‘Lost?’

Jordan looked up from his timetable. There was nothing immediately obvious around him until he looked down into the face of a slender, petite girl with wild brown hair and her hands shoved deep in her pockets.
‘Yeah, I guess,’ he said, a little cautiously. It was a little weird for Jords meeting and talking to new people- he’d basically spent his whole life in the same school, with the same friends back in England and now it was a novel experience. It made him a little more nervous than he would have liked.

‘You have a good face.’

Okay, that was definitely a little odd. His first experience of his new school was making him wonder if he’d accidentally wandered into a mental clinic.

‘Uh.. thanks?’ He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by that, but it did sound like a compliment. She was the first person he’d talked to in the new school too- maybe it paid not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if they were very to-the-point. And she was cute, in a messy art-nerd kind of way.

‘I’m sorta new to this school and I don’t really know where I’m going.. Do you know where Room B6 is? I’ve got English with Gomez there first and this place looks way too massive for me to wander around til I find it.’ Hopefully he’d bumped into a fellow classmate and he wouldn’t have to be the friendless new kid for too long.

@eclecticwitch fucks sake how do you tag

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---

Julie’s favourite pastime is people watching and spending her mornings at this particular garden table doing just that was just perfect. There was just one thing missing and she had just the fix for it, she picked up her leather bag and retrieved her small thermos mug filled with delicious colombian roast. She flipped the lid open and took in the heavenly smell that erupted from the mug, Julie took a careful sip since it was still piping hot. But as soon as coffee made its way down Julie’s mood brightened instantly.

As she sat there daydreaming, looking at people with her chin in the palm of her hand, Julie noticed a few things: Dawn Bentley and Charlie Grobowski had broken up after 3 years, Finn Doberman was obviously high on campus and Sonny Drake had already started trouble with faculty. Julie finally snapped out of her dreamstate when her friend Chanel arrived across from her obscuring Julie’s full view of the courtyard.

"The start of the end of high school. Fucking finally." Chanel lamented as she set her designer bag on the table.

Julie smiled at her and let out a small yawn “I don’t know Chanel, I think this year can be quite interesting” she set her coffee mug back down on the table. “Well at least I think we can make this year very interesting.” She noticed Spencer the small freshman walking in with a small group of friends, Julie smiled and gave him a wink. He looked around at his friends flustered as they all rushed inside.

She turned her attention back to her friend “Anyway, so I talked to daddy about getting you in at the office, he said it really depended on what you wanted to do there and what your skills are. Unfortunately he said you’d probably get to catalog all the different pieces for his fall/winter collection.” She eyed her friend not wanting to disappoint her “But I also talked to Iris and she said she could score you an interview with her management office, so that’s something.

Julie absent mindedly played with her ponytail as she scanned the sea of students for something interesting, and her pale blue eyes fell on two students in particular standing a few steps away from the crowd, both looking a bit awkward. Julie did recognize them but couldn’t really place them, after some brain rummaging she found what she was looking for. The girl was King’s Academy’s chess champion, who ran a blog that Julie had read once and the boy was some sort of computer wiz who some people called “JewBoy”, which Julie thought was a rather harsh nickname. If she wasn’t mistaken their interaction was some sort of sad attempt at flirting, her heart was melting. She turned her attention back to Chanel yet again,

“Would you look at those two!” She flicked her head in the couples direction. “Have you seen anything cuter? We need to fix them, they clearly need our help.” She looked them both up and down. She looked like she just thrown her uniform on, meanwhile the guy looked like he wakes up at 5 am every morning to freshly press his uniform in desperate need to let loose a little. “I think we should invest in them! Or would our stock plummet?” She asked Chanel with a raised eyebrow.

---

Johnny watched as Beatrice walked away from him. Must have been uncomfortable, too many people around. He understood perfectly, but he also knew that Dylan would not. Bea had high-functioning autism, so she wasn't good with lots of people. He didn't care though, she was a great friend and it was nice to have someone who didn't judge you when you made a social misstep. He'd ask her if she's okay later though, it was best to give her some time to cool down. He gave a whimsical smile in her direction, knowing she wouldn't see.

"She can be standoffish, but she doesn't mean to be, trust me. She just doesn't phrase things very well. I don't make friends with douchebags, so you can trust her," he assured Dylan. It was true, he didn't make friends with docuebags, due to his 'friendship criteria'. It stated that if a person is a jerk, cut them off immediately. It had saved him from some very bad friendships, and made sure that he only associated with decent people. Hopefully this would make Dylan more comfortable, knowing that he wasn't a douchebag.

