August 19 2014. Jump City High.
Gar Logan didn't know what to expect in his first day of high school at Jump City High. He wasn't scared of not fitting in – Gar found himself to be pretty affable and easy-going that making friends wasn't a bother – it was fitting in too much that made him felt anxious. In almost every school he has moved in during the course of his school life, Gar had become too attached to his easy-formed friends that every time his parents announced that they're moving, he became utterly distraught.
Of course, Gar had adjusted to this discomfort year after year, and set out three simple rules that became crucial to his adolescent life. Rule number one, is that Gar shall not make any promises that can greatly affect his life, for promises that Gar have made often turned broken. Rule number two, is that Gar shall not talk about his past, as it brings back memories from the past. The most important, and the one that keeps Gar mostly sane, is rule number three, where Gar shall not engage in romantic relationships, as it often led to both parties being broken.
If Gar followed his three sacred rules during his time at Jump City High, then everything will be alright, and the year will be just like a breeze.
Locker 31033, Gar found himself thinking repeatedly, and despite the numerous times of wandering around the corridor, Gar still couldn't locate his locker. Locker 29830… Locker 29831… How many lockers does this school have?
Gar knew from school interviews that Jump City High was massive in size however he found himself greatly overwhelmed when he experienced the bright white walls and floor blinding his eyes, distracting him when all he wanted to find his locker.
Locker 29855, locker 29856… Gar was extremely distracted that he couldn't bring himself to notice the big burly guy right in front of him. Unfortunately for him, the guy didn't notice Gar as well, and it ended up in a head crash.
"Ow!" Gar exclaimed, rubbing his fingers on his forehead to relieve the pain.
The guy remained silent, doing the same to his forehead and temple to regain his focus. Finally, after a few moments of pain, the guy started to talk.
"Sorry, I didn't see you! Maybe it's just because you're too short…"
That got Gar's attention – however not in the good way. "Dude! I'm not short!" Gar found himself blurting out. "You're just freakishly tall! And yes, you should be sorry!"
The guy put both his hands to signify that he's harmless. "Hey, no offense or anything! Loosen up, grass stain!" Gar was perplexed by what the guy meant by 'grass stain', and then realized the guy was referring to Gar's dyed green highlights swimming in his blond locks. "I'm Victor Stone."
"Gar Logan."
"New guy, right?" Gar said yes. "What year are you in?"
"Junior year," Garfield found himself saying, and it wasn't long until Victor's face was beaming.
"Me too! Can I see your schedule? Maybe we're in the same homeroom!" Gar nodded, and reached for his pockets where he found his schedule all crumpled up and battered. As he gave it to Victor, he couldn't help but snicker at Victor's look of disgust upon looking at Gar's schedule.
"What's that?" Victor shrieked as he accepted the almost destroyed schedule of Gar's. "First day in a new school and you can't hide your slob-y tendencies?"
Gar rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. "Yeah, I'm not exactly the neatest person on earth. I find everything when I need it though."
Victor nodded, however he wasn't really listening, as he was too engrossed in the new student's schedule. "We have World History together… and that's about it. Oh, we're in the same homeroom!"
"Cool!" Gar grinned, then scowled once he remembered something important. "Yo, where's locker 31033?"
Victor shrugged. "You're in the right path, just keep on walking and you'll find it." Gar said his thanks, and before he could move any longer, the bell rang. "Oh man, the bell! Biology, right? Don't worry, it's right next to my class! Now hurry, grass stain!"
"Dude, stop calling me that!"
"Punctuality. Never a strong suit for students in the first day." Gar squirmed in his seat; while Gar can be considered tactless at times, he knew that this teacher isn't one to mess with. Gar watched the teacher pick up her board and read from it. "Ah, a new student. Garfield Logan?"
Gar stood up and felt unnerved by the way the teacher scrutinized every detail of his appearance. "Well, I see you're passionate about nature." The teacher mocked, referring to Gar's green highlights and it took everyone a nanosecond to laugh.
