Chapter 1

My day started like any other, with the fat blob I call my brother launching himself onto my twin bed and successfully shoving me off onto the cold hard wood floor.

“B*****d…” I mumbled as I shoved Ernest off me and slowly got to my feet. Ignoring the fake apologies coming from my brother I stumbled to my closet and grabbed out my running gear. Time to wake up. And the only way to do that was running for five miles.

_-_-_

“Ready to go Edith?” My dad said to me as I sat on the counter eating my buttered toast and read a book on the cold war, my damp hair pulled up in a high pony tail so it wouldn’t stick to my neck as it dried. I didn’t have time to blow dry it.

“Whenever you are Timmy,” I said with a slight grin, hopping down and grabbing my book bag and lunch. Why the hell would I eat the calorie laden crap public school feeds its students?

“Ernie! We’re leaving!” I called as I skipped out to the car and climbed in shotgun.

“That’s not my name…” My brother grumbled as our dad started up the car and began the short drive to Winston High. How am I gonna handle school this year? What do I even want to do? I guess I could pretty much be anything… Surgeon… Mass murderer… Car saleswoman…

“Okay we’re here you two.” My step-father’s voice broke me out of my train of thought “Edith stay out of trouble and Ernest don’t do anything stupid, I don’t want to see you in my office, I’m not afraid to give you detentions. I’ll see you after school.” My father said, in *cough* vice *cough* principle mode.

“Yes SIR!” I said smart-alleckly and hopped out of the car to figure out my classroom assignments. Seeing the sea of freshman meandering near the front entrance, I turned to the left and hopped the fence to go in the back.

“Being naughty so early this year Hamilton?” A familiar Australian drawl came from my right, starting once my feet made contact with the cracked black tarmac.

“I didn’t know you had become such a nosy busybody during the summer Mallory.” I said, turning to let my hazel eyes meet his blue.

“I’ve told you over and over to call me Shane. After all we’re going to be married!” He said sarcastically. I blushed red as I remembered the time three years ago when I had just moved to Maryland from Oregon and I had laid eyes on Shane. He was an 8th grader and theretofore SO mature. I had never seen such a pretty boy. His dirty blonde hair and blue eyes made him seem delicate while his body screamed HUNK!

The 6th grade me was enamored and had whispered to myself. “God I would marry that boy.” Unfortunately… he heard me and enjoyed calling me his “little wife” the remainder of that year.

“No we are not Shane,” He grinned at my use of his name and moved aside to let me walk into the school building and walked beside me as I made my way to the front office to receive my schedule.

“So why not use the front door wifey?” He said as we passed a couple seniors who gave us weird looks at the junior’s term of endearment towards the freshman.

“Stop calling me that!” I said as we reached the front office. I looked over my schedule and sighed. Easy as pie.

“How is pie easy?” I asked myself as I looked up to see Shane melting into the crowd in search of his friends. We may be cordial to each other, but I make no allusions that we are friends. Teasing is one thing, friendship is another.

Oh, well. Off to class.

_-_-_

“Hamilton! That was blatantly a foul!” The jock yelled at me from across the gym.

“No goddamn way! The birdie did not hit the floor! Get your eyes checked!”

“You wanna go!?!?” He yelled at me, his meaty face growing red.

“Nah, I’m good. See yah later,” I called back cheerfully as the gym aide gave the signal to shower and get dressed. First period, had been Health class. Then came an assembly to “welcome” us to High school. Later I have English.

English would be super easy; I would be able to pass with an A. Minimal effort required. But did I want an A this year?

“Let’s see… What’s next, ooh lunch?” I said as I wandered out the gym, tying back my wet hair in a thong.

I stepped into the cafeteria and came face to face with Andrew.

“Uh… Hi.” He said awkwardly as I took my place next to him in line to get my milk.

“Hi.” I said back, not meeting his gaze.

“Sooo… How are you enjoying your classes?” He said, obviously fumbling to find a safe topic.

