Chapter Two

Chapter 2

You never know the exact texture, the exact taste, the exact scent of a food, until you chew it slowly. That's what I was doing this morning. I was chewing my brown cinnamon and sugar pop tart with extra care. Trying to keep all of it down and waste time. Time that I didn’t want. Time I didn’t need. I didn’t want to spend it at that stupid school. Nor did I believe I needed to. ''Kayla you got ten minutes, shove that s**t down your throat and get in the car!'' I did as she asked because if I didn’t do it myself she would have came down and did it herself. I walked outside and tried to open the car door, and when it wouldn’t budge I groaned. I was leaning against the car door when my mother, Diane, came out. A brown coat was hung over her arm, the one that held a brown briefcase. She had on brown heels, brown pencil skirt and a white silk blouse. I had to admit, my mom was a pretty woman, annoying, but pretty. Her dark brown hair with light brown highlight, so much like mine, was pulled into a messy bun, strands of the hair over her face, giving her an exaggerated look. But a good look nonetheless. ''And you’re not in the car because?'' ''Well, it could be because it’s locked,'' I said. ''Jerk'', I said under my breath. ''What was that?'' ''Nothing.'' ''Hmm Hmm.'' Dad came outside then, and bid us to have a good day. He worked at night, so he got to sleep, lucky man. I turned away when mom and dad got all lovey dovey, but I still heard it. ''Think about me all day Ken, you hear?'' said mom. ''Who else would I be thinking about?'' dad said before he swooped in for a kiss. ''Ah, me!'' I yelled. Dad laughed. ''Have a good first day.'' ''Will do.'' As mom and I drove away from the house I began to think I wouldn’t keep that promise. 

''Kayla Rose,'' I repeated for the third time to the school director, who in my opinion needs direction herself. Her makeup, hair, clothes in terms of style, material and color was all wrong. She looked like she was going well into her 50's. She looked up at me with her bulging black eyes, smeared in black clumpy mascara. Hideous. '' Well, little lady, here goes your schedule. Your first class starts in twenty minutes and your locker number is 292, that’s on floor 2. Obviously,'' she laughed at her own joke. Tacky. I took the pink timetable sheet and walked out, hearing her shrilly voice behind me sing out ''Welcome to Fallen Valley High!

''5...6…1...damn it!'' I whispered to myself. I turned the padlock back to zero, starting over. ''5...6...1…8...4.'' The lock sprung open, and I pulled out the handle. I threw my black bag inside and closed the locker, almost screaming when someone's heart shaped face appeared in my vision. I looked her over quickly. Trying to see if I should get a bad vibe from her or not. She smiled at me, genuinely, her brown eyes warming. Her light brown hair was very thick and long, stopping about mid back. She was kind of short at what I would guess 5'3''. Latino Barbie. ''Hi, I'm Courtneii Torres. Not Coco, not Neii, not Court...Courtneii,'' she said while extending a hand. I took it and shook it, my mouth hanging slightly open at her straight forwardness. She spoke English well, but you can hear the undercurrent of her Spanish accent. ''This is where you say your name,'' she laughed. I didn’t like that, made me feel like I was being made fun of for my lack of social compatibility. ''Kayla Rose.'' ''Senior?'' ''Yes.'' ''Perfect.'' She pronounced perfect like a cat purr. Purrrfect. She gently removed the schedule from my hand. She nodded as if mentally assuring herself of something. ''All of our classes except for foreign language and mathematics are together. That should give us enough time to get to know each other. Maybe we will see the rest of the group.'' Group. The first warning bell rang, and like a flock of seagulls, students ran to every direction. Some after promising boyfriends to see them later, one telling friends not to talk to that 'b***h', and one after assuring their mother they told the nurse abut their rash. Infectious. '''Let's head over to Mr. Carmichael, the history teacher, you will definitely leave his class thinking you were actually in that time period.'' We were amongst the last to arrive. People looked at Courtneii with obvious recognition and me with interested awe. We took seats next to each other in the back, the teacher coming in minutes after. ''Well, if this isn't the most animated class I have had ever,'' he joked after we said a less than enthusiastic hello. He looked perplexed for a moment as he scanned over the classroom, searching for someone. When his dark eyes saw me, he smiled. ''There you are! Ms. Kayla Rose. Stand up and introduce yourself to the class so we can get started.” Great. I stood up shakily, tense and nervous for a moment. Here goes nothing. ''My name is Kayla Rose. Moved here yesterday. Attended school against my will.'' I sat down after having prided myself when I heard various little snickers from some of my classmates. ''Don’t we all,'' the teacher concluded and began the lesson. Courtneii was right. By the end of the class, I could see myself with a feather bow wrapped around my head, a loincloth around my waist and a vest type made of animal skin wrapped around my chest calling myself a Native American ready to talk to the 'other people.' As we walked back to our lockers, conveniently next to each other, we laughed about something. All I know is that when were laughing, I wasn’t paying attention to what or who was in front of me. I just collided into something hard. 

