Hey guys! I know the high school au has been beaten to death, and everyone is probably sick of it by now, but I wanted to take a stab at it. For the reference all the Jellicles are human in this story.
And also a shout out to Chuck's Prophet, my beta!
High school. It was a necessary stepping stone in a persons life, or so they say. It was the milestone that prepared you for college, and then the working world; then ultimately, when retirement was far past it's ripe, death. But what they don't tell you is that nothing prepares you for high school. The judgement, the hierarchy, the struggle to climb the social ladder. Or at least the struggle to not fall any lower on it.
Victoria had been to her share of high schools. Heaviside High was her third high school, and she was only a Sophomore. Her dad's work caused them to move around a lot. But he had promised that they were going to stay here until she graduated. She was skeptical, but she played along anyways.
And that was how she found herself in the guidance office, sitting in between a Gothic burnout, and two students devouring each other's faces. She was determined not to look at either one. The burnout smelled of grunge and whatever that stain on his shirt was, and she was afraid if she even looked at the couple beside her she would get pregnant. Didn't this school have any rules against PDA?
"Victoria?" Called out the woman behind the desk. Relieved, she stood up and smoothed down her white dress. Finally. She snuck a look behind her, and the grunge guy growled at her. She gave a little squeak, and turned back towards the woman at the desk., clutching her books to her chest.
"Hi, yeah, I'm Victoria." She said, tucking a stray piece of white blond hair behind her ear.
"Hi, Victoria. I'm Jellylorum."
"Nice to meet you, ma'am."
Jellylorum raised and eyebrow at her.
"What?" Victoria asked.
"Nothing, I just haven't had anyone call me ma'am in a long while." She shook her head. "Anyways, this is Exotica."
Jellylorum gestured to a girl beside her that Victoria hadn't noticed before. She had deep brown hair pulled into a tight ponytail and dark skin. She was pretty, but in a plain sort of way.
"Oh, uh, hi Exotica! I didn't see you there." She said. Exotica shrugged.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." She said, with an amused smile.
"Exotica here has volunteered to show you around school. She'll take you to your classes and so on." Jellylorum slipped her reading glasses on, and picked ip her clip bored. "You two better get on your way. I've got more students to take care of. Griddlebone! Growltiger! Break it up before I come over there and make you."
Exotica giggled beside Victoria, and the couple she was sitting beside earlier broke apart.
"C'mon, let's go." Exotica whispered in her ear, before linking arms with her and pulling her out of the guidance office.
"So, who were those kids?" Victoria asked, once they were out of ear shot.
"Grid and Growltiger. Their 'that' couple. You know, one of those couples that're never more than a few inches away from each other, and are always way too affectionate? Yeah that's them."
"Aah, so not everyone at this school is trying to absorb each other's bodies? Good to know."
Exotica laughed. "You're funny. I like that."
Victoria just shrugged.
"So where is your homeroom?" Exotica asked, pulling the schedule out of Victoria's hands.
"Uh, A107, I think."
"Miss Jenny. She's a nice teacher. A little strict, but not really yell-y or or PMS-y. She's kind of like a mother, but with military training tossed in there. Just don't get on her bad side and you'll be fine."
"Dully noted."
Both of them headed down the noisy hallway towards the direction of Victoria's homeroom, and Exotica continued to look through her schedule.
"Looks like we have fourth period and lunch together, that's good. Do you know how to get to your other classes?"
"Yeah I think. I've got a map right h-" Victoria was interrupted as a guy in a sports jacket slammed into her, making her drop all of her books. Her papers scattered everywhere, many of them getting trampled under various students' shoes.
"Watch where you're going." the guy scoffed, before continuing down the hallway. Victoria glared at his back from the floor, and started to pick up her papers while simultaneously trying to not be stepped on.
"Who was that?" She asked as Exotica bent over to help.
"Admetus. He's one of the guys on our track team. Just ignore him. He thinks he's way cooler than he actually is. Here's a suggestion though, hole punch all of your papers and keep them in a binder so when you inevitably get book checked this doesn't happen again. Here."
Exotica passed Victoria the papers she had picked up.
"Are you sure you're not a freshman?" Exotica laughed.
"Shut up. My last two school were small private schools."
"Ah, so we've got a prissy case, then?"
"I'm not a priss. And it's not like I was home schooled or anything like that. It was a catholic school, not a daycare. What grade are you in, anyways?"
"I'm a Junior."
The warning bell rang out in the hallway, and kids started scrambling to get to their classes.
"Look- I gotta go, my homeroom's on the second floor. Miss Jenny's room is right down this hallway, last door on your left. You gonna be okay till second period?"
"Don't worry mom, I'll be fine." Victoria said snarkily. Exotica rolled her eyes.
"Alright, well good luck then. I'll see you fourth period." Exotica waved goodbye to her, then Victoria was alone.
She hurriedly made her way to her homeroom, this time making sure she didn't run into anyone else. It always stunk being the new girl in school. No one knew who you were, and most people didn't care enough to find out. But she seemed to have found a friend in Exotica. Hopefully she would let her sit with her at lunch. Nothing killed you socially like sitting alone at lunch. Victoria shivered at the thought. How embarrassing would that be?
She made it in the door with a minute to spare, and made her way over to the teacher's desk.
"Hi, Miss Jenny? I'm Victoria." Victoria said, holding her hand out for her to shake. Jenny took her hand and gave it a firm shake.
"Hi there, Victoria. Welcome to my homeroom."
Miss Jenny was a slightly chubby older woman with short ginger hair. She had a bright orange and yellow fuzzy sweater on, that Victoria was sure could double as an industrial hazard sign if necessary. But she seemed nice.
"Go ahead and sit anywhere. I'll be doing roll in a few minutes."
Victoria nodded, then looked around at the room. Most of the seats were taken. A couple of girls who were sitting in the back and whispering looked at her and laughed. Victoria blushed and looked down at her shoes. Just find a seat and ignore them. She thought. There were a couple empty seats in the front, and she choose the one farthest from the door.
She opened up the book she had started this week, and slouched low in her seat in attempt to just disappear. Unfortunately, not two seconds went by before she felt a presence beside her. She looked up to find a guy sitting down in the desk beside her.
"Hey. I'm Plato." He said, smiling at her.
"Um, I'm Victoria. C-can I help you?" She stuttered. She wasn't used to guys coming up to her. Or talking to her at all, really.
"You're new here, right?"
"Yeah..."
"I like your dress."
Victoria looked down at her white chiffon dress, and pulled it to cover her knees better. "Uh, thank you?"
"You're welcome. So who do you have first period?" He snatched the schedule off her desk before she could grab it.
"Please give that back."
"Mr. Skimbleshanks for history? Hey- me too! Looks like we'll be history buddies! You don't look like a Junior, though." He said, looking her over. Victoria blushed. She was used to people thinking she looked young. She'd always been small, and kind of a stick-like figure. She never filled out much in puberty, and was unusually skinny because she danced.
"I'm not. I'm a sophomore." She said.
"How are you in a Junior class then? You must be pretty smart."
"I guess. My mom was a history teacher."
"That's cool."
Behind them Miss Jenny stood up from her desk. "Alright, class. I'm going to start roll call. Just say here when I call you're name, alright?"
Plato looked back at the group of friends he had been chatting with earlier. "Hey- I gotta go. See you in first period." He said, winking at Victoria.
He was gone before she could say bye back. Victoria opened up her book again, and tried to clear her thoughts. This school was certainly interesting so far. And she was only halfway through homeroom. She had a feeling that this was only the beginning of of a very long day.