Biology and Food
Biology with Mr. Gunner was nothing like Remus expected. When he walked into the classroom, Mr. Gunner was an older man lounged back in a desk chair. But he spoke with a flourish, and humor ticked every syllable. There wasn’t a word he said that wasn’t occupied with a hand motion.
Remus was sitting in the middle of the room. The class had to shuffle to make room for yet another chair—so any hopes of having a table to himself was long gone.
There was two other people at his table, a boy with unkempt black hair and tilted glasses. He wore a Manchester United jersey and stained jeans. His blue eyes flickered from Mr. Gunner to his companion in front of him—a pudgy blonde with a wide grin and a nervous giggle whenever the teacher looked toward them whispering out of line—and to the boy on his other side. He had long curls of black hair going a little past his shoulder, and Remus wasn’t enlightened in the arts or anything, but he was fairly certain there was a painting of this boy's face hung in a museum somewhere…most likely in France. His jaw and cheekbones were sharp and defined, blue eyes wrinkled with mirth as he silently laughed with his bespeckled friend. His long fingers played with the hem of his leather jacket, and his leg bounced to an imaginary tune.
Remus stared down at his sweater that he pulled out of his father’s closet and jeans that had multiple holes in it. It was school for Christs sake, there were people here in pajamas and yet next to these strangers he felt underdressed.
Not one of them had said a word to Remus since he sat down. He may as well have been invisible to them.
Five minutes of chatter went by excruciatingly slow. Mr. Gunner was too busy chatting with a group of girls up front about vacation destination spots.
“Hi there.” The one with glasses said suddenly, his English accent vaguely on the vowels. It took a moment for Remus to realize he was speaking to him. “I’m James Potter.”
“Hello.” Remus said, busying himself with taking a pencil out of a pocket out of his backpack.
“I’m assuming Mr. Gunner is going to have us pair up. He always does.” James said.
“He must have a thing against independence.” The long haired one butted in. “Or he just likes to watch people bicker which explains why he’s divorced…”
“Sirius!” The blonde one peeped, twisting to glance at the distracted Mr. Gunner, who didn’t seem to be paying in the least bit attention to the boys.
“What?” Sirius shrugged. His accent was more pronounced than James’, it was as if he had just crawled out of England and jumped across the sea. Everything about Sirius seemed to be refined, with no chip or crack.
“He could hear you!” The blonde gasped.
“Peter, I don’t think he can even hear what Naomi is saying.” Sirius nodded towards the teacher, who was nodding rather enthusiastically.
“As I was saying…” James cleared his throat, a smile playing across his lips. But he didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence, as Mr. Gunner clapped his hands twice and resumed his place in his desk chair.
“Alright, settle down young folks, settle down.” He said, rocking his chair back and forth. “Before we start class, we have a new student!”
All eyes immediately locked on Remus, and he felt like taking a shovel and burying himself into an extremely large hole. Remus sank lower into his seat, trying to place a smile on his face that didn’t seem so much as a grimace.
“Why don’t you introduce yourself then, go ahead and stand up…don’t be shy now!”
Remus’ jaw clenched, then released. Slowly, he stood up, his chair scraping against the rug. “Hi, uh, my name is Remus Lupin. I came from Phoenix…that’s in Arizona.”
Someone snickered, and out of the corner of his eye saw James shoot someone a sour look, a look that did not sit right on his face.
“And, yeah. That’s it.” Remus finished. He sat down, perhaps more quickly than necessary, and Mr. Gunner clapped politely, but he was the only one who did so.
“Now that we’ve gotten that over with, let’s continue on cell biology…Remus are you aware of the basics? If not I’m willing to take time to work with you—“
“No, I’ve got it. “ Remus assured him.
“Excellent, now what can anyone tell me about apoptosis…”
***
After Biology, Remus had History and English, both of which were a breeze. He always had a knack for those two particular subjects, and it did help that James, Sirius and Peter were only in history with him. Thankfully, they spent the entirety of class in the back, snickering to each other after every remark made by Mrs. Hutch.
But lunch was a whole new problem for Remus. A problem that didn’t have an immediate solution like he very much hoped it would. His fingers tightened around his lunch tray, a peanut butter sandwich with an apple and off-brand potato chips.
His eyes scanned the room, staring at each table. Each one was filled to the brim with students, all of them entranced in conversation—not paying any attention to Remus. But why would they? Remus thought bitterly.
“OI New kid!” Someone yelled from behind him. Remus whirled to see the smiling face of James Potter waving at him. “Come sit with us!”
Peter whispered something but James kicked him from under the table. Steadying the rolling apple on his tray, Remus shuffled over, sitting himself down between Sirius and James. It was the only space available, but something in Sirius’ expression told him that was a bad move.
Sirius caught his eye, and Remus raised his eyebrows quizzically. Sirius was quick to look back down at his food, a single container of applesauce) but did not touch it. In fact, not one of them touched their food except for Remus.
“So you’re from Arizona? That must’ve been cool.” James said to Remus.
He nodded. “It was. When it wasn’t hundreds of degrees out.”
Sirius snickered. Peter cocked his head. “How often was that?” He asked.
Remus looked up at him. “Hardly ever.”
“I don’t like the heat,” Peter picked up a carrot stick and dropped it. “It’s stifling.”
“Petey, you don’t like weather in general.” Sirius smiled pointedly. Remus watched as he tucked a dark curl behind his pierced ear.
After that, the period wasn’t as bad as it had started. He was perfectly happy to snack on his lunch while the three others talked rather loudly to each other. Sometimes, James would include Remus when they spoke of their past. He learned that they all were adopted by some rich ‘bloke’ (as they called him) named Carlisle. They were all from Greater Manchester, but they mentioned they’ve been all over England, and even some places in Sweden.
The bell finally rang, signaling the end of lunch. Sirius groaned. “I’ve got Maths after this. Quick, someone decapitate me.”
“How morbid of you.” Remus said as all four of them spoke.
Sirius shifted his face into a mock-serious expression. “You have no idea how dark I can be Lupin. I might even be the most macabre thing you’ll ever meet.”
“I’ll keep that in mind then.” Remus laughed softly—so soft it sounded more like a wheeze if he was honest—was he actually joking with these boys?
Not that he was complaining, it was a nice change after being cramped with Charlie all weekend. Charlie did laugh, and attempt to make Remus laugh as well, but they were as phony as they got.
“Right. See you two after school, and Remus?” James pointed to him. “I expect to see you here tomorrow. Same time, same place?”
“Where else would he be? Alaska?” Sirius said.
“Who knows, you might’ve scared him off?” Peter laughed as they walked away. And Remus, to his surprise, was smiling.