“Good. Have you seen Natts yet?” I asked, pretending not to notice his slight dreamy look at the mention of one Natalie Fowler.

“Yeah.” Was all he said.

“Uh, okay. Bye” I said, grabbing my lunch and flashing my student body card at the lunch lady. I just used my father’s account.

Looking around, I saw that the courtyard was fairly empty as only half of the freshman had lunch this period.  Walking out into the ivy covered courtyard, I spotted my brother sitting alone at the fountain; none of his friends had lunch this period.

“Hey playboy.” I said, sitting down next to him.

“What’s up?” He said, grabbing a handful of carrot sticks from my open lunch box.

“A direction,” I said dryly as I watched my source of nutrients disappear down his stupid gullet.

Giving my brother the once over, I found myself comparing him to myself. We hadn’t exactly been identical since the age of 9 when I had finally let my hair begin to grow and we both started developing. We had the same hazel green eyes and lanky body type, but he had inherited height from somewhere that had obviously skipped over me. His 5’10” body loomed over my 5’3” frame.

Although my hair was currently bleached blonde, we naturally had the same coppery red color hair that curled when not brushed thoroughly.

“What are you looking at?” He said, shifting uncomfortably as he swallowed the last of his purloined carrots.

“Imagining you in a dress and wig. Do you think you could pass as a slightly masculine,” he bristled at the insult “taller me?” I said, looking him up and down once more.

A chuckle from behind me startled me into a jump. “I would PAY to see that Hamilton and err, Hamilton.”

I turned to see the smirking gaze of Shane. “What are you doing here?” I sighed. “Juniors don’t have this lunch period.”

“Some do,” He pointed out before shrugging, letting me know he was skipping class. “But yeah, I came here to ask you something Hamilton.”

“Hit me” I said, not noticing his friends had also crowded around us.

“I would totally hit that,” I heard one of his friends, Jacob Printear, mutter to someone. I scoffed and began gathering up my belongings to leave.

I didn’t notice the look of mild irritation cross Shane’s face at his friends’ rudeness. Shooting an angry look Jacob’s way, he hurried to catch up with me.

“Look Edi, I’m sorry about that jackass,” He said, startling me with his usage of my first name. I don’t think he ever has before. “I actually came to ask you,” he said before smirking again and drawing himself up to his full 5’10” height, looking down on me “If you would care to join me, since your being naughty so early into the year and all, I was thinking of waggin’ school.” 

I stared at him blankly. “Am I going to have to get an Australian slang dictionary?” I asked sarcastically.

“No,” He said, sighing and running a hand through his hair. “It means cutting. I just need to meet up with somebody and pick something up but after that I’m all yours.” He said grinning.

“Sorry Mallory,” I said, thinking of how grounded I would be. “I want to at least go to all my classes first day. Maybe next time alright?”

“Fine,” he said, not sounding like he cared at all. Giving me one last smirk he turned around and walked back to his friends. “Rejected mates! I feel the pain down to my core.”

Groaning, I left the cafeteria and headed to my English class.

_-_-_

“Alright everyone!” Mrs. Swanson, the English teacher called out. “Now I have a seating chart up here, made with your previous English teachers’ recommendations. Remember that these seats will be permanent.”

Everyone rushed up to the front to receive their seating; I stayed where I was, knowing that Ernest would point out my seat.

“You picked well Edi,” He said passing me to head to the back “That’s actually where you’ll be sitting.”

“Well of course!” I said, not looking up from my book. “I’m always right!”

“Whatever.” He muttered sitting down.

“Edi?” A soft voice came from my right; I turned to see none other than Natalie Fowler. Joy.

“Hey Natts,” I said warily, knowing this would be annoying. “How was your summer?”

“Decent,” she said, flipping her brown hair over her shoulder as she dug out her notebook. “Yours?”

“Oh same old,” I said politely, I had manners. I just choose not to use them most of the time. “Mom’s trying to fund a trip for select kids to Oregon. Fun.”

