Chapter 2 - The Rage Inside

  I’m early to my first class which is homeroom. There is only one other student in the classroom and she is sitting in the back, tapping her pen on her desk looking bored. She is dressed in black clothing and has long straight auburn hair.

  “Hey new girl,” she says while I’m deciding where to sit.

  “It’s Rachel,” I say as I pick the desk next to her. I really want to have a girl as a friend, maybe she can be my first.

 “Kelly. I was new last year. Trust me, its sucks being a new person at this school,” she says and stops tapping her pen on the desk. “It must truly suck to be at a new school your senior year.”

  “Yes, I so hate my Mom right now. She made us move here,” I say as I watch other students start to fill the room.

  “So, were the cousins at your locker?” she asks and looks at me.

  “Ben and Devin, yes they were there, how did you know?” I say as I set my notebook and a pen on the desk.

  Kelly smirks. “They were checking out the new blood in school. They did that to me too. The frat boy Ben and his gothic cousin Devin rule the school so it would be good to get on their good side,” says Kelly as she crosses her legs.

  “I thought something was up. Does Devin ever talk?” I ask her.

  “No, he is an introvert and does whatever Ben says. They are both on the Varsity football team. Just so you know that football is the pride of this school and this town. Anyway, Ben is the star quarterback, no surprise there because he looks like a frat boy. Devin is the star receiver, which is a surprise because he doesn’t look like the school spirit type,” Kelly says.

  Soon the room starts to fill, but nobody sits in the desk by Kelly and I. Great, I’m going to be an outsider. The homeroom teacher walks in and places his brown briefcase on the desk. He is older, short, balding and fat.

  “Hello homeroom, as you know I’m Mr. Carson. Rachel East, come up front please,” he says while getting things out of his briefcase. Everyone in the class turns to look at me. Crap, I hate being the center of attention. I get up slowly and head toward Mr. Carson. I stand with my hip popped next to his wooden desk, I’m annoyed to be center of attention.

  “Turn around face the class,” he says, “Attention everyone this is Rachel East, new student. Emma, you and Rachel share all the same classes, please escort her today and show her the ropes. Please go back to your seat Rachel.”

  I roll my eyes because I’m embarrassed as I walk back to my seat. I can find my own way around this school, it’s not that immense. I look at Kelly, she must have found that amusing because she has a grin on her face. Something catches the corner of my eye, I turn to look and this perky blonde is waving to me. She is all smiles at me, so that must be Emma. I sit at my desk in a huff, I hate perky people, and Emma looks like she will be annoying.

  All I hear his Mr. Carlson high pitched voice. He talks about senior reasonability to the underclassmen, requirements for graduation, cap & gown, and passes out schedules for sport try outs and clubs. When I get my schedule, I look for basketball tryouts. Perfect, the tryouts are in three weeks, I can get some practice time in. I take the activity schedule and I circle the clubs I may want to join.

  “Little ambitious are we?” asks Kelly as she looks at my paper.

  “This is all for college, to impress admissions,” I say.

  “I’m glad to see you circle the theater, I’m in that,” she says.

  Mr. Carson dismisses homeroom when the bell rings. I need to get out fast, so I can try to avoid Emma. So I rush out to the hall and make my way to my biology science class. I feel someone on my right, crap its Emma.

  “Hi! I’m Emma and your escort. I’m super excited to show you like everything. Science class is like this way,” she squeals and leads the way.

  Great, this is going to be one annoying day. I should tell her to go away but I don’t want to piss anyone off just yet. As we walk to class together, Emma talks my ear off about the different social structures in the school. In reality, I don’t care about social structures because I’m not into status. She said since I’m super pretty that I will have an easy time fitting in. She said to stay away from Kelly because she has a terrible reputation. Whatever I ponder, I’ll make my own choices about who I’m going to be friends with.

   “I’ll be back before the bell rings to sit with you,” Emma says to me at the door and skips away.

  I’m relived she is gone, because I needed a break from her constant valley girl talking. I’m the first one to arrive in the classroom. The room has 12 lab counter tops with sinks and four stools. It smells like chemicals in this room. I walk in and I pick a table in the middle to sit at and I face the front of the classroom. The next student to walk in is Devin. I avoid eye contact, but then I catch him walk my way. Butterflies fill my belly as he takes a seat across from me. I didn’t believe he liked me from that dirty look he gave me this morning at my locker. We sit, there is an awkward silence. I just look at my notebook.

  He says quickly, “How was homeroom.”

  Phew, I’m glad he said something. I look at him, and force a smile. “Embarrassing, that Mr. Carson had me stand in front of the class. Do you know who Emma is?” I ask him.