Just as he was about to go into more detail, he heard a voice he didn't recognise. "Who you texting cutie? I think I'm more interesting than whoever that text is going to. Usually when people flirted with him, unless he was interested in them, he would use the 'just ignore them' tactic. It was hard when he felt a hand run through his hair. His apathy turned to boiling anger. His eyes narrowed, his hands became fists, his muscles tensed. It was not a pleasent sight.

It was a well known fact that angering a Baxter was not a good idea. Johnny's father was well known for his blistering temper and biting insults, a trait his sons shared. They weren't hot headed but they knew how to get angry in style. Johnny was no exception to the rule. He looked up at her, his face set in a death glare that was rumored to be fatal. He didn't know her, but as she continued speaking, boasting about how she was 'everywhere', Johnny knew he hated her. Who did she think she was, a total newbie, strutting right up to him, talking like she was Venus in human form? He was going to have to put her in her place.

"Now, look here love-" He began, to no avail. She began introducing herself to the entire school like she was royalty. He tried a second time. "I said, look here-" he repeated, his voice slightly more serious. Then she walked away. If fire could have sprouted from his ears, it would have. He heard Andrès refer to her as his cousin. Poor soul. Johnny rather liked Andrès, he wasn't a bad guy. Far from it, he seemed decent. It was too bad his cousin was Medusa. She acted like she was lovely, but Johnny could see through her, she wanted to be the top of the food chain. It was obvious, really, no one goes so out of their way to introduce themselves without reason.

Deciding he would be the one to give her a lesson, Johnny stood up, marching towards her. He roughly grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face him. "It seems you didn't hear me. I said LISTEN HERE!" The last part was practically growled at her. With his death glare and hulking frame, he was quite intimidating. But after saying what he came to, he felt awkward, and it was a bit obvious. He didn't know what to say next. He'd just have to wing it.

"Right, uh, just who are you? Genuine question, I, uh, have no clue who you are. Billboard 100 or whatever the godammn hell it's called isn't my style. And I don't think the Disney channel is a good example of talent. It's an example of whose daddy has the biggest pockets. Anyway, who the hell goes out of their way to introduce themselves? I swear you were one step away from bringing out a marching band." With that, he laughed. Hard. Until he shook with laughter. His laugh was malicious, cruel, like a bully who'd some kid in the playground.

"Sorry, give me a bit. It's just, well, you're pathetic! Isn't she pathetic everyone?" He asked the group, unaware that he was getting malicious. "I almost pity you. Trying to make yourself look big, are we? Aww bless. And I'm sure getting in some movie nerd's pants will further your cause! I've acknowledged your existence longer than I should have too, so I'll leave it a this: Stay the godamn hell away, and remember that you aren't exactly Gilda Mundson Farrell." With that, he raised his middle finger, smiled, and left, returning to his spot on his car as if he never left.

Life was abruptly ripped away from her, blindsided like a school bus turning her paraplegic, Ximena felt the firm grip of the boy behind her tear into her skin. The grip was anything but the right kind of domination she was into. Her body was jerked towards him, her eyes catching his perturbed face. It seemed she really managed to get underneath his skin, his skin tinged red with anger and a shaking she could feel coarse through her body. Anger of her own boiled and stewed deep inside her, her perfectly plucked eyebrows furrowed in retaliation. If her years of self-defense classes taught her anything it was she didn’t fear bullies like Johnny here. The amount of tension he had place on her arm would give her the perfect opportunity to use his own energy against him, should she go for the chop chop chop judo flip and embarrass him in front of everyone? No, that was too good for this wannabe film director, not everyone with a camera and no film degree was as talented as Quentin Tarantino. That just left the only other option that she knew and rehearsed all too well, the victim. Her tear jerking performances on screen would come to life here and be no different.

Her angered face flashed the boy a devilish smile to warn him what was to come, it was already too late for him he signed his death sentence. Her face immediately turned into one of pain, she started crying in pain as she fell to her knees. “Ow ow ow, stop you’re hurting me!” she said in an exasperated breathe, “Andres help m…” she trailed off as tears as natural as day began to slide down the side of her face. Her clothes had been ruffled and half torn off from the fall and the grip that remained on her shoulder. The boy dropped her like a bad habit and turned in his self-triumph to wherever it was he thought he could go when school was starting shortly. You see Johnny wasn’t the only one with a camera that was recording, with a school as high end as this one there would be camera littered around every entrance of the school, all XiXi would have to do is appeal the nature of the vice principal or principal for that matter and show them the evidence. Before her act could go any further a radiant female with dark hair and piercing blue eyes showed up in the fray. A new challenger had appeared, maybe this school wasn’t going to be as boring as her last.

