~Two~

First day of school! Yippie!!

“Dex! Dex!” he wasn’t waking up. I had to think for a moment. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom and grabbed a cup of water. I walked back into the room and threw the ice cold water on his face, he wasn’t too happy about that. 

“Ahhh! Karina! What the hell?” he asked. 

“Hello silly head we gotta get to school. Its 7:30 so get your butt out of bed mister!” I threw the paper cup at him and opened the closet door. I grabbed me a pair of red shorts along with a black tank top. “Come on Dex! We have to get up and go to school. I know you don’t want to but we have to.” He groaned and got out of bed. 

“I’m gonna kill you for that water in my face.” He stood right in front of me and handed me the paper cup. 

“Mmm, well you can kill me after school. Look, I don’t want to be late for school on our first day, any other day, but today.” I said looking up at him. 

“Okay, okay. Sometimes you act like my mother.” I threw the paper cup at him for that and laughed. He threw it back but I closed the door. I walked into the bathroom and changed into my clothes for the day. I noticed that my dad wasn’t here, or he wasn’t up yet. I walked out into the living room and saw a note on the front door. 

Karina and Dex.

Left for work around 5, yeah I get up that early. I hope you two are on your way to school right now, I’ll see you later. Remember, stay out of trouble. Later. 

I walked back into our room and saw Dex in the midst of changing. 

“Oh come on Karina! You could’ve knocked.” I rolled my eyes. “Is that a note from Marshall?” he asked. I nodded. 

“He got up at 5. Damn, that’s so early.” I said making my side of the bed. “Anyway, what do you want for breakfast, if anything?” I asked. 

“I don’t know. I’m not that hungry.” He said. I nodded in agreement. I wasn’t that hungry either. I walked into the bathroom and did my make up in the mirror. I walked back into our room and looked at the clock, 7:50. We had to be out of the house by 8. 

We were finally out of the house and I drove my dad’s truck to school. I didn’t feel so nervous now that we were on our way to school. 

“So tell me Dexy, who is this person that was checking me out that you have been refusing to tell me.” He chuckled and fixed his red flannel shirt. 

“I can’t say. He told me to not say, he wants to have this all in his control.” I slapped his arm and then stopped at the stop sign. 

“You are such a meanie Dex! You’re torturing me.” I pulled into the high school parking lot and parked near the exit of the school. We got out and I locked the car. Dex looked at me. 

“You okay? You look nervous.” He said. I looked at him and I felt my legs shaking. I nodded. “Aw come on Karina, don’t be nervous. I’ll be with you, you don’t have to be nervous. We got through it all once before, I think we can get through it again.” I smiled and nodded. I had my backpack on my shoulder, as did he, and we headed into school. I took out my schedule and compared it to Dex’s, again, just to make sure we really did only have a free and math together, and yes, those were the only two classes we had together, it was tearful. The last time we were put in a different school, we had the same teacher, but I guess you got to be on your own to survive. “Well, I’ll see you at lunch Karina, good luck on your first day.” Dex said. I gave him a hug and said the same thing to him. 

I walked up to room 201 and saw a few kids waiting outside the room. I slowly walked closer and they looked at me. I walked into the room and saw my teacher, he had short hair, brown eyes, and was in a nice shirt and khaki pants. He saw me walk in and smiled at me.

“Are you Karina Williams?” he asked looking at a piece of paper and then at me. I nodded. “Well, welcome to second period biology. Class doesn’t start for a few more minutes, but feel free to sit and wait. I’ll come and give you the papers that the rest of the kids have already gotten.” I nodded and took the seat in the back corner. I felt my heart begin to pound faster and faster, and I began to sweat. 

“Karina!” I looked towards the door and saw Debbie. She walked over to me and took the chair next to mine. “You have Mr. Aysen too? Oh you’re so lucky! He’s the best teacher!” her red hair was pulled back into a rather tight ponytail and she had on a little bit of green make up. “I am so happy you’re in my class.” 

“I am happy I know someone. I was afraid I wouldn’t know anyone in this class, what do you have after?” I asked sitting up straight. She took out her agenda book and looked at her schedule. 

“I have math, creative writing, a free, english and then History Let me see your schedule.” She took it and the bell rang. Tons of kids poured into the room. A few handfuls of them came back and introduced themselves to me. That was really nice of them. “Looks like a pretty awesome schedule. I think you and Slater have English together. I am not totally sure, but I think I remember correctly, and we have history together.” She said. I nodded. Mr. Aysen began talking to us about what we would be doing, and he called attention to the fact that I was a new student. I got to learn everyone’s name and they, of course, got to learn mine. 

