Ch 1

~ROSE~

I take a deep breath. "Wind powered turbines help our atmosphere and the world we live in by…"

"…creating a better source of clean energy!" chirps my best friend and my partner for our biology project, Jade Carhartt. The bell rings immediately following her exclamation, and students begin to file out of the classroom. I give her a high five. "I think that was our best report all year!"

"Totally. But maybe next time we shouldn't have used sparklers in the visual. The Rock is giving us the stink eye, and I kind of feel bad about making the fire alarms go off. That's the third time this month!" I look over to see our biology teacher, Mrs. Rockfiels, looking at us hard. I don't even know what we did wrong this time. Yeah, Jade and I spilled acid with our last class lab, and ok, we did accidently set fire to the microscope we were using to study cells, but I don't see why- ok, I guess I see why she might be mad. Actually, considering we took up over half of her class time with the false fire alone, I'm surprised she didn't expel us. "Rose. Jade. Next time you pull a stunt like that, you're going to the office," she spews.

"But-"

"No buts. The office is the next step. And knowing you two, you'll be in there by the end of the week."

"I just don't get it," Jade groans as we walk out of biology, project in hand. "We never try and do any of this stuff, but somehow something always goes wrong. I'm nearly failing science, and if my mom finds out, she'll make me get a tutor. And then I'd have to quit archery. I did not get onto the varsity team just to have to quit," Jade fumes. We make a stop at my locker to drop off what remains of our science project, and as I'm trying to convince her that she isn't going to have to quit archery, James Davenport and Nathan Roesal, our two other best friends, come up to us and start immediately chattering a mile a minute.
"I'm the only freshman that made the varsity swim team!" James says excitedly. James is tall, about 6'2" or 6'3", with dark brown hair and mischievous hazel eyes that always hint of another joke that he's about to tell.

"And I made the highest track team!" Nathan, 6'1", with sandy, dark blond hair and piercing blue eyes, explains with a grin.

"Congrats, guys! I wish I hadn't missed tryouts, James. I'll bet you were fantastic." I say to him. "Although I will get to see you swim. I'm sure I'll be at almost every meet with Nathan. Right, Nathan?" I ask him. But Nathan is staring into space with a dazed look on his face. "Nathan? Nate!"

"What?...oh, sorry. What were you saying?"

"I was talking about watching you guys swim and run. What were you thinking about? You looked pretty out of it."

"I-I didn't get enough sleep. I was up until 2 a.m. finishing mine and James' biology project. Speaking of which, is the Rock in a good mood today?"

"Not really, "Jade answers. "But that may have something to do with the fact that our visual aide for our project managed to set off the fire alarm. Again."

"Geez, isn't that like, the third time you guys have done that this month?"

"Ugh. I'll see you in English, Rose," Jade says as she stalks away.

"Maybe I should have mentioned to her that we got in trouble for accidently turning on the sprinklers in the boys' room for the second time this week. I think the water at this school is seeking revenge on me for some reason, because I didn't even touch it this time. I just remember being really mad at Coach Rivers for making me swim extra laps, and all of a sudden, I'm wet as a seal," James smirks. "Later, Rosie. C'mon, Nate," he calls as he walks away. James is the only one who can call me Rosie. I've known him for as long as I can remember, and he's my best guy friend by far, even more so than Nathan.

As I head to my next period Calculus class, I ponder my relationship with James. I've known him for so long that he's like a second brother. He hangs out with me more than any other girl, even Jade, and we always ending up inviting each other on our family vacations- not that my parents mind, they look at James as another son, and the Davenports have told me numerous times that they are happy that I tag along, because apparently James and his little sister Erica fight less when I'm with them.

As I sit down at my usual seat in the small, overheated classroom, I say hi to the only other person my age in this class, Katie Nomand. We're the only two freshmen in this calculus class, because no freshman in their right mind would ever take this course at 14 years old when it's only a required course for seniors, and only the seniors in the advanced math course. Katie and I are the smartest people (at math) in our grade, so we have to join calc with sophomores and juniors to actually give ourselves somewhat of a challenge. My dad always says I didn't get my brains from him, and whenever I try to ask him whether or not I got it from my mother, he gets a faraway look in his eyes and he seems so distraught that I decide that it's best not to press the issue. My mother and father were engaged and planning to get married when they found out they were expecting me, so they had me, and lived together for almost three months. Just before they were supposed to get married, my mom was killed in a horrible car accident. My dad was heartbroken, but he eventually stopped grieving, and when he did, he met my legal mother, Savana. They got married when I was barely a year old, and she adopted me as her legal daughter and had my half-brother, Noah.

My calc teacher, Mr. Barnes, comes rushing into the room in his own personal tornado of pencils, car keys, his lunch, his briefcase, and a falling, large stack of papers that have yet to be graded. His wife is 7 months pregnant with their first child, and he said last week that she keeps him awake at all hours with her food cravings and bathroom trips every 5 minutes, which explains why he looks like he might fall asleep in the middle of one of his famous long-winded formulas. I grab my notebook, textbook, and a pencil and prepare myself for the notes that I will soon have to furiously start taking.

As soon as the bell rings I grab my things and hurry to my locker. Today is Pizza Wednesday, the only remotely decent food item Chican High School offers, and I promised Nathan I'd save him a seat. I head into the cafeteria and immediately see the one person I don't want to see: Bridget Foyker. She's the queen bee of the school, but not in the way that you would imagine. A normal queen bee is pretty, popular, and usually two-faced. Bridget is the strongest girl at Chican-just last week she put three of the big burly football jocks in the hospital using only her bare hands, and they're all seniors, too. I'm also pretty sure she's broken the school record for the most suspensions and office referrals, partially because in addition to her strength, she also speaks her mind. She usually stays away from me, but she's never forgotten when I humiliated her last year by accidently spilling my punch on her during the last eighth grade field trip. If the principal, vice principal, and a security guard hadn't been standing right next to her, she would have beaten me into a pulp. Since then, I know she's been waiting for me to give her just one reason to fight me. Luckily, I haven't done anything to make her mad, but I know it's only a matter of time. I can only hope she forgets about it before I do something I will really regret.