"Well," Gar imitated. "I am very passionate about nature. Not only that, chicks dig the hair." Multiple sniggers and snorts clouded the room as the teacher rolled her eyes.
"Introduce yourself, Mr. Logan."
"Gar," Gar corrected, waving his arm. "I'm was born in Africa, and I came here from Steel City." Remembering rule number two, he immediately sat down and noted the puzzled expression of his teacher. Luckily, the teacher did not press it and continued on introducing how her class works. Gar inevitably zoned out, but was pulled back into reality when he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder from behind.
"Psst," a voice said, and Gar turned around, looking at a girl with pigtails and a knack for the colors black and yellow. "You're from Steel City? Which school?"
"Steel City International School," Gar shrugged, hoping that this girl would drop the subject. Fortunately for Gar, the girl just nodded and seemed satisfied.
"I attended school there, when I was in elementary school. Moved after sixth grade. Hey, you're new, and you seem cool, do you want to sit with me in lunch? My friends won't mind, especially Vic–"
The mention of Victor's name caused Gar's ears to perk up. "Victor Stone?" the girl nodded. "I met him, earlier today. By the lockers."
The girl beamed. "Oh, that's great! I'm Karen Beecher, amazing girl extraordinaire. Do you take Art?" Gar shook his head. "AP Language?" Gar shook his head again. "Oh, what about World History?"
"That I take," Gar grinned. "Vic's taking it too, right?"
Karen nodded. "Great, let's sit together. My friends sit there too. Plus, the teacher, is completely lazy. I don't think he'll ever teach in the year."
Gar laughed. "Hey, I have no problem with that!"
"Excuse me," a voice piped out, and Gar turned his focus on the teacher. "Mr. Logan, Ms. Beecher, I know it's the first day of school and we do not do much, but please do not disturb the class."
Karen slightly bowed her head and mumbled an apology, and Gar did the same.
Karen was right – the History teacher had no incentive to teach, only focusing on his computer. He told off his class to do some 'socializing' and familiarize themselves with the environment. Gar himself was a slacker, but he found it extremely aggravating when someone dismisses their own responsibility.
"Attention, attention!" The whole class turned to a redheaded boy standing on a table and frantically waving his arms. Gar took a second to look, and took note of the teacher's nonchalant attitude as he continued tinkering with his computer. "Who's excited for Kitten's birthday party?" A couple of shouts and catcalls roared across the room. "I know I am! Okay, first things first, if you're in the freak list, then you're not allowed in! Also I just wanted to say that the theme for this year's party is… Horror!"
Almost the whole class burst into cheers and claps. Victor rolled his eyes, as Karen groaned while face-palming herself. Gar watched as the boy performed a backflip off the table, and once he got off, the boy continuously fixed his hair.
"Amazing," Karen said in a sardonic tone, while Victor nodded grimly. Gar had no clue what was happening, and immediately asked.
"What was that about?"
"Man, I forgot you're new," Victor said. "That guy just now? His name is Roy Harper. He used to be our friend, but I guess popularity consumed him."
Gar nodded, however he still didn't comprehend what Roy just said. "Birthday party?"
Karen sighed, placing her cheek on her hand. "Kitten Walker, your stereotypical valley girl, talented at cheerleading and manipulation, but horrible with life, basically. Every year, she hosts this grand birthday party that everyone, for some odd reason, seems to love."
Victor snickered, earning a glare from Karen. "Yeah, Karen, but you go to these parties every year and you love them." Victor drawled, putting emphasis on the word 'love'.
"Shut up."
"So who's invited to this grand party?" Garfield asked, and Karen shrugged.
"Everyone in junior year. Kitten loves this grade for some reason. Sometimes she invites other people from other grades."
"So I can go?" Karen nodded, and Victor shrugged.
"You're a junior," Victor stated. "You'll get an invitation."
Gar smiled, happy that an opportunity of making new friends is being given. Victor seemed to notice Gar's happy vibe and groaned. "Grass stain, no. The party's nice, and all, but Kitten's a monster."
Gar shrugged, and said: "How bad can she be, anyway?"