“Chapter 1 through 3 read by Friday, okay?” he said as the bell rang. We all stood up and made our way towards the door. Debbie stopped me before I had the chance to head to my other class. She had a big smile on her face. 

“So, how do you think your first class went?” she asked. I nodded. 

“I think it went really well to be completely honest.” I answered. She smiled. 

“That’s great to hear Karina. Well I’ll see you later, have a good rest of the day.” She waved and walked the other way. I had to go find room 234, that was going to be quite a challenge. 

“Hey, aren’t you Karina?” I looked to my right and saw one of the kids from the other night. I nodded at him and kept a look out for room 234. "Yeah I remember now, you chatted with Megan, Adrianna, and Deb. I’m X, or Xavier. What room are you looking for?” he asked. 

“234.” I answered. 

“No s**t! Really? Cool. I’m headed there too. Mrs. Kay?” I nodded. “Solid. Well I can show you where it is.” I smiled and I followed him. He wore tight pants much like Dex did, but he had a white tank top on, and white shoes. He had one of those flat rimmed hats that was black and white. As we looked for the room a lot of people, girls and boys, said hi to X. I guess he was a popular guy. We walked into the room and X invited me to sit with him and, who I am guessing, to be his girlfriend. 

“Chantelle, this is Karina, she’s new. She just moved here.” X said. Chantelle was one of those girls that I usually tried to avoid, but maybe there was something different about this one. She had like a chestnut color for her hair, extremely tan skin, crystal clear blue eyes, and perfect white teeth. 

“Karina? Oh my, that is a really pretty name. How do you spell that?” she asked. 

“K-A-R-I-N-A.” I said. She nodded and smiled. “Thanks. Chantelle, that’s a name I haven’t heard, but it’s an awesome name.” She smiled at me. 

“Thank you!” X began talking to her and I payed attention to the front of the room. Mrs. Kay was sitting at her desk drinking her coffee and looking at her computer. I could see she didn’t have much time to put her lipstick on this morning, it wasn’t very even. The bell rang and she turned to us. She finished eating her breakfast and wiped her mouth. 

“Good morning my lovely students, I see we have a new face in our classroom today.” I felt my face get hot again and I began to sweat. 

“Heck yes! We have new meat!” X said chuckling a little. I smiled and tried to push through my shyness. 

“Sweetie why don’t you stand up and just say your name and where you moved from.” Mrs . Kay said. I nodded and stood up. 

“Hi there! My name is Karina Williams, and I just moved here from Boise, Idaho.” I sat back down and let the blood flow in my body again. 

“Welcome Karina. I see you already know our infamous X over there,” she chuckled and went up to the white board, “we are all pleased to have you in our class.” I smiled and nodded. 

So english wasn’t so bad after all, it was actually quite interesting, wow, did I just say English class was interesting? Oh my. Once English was over, X was nice enough to help me find the cafeteria. 

“You’ll learn your way around school very quickly. There is something about it that grows on you.” He said chuckling. I nodded. “Well, I have to get back to my lady, but it’s right down the hallway and to the left. Oh, isn’t that your step brother?” I looked and saw Dex standing there and when he saw me he waved. 

“Thanks so much X, I owe you one.” He made a face. 

“Nah! It’s alright hun, you’re new. I’ll see you later, have a good day.” I walked towards where Dex was and he smiled. 

“So, how were your first two classes?” he asked. 

“They were good. Debbie is in my bio class, and X is in my english class. You know what, I didn’t realize we had the same history teacher, but we do. Don’t you have Mr. Ryan?” he nodded. “See! We got the same teacher! It’s so awesome.” We walked to a table and sat down. We didn’t have any money, nor did we bring lunch, so we were left without food. 

“What do you want to do after school?” Dex asked. I shrugged. “Because Axel invited us to the skatepark with him. Would you like to go?” 

“Sure, that sounds cool.” He smiled. “I wish I could skateboard like you. Ugh, I’m so jealous that I can’t.” He chuckled. 

“Nawh don’t be jealous, I mean some people are just born with that skill. I mean you run like lightening, I can’t run for s**t.” I chuckled and nodded. 

“Yeah, I guess so. You really suck at running Dex, you gotta work on that.” He poked me and I laughed. “What? You are! I’m sorry if you are.” 

“Oh goodness that makes me feel a lot better about myself.” I rolled my eyes and looked around the lunch room. 

“Dex! Karina!” we turned around and saw Axel, Double D, Slater, and two other guys walk over to our table. “Hey, you guys finish eating that fast?” he asked. 

