Prologue--The Academy

A new story that I just spent a while typing. I really like it. But who am I to brag? I need YOUR comments and advice first! For the moment, it's called "The Academy." Please tell me what's cool/what's not. You won't understand it all; that's the point of a prologue, to reel you in but to leave you hanging. Thus, you'll want to read more. Hopefully this will do it, too!

Prologue

“Come on, Poppy, let’s sit over here.”
I obediently followed my best friend Avery to the table where all of the football boys sat. I smiled, knowing that she would somehow find her way right beside Jasper Williams, without a lunch, and with a flirty smile.
I found myself to the right of Bretton Cluff, a bigger-built boy with brown hair that he cut only when one of the counselors demanded that he do so. In front of me was Avery, fluttering her eyelashes at Jasper. Whaddya know, I thought, grinning and stifling a laugh. It came out as a snort. Embarrassed, I regained my composure and responded to Bretton’s look with a grin and a single blink. It was then that I realized who was on my right.
I didn’t recognize his face, which was strange, because I knew everyone at this table, and most likely everyone else at the school. He wasn’t giving me the strange look that Bretton had, but he wore a slight smile that didn’t show his teeth. His blonde hair wasn’t long like Bretton’s, either, but it wasn’t buzzed. I liked his bright blue eyes.
“Hi,” I said. I could hear the surprise in my own voice. “Who are you?”
The boy shyly answered, “Alastair,” and held out his hand.
I smiled. I loved his name. “Poppy,” I said in return, shaking his outstretched hand. I think he loved my name, too. “So, are you new here?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Alastair answered.
“Wow.” I hadn’t met a new person in a long time, and usually the new kids were little, or had just been inducted into the Academy. “I mean, cool. I can show you around the main hall if you want. Do you have French or German next hour?”
“Um...” he seemed confused and a little frustrated. “I don’t know.”
I frowned slightly. Alastair didn’t seem to know what was going on. “Oh. Well. Maybe I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t like these one-word answers. But then all of the people at the table began to get up, so I did, too. I threw away some crumbly chips but kept my bag of big, purple grapes. Girls began to congregate around Avery, and I joined them.
“Oh my goodness, Ave!” Cadence Dauffrey exclaimed. “That’s so exciting!”
“Do you really think he likes you?” Edaline Sabre asked doubtfully.
“Of course he does!” Avery said, sarcastically hurt.
“And if he doesn’t,” I interjected, “at least Avery has Brigg!”
Briggson Bailey had been crushing on Avery ever since they had entered the Academy. Avery found him the most annoying thing on the entire planet, and had often told him so. Poor Brigg still couldn’t let go of her.
Avery made a sour face and the girls laughed. I looked at the group of boys who had gathered around another table and spotted Brigg staring at our group. I laughed out loud with the rest of the girls, and then I saw Alastair again.
He was standing beside the grass on the edge of the courtyard, picking some leaves off of a tree, looking thoughtful. I gasped.
Somehow I felt a responsibility to take care of him and let him know that what he was doing was wrong; I seemed to have been the only person to have talked to him since he had come here. I had agreed to show him around, too.
I quickly broke away from the group and rushed to Alastair.