Gar expected a reply of groans and complaints and felt inevitably disturbed when he got silence as a response. Karen and Victor looked at each other uneasily, and back to Gar. "You'll see," Karen said vaguely. Gar was about to press more on the topic however the bell rang, disrupting his intentions. "I have Chemistry now. See you guys in lunch!"
The blond teenager felt a bit uneasy on how Karen and Victor responded his question, but he shrugged it off, and headed off to his Trigonometry class.
August 25 2014. Jump City High.
A week passed by and Gar found himself steadily going with the flow. He has successfully formed a new camaraderie with a bunch of people. He found a friend in Garth, a boy from some island in the Pacific, and while Gar found him a bit too arrogant (especially considering his good looks), Gar concluded that Garth was mostly harmless. Gar also found a friend in Wally West, a quick-witted classmate who seems to be in a rush for everything. A girl named Nicole Weathers (or Kole, as she preferred), whose locker was right next to Gar's, also befriended him, and while Nicole and Gar were not very close, both of them enjoy the occasional chats that occur near the lockers.
Gar took a seat next to Victor and pulled out his lunch bag from his bag and placed it on the table. It was his most prized food in the world – a tofu burger. This captured the attention of Victor's, and before Gar could tell Victor that it's made out of tofu, Victor grabbed the burger, took a huge bite, and scowled deeply afterwards, spitting out whatever he had bitten. "What's this?!"
"A tofu burger! Do you like it?"
"Heck, no!" Victor cried, trying to wipe off the remains off his tongue. "Gross! Why can't you eat an actual burger like an actual human being?"
Gar scoffed. "I'm vegan," Gar explained. "I don't do the whole meat thing."
Karen nodded, taking interest in Gar's veganism. "Are you a vegan because of health or moral reasons?"
"Moral reasons," Gar said. "I just, have this bond with animals, you know? Eating them would be so weird. It would be cannibalism, to me or something."
"Well with the way your hair looks and how you're eating plants, I'd say you're performing cannibalism right now!" Victor retorted, opening a can of Coke to rinse out his mouth.
"Hey!" Gar exclaimed. "Don't diss the hair! The hair's cool. And meat is disgusting! How can you stand the sight of–"
Suddenly, the sight of pink crumpled paper caught Gar's attention. "Hey," Gar said, pointing at the pink ball of paper. "What's that?"
"Oh, this?" Victor said, picking up the crumpled paper that was in front of him. "Nothing. Just some weird list from Kitten."
Karen cleared her throat. "Definitely weird. Gar, when I say Kitten invites everyone in junior year, I don't mean everyone. Every year, she creates a list of people who she deems as 'freaks', revoking their access from coming to the party, ever. It's brutal, it's rude, but usually the people listed don't do anything but shrug."
"Sad," Victor commented, scrutinizing the paper. "It's like they're so used too Kitten's tyrannical personality."
"Can I read it?"
Karen shrugged, but she nodded, and Gar took the paper and opened it up. "Have fun," Victor said in a mocking voice.
Jump City High's Top 10 Junior Freaks 2014
List made by: Kitten W.
10. Nicole Weathers
Or, to friends and loved ones, Kole. To me, she is the pink-headed ice-loving freak of the school. She's definitely landed a spot on this list, for two reasons. Reason number one, is that her hair is pink! PINK! She claims she didn't dye it, and after tremendous stalking on Facebook and looking at former childhood pictures of herself, it's true, she was BORN with pink hair! I love pink, obviously, but that's really creepy. And really undeserving of her. If anyone had to be born with pink hair it should be me, of course! Now, reason number two, is that Kole REALLY loves ice, I'm not exaggerating on this one. Like, literally, she usually holds some kind of ice cube, or is seen munching one. Freak.
9. Mas y Menos
I'm not sure if Mas y Menos is one person or two people. These twin freaks are literally inseperable! Obviously, I know. I've tried separating them once, and they totally gone cray. Freaks.