“We didn’t have any lunch.” I said poking Dex again who caught my hand and held it. “It’s alright, I guess we’re used to it.” Axel and his buds sat down and shared some of their food with us. That one blonde guy was with us and I kept looking at him and every time he caught me looking at him, he smiled at me. 

“So you up for the skatepark after school Dex?” Double D asked. He nodded. “Sick. Karina, you going to join us?” I smiled and nodded. “That’s double the sick!” I laughed a little bit and looked down at my shoes. 

Last block of the day, history class. Me and Dex headed towards room 230 and when we got there we were shocked, all of the skate buds had this class. We waved and took our seats. I still haven’t figured out that blonde’s name yet, I hope I am able to, he is really a cutie. There were three other kids in the class who we didn’t know, but we were still nice to them. 

Mr. Ryan, a man who had shaved his head, walked into the room. He was holding a glass of iced tea, along with a baggy of wheat-thins, probably finishing his lunch off, was my first thought. He set the iced tea down along with the crackers and smiled at us. 

“Good afternoon my lovely children. I see two new faces in our midst, Karina and Dex Williams, is that correct?” me and Dex nodded and smiled. “Wonderful! Well, I am Mr. Ryan, but these kids like to call me baldy, and yes I don’t mind, I’m an easy going fellow. Why don’t you go around the room and say your names, so these two can get to know all of you.” Me and Dex smiled as everyone turned to look at us. 

“I’ll start even though you two know me, but I am Axel.” He showed us his nice pearly whites and then looked at Debbie. 

“I’m Debbie,” 

“Adrianna,” 

“Slater,” 

“Austin,” so his name was Austin now. I felt a smile spread across my face as I took everything about him in. His eyes, his hair, his voice, and his clothes. 

“I’m Holden, and yes that is a name.” Me and Dex gave a tiny chuckle. 

“X or Xavier,” 

“Double D or Eddie,” 

“Trace,” 

“Stacy,” 

“Sarah,” 

“Hayley,” 

“Last but not least I am Olivia,” Mr. Ryan cleared his throat and looked at Axel and then spoke. He seemed interested in how me and Dex knew Axel already. 

“Oh yeah they know all of us except, Sarah, Hayley, and Olivia. Last Wednesday we were skateboarding outside their house and Axel decided to ask them to join.” Debbie said. Mr. Ryan smiled. 

“Wonderful. Well welcome to U.S History. Everyone but Karina and Dex, would you please take out the homework that was due today.” Mr. Ryan took out a few papers and brought them over to me and Dex. 

After school me and Dex gathered with the skater crowd at the front of the school and hung out there for a little bit. Unfortunately, Debbie and Adrianna didn’t come, they had to do stuff after school, but Chantelle did join us. She walked over to me and jumped up on the ledge and started to chat with me.

“Don’t you think it’s amazing how they can do all of this?” she asked. I nodded. “I’d love to be able to do it, but I can’t skate for my life, and I love the heels way too much.” I had a feeling she would say something like that and I did laugh a little, but not in a mean way. 

“Yeah Dex is an amazing skateboarder, it’s not fair that he never taught me how. Well, we hated each other for five years, so that could have something to do with it.” I said. 

“You lost me, care to explain?” I let my eyes look around and then I stopped on all of the guys. I then looked down at my feet and smiled a little. 

“He’s my step brother, and my mom and his dad met when we were both five, and then when we were ten we had to change schools and that was really hard, so a bond formed between us. We haven’t really hated each other since then.” She nodded and ran her fingers through her hair. I looked up at the sky and when I turned forward all of the guys were standing right in front of us. “Oh goodness! You scared me a bit.” They chuckled. 

“Do you need some help getting down?” Double D asked. 

“Hehe I do! X baby can you help me.” Chantelle said in her damsel in distress voice. I rolled my eyes and slowly hopped down. I felt so short with all of these guys. Double D was the shortest but still tall. My guess is that he was about 5’10 while everyone else was above that. 

“We all knew you did Chantelle, we wanted to know if Karina did, and I guess she didn’t.” Double D chuckled looking down at me. I just smiled and acted all shy. “Well lets get to Poison IV skatepark before Dirk and his friends get there.” Double D seemed determined to get there. Dex tagged along in the back with me. 

“So, what do you think of school?” he asked. I nodded and looked at him with a smile. He smiled back which caused me to laugh. “Why are you laughing?” I shrugged and tried to stop. I guess part of it was because I was around all boys, I have never been around so many boys in my entire life. “Wait, didn’t we drive here?” Dex inquired. 

“Oh my gosh that’s right! I can’t leave my dads tuck here.” I said. The guys stopped and looked at each other and then us. 

