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New story!! I wanted to write something a little more mature this time, so I may end up changing the rating on this story to M at some point, but we shall see
And I will be finishing my other story, so please don't ask me about it. thx :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade etc
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I've never lived in a small city. We've moved around countless times since I was born, but we've never settled in a city that wasn't jammed to the max with traffic, people and high-rise buildings. So when we passed the welcome sign for Kaleona, the population number of 145 000 seemed very small to me. Mom said she wanted a change of pace. I have no idea why, now, out of the blue she decided she wants to just drop her life and pick it up somewhere else. She says it's so Lauren can be closer to school, but I think it's just an excuse, she was already pretty close. Besides, it was January, and she was already in her second semester.
"It's so pretty," Lauren remarked from the passenger seat. My head was resting against the window, so I turned my eyes to gaze at the scenery. Huge, beautiful houses lined the street. They had gates, tree-lines drived and at least three car garages. Behind the houses, you could glimpse the sunlit waters of the lake. I had to admit, even through my dislike of coming here, it was a pretty nice we continued to drive and the houses got smaller and smaller and the lake disappeared from sight. We passed a school and my mom pointed over Lauren to the right, "I think that's your new school Lina!"
"That's great mom," I replied rather unenthusiastically as I stared at the large brick building. It was a really nice looking school from what I could see. The lawn was green and the windows were spotlessly clean. Nothing like my old schools had been. I was already beginning to feel a little intimidated.
Luke reached over and punched my shoulder lightly. I turned to him and he offered me a sympathetic smile. I pouted at him and he laughed. Finally, after several turns through streets lined with houses, we pulled into a drive.
"Were here!", mom sang, pulling the key from the ignition and turning to smile around at all of her kids. Lauren let out an excited giggle and Luke bent his neck to look at the place from his window.
Luke and I had never seen the place, so when I pushed open the door and caught sight of my new home I was a little disappointed. It was small and worn looking with windows that obviously needed to be replaced and a cracked, weathered driveway.
Mom was looking at me a little nervously as I checked out the place so I smiled reassuringly at her. She looked really relieved. After seeing all the houses coming in, I guess I expected a little more. Mom worked really hard for the little money she made though, and supporting three kids is no easy feat. I knew I should be happy with this.
I grabbed my backpack from the floor on the backseat and followed mom and Lauren up the small concrete path into the house. There was a staircase to the right as you entered leading up to the three bedrooms. Down the little hall I could see part of the kitchen and to the left was the living room.
I gave myself a tour as my mom headed out to meet the moving truck with Luke. The bedrooms were on the small side and there was only one bathroom. Mom said the master bedroom was mine and Lauren's. Lauren and I had always shared a bedroom. At most of our previous houses, we had had bunk beds because there wasn't enough room to put two separate beds. Fortunately the room looked big enough that they wouldn't be necessary.
"Lina!" I heard Lauren shouting from the front door, "We need to help unload the truck!"
"Ok, I'm coming," I yelled back and headed back down the stairs to help.
When the moving truck finally drove away it was already late evening and the little house was filled with boxes. Luke had started to put together our beds so that we could sleep in them tonight and Mom and Lauren were unpacking the boxes labelled "Kitchen" in order to put something together to eat. I spent the night helping out Luke.
The next few days were rather unexciting, mostly spent unpacking. When I finally went to bed on Sunday night, the house was in pretty good order. Mostly everything was unpacked and put away and the furniture had found a spot. School started tomorrow and I was not looking forward to starting at another new school. Lauren was snoring lightly from her bed across the room. I let the familiar sound lull me to sleep.
*****
"Lina." I heard the faint sound of a familiar voice and the sensation of someone shaking my shoulder.
"Ugh, go away mom," I grumbled, swatting blindly at the air above me. I hate mornings.
"School starts in half an hour, get up," I heard her say much more sharply this time and I immediately sat up in panic.
"What?!" I exclaimed, turning to look at the alarm clock on the stand next to me. It read 7:40. Shit, I thought I'd set the alarm. I scrambled out of bead and dashed for the shower.
"I made you a lunch," mom called after me, "It's on the counter beside the fridge!"
I'd wanted to blowdry my hair and put on some makeup to look great on my first day, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen. Dressing hastily, I pulled on the dark blue plaid skirt, white blouse and blue socks that consisted of the school uniform. It was weird wearing a uniform; I'd never been to a school that required it. It had costed an arm and a leg too.