There was a sort of tranquility born from the chaos that ensued the late arrivals of her other teenage peers. Emotions and hormones were high, which wasn’t atypical of such a situation just as this. Aaliyah was correct in her prompt of comparing the different cliques to that of the primal animal kingdom, it was quite the spectacle to watch if you were an outsider…which she was. This was perfect cover for the scholarly wallflower, the perfect escape just what she needed. It was too good to be true however as she was spotted out by her fellow coder and mathlete. How did he see her in the sea of drama that was soon to entangle the entire senior class? Had she give off a smell of fear? Whatever it was she just hoped the two of them could go unnoticed together. Aaliyah and Elijah had history and not just the class they had together 5th period. The two had always been in the same classes, the same extra curricular activities, even had the same hobbies. While Aaliyah never had any friends or anyone ever visit her at her house, she saw some solace when she spoke with Elijah even if she was painfully oblivious to his crush.

Aaliyah was kind of used to the way he spoke when he was around her, it was kind of comforting in that sense. Someone was able to mess up just as badly as she did. Except he didn’t really approach her more so jumped at her in bewildering fashion. As if Aaliyah wasn’t accident prone enough, the sudden shock of "He- Hi- Y- SHALOM." startled her out of his skin. Having two left feet she tripped over her legs, knocking her to her ground with her books flying out of her arms. Oh no this would surely take away from whatever was happening around the watering hole and pull all the attention to her. Aaliyah got up as fast as she could which only ended up fanning out more of her books, this was social suicide at its finest. “This is bad this is bad, this is so flipping bad! I have to go, I have to go.”

Sheesh, what a klutz! But it wasn’t her fault, it seemed he scared Aaliyah straight out of her skin- he didn’t think he could see a black girl with such a pale look on her face. ”O-Oy vey! I’m sorry, Aaliyah. I didn’t mean to startle you!” He watched as she scrambled along the floor collecting her books and papers that had began to scattered from her arms. He dropped down to his knees just as quickly, grabbing up a few of the books and pieces of paper that somehow launched from her arms. Now Elijah felt like a complete putz- great start to the school year. Being significantly on the paler scale, the heat of embarrassment was rising quickly in Elijah’s face. He could feel it too- the eyes of other people turning towards them. Plenty of people had been shocked by Elijah’s rather loud voice as well. Had he really been that loud? He just wanted to say hello.

Then there had been the sound of the falling books, and even more heads were turning their way. She was in full panic mode as well. She kept mumbling that she had to go, and it only caused Elijah’s heart to leap in his throat. Great, so he would be making a fool of himself for nothing as well. Oh dear God, Elijah made a mistake. He should have just taken the safe route and stuck with Johnny and the ever-growing group of strangers there. At least they wouldn’t be staring at him like the Creature of the Black Lagoon. Gathering up the last papers and books that he could help with, Elijah quickly rose to his feet, handing them over towards Aaliyah. Shit, this was probably his only chance to try and recover from the situation, but as much as he wanted to say something, the words didn’t come out. ”Sorry, I think I got too eager seeing a familiar face.” He asked, concerned and now back to a normal speaking level. His voice was significantly steadier but maintained its sincerity. He could still feel some of those eyes staring. Dear Lord, just look away, would ya?

Aaliyah’s mind was racing a mile a minute, all of her biggest fears were coming true right this very moment. Her thoughts were clouded and her reactions were just giving way to more mistakes, why was she like this. The sweet words spewed out by Elijah were wasted as she could only hear her own thoughts, that was until she remembered her breakfast with her father that morning. She was a King and that made her strong. Why else would the Academy she attended be named one in the same? The familiar voice soothed her as it always did. The memories of her mother plastering her first day pictures on facebook even made her laugh. What was once a mountain regressed into the size of a molehill, hopefully Aaliyah was able to salvage what was left of the situation. Luckily enough for her, the tears and screams of pain might have been enough of a shroud to cancel out her nuclear fallout. The muffled sound of the background began to pour in once more in clear definition. Her pace slowed and became more normal as her blood pressure went back down to resting. She was finally able to see Elijah, except in this light she was the calm sane one and he was the one in hysterics.