“You guys got a car?” Slater asked. We nodded. “Sweet. Would you mind giving us all a ride to the skatepark?” I had to think for a moment and use some common sense. The truck only held three people inside and my guess was five on the outside. Chantelle could sit on X’s lap or something like that. “I know Austin also has his license, he can help.” I felt my heart skip a few beats and my voice hid. 

“Alright, t-that sounds good. Uhm...two other people can fit in the front with me, and I guess one will be Austin,” I said shakily and quickly looking at him and smiling. I looked back at him and saw him smiling at me, not only with his mouth, but with his eyes.  

“Yeah, I’ll help with th driving.” Double D said. “Do you want us to wait here or come with you?” I looked at Dex who shrugged. 

“Up to you. We can totally come back and get you if you want?” they all nodded and I began walking towards the school again. Dex tagged along. 

“What was that?” he asked. I was so confused. 

“What was what?” I asked. I had no clue what Dex was talking about. 

“You know exactly what I am talking about Karina. Why’d you stutter? You’ve never stuttered before.” I got in the car and waited for him to get in too. “Is something bothering you?” I chuckled and waited before I started to truck. 

“Believe me it’s the complete opposite of being bothered. I am not going to say anything so deal with it Dexy.” He groaned and crossed his arms. 

“Can I at least ask, did I embarrass you in some way?” I first backed up and then answered his question. 

“No Dex, you did not. Nothing is wrong, so don’t worry.” I chuckled and made sure no cars were coming and then turned. I didn’t want to say anything because I knew he’d go and tell, and I didn’t want that. I pulled over onto the side and rolled down the window. 

“This is your car?!” the guys seemed so shocked. 

“No, it’s my dads. He’s letting me use it though. Climb in. Uh Austin and Slater you wanted to sit in the front?” they nodded and walked around to the other door. Dex had to get out and then they crawled in. I felt my hands get really shaky, my heart started beating faster, and I got goosebumps. I turned around to see if everyone was in, and they were but Dex didn’t know how to close the back. I got out of the car and closed it for him. I got back in the car and asked Austin where the skatepark was. 

“It’s around this corner and then you gotta take three lefts then two rights and it’s at the end of Ocean Ave.” I looked into his eyes and subconsciously felt a smile spread across my face. I jumped back to reality and put the truck in drive. I know it probably wasn’t legal to have people in the back, but I am not sure how I could’ve fit them all up here. 

“So where did you move from?” he asked. I tried to not let my nerves get the better of me. 

“Boise, Idaho. My mom and step dad sadly died in a car crash last year,” 

“Oh my gosh I’m sorry.” I smiled. 

“Thank you.” 

“She had my dad put down as a legal guardian instead of Dex’s mom. I guess they didn’t get along very well and my mom didn’t want her taking care of me if anything ever happened to her.” He nodded. 

“Who’s your dad? My dad like knows everyone in Manhattan Beach, he’s bound to know your dad.” Austin had the deepest voice, it was a voice that gave me a funny feeling in my tummy. I came to a stop and then continued on. 

“Marshall Adams.” I said. 

“Yeah, my dad knows your dad. He’s like everyone’s favorite mechanic. That’s awesome Karina. I’ve met your dad, he’s really cool.” There was no disagreeing with that. My dad was cool, he just needs to be around kids some more. I smiled and quickly looked at him and then back at the road.

When we got there I let everyone get out and I’d park it somewhere else. Dex and Austin decided to stay with me as I parked the truck. I thought it was very thoughtful of Austin to do that, he didn’t have to. We got out of the car and walked back over to where everyone was skating. I couldn’t help but watch Austin. I loved his eyes and his really cute smile. His long blonde hair was a bonus. I tried to keep it low key as possible, but it just wasn’t. He kept looking at me and I’d have to look away quickly. 

“Oh damn! This place is like skate heaven!” Dex said. I chuckled and we walked closer over to where the other guys were. “What do you think Kar?” I nodded. 

“I totally agree Dex. As I’ve told you before I wish I could skate like you guys.” I sat down as they were in the bowl. 

“Well, why don’t you give it a try? Stacy is also very new at skateboarding, so he could probably help you.” Axel said. 

“Well, what about me?” Austin spoke up, “I just learned how to skate too,” I tried to stifle a smile because I saw Dex looking at me. “Don’t you think I could help too?” I had to turn and look at the other skateboards and let the smile out. 

“Yeah, Karina if you want Stacy and Austin can help you with skateboarding, one or the other.” Axel said. I tried to hold the smile back and nod. The guys began skating and Dex told me to get down for a moment. 