8. Mikron O'Jeneus
Okay, I'm all in for unique names and if it helps my future child stands out (in a good way!) then so be it. But hear this. Who in the world names their child 'Mikron'? Like, were his parents some techno freaks that couldn't stop caressing their own microscopes or something? Anyway, obviously there's a reason he's on the list, other than his unfortunate upbringing. Once, he initiated this school-wide 'program' where he altered everyone's lockers to act as a portal to classes. And while the idea is cool, the guy with the idea is not. I LITERALLY freaked when I found out he put a dead rat in my own locker. Freak!
7. Nicole Diaz/Jennifer Hex/Jinx/Pink Freak
Well first things first I honestly don't know her name! Like, I heard it's Nicole Diaz, but teachers call her Jennifer Hex? Some student even call her Jinx. Um, so what exactly is your name, Pink Freak?! She doesn't look bad, and she's very athletic, something that could benefit the cheerleading team. The problem with her is that she's a FREAK! Also what's wrong with freaks and tainting my love for the color pink?! Pink Freak dyes her hair pink, and she wears pink cat-like contacts which gives me nightmares like every time I see her. What's worse is that she's known for bad luck. Literally, I've heard this story where she touched someone on the shoulder and the next day that someone broke his back. Freak, and trust me when I say this, don't go anywhere near her.
6. Antonia Monetti
Already thrown off by the previous people in the list? Well don't go just yet. This is Antonia Monetti, and I've met her in seventh grade, and she was like, such a cool girl! She had this accent and I think it's British or something, and I tried to befriend her (I know, shocking!) but being the freak she is, she turned me down! …Whatever. She's a freak, I don't care.
5. Kori Anders
I know Kori Anders is in the cheerleading group and if we follow stereotypes here, it automatically means that we're besties! Haha, so wrong! Yeah she's okay-looking, but she's so annoying! Way too innocent to be fun and way too naïve to even understand that she's not my friend at all! She follows weird traditional events too. It's so dumb, it's like having my grandma repeat all her superstitions again! Anyway, and she loves mustard so much, she drinks a bottle of it. Freak.
4. Joey Wilson
Trust me, he's cute. But he never speaks. That makes him a freak.
3. Billy Numerous
Same with those freaky twins in the list it's like Billy Numerous is a twin or triplet and is INSEPERABLE but the only thing that's sad is that he's NOT a twin or anything. But he talks to himself a lot and with no one else, except teachers and some students. It's so sad, like if you want friends that much go make some! Is he really that narcissistic, like, there's nothing to love about him anyway… Freak.
2. Gnarkk
I literally, do NOT know what his real name is and he only speaks one word, which is Gnarkk. I'VE NEVER heard him speak, I don't even know how he even got to this school? FREAK!
1. Raven Roth
CLOSE YOUR EYES! Wait; OPEN THEM! You must see the HORROR, the TERROR! Raven Roth! Jump City High's number one freak. It's stupid; she has this really pale complexion, even paler than Antonia's, and purple hair! And matching dark purple eyes. She's so dark and broody, I can't even – whatever. To match her creepy looks, she talks in this scary monotone and glares at everyone. She's basically ANTI SOCIAL. Why? I literally don't know; don't ask me. She's usually found lurking in the darkest corner of the library, probably performing some cult ritual or some stuff. Stay away from her. She. Is. A. Freak.
There you go! 2014's list of freaks in Jump City High! And you know the drill, in a few weeks is my birthday, get ready! All juniors are invited, however other grades that receive an invitation can attend too. So literally, if you're my friend, and everyone is my friend… Everyone can go! Except the people written on this list, obviously.
Look forward for another invitation about the partay!
Toodles! Kitten.
"Kole?" Gar asked, not sure how to take the information that his newly formed friend is considered a 'freak' by the school's queen bee. He also found it uncomfortable to process that Kitten could be so heartless over trivial things. While Gar knew he wouldn't do anything major, he felt guilty just sitting there and looking at the list.
"Petty, right?" Karen said, interrupting Gar's thoughts. "Anyway, you're not on the list, so chill."
