Disclaimer for the ENTIRE story: Yeah I don't own anything; you got a problem with that? I am just kidding…
- Chapter 1 –
I walked into the office of Briarwood High School with my sister trailing in behind, rapidly texting on her phone. Being new to the school, we were forced to report to the office and spend the entire morning touring the school (the other half of the day would be spent in classes).
The thought of moving had caused many, many arguments with my family (my father against my mother, sister and me, 1 against 3). Yet my dad had won over my mom by telling her about the world famous spa, Palm Springs that was ever so conveniently located in Westchester, New York. And then there were two….who happened to have no say in family matters.
Of course my sister and I had tried an argument on the fact that there was only about six months left in our senior year of school (and obviously failed). Why would anyone even think about moving if their children would be done with their schooling in a matter of months? But our dad had insisted on moving because the family's way of life had depended on it. Psst, yeah right. More like my dad didn't have the balls to stand up to his boss.
"Welcome, I assume you are the new students." A lady said. The lady looked alarmingly like a bird. She was thin but her nose resembled a beak and her fingernails were like claws. She wore some type of feathery sweater that only increased her bird-like qualities.
"Ah, yeah I am Derrick Harrington and that's my sister Claire." I said pointing to my sister who was staring at her phone like it had just slapped her.
"I am and texting is not allowed in this school." She said pulling Claire's phone right out of her hand. Come to think of it her voice was also like a bird (a chicken squawking sound to be precise).
"What are you doing?" Claire shouted looking absolutely furious.
"I am sorry Ms. Harrington but cell phones are not allowed in this school and I am afraid that I will have to take this out your possession. We don't believe in second chances here and rules are strictly enforced. You may come in after school and pick up your phone."
The woman had managed to say everything without a breath of air.
"But I-" Claire started
"I know you are new here but the rules still apply to you, there are absolutely no expectations."
Claire stomped off to one of the chairs in the office and plopped down. Then bird lady launched into a speech about school rules and I took that as my signal to zone out.
Looking out the window I saw a large soccer field. I had convinced my dad to talk the coach into letting me "transfer" from my old school's soccer team to this one and they had let me since their old goalie quit.
"Sorry I am late Ms. Burns, but I-" A brown haired boy said running into the office.
"It's alright Christopher dear, but make sure it doesn't happen again." Ms. Burns said wagging her finger at him.
Whatever happened to "no exceptions" and all that crap? I wondered if it would help me if befriended this "Christopher". I could get away with anything here if I did. I snuck a look at Claire and she saw that she was fuming at Christopher and Burns.
"Can you take care of the rest, Christopher? I have to head off for a meeting." Ms. Burns asked.
"Yeah, sure." And with that Ms. Burns headed out the door.
"Christopher" turned towards us and smiled, "Hey, I am Chris but everyone calls me Plovert- that's my last name," he added.
I nodded, Plovert, got it. "I am Derrick Harrington," I said
"Who's the angry girl?"
"Oh, that's my twin sister Claire." I said chuckling. "Ms. Burns took her phone."
"Bird lady is pretty harsh, thankfully I am one of favorites, and that makes my life a whole lot easier."
I smiled and Claire stood up and walked over to us. "Well, what do we do now?"
Claire snapped at Plovert. I was guessing that she was still mad.
"Oh, well I am your welcoming committee, my mom's part of the school board so she makes me do stuff like this. Anyway I get to take the whole morning off and give you guys a tour and explain the rules and stuff. But mostly I will give you the tour."
"Ok, then get to it." Claire said standing up and heading out the door.
"What's the hurry?" Plovert said and both of us jogged out the door.
"The sooner this day is over, the sooner I get my phone back."
"Alright then, we will be starting this tour off at the office-slash-detention-center-slash-math hallway aka Hallway of Doom." Umm...
--
Claire grabbed an apple and placed it next to her Caesar Salad. She had spent the whole morning following Plovert around school and longing for her phone. Sure Plovert was cute and all but she could really care less about the stupid school. She only had half a year left, so why get too attached anyway?
