New Meat

A person who arouse one's interest, either as a new target for deception, humiliation or ridicule.

Jake Peralta was not looking forward to starting at a new school. He missed pulling pranks with his old friends, Matt, Harry and Rob, but more importantly, he missed Jenny Gildenhorn. He'd never had a chance to win her back, not since he'd been Funged at his Bar Mitzvah. Mind you, that'd been three years ago. But who was counting?

"What is your name?" barked a voice, as Jake stood daydreaming in the carpark, leaning against his Mustang. Gina, his cousin, was supposed to have met with him, and he was getting tired of gave the man a look over. He was impeccably groomed, and on his lapel read Captain Ray Holt.
Jake figured that this Captain - how does one have that title in a school, anyway? - must be a very serious person, a rule following promptly replied, "Jacob Peralta".
"Well, Jacob Peralta, the next time I see you, I'd like you to be wearing a tie. It is part of the uniform."J
ake rolled his eyes as he walked away. His old Principal McGinley wouldn't have given two shits.

Jake stormed into his first class. There was nothing like mathematics to sour his mood further.
"You're late, new kid," Ms Wuntch greeted.
"No shit, Sherlock," Jake muttered under his breath. Couldn't he catch a break? Now the whole class was looking at him. He slumped into the closest chair he could find, wishing he could disappear.
"Today, we start on integrals-"
Jake zoned out.

"Hi, I'm Boyle. You must be Jake. Gina's mentioned you, like, at least 2 times. Do you have Drama next? We could go there together."
Jake glanced over at his bubbly seat mate, who seemed to pack a lot of energy for such a short body.
"Sure," Jake replied. What did he have to lose? Plus, it was one of his favourite subjects. If possible, Boyle's excitement seemed to increase tenfold.

"For the last time, the best cop movies, in order: Training Day, Lethal Weapon, and Fargo. End of discussion."
Before he could stop himself, Jake rose to the challenge.
"Wrong. Die Hard is the best cop movie of all time. One cop heroically saving the day while everyone else stands around and watches."
"Who's this new meat you've brought, Boyle?" a gruff voice asked.
"Well, Rosa, nice to introduce yourself. This is Jake, I caught him arguing with Ms. Wuntch in mathematics." Rosa gave Jake a hi-five at that.
"Be cool, because he's gonna be my best friend."
"Boyle gets attached easily," explained the girl he challenged before. "I'm Amy. But seriously, you do not want to get on Wuntch's bad side."
Jake wasn't surprised by her advice. Uniform perfectly up to standard, not a single hair out of place, and he'd bet that she'd done all the recommended readings twice. Classic goody-two shoes, a general pain to deal with. Still, he couldn't help but mutter a "Thanks", before being interrupted by the teacher.
"This semester we'll be studying Hamlet", Mr. Jeffords announced. Amy pulled out a clean version, sticky notes poking from the edges. The corner of Jake's mouth quirked into a smile as he caught a glimpse at the elegantly written Santiago on the cover. By the end of the class, Jake noticed that Amy had answered no less than 80% of the questions, 100% correctly. Rosa, Boyle and Jake had spent most of the class mocking scenes from the play.


Author's Note

Hope you're enjoying the story. I'm a recent graduate but after having watched B99 twice in two weeks, I figured I should focus my obsession into something else. I'm not a frequent story writer (I major in science) so any advice is appreciated. I'm trying to focus more on sticking to the characters as they are in the show. Sorry the chapters are shorter than most multi-chapter fanfics. This might lengthen as I improve, but I do have a habit of writing concisely. Also, although this is written in third person, I currently plan to alternate between Amy and Jake's perspectives every chapter. I also must apologise for some inconsistencies I'm sure I'm making, since I'm an Australian but the show is US-based.