The way Karen brushed off the topic of the list bothered Gar. "But, Kole's not a freak. I'm sure none of these people are freaks. Just misunderstood, is all."
"Yo grass stain, why are you so adamant about this? Relax. The people on the list don't mind either, so I don't see why you should," Victor pointed out. "Besides, you don't really know the people in this list."
"Kole's my–"
"Yeah, yeah," Victor dismissed Gar with his hand. "Look at Kole."
Victor pointed to another table, where Kole and a large man who Gar did not recognize was conversing, seemingly bliss about the whole world. "They don't mind," Victor said. "So you shouldn't as well."
Gar dropped the subject, but it still didn't ease the troubled state of his mind.
"Hi!" A shrill voice came, and Gar closed his locker, only to find out it was Kitten. "I'm Kitten Walker," Gar nodded, hesitant to make any more contact. "You must've heard of me, right?"
"Right." Gar said, though his voice didn't express any emotion whatsoever.
"You're new, right? Garfield Logan. I heard you're a junior, but I must confirm it myself."
"Yeah," Gar agreed. "I'm a junior." Kitten put on a big grin on her face, showing off her pearly white teeth that were similar to the bright walls of the school, and it threw him off.
"Great!" Kitten reached out for her purse, taking out a pink envelope decorated with shiny stickers. She held out the envelope for Gar to take, and when Gar hesitantly received it, her grin widened, almost resembling a cackle. "I hope we can be great friends, Gar. See you in English!"
And with that, she turned on her heel and strutted down the hall, leaving Gar scowling to himself. "Got an invitation, didn't you?"
Gar recognized the voice behind him, and the fact that he knew exactly who was talking made his stomach drop. He turned around, and grimly nodded. "Hey, Kole."
While Gar's expression was somber and forlorn, Kole's expression was bright and exuberant – nowhere identical to Gar's. "I was on the list on sophomore year too. So I came in freshman year. The theme back then was Winter Wonderland, and that's when Kitten realized she made a mistake inviting me." Gar found it inspiring how Kole said all of that without a dejected ring to it. "Nevertheless, the party was fun. You should go, Gar!"
Gar shifted uncomfortably in his place. "I don't know, I mean… I feel kind of bad about…"
"The list?" Kole inquired, and Gar nodded. "Don't be! Really, if you're placing yourself in another person's problems then you won't be able to enjoy your own self." The bell rang, and Kole looked at her watch. "I have Art now," Kole said, looking back from her watch to Gar. "I'll see you later!" Kole waved, and headed off the opposite direction.
Gar now had English, and while he didn't have any problem with the class, it was the students that made him uneasy. In particular, it was Kitten who made him uneasy. Taking a deep breath, he went inside the class, forcing himself to feel better about his unexplained guilt. Gar took a seat next to his friend, Isaiah Crockett. Isaiah nodded his head towards Gar as a sign of hello, and Gar reciprocated, doing the same with a smile.
"Mrs. Prince isn't here yet," Isaiah pointed out, shaking his head. "She's always late."
Gar smiled cheekily, and shrugged. "That's not a bad thing. More free time!"
Isaiah rolled his eyes, and once the chatter of the room started building up, the English teacher walked in the room, a pile of paper resting on her forearms. She placed in on her desk, and wiped the little sweat that was trickling on her forehead. "Sorry I'm late class, had to do some photocopying," Mrs. Prince then placed the stack of papers on the first row of the class. "Give the paper out, thank you."
Gar looked at the paper in front of him. Essay Preparation.
"Alright, class, pipe down," the teacher began. "After tremendous discussion of our summer reading book, it's time for an essay. You will be writing on the purpose on why Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood. On the sheet, you can see there are sections for your essay planning. Start on your thesis, and continue on. Remember that along the way use quotations to back up your sources, but only do so in the body, neither in the opening nor the conclusion. Questions?"
The class was silent.
Mrs. Prince nodded, seemingly pleased with herself. "Excellent. Let's discuss our topic. Why did Truman Capote write In Cold Blood?"
A girl with short hair raised her hand. "I think he wanted to showcase the true events of the Clutter family."
