It looks like the start to a normal day, people arriving on foot or in the nearby parking lot. It's a nice day, nearing the end of summer, and people are standing outside in little groups.

A few people are a bit separated, on their phones or looking through their bags. Nobody seems to pay much attention to Joss.

Well. She's not going to draw attention to herself. And as much as she might like to linger outside, she does need to go and find the office. So, she heads for the main doors, hoping there will be a sign to direct her.

The main office is conveniently right by the entrance, with a sign labeling it as such. The receptionist looks up as she approaches and draws back the glass window between herself and the lobby area.

That is convenient.

"Hi," she says, tucking a stray strand of hair behind one ear. "I'm new," which is totally obvious, but no going back. "Jocelyn Costigan? Um. I think all the registration stuff was done, but I'm not sure? And, I mean I need my timetable, and...you know all this already." She grimaces. "Sorry."

"Oh, Jocelyn! Yes, I have all your files just here," she says, indicating a folder in front of herself. "I'll need you to sign a few forms, read over the code of conduct and so on?"

She gets out some documents.

Joss reads over what she needs to read quickly, and signs a few dotted lines. (It doesn't quite feel like she's signing her life away but it's not far off.)

"That everything I need to sign?" she checks, double checking she's signed everywhere it seemed to need her to.

"That should be everything," responds the receptionist. "But you'll also want this map."

Said map is offered with a smile. "It might be quite fortunate you're only joining a couple of weeks late, you should be up to speed quicker."

"Yeah," she agrees, although she doubts she can catch up on the whole actually interacting with other teenagers thing. She takes the map, managing to force an almost-genuine smile. "Thanks for this."

And she turns to go and try and find out where she needs to be now.

As she does so, someone trips in through the door, dropping notebooks and bits of paper everywhere.

There's the sound of giggling from outside.

Well. That doesn't seem friendly.

"You alright?" she asks, dropping to her knees and setting the papers in her own hands slightly out of the way to help gather up the stuff that got dropped.

The other girl leans up and, after shooting a bit of a glare back the way she came, puts her bag on the ground. "I – yeah, fine thanks," she says, starting to put some of the papers away into it.

She has a bit of an accent.

She holds out the bits and pieces she's managed to gather. "Is that a British accent I hear there?" she asks curiously. "I mean, it's obviously not purely a British accent, you've obviously spent some time...well, here for certain. I'm not actually all that good with accents, but I can normally- Oh, I just assumed. I might not have got that right? Sorry, I'll just shut up now." And she does, so, biting at her lip.

"Oh, no, it is," responds the other girl, putting the offered items into her bag. "I moved. Almost a year ago, now?"

"Good to know I'm not the only transplant here?" she says with a small smile. "What's it like? If you don't mind me asking?" If they seem to have got all the papers and notepads appropriately corralled, she will start to get back to her feet, picking up her own handful of papers.

"It's, uh. Mostly a nice place?" The girl looks back at the door warily but seems satisfied to get up from the floor. "It's a small town, though. Shows in some people."

"At least it's mostly nice?" she says, trying to seem more optimistic than she actually feels at that assessment. "Uh- yeah." She stops, and then shrugs slightly. "I, uh, don't have a lot of experience with schools in general? Never mind small town ones?"

"… I don't know what to tell you here, but – bad high school show? You'll miss the mark with some things but be broadly right?"

Joss chuckles slightly. "Okay, that I do get. Upshot of homeschooling: dear lord I know bad high school TV dramas." She pauses. "Joss," she introduces herself. "Annnd I should probably go and find where I'm supposed to be and stop bugging you. Nice meeting you anyway."

"See you around," says the stranger. "… I'm Jade."

And, conveniently timed, the bell goes.

Which leaves Joss with less time than she'd hoped to find where she needs to be first. Asking someone for directions does not immediately occur to her, but the map is accurate enough that she manages to find where she's supposed to be.

"Sorry," she says as she hurries in. "Got a bit lost."

"– Are you the new student?" asks the teacher, a (relatively) young man.

"Yeah," she nods. "Joss- Jocelyn Costigan." She stands there awkwardly, with absolutely no clue what she's supposed to do. Why wasn't there some kind of cheat-sheet for this?

"Welcome to the school," he responds, smiling pleasantly. "We're not too far into the course, so you should be able to catch up just fine." He asks her a few questions about her math ability and whether she's ever done calculus before (…wherever she's from).

She answers pretty quickly - she's not the best at maths, but she gets by well enough. Yes, she has done some calculus. (She does not admit to her dislike for the subject, that seems like a bad idea.)

He gives her a vague overview of the topics she'll want to make sure she has familiarity with – it is not a ton of calculus, it's a lot of trigonometry – and then directs her to sit down, as the other students are doing.

There are a few desks free: one in the front row, a few in the middle and two at the back. Most people are chatting (relatively quietly) among themselves.