The rosiness of embarrassment filled his pale white cheeks which in turn made Aaliyah laugh. “No it’s okay I shouldn’t have been so quick to scare. You just came out of nowhere. I’m glad there’s someone around here who I can talk to. I think you said something about today’s coding news? I did man-“ before she could finish her coherent message she had gathered the remainder of her things off the floor and what Elijah handed her. Except of course when she was talking she was talking more to herself as some kind of dialogue which blinded her frontal vision. As she rose to meet Elijah’s face her skull met his chin before anything else. Good thing her brain was so large her skull had to compensate, a searing pain rushed through her head as she dropped her books once more. Luckily for her the pain outweighed her tendency to freak out. Cupping her hands on her head she began to open her eyes, hopefully she didn’t knock the jew boy out in round one of their heavyweight finals.

Elijah could feel his own heart settling as the sanity came back into Aaliyah’s bright brown eyes. She wasn’t tearing away in hasty flight. In fact, she had calmed down enough now that she was speaking back to him. Her voice was so sweet, and Elijah couldn’t help but allow a goofy smile to spread on his lips. It felt as if everything else around him was just starting to melt away. The eyes that were so devilishly staring at them didn’t burn a hole in the back of his head anymore. In fact, it seemed most people weren’t even looking in their direction. Had it all just been in their heads? She had barely started to respond when he felt a sudden, blunt force on the bottom of his chin, knocking his head backwards and causing him to step back a bit. He moved his hand quickly to his chin. ”OW!”

His hand rubbed the underneath of his chin, damn that hurt! She had a hard head, or perhaps he just had a weak jaw. He took a step back, continuing to rub his chin. Ah, how elegant their encounter so far. ”I thought you were hard headed, but that was more than I expected.” He tried to laugh it off, but he could still feel the pulsing sensation under his chin. Yeah, that was definitely going to become a bruise. Watching her rub the top of her head, Elijah instinctively began to reach out, to place a hand on her head. But quickly he retracted his hand before it could get very far. Even he recognized touching her may have been to bold of a move from Elijah, even it if was genuinely to make sure she was okay. ”Be careful where you swing that thing. You’ll knock someone out.” He smiled his goofy smile again, fixing his tie that had been knocked out of its tight knot.

His dynamic and percussive voice rang through the air once more, there was such a mix of sounds in the immediate vicinity it was almost like a slice of life tv show. Aaliyah massaged her head a little more before bending down once more to gather her books. “This is sure to leave a bump tomorrow” Aaliyah finally did her best to recompose herself and assess the situation. Elijah had been massaging his own sore spot which Aaliyah had nicely placed, if anything her aim was solid. Aaliyah recoiled by his comment before playfully punching him in the chest, “Hey what’s that supposed to mean?” His hand reached out to her, she didn’t know whether he was trying to hit her back or console her. Either or would have been read the same to her as she was socially unaware of any feelings he had. “I’ll probably knock myself out, I should just go back home and start over. Ready to go to first period?” she asked.

Elijah listened closely to Aaliyah as she spoke, though it wasn’t necessarily the words he was focusing on. It was the spring that her hair had anytime she slightly moved her head or body. The way her words slipped from her lips like sweet honey, how soft her eyes were. He was completely charmed! He was caught off guard when he felt her fist make contact with his chest in such a playful way. The red heat was rushing back to his cheeks. She was being playful with him, was she trying to be flirty too? He opened his mouth to respond, that was until he heard a scream behind him. He turned on his heel, watching as some girl cried out from being grabbed by Johnny. Elijah’s eyes went wide, oh no! Red alert! ”Uh… yeah! I’ll see you around!” And with that, Elijah rushed to his friends side, giving a rather half-hearted goodbye to Aaliyah. Though he wanted to continue talking with her, he felt the need to go into damage control. Placing a firm hand on Johnny’s shoulder, Elijah glanced around at the people gathered, the girl who was crumbled to the ground. ”Woah, Johnny. What’s gotten into you?” Elijah raised a curious eyebrow. It seemed so out of the ordinary for Johnny to “randomly attack” someone. What had he missed?

Aaliyah noticed Elijah’s face was getting red once more but she couldn’t help but wonder why. She was running through everything that happened in the last few minutes, there was nothing too embarrassing that they hadn’t already outdone. It looked like he was going to say something but then he ran off before she could even reply. “Uhhh sure yeah I guess?” Aaliyah was quite confused as to what came over him, but nonetheless it was time for her to be 15 minutes early to class. That was until her glance caught that of Chanel. She was immediately struck with awe as she the way the girl managed to dress up her uniform so nicely and with accessories to boot. She was a fashion icon, it was almost destined for her to win best dressed in the school yearbook. Aaliyah sighed wishing she was more like her, but the attention of this little caterpillar would never be seen by a monarch like her. Aaliyah didn’t care for much else of what was going on. Some girl was on the floor crying and Aaliyah never did well with that, so off she went off to class blissfully in her own world.