  He doesn’t say anything but just nods yes. “Well, she was ordered by Mr. Carson to escort me today. She plans to sit with me. So if you want to move, I don’t blame you.”

  He smirks. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t sit with us.”

  We don’t talk anymore because I really don’t have anything to say to him. He doesn’t seem the type to be a conversation starter. I could ask him why he dresses like a Goth kid but is the star receiver on the football team. By the way he presents himself, says that he doesn’t give a crap about school. Soon the classroom starts to fill. Everyone avoids the table Devin and me are at. I hear the warning bell ring, meaning students have 30 seconds to get to class. I see a gigantic guy walk in. He must be over 6’4” and looks like he all muscle. I see him scan the room and he sees me then makes his approach to my table.

  “Yo, I’m Tank new girl,” he says to me as he sits next to Devin.

  “Rachel,” I say as I nod to him, “You must be a football player, defense?”

  “Yep, what was your clue? The name or my size?” he giggles and gives me a wink.

  “Both,” I smile back and look at Devin. He is just giving me a cold stare from under his long hair. His deep blue eyes feel like my soul is being looked at, it sends shivers down my spine. Then I spot Emma walking in who gives me a big wave. “Sorry guys, Emma is sitting with us,” I whisper.

 Devin suddenly snaps out of his staring trance, springs up from his seat, and walks quickly to Emma. He takes her by the waist, pulls her in close to his body, he gives her kiss on the cheek and whispers something in her ear. I watch her eyes go blank and she nods. Then she sits at a different lab table. While that was happening, the teacher walked in and spreads his paperwork out on the desk. He reminds me of an absentminded professor. Devin goes up to the teacher. He takes the teacher by the waist, kisses his cheek and whispers something in his ear. I see his eyes go blank and he nods. I wonder what Devin said to Emma and the teacher and why would he kiss them? Devin stares at me while he walks to our table, takes his seat and gives me a wink. That was totally strange, I never saw that behavior before.

  The final bell rings and this enormous kid rushes in. This guy is bigger than Tank and fat. He must be 6’5’’ and over 275 pounds. He takes the seat next to mine. The seat squeaks because of his weight.

  “Hey new girl, I’m Mouse,” he says to me and nods to Devin and Tank. I’m still in shock over his size.

  “Hi, I’m Rachel, are you a football player like Tank?”

 “Yep, Offence, my job is to snap the ball and protect our Team Captain and quarterback, Ben.” says Mouse proudly.

  “So, why is your nickname Mouse?” I say still in awe over his size.

  “I used to be really short and skinny so people would call me Mouse. Then I met Ben and Devin, I had a growth spurt and they helped me bulk up. Guys, great news! I just found out that I’m going to get scouted this year!” Mouse says with excitement in his voice.

  Tank and Mouse high five each other but Devin just smiles and nods at him.

  “Attention Class! As you know I’m Mr. Wilson. I want everyone by the end of this week to pick your table and lab partners. We will rotate partners each other week, except for Devin, Tank, Mouse and Rachel. You four will be sitting on that lab table and will be partners for the rest of the semester,” announces Mr. Wilson to the class.

  Devin must have whispered something drastic to make Mr. Wilson keep us together. I guess Kelly was right, Devin and Ben do rule this school.

  Mr. Wilson shuffles his papers, “Rachel East, please come here.”

  I feel my cheeks go flush. I hope he doesn’t announce me to the class that I’m new. I avoid other students’ eyes as I make my way to the front. Mr. Wilson is on the chalkboard writing his name and then he writes my name under his with ‘new student’ by it.

  “Please face the class Rachel. Everyone, this is Rachel East, new student. Ok dear, please go back to your table,” he says and I hear him write on the chalkboard again.

  I roll my eyes, my cheeks get hot and I make my way back to my table. That was totally pointless. When I get to the table I notice Devin is smiling at me, looks like he enjoyed that. The rest of the class was uneventful. We get our books and our semester outline. Looks like I will be dissecting a fetal pig later this year, gross.

 “See you at gym,” whispers Devin to me when the bell rings, he rushes out of class.

 Emma skips up to me. “Time for math class, let’s go!”

  Ugh, someone take me away from this perky girl. This day is just awful, so far. She leads me to math class and ditches me like she did before. I take a seat in the middle while hoping this teacher doesn’t announce me as a new student. The next kid to walk is a nerdy looking boy. He is a total gram. His hair is bright red, he has red freckles, braces, his pants are too high and I can see his socks, and he is a button down shirt. The shirt is a blue dress shirt and is buttoned to the top. He takes the seat in front of me and turns around.

