Meeting Jess

 

Chapter 2

Two days later, school started and I was trying to decipher a badly-Xeroxed school map so I could find my first class. Finally, after some squinting and help from a custodian�"stupid boxes representing the classrooms weren’t marked well�"I found where my first class should be just as the bell rang, walking through the empty halls for a few minutes before finally arriving. Hopefully the teacher wouldn’t be too mad�"new students get a free tardy the first day, right?

“We will be studying�"can I help you?” The teacher�"Mr. Berkeley, according to my schedule�"turned to face me as I walked in during his speech. I felt the class’ curious eyes following me, but I tried to ignore them for the time being.

“I’m a new student, Aiden Cross. It took me a while to figure out how to read the school map,” I said, holding out a sheet of paper the secretary instructed I get signed by every teacher. He gave me a quizzical look, and I handed him the map as well. “A three-year-old could draw better than that,” I said. His eyes flicked from the map to me, and then back down. I couldn’t help but feel a little smug as I his brow furrowed in confusion over the map.

“Ah. Well then, go ahead and introduce yourself to the class, Mr. Cross,” answered Mr. Berkeley, signing the small sheet with a flourish and handing it back. “See that you aren’t late again,” he added.

The class looked instantly bored�"no doubt they expected the standard list of hobbies and a synopsis of my life. I smirked to myself and decided to change things up a little.

“Well… I’m Aiden Cross and I just moved here a few days ago from Fort Worth. I could stand here and tell you a million clichés about myself, but I’d rather you just come up and ask me if you want to know something. Where do I sit?” I said, directing the last question at the teacher. Shocked into silence, the teacher mutely gestured toward an empty desk near the back of the classroom. I took my seat, noticing the class was certainly more awake, turning around in their seats to get a good look at me.

“Nice one,” someone muttered beside me. I turned and saw a short, small girl smiling appreciatively�"I almost stared, thinking she must be anorexic, before I noticed the huge hoodie she was wearing making her look smaller than she really was. “Gotta love cynicism,” she added.

I shrugged. “I figured I’d be a little bit different and not bore the class with an autobiography,” I said nasally, adjusting an invisible monocle. “I wonder when my humanitarian award will come in for that.”

The girl grinned at me, her hazel eyes sparkling in mirth. “I like you,” she said. “You’re pretty damn cool. I’m Jess Pearson, by the way,” she said, extending a hand. We shook hands briefly before realizing Mr. Berkeley had already started discussing the syllabus and his expectations for the biology course, and sheepishly turning to pay attention.

With twenty minutes of class left after the discussion and apparently no lecture planned, Mr. Berkeley sat behind his desk and warned the class not to get too loud. “I know you’re all dying to catch up with your friends, so I’ll let you do just that, provided you stay reasonably quiet and well-behaved,” he said before disappearing behind a hunting magazine. Instantly, whispers and laughter punctuated the air.

Jess turned to me expectantly. “So, what are you doing in this little hick town from Fort Worth? You couldn’t have wanted to move here,” she said, cupping her chin in her hand.

“If only it had been that,” I answered dully. “My dad travels a lot, and my mom… can’t have me at home right now, so I’m with my uncle just outside of town.”

Jess nodded slowly, probably noticing my reluctance to talk about the subject. “So�"Meadow Grove. It’s small, it sucks, and the closest place with anything remotely fun is Rockwall, in case you were wondering. Even this podunk high school has cliques, so don’t be surprised when you see how segregated the cafeteria gets. What lunch do you have, anyway? Let me see your schedule,” she rambled, reaching out for the piece of paper I was already pulling out of my notebook.

“Wow, cliques in a small town�"I thought it’d be all Bible-thumpers, with your few token outcasts,” I said sardonically, handing the sheet over to Jess. “This place has a church on practically every corner.”

“Nope. You’ve got your jocks, drama geeks, band nerds, punks, Goths, posers, skaters, and b*****s,” she answered, scanning the sheet.

“B*****s?”

“Yeah�"you know, the chicks who think they’re so hot because Daddy’s money gets them the latest clothes Abercrombie has. Hey, how’d you get into calculus? I thought you were a junior; that’s a senior-level class,” Jess asked, her hazel eyes flicking up to look at me.

“My old school did things differently. The advanced class for juniors is calculus,” I answered. Jess nodded in understanding�"they must get new students on a regular basis. I shuddered mentally at the thought.

“Hey Jess,” said a tall, Hispanic-looking boy with tousled brown hair, sinking into the empty desk next to her.

“Hey, Matt! I didn’t see you in here when I came in!” Jess responded excitedly, hugging him. “This is Aiden. He’s great,” she added. “Aiden, this is my awesome friend Matt Rodriguez. He acts like a total dipshit at times, but he’s cool.”

I laughed. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here, if there were people as cool as Jess seemed to be.

“Hey, I have first lunch too,” Matt said, looking at my schedule over Jess’ shoulder.

“So do I, “ added Jess. “We have history and social studies together, Aiden. How nice, eh? I’ll be there to help you keep the hordes away,” At my questioning gaze, she looked pointedly behind me. Matt roared in laughter as I peeked to see most of the girls in the class stealing glances at me. That was kind of odd�"I was so used to being the oddball in Fort Worth that no girl bothered sparing a second glance at. Well, a little attention was never a bad thing, right?