---

Dylan’s sole friend quickly introduced him to his group of friends: Min, the avid photographer, and Bea, the budding artist. He was also shown Oli, and promptly told to steer clear of him. Dylan looked at Bea and Min, and let out a small ”Hey,” not knowing what else to say. Thankfully, the awkward silence was broken quickly by Bea, with an equally awkward “Being you must really suck.” Dylan didn’t quite know how to react to this. ”Uh, it’s not too bad, I guess.” he said, before Bea told him “Welcome to Kings.” before walking away. ”She’s… interesting,” Dylan thought to himself before Johnny explained, "She can be standoffish, but she doesn't mean to be, trust me. She just doesn't phrase things very well. I don't make friends with douchebags, so you can trust her,"

Before Dylan could say anything else, a girl came up to Johnny and started speaking to him. She looked familiar, but Dylan couldn't quite put his finger on it. From the way she was treating him, they seemed quite friendly, but from Johnny’s face, Dylan got the complete opposite impression. It was when the girl turned to himself and Min that and said what her name was that Dylan realised who it was. “My name is Ximena Garcia, but you can just call me XiXi. I can’t wait to get to know you all”
Dylan knew who Ximena was through Paul, who practically lived for girls like her. How would have told Paul, except it seemed that things between her and Johnny were getting quite heated. He clearly wasn’t too pleased with her introduction, which Dylan understood. Dylan didn’t understand, however, why he had gotten quite so angry, and even began to get rude to her, and then turned around, saying "Isn't she pathetic everyone?" Not having seen this side of Johnny before, since they had only met up a lone or with family before, Dylan wasn’t quite sure. He didn’t want to be rude to the new girl, but he also didn’t want to lose his only friend. Dylan decided to stay quiet, and pursed his lips whilst looking at Johnny, hoping he would get the message to knock it off.

Johnny came back over to Dylan and Min, and he was soon joined by another new face, who asked Johnny what was wrong. Hoping to make another friend, Dylan introduced himself, ”Hey, um, I'm Dylan, nice to meet you,”

"I’m sorta new to this school and I don’t really know where I’m going.. Do you know where Room B6 is? I’ve got English with Gomez there first and this place looks way too massive for me to wander around til I find it."

Oh. Lovely. She had been right, another newbie. She hoped she wouldn’t say anything dumb. It seemed like she had done well so far. If she could get through the day without saying at least five dumb, mean things she would call that a win. Or, if she did say something cruel, she hoped he maybe wouldn’t notice. Unlikely. He had an accent. Her American way might cause offense.

“Gross. I’m sorry,” she said in response to his statement about Gomez. She wrinkled her nose and frowned. “Me too. I’ll take you.” At his statement about the school seeming huge she raised her eyebrows and a more pleasant and surprised look adorned her features. “I’ve been in houses bigger than our school,” she said in soft amazement. She turned breifly to study the building. She had felt the school was a good, normal size. Then, she hadn’t been to other schools. Maybe plebian schools were tiny. She looked back to him and her eyes drifted up and down his body before meeting his face again.

“You’re huge. That’s so strange you think it is big.” She was tiny and didn’t feel so daunted by the halls. Then again. She wasn’t new. Bea tried to think back to when she was a freshman, just as tall then as she was now. She couldn’t recall thinking a sentiment anything like that. She shrugged and turned on her heel.

“Follow me.” Beatrice walked quite fast for her short stature. She had to keep up with all the tall, long legged people in her life so a fast paced walk was natural. In through the huge double doors and into a giagantic entryway. She loved that new school smell. They repainted all the walls and waxed all the floors. It was a chemical, clean sort of smell. It was the smell of new beginnings.

She did not stop in the entryway and instead headed forward through a set open double doors. The hallway was a much more reasonable size. It only took a couple of turns before she was outside of the classroom door. “I suggest sitting in the middle. He keeps an eye on the back because that’s where the troublemakers sit. In the front you are in his line of vision to answer questions. Middle is safe.”

Bea found her place just off left to the center and set her book bag down. From it she pulled a sketchbook and a box of pencils – colored and graphite. She began a neat sketch, working quickly. Once done she used a permanent marker to make outlines and numbers. Lastly she wrote her telephone number on the top right corner along with ‘Bea.’ Her hand writing was neat and tidy, swirling in a slanted artistic style. She tore the paper from her sketch book and handed it to him.

The paper held a map of the school. All the hallways and levels neatly marked out to show him where his classes would be. On the back she had forgotten she had drawn a scene from the shopping center downtown. It depected the little boutiques, flowers, trees, and fountain that lived there. She didn’t mind. It had merely been a rough sketch.