"Yes, but why? Capote himself wasn't involved in the case, why would he be suddenly interested?"
"Um, hello?" An ear-pitched tone rang throughout the class, and Gar instantly knew it belonged to Kitten. "Mrs. Prince, this isn't a psychology class. Capote wrote the book because he wanted to. Like, if you asked me why I painted my nails pink today, it's because I wanted to! No psychology behind that. Anyway, why are we reading this book? It's so scary."
A small chuckle could be heard in the back of the room, and everybody turned their head around. Gar noticed that it was a girl wearing a blue hoodie. He had no idea who she was, but apparently Kitten wasn't fond of her.
"What was that, goth?" Kitten taunted, her attention fully focused on the blue girl. "Can you, like, shut up? You've been doing a great job of that this whole time!"
"I don't know," the girl sneered in return, cocking her head to Kitten's direction. "Maybe the fact that your brain is still defunct after all these years amuse me, that's all."
"Why, you –"
"Alright, girls, that's enough," While Mrs. Prince was successful in stopping any more fights; it didn't stop the two girls from deathly staring at each other. "Now, any more opinions? Jason, what about you?"
"Hey," Gar whispered, elbowing Isaiah on his side. "Who was that?"
"Who?" Gar jerked his head to the girl, who was now looking down on her paper and scribbling furiously. "Oh that. Raven Roth."
"Raven Roth?" Gar repeated, furring his eyebrows. "As in, number one in Kitten's freak list?"
Isaiah nodded. "Yeah. Why?"
Interesting, Gar wanted to say, but instead he found himself saying: "Nothing."
Isaiah raised his eyebrow at Gar, but to Gar's relief, he dropped the subject and picked up his pen, doodling on the side of his worksheet.
Gar found himself drowning in his thoughts. Who is this Raven Roth? What makes her so disliked by Kitten, and possibly the entire school community? How does she feel about Kitten? The way her hoodie implanted a shadow on her face, leaving nothing but the hint of her appearance, made Gar more intrigued than more. How her fingers delicately held the pen, as if she was writing on air. Watching Raven's scowl made Gar ask himself a question:
Does she ever smile?
Gar took note at the soft frown that Raven had on her face, as she flipped the page to continue writing her essay planner. He suddenly felt a pang of dedication rushing through his veins, and as each second of him staring at Raven passed, his curiosity only peaked up.
I must find out.
A/N: Holy mother of cowbells.
I'm in complete shock. If you followed this story before, you would've known that I scrapped this idea and completely abandoned it. However, something happened earlier today. You see, I was reading a story in FictionPress (it's called 'A Textbook Case', google 'a textbook case fictionpress' to read!) and the author moved the ending to LiveJournal. I was so excited to continue, but it turns out the author set her LiveJournal so that only the people she added can read the story. She says herself that she adds anyone who comments on her posts, but the catch? She hasn't updated her LiveJournal since 2012. It made me feel so horrible. All my excitement growing and then it just deflated, and it really let me down?
And then I saw my FictionPress account, and then I went to my FanFiction account (here) and I read my previous messages, and there was this certain user who asked me to update this story... Approximately two years ago. Embarrassing, but anyway, I replied to her (about a month later) and replied that the next chapter is coming up 'soon', even though it didn't, at all.
Putting into my account about my feelings about the FP story and that PM I received approx. two years ago, I felt really bad.
I stopped writing because I thought I wasn't good at it. And I probably am not! But I do not give up, and I am willing to give myself a little push and a bit more practice in writing.
Enough about my feelings. Please review and leave feedback. My writing is extremely rusty (I haven't wrote at all in ages!) plus I forgot where I was going with this story, so I had to rewrite it.
If you want, on my profile is a link of the previous chapter of AKBP before I took it down and rewrote it. If you have the time, please pinpoint how different my writing is from before and now.
Thank you so much! I will update, and I promise this. I feel bad enough already.
~Irey West-Wayne (formerly PolarPurple)
PS. The user who messaged me is purpleraven23. Thank you so much!