“Yep,” she said, turning away to talk to the girl on the other side of her. An obvious dismissal. I turned as well, to see the amused eyes of Ernest.

“What are you looking at?” I said testily as Mrs. Swanson began talking.

“Nothing,” He said unconvincingly before we turned our attention back to the teacher.

This was going to be a long year. I just know it.

-_-_-

“Welcome to the first day of advanced fine arts. Many of you know me from my summer program, but I see we have a few new faces. Hello, I am Mrs. Renfro.” A breathy voice from the front of the room said quietly. I looked up to see the woman who had made my summer bearable smile back at me as she welcomed the new students into the class. All of her old students, myself included, called out greetings ourselves, while the new students, 3 sophomores, all looked at us warily.

It was not a well-known fact in Winston Churchill High that the Art teacher was the only teacher who seemed to forget who was a teenager and who was an adult. As long as you knew which end of the brush to paint with and who created the Mona Lisa, then she considered you an adult.

“Mrs. Renfro,” One of the new girls, Sarah Baker, who I had seen hang around Shane before, looked at me with a mixture of contempt and confusion. “This is an advanced class; shouldn’t the freshman be taking the beginning class?”

“Hey Sarah,” I said, my temper nearing its breaking point. “Know that mural painted in the library?” I flashed her a triumphant smile. “See? I got in by talent. You got in for going to a few years of lessons.”

“No way,” Sarah said, casting me a disbelieving look. A few of the other students I knew looked at her and nodded.

“Yes Miss Hamilton did that mural a year ago as community service. And didn’t she do a wonderful job?” Mrs. Renfro asked, giving Sarah a look that gave no option but to agree.

“Yes, wonderful job… Edi.” She said reluctantly to me before turning her attention back to Mrs. Renfro who had started talking at length about the differences between a 32B pencil and a 32H pencil.

The mural in question was a seascape and forest scene. With wild blue and green waves and the pine forests of the Oregon I had left 4 years ago. The ocean had been upgraded however. No coast in Oregon was that picturesque or calm. Or sunny for that matter. The mural spanned the whole back wall of the library and had taken me an entire summer to complete, with me coming in every other day. I still think I got off easy for getting into that fight at that football game. I could have gotten boot camp as my punishment or something.

“And that class is why 32B pencils should only be used when one needs thinner lines. Now, on to my favorite part of the class. The art part!” Mrs. Renfro said excitedly as she passed out blank canvases and directed us to the set of oil paints in front of us.

“Now, we will be working together with the advanced music class for an exciting project. Each of you will be assigned a musician and for the first week will be painting a portrait of them, as detailed as you can make it. For the second week, they will be studying you. Your personality, your quirks and they will attempt to write a song about you. Now doesn’t that sound exciting!?” She said happily, ignoring the dismayed expression on my face.

“Wonderful!” Mrs. Renfro exclaimed, ignoring the lack of enthusiastic response from her students. “Well, Mr. Hanson’s class should be here any second so get ready and go grab a chair from the back, the music students get to choose their artist.” I groaned at this as I went to grab my chair. With my luck, Daniel the annoying flute player would try to choose me. Not that he was a bad person, just he was annoying! Didn’t understand that I did not like him the way he liked me.

“Oh well,” I muttered. “At least Shane skipped. I won’t have to see Sarah make cow eyes at him all period.”

“Jealous Hamilton?” A rich tenor voice said smugly right next to my ear. Yelping in surprise, I turned to see Shane, sporting a split lip and brand-new eyebrow piercing grinning at me and flopping down into the chair on the opposite side of my easel.  “Go ahead,” He said, gesturing to my blank canvas. “Paint me. Or would you prefer I be in the nude? I can do that.”

“No, please don’t,” I said, sitting down and shooting Daniel a look as he glared at Shane and appeared to be about to fight him over me. I shook my head at him ever so slightly and nodded towards Bethany, a nice girl who had no partner yet. Daniel grudgingly went but shot Shane one last look, which he caught due to turning to follow my line of sight.