“What is up with you missy, you’ve been acting so weird today.” I turned towards Dex and gave the biggest smile in the world. “What is it?” he asked through a chuckle. 

“I’m fine Dex, go skate!” I said. He gave me a look and rolled his eyes. I looked at Stacy and Austin who were just sitting there. 

“I take it that neither of you really like to skate, but you do it anyway?” Stacy let out a chuckle and nodded. 

“I guess you could say that. To be honest those guys scare me, but they’re totally awesome.” Austin said and helped me up. When I touched his hand I tried not to giggle. I knew my face was probably red, so I didn’t want to make any really clear signs. 

“Have you ever tried to skateboard?” Stacy asked. Stacy was an interesting fellow. He had the bluest eyes I have ever seen, and the blondest hair in the world. He was stuck with braces too, and a few pimples here and there, but he was a really cool kid. 

“Yeah a little bit, but the last time I remember getting on a skateboard, I broke my wrist. That wasn’t very good.” I chuckled a tiny bit. 

“Yeah, that happened to me the first time I got on a skateboard, except I broke my arm. It was horrible,” Austin said. “Stacy broke his nose over the summer, like at the very beginning from a skateboarding accident.” I looked at Stacy who nodded. 

“Yeah my poor little nose got hurt. It’s all better now. I prefer to sit here and watch  the guys skateboard. It’s another great way of learning.” 

“I bet it is,” I curled up in a ball and looked at both Stacy and Austin. “Do you know Marshall Adams?” I asked Stacy. He nodded. 

“He’s good friends with my mom. Why, do you know him or something?” Stacy seemed to be interested in his shoe. 

“Dude, that’s her father.” Austin said. Stacy’s shoe all of a sudden wasn’t very interesting. He looked at me and Austin. 

“That’s your father? Really?” he paused for a moment and I chuckled. “You know, now I’m starting to see it. He’s like everyone’s friend here in Manhattan Beach. That is so cool he’s your dad, is he Dex’s dad too?” 

“No...I guess the right thing to say is that Dex is his step son.” I said looking down at my hands and then back at Stacy. 

“I figured that actually. He don’t look at all like Marshall.” I nodded. “I’m gonna go get a drink at the vending machine, either of you want anything?” Stacy asked standing up. 

“Uh no thanks, I’m fine.” I said. He nodded and looked at Austin. 

“Nah bro, I’m good.” Stacy walked away and I was left alone with Austin. I felt that smile begin to creep back up on me. I could sense that he was looking at me out of the corner of my eye. I felt my face get hot again. “So, what elective are you taking?” 

“Acting. One of the school secretaries just gave it to me, and if I don’t like to, too bad she says. So I guess I am stuck with acting. What about you?” I turned my body towards him very slowly. I felt my whole body begin to be overwhelmed with this feeling. 

“Wood shop. It’s alright, but I’d rather have something more interesting and fun, like acting. Now that sounds like fun.” 

“Yeah my first class was actually really fun. What we had to do was get up on stage and then Miss. Beckett gave us an emotion and we had to evoke that emotion. It was so cool! I can’t wait to have it again tomorrow.” I said chuckling a bit. Austin was looking at me and I called him out on it, which of course pained my face red. 

“You’re just staring at me silly.” I said looking away for a second. 

“Oh! Wow... I’m sorry...I was just taking in what you said. I know that was probably really awkward.” I smiled and shook my head ‘no’. 

“No, it’s not awkward at all. I am the one who would usually be staring off into space.” Stacy came back and sat down with a cold water. 

“So, what’d I miss?” he asked chuckling a little bit. 

“Nothing too big really.” I said He nodded and took a sip of his water. 

It was fun hanging with Austin and Stacy, they are both really great guys, but Austin is just a tiny bit greater than Stacy. He made me laugh so many times this afternoon, I felt very sad when my dad drove by the skatepark with his friend telling us we had to come home. 

“Aw bummer you gotta go, but we’ll see you tomorrow in school.” Austin said. I nodded. “Well have a good night Karina, see you tomorrow.” 

“Thanks Austin, you too. See you later Stacy!” he waved as I walked over to Dex. He gave me a look that I have seen before. 

“Alright, you are going to tell me everything right now missy,” he demanded. “Or I am going to tickle it out of you.” 

“Oh gosh please don’t do that, oh no I’m so scared. Dex, you don’t need to know anything. It’s my business. I’ll tell you if I feel like it.” We walked over to the truck and hopped in. “It’s nothing anyway, it’s just something silly.” I answered pulling out of the parking space and driving away. 

Author's Note

Again..... -covers and hangs head in shame- sorry for the long chapter =/