There were several peculiar elements in Allen’s class as he noticed. Now Allen was very particular about where he sat during class- If it was an easy class, Allen would sit in the Middle rows. If it was a difficult class Allen would choose to sit right at the front. This theory had served him well in his previous school. Since he was new he decided to sit right at the front of the class. But, Allen was not aware of the peculiarities of the typical Woodbridge students. Students in Woodbridge put a lot more thought on where they sat; the distance from the Back-Board was the least of their concern. They calculated- how much sun would they get from the window across the class (lest they be tanned more than they intended to), how far was the nearest exit, how far were other members of their clique, whether the seat provided a good view of the field outside, could they duck their head behind a teller student should the teacher decide to give the class a pop quiz and how easy would it be to eat during lectures? Were among the various issues they dealt with.
The first few days there seemed to be no problem, the entire first row was strangely empty. Then about the 5th day Allen saw his belongings shelved on an adjacent table. He approached the three girls who were sitting where Allen had been for the past few days. He asked them what happened and why was he being evicted. This was the first time Allen came face-to-face with a feminist, make that 3 feminists. All the three girls it seemed had something against the world and boys epically. They had a distinct air of conflict; it was as if they were always fishing for a fight. Allen soon noticed that they were a part of a very tight clique. The Girls were Malinda, Abby and Fiona. His first encounter with the trio ended in him backing off. All the three girls were similar in one way or another, they it seemed did not share the penchant for fashion and could be best described as being ‘Plane Janes', which enhanced their feminist approach. Allen then approached another rather weird class mate of his known as ‘Addy’. Now this guy was strange, he dressed pretty shabby and seemed to lack the very art of being social. Later he learned that Addy was Sam’s right hand man and one of his best friends. The only advice that Addy could dispense Allen was to fight the ‘feminist trio’ and get back his seat, upon questioning if he could sit in the seat which lay adjacent to him, Addy replied “This is Woodbridge High, here everyone needs to earn their seat and the one with the loudest voice wins”. Allen decided to ignore his advice and installed himself elsewhere for the time being.
Now, Allen was the type of guy who believed that there is a time and a place for everything. He was a meticulous planner and was always intent on getting more than 100% from anything he invested in. He was the sort of guy who would finish his lunch early just to complete his home assignments so that he had more time to read at home! He rarely met anyone new during recess and would be generally found in the class reading or finishing up on some pending work in class. As expected this did not go down too well with his class mates… They thought he was a snob, and could anyone blame them?
Another Woodbridge tradition that Allen did not understand was eating during Lectures. It seemed that all the students of his class had never known of a meal called “breakfast”. Most of the students it seemed arrived in school as one would at a club- hungry and to have a good time. A usual occurrence Allen found was that everyone ate everyone’s lunch and without their permission. This was strange; to Allen his privacy was supreme. Even the thought of anyone going through his stuff overwhelmed him.
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