“Please don’t tell me you’re interested in that ponce?” He said, turning and arching his newly pierced eyebrow at me.

“Oh god no,” I said as I started choosing my pencils to begin sketching out the boy in front of me. “And isn’t ponce a British word?”

“Great I would have you sent to the loony bin if you did like him. And can’t I bloody use the word ponce if I bloody want too? Bloody hell!” He said grinning, adopting a heavy British accent which clashed horribly with his natural one. But then suddenly his smile dropped off his face. “Now,” He began seriously, flicking blonde hair out of his face as he spoke. “Why in the world would you not want the opportunity to paint my sexy, sexy body in the nude? I hear seeing me in the nude is highly enjoyable, eh Sarah?” He called out, suddenly looking at the girl who had been so obviously listening in on our conversation.

Sarah’s face burned and her ears turned red in mortification as she turned towards her model, a shy bassist and began sketching.

“Now Hamilton, paint me in a pharaoh’s robe.” Shane commanded before lounging back into the seat, sitting sideways and stretching out. In that moment I could imaging him on a throne and inspiration hit me. I grabbed up the pencil and began sketching quickly in quick precise marks.

       “Or as a rock star… Hamilton? Whoo-hoo Hamilton? Earth to girl!” I didn’t even notice Shane’s attempts to catch my attention.

“Stay still,” I muttered as I glanced up for a moment to meet his eyes. “And shut up.”

Shane was shocked enough by the seriousness in my voice and complied. The rest of the period was spent sketching in silence as he examined me in turn.

The time flew away and I had just finished sketching in most of details of Shane and the basic outline of a throne.

I smiled at Shane as I stood up to put my supplies away as Mrs. Renfro gave everyone to five minutes warning to begin cleaning up.

After dropping off my supplies, I returned to my easel where Shane was examining the sketch with critiquing eyes.

“Nice job Hamilton! Didn’t actually expect you to do a throne. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’ll be here nice and early for you.” He said smiling brightly at me as I wrapped the blank canvas in cloth and grabbed my sketchbook, the sketch of Shane the first entry.

“Weren’t you skipping school today?” I asked, leaving the room and heading towards my Study-hall period in the Library.

“I did. I just never miss Hanson’s class. I do that and I’m out for good.” He said walking next to me.

“Why are you talking to me so much?” I asked, looking up at him as I stopped by my locker to grab out my books. “You never have before. It is kind of unnerving for you to be so nice.”

“Because,” Shane drawled, looking at me as if surprised I was too stupid to figure it out. “You interest me. For now at least. Well adios Hamilton.”

_-_-_

“So,” My step-father said after school as I sat in the chair in front of his desk. “What trouble did you get in today?”

“None at all Timmy. I was a good girl today,” I said sarcastically, as I looked longingly out the window. “Can I go? Please? You’re not leaving until 7 anyway.”

“Fine, but go straight home. I don’t want you wandering around town.” He said, turning back to his paperwork.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said, leaving to walk outside and begin my walk home.

And thus ends my first day of high school. 

 

 

Author's Note

What do you think? Do you think the banter between Shane and Edi is too much?

Reviews

[Stabitha]

I think it's really good.

The banter is fine, it's very amusing. I like Edi's reflections on Shane's Strine (Australian) dialect.

The banter sets up the tension between the two main characters and inpsires the reader's curiosity as to whether their attraction will go further...

Looking forward to Chapter 2.

[Tattered Teddy]

THIS IS GREAT, it drew me right in with the conflict in the bro/sis and then the dialogue kept me reading along, very interested. I love stories of high school and this one is definitely top-rate.

[Sammie Thor Camp]

love the banter, love Edi's dry sarcasm and how it makes me chuckle a bit. reminds me off me in my freshman year. can't wait for chapter 2.

[natalieanne]

i loved this! the only part where the wording was odd was when you said "the junior’s term of
endearment towards the freshman." it just didnt fit in very well. but other than that it was great :) are you going to be doing another chapter soon?