“Nice to see I’ve still got it,” I said pompously, popping an imaginary collar. “What’s with the staring, anyway?”

Matt smiled. “Well, for one you’re new, so you’re almost definitely single. I’m guessing the other’s your hair,” he answered, still chuckling.

“What about my hair?” I asked, reaching up to smooth any stray pieces of russet-colored hair. I never did much to it�"did it show?

Jess laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with it�"it just looks really good. I like it; kind of a Johnny Depp look,” she added appreciatively.

Confused, I fingered my shaggy chin-length hair�"I’d never really given much thought to it, but I just shrugged. “Well, as long as it’s not because it’s funny-looking,” I said, tugging on the sleeves of my shirt.

Jess rolled her eyes. “You’re not metro too, are you? I swear, I can only handle one at a time,” she groaned. I raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not what?” I asked, confused.

Matt stifled a snort. “Metrosexual�"straight and style-conscious,” he supplied.

“Uh… I’ll go with no,” I decided, since I really didn’t put much thought into what I wore�"Mom did, that was why I had so many clothes to begin with. Jess looked happy once I answered.

“Poor Jess; just because she doesn’t care much about style she hates guys that do,” Matt teased. I glanced at Matt and realized what she meant�"Matt looked like he’d been dressed by a professional, sporting a blazer over a collared shirt, dark jeans, and white K-Swiss sneakers.

“Nah, I pretty much stick to the same kind of thing every day,” I answered, gesturing to the striped button-up, faded jeans, and sneakers I was wearing. “I only have so much Express because my mother used to be a manager for a store in Fort Worth.”

Jess looked relieved. “Good,” she said. “I just pull on whatever I first touch in the mornings, fashion be damned.”

Matt smirked. “Yeah, yeah, ‘fashion be damned’ until Ethan says something, you mean,” he snickered. Jess sulked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Who’s that? And why should it matter what anyone says?” I asked, glancing from Matt to Jess, who was still sulking.

“Ethan’s her boyfriend,” Matt answered. He leaned toward me and whispered, “Tell you more later,”

The bell rang, surprising me�"those twenty minutes had gone by pretty fast. Jess grimaced.

“Wish me luck,” she said gloomily. “I’ve got Yearbook next with Mrs. LaRue�"I’m going to be surrounded by b*****s.”

Matt looked at her, askance. “I can’t believe you actually listened to him, Jess,” he hissed disapprovingly�"I looked away, pretending I didn’t hear what was obviously meant to be a private comment. Jess just looked at him with a sad but defiant look on her face, and disappeared.

I busied myself with my schedule as we made our way through the horde of students chattering and laughing. “English with Lantham�"d’you know where that is?” I asked Matt, hoping to God I didn’t have to look at the chicken-scratched map for guidance.

Matt nodded, shooting a grin toward a group of girls that tittered and pointed. “That’s my next class�"just follow me,” he said, his eyes still on the group of overly-giggly teenyboppers.

I moved to follow Matt through a maze of lockers and hissed in annoyance when a guy who clearly thought too much of himself bumped into me roughly without even a second glance. “A*s,” I muttered, glaring at the locker beside me so I didn’t somehow lose sight of Matt�"that would have just been my rotten luck.

“What did you call me?” someone demanded behind me.

Great. I’d been hoping to avoid a confrontation the first week, at least, but my big mouth usually ruined anything I had planned. I sighed as Matt gave me a slightly panicked look, and turned around to face the guy.

Even better�"the guy’s arms were about as thick as my entire body. I swallowed hard, and hoped to God I got out of this unscathed.

 

Author's Note

Be honest--that's all I ask.

Reviews

[Adolfo Dorta]

Good follow up to the first chapter. Very flowing in the dialogue and we get a bit more into the character. Its a brisk read and takes you straight through to the next chapter.

The dialogue is all very well done, maybe a bit too self aware of itself, but nevertheless well done. A common problem among writers who are attempting novels the first few times is that everybody sounds the same - I dont get that here. Its believable, and every person is individualistic.

Im almost wanting Aiden to have a bit more fire to him. He seems to show signs of it here and there, and its hinted at often enough, but it hasnt come across quite yet. He seems like a much too passive Holden Caulfield. Id give him a bit more of a bite.

Well, Im on to the next two chapters you have up so far.

[---]

good use of dialogue is very good, but some parts of the conversation dont sound all that realistic: "This ia my awesome friend Matt. Hes a total dipshit sometimes, but he's cool." i also think you should've said what the class was. Otherwise it was really good.

[Adam Chambers]

Really good use of dialogue-- flows extremely well. Last line of first chapter hooked me completely. Beautifully written. Just a couple suggestions for what they're worth: ch.1, first page, "Youre what thirty two..." then how about "Or am I lowballing it a little?" instead of "Am I a little low?" Would that work for his character? Then, this is nitpicky but maybe "from the Ft. Worth police" instead of "ffrom Ft. Worth Police". And super-anal here, but maybe no hyphen between "lazy" and "a*s" on last page of ch 1. That might give "lazy a*s" a little more oomph to it. Really liked it though. Curious where the story's going.. I'll have to keep checking in with it!
Adam