Chris-slash-Plovert, whatever his name was had given them a quick tour around the school (she had to admit it was pretty big) and then he bonded with Derrick over the topic of soccer. The two idiots had then decided to sneak onto the soccer field and Claire had been forced to watch them play soccer for about two hours. Claire had gotten so bored that she had fallen asleep on the bench. Thankfully when they had woke her up it was time for lunch.
She paid for her lunch and waited for Plovert and her brother to get out of the lunch line.
"Hey, our table is at the back." Plovert said before heading to the back of the cafeteria. She followed him along side Derrick and arrived at a table that was marked as Table 18. Claire sat down and noticed the cafeteria was slowly starting to fill up.
A few tables across seated a group of people who looked like they were having a blast. Claire was reminded of her friends back home and she wanted nothing more than to be back in Texas. A Spanish looking girl at the table who looked like a Ralph Lauren smiled at her and Claire smiled back.
"Hey!" someone said and Claire jumped. She looked up to see a pretty girl blonde plop down at the table.
"Hey Kristen," Plovert said swallowing his pizza. "This is Claire and Derrick Harrington, the new kids that I told you about."
"Hi," Kristen said to Claire smiling. When she turned to Derrick, Claire was pretty sure Kristen's smile widened. A minute later Kristen was talking to Derrick about something soccer related. Claire rolled her eyes before turning back to her salad. If everyone here was obsessed with soccer she was sure she would die.
Claire heard another chorus of heys and hellos and looked up. Two dark haired boys sat down at the table along with a brunette girl. One of the boys had dark brown hair and a blue and a green eye. Even with his freakish different colored eyes, Claire had to admit that he was adorable. The other boy had dark black hair and bluest eyes she had ever seen. In other words he was gorgeous. The brunette girl fit along with the guys in the sense that she was stunning. She had wavy brown hair and amber eyes. The most noticeable thing about her was the bright purple cast that was on her left hand. Claire thought that they carried themselves in a certain way but couldn't quite put her finger on how.
"Hey everyone," Plovert said. "This is Derrick and Claire Harrington." The chorus of hellos was heard again.
"Plovert, I think that some introductions are in order?" The one the gorgeous blue eyes said raising his eyebrows and very 'duh' tone.
"Oh, yeah. Claire, Derrick you already know Kristen and Danny would be the idiot who just talked." Plovert said pointing to the blue eyed boy. "Massie is the one next to him." Massie smiled at Claire and Derrick. "And on her other side is Cam." Cam also smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"So why did do you guys move here?" Kristen asked directing the question more towards Derrick.
While Derrick turned to talk about the move to Kristen, Plovert and Danny, Massie and Cam turned to Claire.
"So what did you think of the school so far?" Cam asked stealing one of Massie's fries in the process. Massie scowled at him before turning her attention to Claire.
"It's pretty big."
"I know," Massie said "But you will get used to it and we help you out."
"Thanks," Claire said, she wouldn't really mind if Danny or Cam wanted to give her a private tour around the school, she would definitely pay attention. "I already got my phone taken away by the principal."
Cam and Massie laughed, "Already?"
"Yeah for texting."
"That sucks but all you need to do is hang out with Plovert and you will be fine. That's the only reason we do." Plovert turned away from the conversation to stick his tongue out at Cam.
Claire smiled and noticed Massie's cast again. "What happened to your arm?"
Plovert and Danny started laughing and Kristen rolled her eyes but continued talking with Derrick.
Massie rolled her eyes as well. "I went skiing for the first and last time during winter break and that didn't really work out. But I get the cast off in tomorrow."
Claire smiled and nodded. Massie adjusted a small gold heart shaped locket around her neck.
"The necklace you are wearing is really beautiful." Claire said pointing to the necklace.
Suddenly, everyone at the table froze. Kristen stopped mid-sentence, Plovert stopped chewing, Danny stopped drinking, Cam tensed up and they all looked at Massie who was had staring into space. Claire turned to look at Derrick who looked just as confused.
Massie quickly composed herself before smiling at Claire. "Thank you, I pretty much wear it all the time."
Everyone slowly went back what they had been doing seconds before. Claire turned and caught Derrick's eye and knew that he was thinking the same thing: What was going on here?
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So what did you think? Mind reviewing and telling me about it?