As I dashed into the kitchen, my lunch was sitting in a brown bag next to the fridge, just as mom had said. I shoved it into my book bag, slid into my black flats and dashed out the door.
"Have a good first day!" mom called after me from the front doorway. I waved my hand in the air in response.
The walk to the school was pretty linear. I just had to walk down my street, take a right and then take a left two streets up onto Willow Street and then follow that for a while. It was rather shocking how the scenery changed as soon as I reached Willow St. The buildings were bigger and much more taken care of; the rundown little houses were no longer in sight. It was almost as if I'd entered a whole new city. I turned left in the direction of the school. After about 10 minutes, I finally reached the large building we'd passed a few days ago.
It was every bit as prestigious as it looked from the road. The paved path up to the front doors was flawless, like it'd been done yesterday. I opened one of the front doors and proceeded inside.
The front office was immediately to the right, so I headed on in. There were several desks in here, and behind each one sat a middle aged woman. The woman sitting behind the closest one offered me a cold smile.
"Hi," I said to her awkwardly, "Um, this is my first day here. I'm not sure where to go."
"Oh, alright. Do you have the copy of your schedule that was mailed to you?" she asked.
"Yeah," I responded, "It's in my bag."
"Ok, well let's see it dear," she said and waited for me to pull it out from my bag. I tried to smooth it out a little before handing it to her. It looked so sad compared to the pristine sheets lying on her desk.
"Hmm, ok", she mumbled to herself and then looked up at me, "Well you missed the first week, as I'm sure you are aware and class began 15 minutes ago now, so we don't want you to disturb Mr. Chan."
"Um, yes, of course," I replied awkwardly at her disapproving stare. It's not like I meant to show up late. It's my alarm clocks fault, it is clearly dysfunctional.
"Alright," she said after a moment, "Your second class is on the second floor. So go out this door and up the stairs outside here and then make a left. It's near the end of the hall on the left hand side I believe."
"Oh, ok. Thank you," I nodded in reply and she handed me back my schedule.
"You're welcome. Your locker is on the first floor to the right. It's pretty close to the lobby here. Number 412, here is your lock," she said as she pulled a folder out of one of her drawers and handed me a lock. I put it in my bag.
"Ok, thanks," I said again and she nodded. I took that as my cue to leave.
The locker was pretty easy to find as it was pretty close to the front entrance. That was quite nice. The classroom was also exactly where the lady had said it was. This was also very nice. I wasn't sure what to do in the mean time, so I just sat on the ground next to the door and waited.
"Bored?"
I snapped out of daze and looked up. A cheerful looking boy with blonde hair smiled down at me.
"Oh, uh, yeah," I replied lamely. He laughed and I couldn't help but smile.
"Do you not have a first period class?" he asked curiously as he slid down the locker next to me.
"No, I do. Didn't really make it in time," I replied sheepishly and he laughed again. He had a very warm, friendly laugh. I liked it.
"Smooth. I'm Max by the way. I've never seen you around here before," He said, cocking his head to one side in interest.
"I'm Lina. I actually just moved here, today is my first day," I explained to him. He nodded in understanding.
"Oh really? Hey, I can show you around after class if you want?" he offered with a cheerful smile.
"Oh wow, yeah ok," I replied in surprised. I hadn't expected anyone to help me out like this, "That'd be great, thanks."
"No problem", he smiled and I smiled back. The bell rang shortly after that, and Max and I got up to head inside. Art was one of my favourite classes, so I was actually somewhat looking forward to this. I wasn't really sure where to sit when Max grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a table at the back.
"You can sit here with me," he said pointing to the chair next to him as he sat down. I smiled gratefully and took a seat.
The class filed in, and another boy and girl sat at the table across from Max and I. He introduced them as Tyson and Hilary, two of his best friends. They were all really nice people, and I couldn't help but start to like them. Hilary and Tyson were constantly bickering at each other, and I didn't understand why until Max informed me that they were actually together. That explained a lot.
When class was over, Max dragged me to the cafeteria with Hilary and Tyson. We sat at a table close to the middle and were later joined by a small, nerdy looking boy and another girl. They were both wearing round glasses. I tried not to laugh out loud; the boy looked like such a dork.
"I cannot believe how stupid some people are," the new girl grumbled angrily as she sat down. She hadn't seemed to notice my presence yet, so I tried to look like I was really into my sandwich. I probably looked so weird.