“If you need something feel free to text. But you’re pretty enough you’ll find friends soon.” She offered him a small, shy smile before she went back to her sketch pad to start drawing again.

---

---

Once Airi finished her shower, she immediately went to dress herself in the uniform, but she didn't have a tie and she fully didn't own one. She relied on Grace for an extra tie and for Grace to tie it for her since she wasn't one for this fancy fun stuff. Airi grabbed her keys on the same bedside table she had everything on and her small sling bag which carried two pens and a notebook which she only sketched on and only wrote the really, really important stuff. She sighed and walked over to the door, she shrugged then went to leave her room. The moment she left her room she could already smell that shitty cop smell downstairs, a mix of nicotine, beer, and chocolate. (not even the good kind) She did her best to ignore it as she made her way downstairs, step-douche was sat by the table doing whatever the hell stupid cop thing he had for the day. As Airi tried to sneak out she was immediately caught by her mother who was cooking breakfast. "Where do you think you're going?" Her mother called out, Airi then turned to her mother with a slouch and let out sigh "School, I'm late, so I really gotta get moving." Airi replied as nice as she could, but it still sounded pretty sarcastic. "So no breakfast?" Her mother asked as she held her spatula high. "I'll go through a five guys or something, I'll be fine." Airi replied one last time, ending the conversation with her mother. She then twisted the doorknob to go outside but suddenly, "Airi, be home by 5, and you better not be hanging with those hooligans." Said step-douche, Airi just laughed and shook her head "Yeah, you can go fuck yourself, I'm out." And with those words, she left the house and walked over to her beaten up but still kickin' Ford F-150, it's old but it does the job. She got in the driver's seat and started it up, immediately driving off the driveway and onto the main road.

Airi sighed, she should have taken up that offer of food because her stomach was really needing some munchies, and the nearest five guys is still a few ways away. As she got to a redlight, she texted Mari then Grace.




After those texts, she arrived at a five guys, she ordered a burger and a small sprite as her breakfast and ate it along the way as she made her way to the school. Once she arrived, she went to go park, not far from Archer's car. She barely just caught Mari throw her board in his car as she was turning off her car. She then quickly texted Grace her location then went off to the two.

"Hey, sorry I'm late and that I smell like five guys, I got real hungry." Airi said as she approached Marisol from the side with the biggest smile on her face.

Grace saw Airi enter the school since she had already grabbed her guitar bag and was already at the front of the school's doors. It was after a few minutes she felt a buzz in her pocket, it was text from Airi telling her where she was going to be. She then immediately walked as fast as she could towards to that location, tie in hand. She saw Airi was already talking to this other girl named Marisol, Grace saw her as pretty cool and all, but she didn't really see herself hanging out with her as much as Airi did. "Airi!" Grace called out as she walked over to Airi, Airi then smiled and pointed at her neck telling Grace to tie the tie around her neck right then and there. Grace had no problem with that and did as Airi said, "I could make this real tight you know." Grace joked as she adjusted the tie so it would look neat on Airi. After Grace finished tying Airi's tie, Airi then wrapped her arm around Grace's shoulders and gestured at her. "This is Grace by the way, best person, she's been putting up with my shit for years." Airi said with a chuckle and Grace replied with a small wave and a quick "Nice to meet you."

“You’re huge. That’s so strange you think it is big.” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

‘Yeah, I guess my old school was pretty small. It was a bit like this one, but only boys. Not that I spent much time in it.’

She shrugged her shoulders and bounced off down the hallway. Despite her height, she was a quick walker, taking fast little steps that reminded Jords of a cat chasing after a runaway ball. He had to take several of his long strides to catch up. They passed through a tall-ceilinged entrance hall with wet paint signs on the walls and a fresh smell that reminded him of a hospital.

They soon made their way through some double doors that took them into a long hallway and he followed the girl through a couple more maze-like corridors until they reached their classroom. Jords took a look through the frosted glass and saw a few students already at their desks, pens and books out despite a couple minutes being left before the bell. Probably the nerds who’d been counting the days until school started. Maybe he should have hung out at the entrance a little longer, seen if he could get in with anyone else. A bit late now. His companion pushed the door open and gestured at the desks.

“I suggest sitting in the middle. He keeps an eye on the back because that’s where the troublemakers sit. In the front you are in his line of vision to answer questions. Middle is safe.”

‘Okay..’