  “You are new aren’t you?” He asks with excitement.

  “Yes, I’m Rachel,” I say and I look at my blank notebook like I have something to do.

  “I’m Eddy, you know for Edward,” he laughs like that is funny. “You like math, I love it. This class is going to be hard, its calculus, are you good at math. We should be study partners!”

  Oh great, he just spit on me when he said ‘partners’. “I’ll let you know Eddy if I need help but I’m very good at math so I may be Ok.”

  I look at my blank notebook, like I’m looking for something. I see Mouse walk in. He walks up behind Eddy and slaps him on back, making the poor kid jump.

  “Stop hitting on the lady Eddy, you are such a player,” jokes Mouse and he tries to squeeze into the desk next to me. I see Eddy stiffen up, and then he turns in his desk to face the front of the class. I feel sorry for him, he must get picked on. I should be nicer to him, everyone deserves a friend. The rest of math class was fine. However, once again, the teacher announces me as the new girl to everyone. We get our books and semester syllabus. The bell rings to dismiss us.

  “Let’s go to study hall and talk! You have to tell me how Devin, one of the kings of our school, knows you!” she squeals.

  Lucky me, I get to spend one whole hour of talking to this valley girl, Emma. Study hall is on the second floor and is in a large classroom full of round tables with 4 chairs around each table. We are first to arrive and she ditches me, again.

  “Be back by bell,” she calls and leaves me.

  I sit down annoyed because I’m not looking forward to her constant talking. I already know her favorite color, TV show and sports team. I decided these kids in this school are just weird. The cousins, Devin and Ben are weird, Emma is annoying, Eddy is a nerd, and there is a huge guy named Mouse. Deep in thought, I notice a group of three girls walk in. They are dressed in designer clothing and look stuck up. I don’t think they will ever be my friend. They look like some sort of evil girl group. One of the girls, who seem to be the leader, spots me, smiles and leads the group to my table. I get butterflies, what are they up to?

  “Hi new girl, Ben says we should be friends with you. I’m Victoria, this is Samantha, and this is Leslie,” says the leader and sits down.

 Victoria is just stunning. She has bright blue eyes, light curly brown hair that goes down at her shoulders and has a perfect body. Samantha looks down to me with her nose up, she must not want to meet me. She has piercing green eyes, shorter than Victoria, beautiful olive skin and has long black hair that goes down to her hips. Leslie is super cute. She has blue eyes, short yellow blond hair, perfect white teeth and she likes to smile. Her smiles make me feel calm.

  “How do you like Willowbrook High?” asks Leslie and gives me a happy smile.

  “It good so far, my name is Rachel,” I say. I’m amazed that they are sitting with me.

 “We know,” all three girls say in unison, wow my mind is blown that they know my name.

  “So, Ben told you guys about me?” I ask, trying to figure out this strange behavior out.

  “Yes, Ben told us to save you from Emma in study hall. Don’t worry, after today Emma will leave you alone when she sees you are with us. Just so you know, you will be in our group and we rule the school,” says Victoria and gives me an evil smile.

  “Oh,” I say, did I pass some weird ignition? Do I even have a choice? I better not make waves just yet, “So, who is all in the group?”

  “Us three girls, Devin, Tank, Mouse, and Ben,” says Victoria.

  I realized that I will be the fourth girl in the group. Do I get paired with someone then? I need to see where this goes.

  “So are you guys dating anyone in the group?” I ask, all three giggle.

  “Devin is my man,” says Samantha, she flicks her hair. “If she is going to hang with us, she needs new clothing.”

 Screw you b***h, I think.

  “I’m dating Mouse,” says Lesley and smiles with love in her eyes.

  “Tank is my boyfriend. So, I guess you figured it out. Ben likes you,” says Victoria and smiles big at me.

  Butterflies fill my tummy. The star football player and king of this school likes me after one encounter at my locker. I could make this a good year after all.

  “Be sure to play it cool, you didn’t hear it from us that you are in the group. Ben still has to decide,” says Leslie and gives Victoria an uneasy look.

  “Ben is really cute,” I say as I smile at the girls.

  I think I’m crushing on Ben now. However, why does Ben get to decide who’s in and who’s out? The warning bell rings and I see Emma walk in. She stops in her tracks when she sees who I’m sitting with and goes to sit with other people. Study hall is just a waste of time. At least the teacher didn’t announce that I was the new girl. Through the hour, I just sit and listen to the three girls gossip to me about the other students. I really don’t like to gossip about people, so I just listen and try to be polite. Soon the bell rings