A large red-bricked building stands in front of me, intimidating, and no doubt scaring the hell out of me. Gargoyles even sit on ledges near the roof, looking about to pounce on me, but lions are clawing the ledges on either side of a humongous staircase leading to the entrance. Crowds of people pile into the school, and I think I'm going to be sick.
I'm going to die in there.
Sighing, I unbuckle my seatbelt and press my forehead onto the steering wheel.
"Don't be a coward," I tell myself. "Don't be a coward. Don'tbeacoward Don'tbeacoward--"
Car doors slammed next to me, causing me to turn to the left. Just in time to see a beautiful boy step out of a sleek black Impala. Dark chocolate hair, like my own, covers his head, combed and styled into a messy fro-hawk.
My enthusiasm drops from about 1000 to -200 when I see an equally beautiful girl step out from the passenger side. Of course he has a girlfriend, what was I thinking? I would never stand a chance.
I sigh and flip down my sun visor to use the mirror. A little dust is around the edges, so I wipe it off with a Kleenex and look at myself. My hair is a smooth chocolate brown, combed forward sorta like a guy, but way longer than that.
Emo haircut, but I'm not even emo. If you find scars on my arms or legs, I can promise you they're either from riding on car hoods, or cats... I like cats.
Finally finding courage, I step out of my comforting jeep onto the pavement, and readjust my t-shirt. If anything, call me scene, but I'm not like every other scene kid you find on fake profiles on dating websites. I am me.
Right when I turn to walk around the school, I run right into someone's--a large someone's--chest, causing me to munch on my lip. OMNOMNOM. Not really.
The guy clears his throat, probably waiting for an explanation, which makes me look up at him. YAY, another beautiful boy to torture me, awesome.
"Uh, sorry," I say and step around him.
"Hey, wait..." But his voice trails off as I scurry up the staircase and into the school.
The song "The Dog Days are Over" plays on overhead speakers, probably on the radio.
"Sorry, Florence," I mumble, trudging to the office. "The dog days have just begun."
Three months into the school year already, and I'm the new girl. A poor girl, actually, in a rich school. The only reason I'm in here is because Tate's aunt is, well, the headmaster.
She thinks he adopted us, but I don't see how she believes him since he 'adopted' us two years ago. A normal twenty-four year old wouldn't 'adopt' a three-year-old and a fifteen-year-old. Then again, a normal twenty-four year old fresh out of college wouldn't just take in two kids from the street...
I'd had a job for the past six months working at Journey's in the mall. Tate made me quit last week so I can have an education. None of it makes sense, but I'm trying my hardest to make it work.
"Ms. Amber?"
I look up from my class sheet to the secretary behind a large oak desk. "Yes?"
"Would you like a map? Or would you like me to find a student to help you around?" She rectifies the glasses on her nose.
"Uh..." I look at the giant map of the school on the wall. How would I be able to find my way with a miniature one of that? Lines twist and turn all over the paper, and some parts of it are pink, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, or red. Who made this?!
The secretary smiles and turns to her computer, tapping away at her computer. "Warren Lincoln has the first three classes with you, and Stephanie Mayer has the last three with you. I'll call them down."
I nod and continue to go over my sheet again.
Pre-Calculus, American Government, Anatomy, Laser-Technology, Advanced Foods, and 3D Art I.
I'm going to die.
"Warren T. Lincoln, and Stephanie B. Mayer to the front office please."
"Do you have to include the first initial of their middle name?" I ask quietly.
The secretary nods vigorously, "We have a very large school, hun."
I nod again, feeling stupid.
"Homeroom is every Monday and Friday right after lunch. Your adviser is Mr. Jacobsen in room 403. You'll just have to ask around to see who else has the same adviser."
"Okay," I say quietly just as the beautiful girl from the parking lot enters.
"Yeah, Ms. Hattie?" She sounds irritated.
"This is Rue," Ms. Hattie says pointing over the desk to me. "I need you to show her to her fourth, fifth, and sixth period classes."
"Whatever, sure." Stephanie turns and stops in front of the door, looking at me. "I'll get you at lunch."
I nod politely, watching her leave.
After a few moments of silence, Ms. Hattie calls on the intercom one more time, "Warren T. Lincoln please come to the office."
The doors open right as Ms. Hattie says 'office,' and the guy I'd run into in the parking lot walks in.
He doesn't say anything, but he nods at the secretary, and turns to me.
"Warren, this is--"
"Rude. We've already met."
"No, Warren, Rue. Not Rude."
He gives and exasperated look and shakes his head, "Never mind. What do you need?"
"I need you to tug Rue with you to your first three classes."
He scratches the back of his blond head and nods, "Alright. Who's homeroom is she in?"
"Jacobsen's."
"She'll have to find someone to follow. I'm going the other direction," he looks at me and shrugs. "Sorry."
I return the shrug and stare down at my paper.
"Well?" It's almost like he's taunting me.
Well what? I look up at him.
Warren holds out his arm, "C'mon. Class starts in five minutes."
I ignore his arm, but he opens the door for me. The door opens to reveal a mob of people shuffling through the hallway. The feeling that I'm going to get lost pits itself in my stomach, so as soon as Warren steps out into the hall with me, I grab onto his sleeve.