Troublemakers? Back in Chelsea he’d definitely been a troublemaker. He’d been called a nuisance, a teacher’s worst nightmare- a pain in the arse of anyone unfortunate enough to be in his classes, even though he and his crew of jocks spent more time in detention or wagging class than in it. But now what? They were back home, and he was here, and his only acquaintance had already taken her seat - wait what the hell? She already had her book out and was scribbling away. They couldn’t have handed out work already could they? Whatever.

He slung his bag down in what looked like the gray zone between troublemakers and plebs, a seat across and behind from her. He wanted to try and stick a little close to her, but he also didn’t want to clutch at the first person he met and miss the opportunity to meet anyone else on the first day. The other students were mainly clustered at the front, messing with their files and binders covered in multi-coloured post it notes. Swots. Jordan made a stark contrast as he pulled a leaky pen and a ragged exercise book from his bag, before tearing the couple pages of crap he’d already written last year in the front out.

He saw the girl turn around in front of him. She seemed to be holding a little piece of paper towards him and he took it from her and glanced at it. She’d drawn an intricate map of the school, complete with labels and- interesting. Her number next to a stylie ‘Bea.’ That must be her name- he realised he’d forgotten to ask beforehand.

“If you need something feel free to text. But you’re pretty enough you’ll find friends soon.”

Pretty enough? Interesting compliments, an eagerness to help and now her phone number.. was this strange little girl hitting on him? Jordan’s normal confidence was coming back to him now. Five minutes into the new school and he already had a girl’s number. Plus, as the class started to slowly fill with more students, he could see a few potential ‘troublemaker’ friends taking their seats at the back. A short, pudgy latino wearing a collared shirt and tie dumped a stack of textbooks on the teacher’s desk and took a seat. Mr Gomez, if he had to hazard a guess.

Bea gave a small, unpracticed smile and he gave a wide grin back.
‘Sorry, got so caught up in new school nerves I forgot to introduce myself.’

He held out a large hand for a handshake. ‘Jordan Henderson, at your service. And thanks for this map- surprised the admin aren’t handing these out.’

Was she a sadist?

The question came from the many, many looks she got as she watched a majority of the populace stroll in at their leisure. There was just something about being feared that felt...right. Feared? Well, she was intimidating, or so she was repeatedly told. She liked to think of herself as disciplined, though she did have an awful case of resting bitch face. But that was just genetics; even her mother, who was probably one of the sweetest people she had known to this day, had to constantly smile to make sure she didn't look like she was constantly scowling. Victoire was honestly just used to it at this point, though her expression helped people take her seriously, so there was that.

Of course, all this flew out the window as Lucas was determined to annoy the crap out of her. He had been circling the area at a distance, constantly coming back and making an attempt to copy her face as he would stare down his classmates. Some laughed, others looked mildly confused, and the rest said nothing, lest they incur Victoire's wrath. More importantly, Lucas was a damn distraction. She was certain she had missed a few who had violated the dress code, making a mental note to chase them down, though she could no longer ignore Lucas. The boy took notice as she abandoned her post, scowling at her to the best of his ability.

"Miss President, you're going to miss out on the loose ties and untucked shirts!" Lucas gasped dramatically, eyes widened.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Victoire chose to smile, slightly adjusting Lucas' tie. "I swear to god I'm going to strangle you," She told him rather cheerfully as she suddenly tightened the knot. "Why are you buzzing around here?!"

"Vic! Stop! Ack!" He wrested himself away from her, loosening his tie considerably so he could breathe again. "I'm just waiting for my boy to come in, geez..."

Oh god, he meant Santiago, didn't he? How the hell Lucas and him were friends, she had no idea. If one didn't know any better, the two were an unlikely pair all things considered: the 'diablo' was infamous around campus for his signature 'hit-it-and-quit-it' whereas Lucas was just as much of a manwhore, so why he was friends with someone who was essentially his competition was beyond her. Still, the thought of Santiago seemed to have caught her attention, the girl letting out a sigh as she shook her head at Lucas.

He grinned in response, though some girl's shrieking would temporarily put their conversation on hold. "Ladies and gentleman, we have our first of many meltdowns!" He snickered, nudging Victoire. "That's your cue to intervene, isn't it?"

Hell no. Victoire despised interacting with any sort of drama queen--well, she didn't like interacting with most people--so she wasn't exactly interested in...whatever the hell was going on over there. Still, it was always good to stomp out an issue before things escalated. Letting out a sigh, Victoire decided (against her better judgment) to see what off handed comment had offended whoever the hell that girl was. Lucas ended up having a point, as a small crowd was starting to gather, curious eyes wanting to see what was happening. Clapping her hands together rather loudly, she shooed away a majority of the onlookers. Man, people were so fucking nosy.