"Why, what happened?" Hilary asked with mild interest.
"Mariah. I have no idea how that girl made it to grade 13."
"Ohh," Hilary replied with a nod, as if that explained everything, "Your math assignment?"
"Yeah. I cannot believe Ms. Hallow paired me with her. It's so retarded."
"Yeah, that really sucks," Hilary said sympathetically and I got the feeling that this Mariah girl was not particularly well liked by them.
"Who are you?" the new girl asked after several moments. It took me a second to realize she was talking to me.
"Oh, uh, I'm Lina," I replied as I awkwardly tried to wipe crumbs off my face. Her stare was making me feel uncomfortable.
"She's new here, I picked her up in art class," Max explained with a delighted smile. The girl looked at him for a second and then back at me. Wow, this was awkward.
"Oh, ok. I'm Emily."
"That's Kenny by the way," Max said nodding towards the smaller guy. He barely looked up from his laptop to give me a small smile before looking back down. I wondered if he'd even be able to recognize me tomorrow.
Max leaned over to me and said in a low voice, "He's a real smart guy, but not much of a conversationalist."
I let out a small laugh and Max smiled shrewdly in response.
*****
The next few days went by a lot more smoothly than I thought. Max made me feel very welcome there and I really appreciated it. I sat with him and his friends every day at lunch that week, and I was happy to learn that Hilary was in both of my afternoon classes and Emily and Tyson were in my first one.
On Wednesday, I was sitting in English talking to Hilary before the teacher started when Mariah, a girl with long pink hair approached me. She had a strange feline-like quality to her face and she was very pretty.
"Your Lina right?" She asked. I don't know why though, she obviously already knew that I was.
"Yes."
"What's that short for?"
"Lina."
"What? That's the same name..."
"Yeah, it is."
"Oh," she stared at me with obvious uncertainly. I could tell that she didn't really understand. Emily really wasn't kidding when she said this girl was slow.
"It's just Lina. It's not short for anything." I thought I'd help her out.
"Ooh." Comprehension finally dawned on her face, "I see. That's a strange name."
"Well. It was supposed to be Celina, but my mom wanted all of her kid's names to begin with the letter L, so yeah, it's just Lina."
"Really? That's so weird."
"Yeah, I know."
She stood there staring at me for several moments before she smiled at me.
"Well Lina, it was nice to meet you"
"Um, you too." And then she walked off to her seat. After a moment I noticed Hilary staring incredulously at me from her seat next to mine.
"What?" I asked, staring back at her innocently.
"That was really weird", Hilary said, her eyebrows still raised in amazement as she glanced over at Mariah.
"It was?"
"Uh, yeah... very."
"Why?"
Hilary was looking at me like I was seriously insane. "Because it's Mariah, she barely ever goes out of her way to talk to someone."
******
The next two weeks were really uneventful. Mariah hadn't spoken to me at all since that one time. And I was becoming real good friends with Max and Hilary. I found Emily and Kenny a bit too school oriented for my taste, but we got a long and Tyson was just kind of a goof. He was a nice guy when it came down to it though, even if he wasn't always the brightest.
It was in my third week that Mariah finally spoke to me again. It was the end of the day on Thursday and I was shoving stuff from my locker into my book bag.
"Hey Lina."
I looked up to see her leaning against the locker beside mine.
"Oh, hi Mariah," I replied. I felt strangely defensive being in her presence; like I expected her to have bad intentions for talking to me. Ridiculous, I know. It was probably because of what Hilary said.
"Got plans for the weekend?" She asked casually, her head cocked to one side.
"Oh, um, I don't think so," I replied, somewhat taken aback by her question. I'd gotten so used to her not talking to me, that it felt sort of weird to be doing so.
"There's a big party this weekend, you should come."
I honestly had no idea what to say. I'm sure Hilary would have fainted in shock if she was here.
"Oh, uh..." I replied awkwardly.
"You can bring your friends if you'd like. It's ok, there's going t be a lot of people there," she assured me, as if she knew the reason behind my skepticism. Maybe she really was smarter than people gave her credit for.
"Ok. Well, I'll ask them and see."
"Great, here's the address and stuff, hope you can come." She handed me a little piece of paper with writing on it. I nodded dumbly.
"See ya!" she said and pranced out of the building. I couldn't wait to tell Hilary, she was going to love this.
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Review plzzz ^-^
sorry its a bit boring, first chappie and all. it'll get better, promise!!
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