an ego."
"Ooh, nice claws," Jay drawls. "Perhaps I just enjoy challenging myself? But I'll take that under advisement, thanks for the tip."
"And I suppose you'll get to laugh at me when I fail miserably at press-ups because I just killed my arms." She's grinning, but she's feeling a kick in the gut there. Failure never did sit well with her.
Are they done with pull-ups? Next looks like sit-ups thankfully.
"Good job keeping your chin up, Carson! Maybe the rest of these hooligans could learn from that? That means you, Greenberg!"
Jay can't help the pleased feeling that the Coach's words cause, even as she clamps harshly down on it and goes about doing sit-ups. She shoots a look around, trying to locate Greenberg and then watches the girl looking at her nails out of the corner of her eyes. Sit-ups complete - and she keeps her own count in her head.
Shuttle-runs don't give much time for talking, but she takes a moment to introduce herself to the girl before starting on push-ups.
"I'm Jay by the way. Not that you probably care."
Greenberg proves difficult to locate, since the gym teacher proceeds to insult and yell at most of her classmates.
The girl indeed seems not to care, and fitness testing continues without any further commentary.
Jay shrugs at both, she can't have everything, and manages to not fall flat on her face the first push-up she attempts. She does let herself collapse after what she thinks is a not unreasonable number.
Which, regrettably, brings them to the end of gym. Which means English is next if she doesn't get waylaid at any point between leaving the gym, showering and changing, and getting to class. English is...well, at least she might get to read something?
She might get to read something!
Here's a grammar workbook.
She can also look for some other students to talk to, if she'd like.
She stares at the grammar workbook for a moment, before looking around, trying to appear slightly lost and hoping this will lead to someone being nice enough to point out a spare chair. Hopefully this person will also be willing to talk to her. Can't get information without dialogue.
There's a seat in the front open, which the girl next to it gestures to.
Jay half wants to take the seat next to the guy, because so far she's been networking with girls, but it would seem rude to snub the girl who's effectively inviting her to take a seat, so she takes that one.
"Jay," she says, trying to manage a smile - she's not sure she succeeds, but she thinks she does.
"Yeah," Jay nods. "Feeling a little lost to be honest."
She waves the booklet. "And a little overwhelmed. I'll be fine once I get into the swing of things, but that still takes more than three classes."