‘Sorry, got so caught up in new school nerves I forgot to introduce myself.’

At the sound of his voice, she turned back to him to find him with a large smile upon his face. He had... very nice lines. As if waking from a dream she looked down at the hand extended to her and then back up to his grinning face. Her brows knitted in a bit of confusion as she looked around a bit to make sure it was her he was still talking to. Was this perhaps a joke? Was he going to take his hand away at the last minute or something? Hadn't he gotten what he needed out of her already? Most people didn't want to keep talking to her if they didn't have to.

‘Jordan Henderson, at your service. And thanks for this map- surprised the admin aren’t handing these out.’

Hesitantly she placed her hand lightly into his and flinched as if he would hit her. When nothing happened she allowed her fingers to continue to slip over his calloused palm and clasp his much larger hand. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised by the warmth. Perhaps it was because she was not used to, did not like being touched by many people. "I'm Beatrice Endive. Bea for short," she offered, the small and shy smile returning to her lips.

Glancing at the map, she shrugged and removed her hand back to her lap. Her features returned to their typical stoicism. "To watch newbies suffer, I'm sure. Or perhaps to force people to make friends. Either way, they probably find it entertaining." She turned, watching Gomez beginning to unpack things and looking as grumpy as ever. He liked to pick on her sometimes and she was not a fan of him. When they would be assigned a novel to read he would ask what the author meant by some such passage. And Bea would be unable to extrapolate any other data than the door was fucking blue. But apparently, it was a metaphor for sadness or some such. Not that fact the author had stated he was sad. No, the door painted some sort of imagery that she just couldn't comprehend. She thought perhaps he liked to make her look stupid. At least it wasn't as bad as math.

She slid down in her chair a bit and sighed. She tilted her head back toward Jordan again as more students filed in. "You know... You don't have to force yourself to talk to me," she said dryly. "You can just take what you need from me until you find people you like."

---

---

As he sat there behind his open car door he thought to himself is this what I’ve become? A coward who hides his feelings? This is stupid! He rose from his from his crouching position slowly and watched as Johnny turned to look at him giving a thumbs up. He had seen everything, Archer nodded his head in his direction mentally cringing. But before he could utter a greeting, a weird occurrence transpired. Some new girl was arriving with Andrés and walked directly towards Johnny and started a conversation that quickly turned to an argument. Archer stood there dumbfounded as he watched Johnny grab the girl and yell at her, uncharacteristically rough and harsh. Archer frowned in confusion, drama was something he avoided like the plague and seeing one of his better friends being in the center of it made him uncomfortable.

Just then Marisol Castillo skated by scowling and staring daggers at the pair. He rolled his eyes and sighed, she always needed to be part of action didn’t she? He heard her arrive behind him and jump of her skateboard. Archer turned around slowly crossing his arms across his chest.

“That man of your dreams can sure be an asshole…” His best friend said in that off-hand voice she knew Archer hated. “C’mon, Archie. Wipe the drool off your face and get your ass over here. Or do you plan on hiding from ‘Prince Charming’ for the rest of the year?” she smirked.

It was too early in the morning to be this annoyed, Archer made a face to match his mood and closed his car door. “Naawh, you know you’re the only prince I need” he said and put what was left of his cigarette in the corner of his mouth as he walked over to her. Just as he was about to rebuttal her comments another student arrived.

"Johnny-boy being a dramatic dick, as usual?"

It was Kavan Varma a fellow literature buff, Archers face perked up in to a smile when he saw his good friend. In Archers eyes Kavan was one of the coolest people at this school, and he made it his mission to befriend him and he is really glad he managed to go that.

"It's too early in the morning and in the school year for that shit." Kavan wrinkled his nose at the sight of the cigarette in Archer’s mouth.

“Oh… Sorry Van!” Archer took out the cigarette and put it out on the bottom of his shoe. “I would quit… if I was a stronger person!” He chuckled and looked up at his friend “Are you wearing eyeliner? It suits you dude!”

Archer grabbed his bag out of his car and locked it, “Well shall we get going on this last year?” He sighed and turned towards the big entrance of King’s academy. But just as he was about to leave two other girls arrived. He smiled at Grace as she introduced herself

“Hey there I’m Archer” he said giving her a two fingered salute. He turned back to Kavan as the girls started to fuss over each other. Archer was waiting to hear Marisol’s famous catchphrase.

“So have you read anything interesting lately?” He asked as he fumbled for his phone in his pocket, he fished it out and checked the digital clock in the corner and groaned. “Ey Mari! We need to book it if we want to make it to english!” He jerked his head towards the school, of course the pair had all the same classes.