''Oh damn!'' I cursed. ''Try looking where you're going,'' a deep voice rumbled. I looked up, and swore I saw an angel. He was that gorgeous. Tall, light, and handsome. He was just working it. Black wavy hair that reached to the top of his ears, rich caramel colored skin, and brown eyes. He was 6'5'' I was later to find out. ''Sorry,'' I said meekly, while giving him my best smile. He looked at me warily for a couple of minutes, as if trying to see if I wouldn’t topple over from momentary clumsiness. Then he smiled, that heavenly smile. I am ready for heaven now. ''No problem,'' he said, then he just walked off. Walked off! Can you believe it? When he was out of earshot, Courtneii laughed. ''You should have seen your face when you looked up and saw him. If I only had a camera,'' she said, laughing again. ''Shut up,'' I said, but not in a mean way, my smile betrayed me. ''What is his name anyway? He should stop working out, I feel like I smacked into a wall. You could of said he was there,'' I whispered. '' Aye Mama, I didn’t see him either, and anyway his name is David Powell. And if he stopped working out, he wouldn’t be head of the football team,'' Courtneii said. I didn’t listen to what she began talking about after that. I was too busy dreaming about David and I. Those big, strong, arms, wrapped around me, gazing into my eyes lovingly while he opened his mouth to say... ''A*****e, you listening,'' Courtneii said, sounding aggravated, but she smiled then, so I knew I wasn’t in trouble. ''Don’t worry, I know where your thoughts are.'' she smiled secretly. The rest of my classes went on like Mr. Carmichael's. I introduced myself; they got on with the lesson. I met up with Courtneii again on the lunch line. I picked up a cheeseburger and fries with soda. Yum. Paid for it, and then followed her to her table. There was a boy there and another girl. ''Hello beautiful,'' the guy said to Courtneii. Courtneii blushed and smiled. ''Kayla, meet Jeffery Richardson and Natalie De Luca. Jeffery and Natalie meet Kayla Rose.'' Natalie looked up and nodded at me shortly and continued to jot down things on a paper. Jeffery however, continued to look at Courtneii or me with weird intensity. ''She is part of the newspaper,'' Courtneii explained for her friend's lack of response. Natalie was a porcelain white doll. The life size doll of average height, gray eyes and long straight black hair to her elbows. A pretty doll you always wanted. “I honestly don’t know why she cares about that s**t. Nothing special goes around over here,” Jeffery said. Jeffery had piercing green eyes, and fine dark brown hair. His skin was surprisingly smooth, for a teenage boy. He jaw was square and straight up masculine. “Hey chika! Stop staring!” Courtneii laughed. He was by far not ugly, but he didn’t compare to David in my head. Courtneii went to go sit next to Jeffery and I sat next to her on her other side. The contrast between Courtneii and Jeffery's skin tones was striking, and slightly resembled an afterschool treat I used to have. She was the peanut butter, he was the milk. Yum again. ''So Kayla, where are you from,'' it was Jeffery who asked. The little journalist two seats away from me popped her head up; we were now in her territory...interrogation. She scooted a seat closer and I saw her hand shoot across the page. When I looked to see what she was writing, she had managed to write every single answer about myself I told Jeffery. I began to become uncomfortable. Courtneii swooped in and saved me. ''Oh look. Here comes Alli.'' A girl who reminded me of an antique pearl with her skin tone ambled over to us. Her soft blue eyes looked at me perplexed, but not harshly. She also had vibrant curly red hair that rolled to her shoulders. ''Alli, this is Kayla Rose. Kayla this is Alli Nolan.'' Courtneii said. Alli smiled and waved softly. I did the same. Lunch continued the same. Me getting bombarded with questions by Jeffery, Natalie shooting notes, Courtneii saving me, and Alli just smiling. ''Liking Fallen Valley High yet,'' Alli asked as she shooed a fly off the napkin. I made a mental note to ask why she only spoke after Jeffery said his goodbyes. ''It's all right. School's not really my thing.'' ''Don’t worry, you will fit right in, just have to be nice and pretty,'' she looked up and smiled, ‘‘two of which you are.'' I smiled. I liked this Alli, I laughed to myself. I took a minute to recognize my beauty, seeing her comment as an invitation. I had a nice caramel hue to my skin, straight dark brown hair with light highlights that reached beneath my shoulder blades, and I was 5'7''. My most incredible feature though was my eyes. The irises were green and hazel with flecks of blue shooting through them. Thank God I wasn't ugly...I had enough problems. We got up after the lunch bell, and ambled through the hallway. Foreign language was my last class, so I had to leave the 'clan'. ''See you afterschool right?'' Alli asked. ''Of course,'' I said, while walking away. Realizing I was kind of late, I power walked to the classroom. I entered the classroom giving apologies to Ms. Flora, who said something to me in Spanish. A language I had yet to get accustomed to. I looked around for a seat and finally found one and occupied it. Only then did I see who sat next to me in it.... that Greek god....