When he looks at me, I explain. "I don't want to get lost," I say quietly.
The blond-haired boy nods and moves through the crowd, and opens a black door. Cold air hits me instantly, and I'm relieved as soon as I see concrete stairs. Not very many people are using the stairs as I'd expected, so I look at six inches to Warren's face.
"Not very many people use this stairway," he points to the stairs leading to the basement. Smoke drifts up to us. "The potheads smoke down there. Don't worry, you won't smell like that," he assures after he sees my eyes widen.
YAY! At least I know I won't smell like weed when I go to class! Right, like I'm totally worried about that..
I shake my head, and Warren nudges me as we walk up three flights of stairs.
"You don't talk much, do you?"
I furrow my eyebrows, "Am I supposed to?"
"Well, no, not exactly. But I'd like to you know, hear you talk too, instead of just myself."
Well, I think. First guy I've met that doesn't like hearing himself talk.
I give a shrug, "Yeah."
He grabs the door and lets me through.
"Thanks," I say quietly and start walking left.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Warren gently grabs my arm. "This way, Ruthie."
"My name isn't short for Ruth."
He blinks at me, then pulls me through an open area with a green house, with skylight, and large windows. I love the sun.
"Sorry, I just though.. Well, you know."
Shrug. "Don't worry about it."
He gives me an odd look, and grabs the handle to a door that reads: PRE-CALCULUS, MR. LYNCH.
"Wait," I say and grab his hand. "I'm sorry for running into you in the parking lot. I--I didn't see you standing next to my Jeep."
When he looks down at my hand, I blush and pull it back. "Don't worry about it. I just can't believe how fast you ran away."
I didn't run away.I blush again and open the door, being rude by slipping past him into the room. A sigh comes from behind me, and I instantly feel bad.
"A new student?" The teacher booms and claps me on the back. "Welcome! I hope you have a reign on Pre-Calculus, for the most part."
"Uh..." I shrug and he laughs.
"Don't worry! If ya need help, Emmett in the back will help you," Mr. Lynch points to the back.. Where the gorgeous brown-haired boy from the parking lot sits by himself. He looks menacing, but equally cute. I can't help but think everybody else in here is older..
"Is this, um, is this a senior class?" I ask the teacher quietly.
"For the most part. Are you a senior?"
I shake my head, "I'm a junior..."
"Ah, well, you can go sit by Jaeger in the back. He's in behind Stephanie, if you know her."
"Thanks," I say and quietly sit next to the black-haired boy. His hair is colored a dark blue on the tips, and the barbell in his eyebrow instantly catches my eye.
He leans in, "I'm Jaeger," a hand is extended towards me.
I gently take it. His hand is like the Titanic, and mine is only a little starfish :( "Rue."
"Pretty name," he says and gets out a notebook. "You can copy most of the notes from me, but I get mine from Emmett, so if you can't understand them, then you'll have to ask him. Lynch gives us assignments every Wednesday for sure, sometimes on Tuesdays and rarely on Fridays, so you'll be okay today."
I exhale, "Thanks." My bag doesn't want to seem to open, so I have to result to asking for help. "Jaeger..." I trail off when I see him drawing a picture of a girl. She looks just like Stephanie, standing in a meadow with a cliff behind her and a waterfall. It's beautiful.
"Huh?" he asks, shading in shadows on the flowers.
"Never mind," I yank my zipper only to break it off, making me groan quietly. Of course it broke.
"What'd you... Oh."
"Yeah," I say through clinched teeth and rip my notebook out of the bag, and a mechanical pencil to copy down notes from the board.
"Where'd you transfer from?"
"I didn't transfer from anywhere," I say quietly. "I haven't been to school in two years."
His voice is low, "How did you get in here?"
"The or--" What was I doing? "I went here a couple years ago."
"Oh. Why'd you drop out?"
"That's a story for another time," I say and stay quiet for the rest of the period.
I was used to being quiet. It used to be "Quiet or Hurt." Most of us chose 'quiet.'
The period took forever to get through, though. I didn't realize they'd switched to trimesters instead of semester until we left an hour after we'd arrived in this class.
The bell rang, and I searched for Warren.
"War--"
Something smashes into my side, sending me into a desk, then to the floor. My side's on fire! Who did that! OH MY GOD.
Emmett is standing over me, pissed off for some reason. His face is red, his fist raised to... To hit me? What did I do?
Jaeger stands over me,"Emmett, what the hell are you doing?"
Emmett shakes his head and hurries away.
Jaeger kneels down to help me up, "What happened?"
I sit up and moan as my side screams, "I don't know.. I didn't---Ive never talked to him before Jaeger, I don't... I don't know what I did."
"I know," he helps me up carefully. "All you did was stand up and look for Warren... I don't know why Emmett did that, I'm sorry."
I look at him incredulosuly, "It's not your fault."
Jaeger shrugs and picks up my bag and notebook . He puts my pencil in the front pocket that I'd taken it out from, and puts the notebook into the big pocket.
"Are you okay?"
I snap my head towards Warren and moan, having cricked my neck.
"Peachy."
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