Niki put on her messenger bag and flipped her hair from under the strap. She had just moved in with her mom and was heading to a new high school. She looked in the mirror and got an eerie feeling. She shrugged it off and sighed.
"Niki! Come on, sweetheart! You're going to be late for school!" Niki's mother called.
"Coming!" Niki said. "Well, this is as good as it's gonna get." She walked out of her room and ran down the stairs. "Bye mom. I'm gone." She ran outside and got in her car. She put her keys in the ignition and the car started up.
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Niki walked into her class. The students seemed to actually be paying attention before she walked in. She felt kind of embarrassed. She handed her schedule to her teacher.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new student. Her name is Nico-"
"Niki." Niki muttered.
"Niki Sanders." the teacher finished. "Please take a seat by Mr. Hawkins." The teacher pointed to an empty seat. Niki went to her seat and sat down. She put her backpack next to her. She sighed. She didn't care what the teacher was teaching at the moment. She looked to her right. The boy next to her wasn't paying attention either.
After ten minutes, he, himself, finally looked up. He had been reading a comic. He put it in his backpack and grabbed another. As he was sitting back up, he caught sight of Niki and was surprised. He looked to the board to see if the teacher was paying attention, he then looked back at Niki.
"Hi. I'm Darryl Hawkins. Everyone calls me D.L." he whispered.
"I'm Niki."
"Nice to meet you." Niki went back to her binder. "Hey. Do you want to eat lunch with me and my friends?" D.L. added. Niki smiled and nodded. "Cool."
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D.L. and Niki walked on the lawn over to D.L.'s friends.
"Hey Warren. Taylor. Trihn. Itchy." D.L. said.
"Hey. What's happenin'?" Taylor asked.
"Nothing much. This is Niki. Niki, that's Warren, Taylor, Trihn, and Itchy."
"Hi." Niki said.
"Hi." the other four said.
"Great. Now I'm not the only girl over here." Trihn said. Niki sat down on the grass as D.L. lied on his stomach. He pulled out another comic. "D.L., you are fourteen and you're still reading comic books?"
"You're fourteen?" Niki asked.
"He is. I'm fifteen. These two are sixteen and Taylor's seventeen." Warren said. D.L. nodded, not looking away from his comic book.
"Uh-oh. Look whose coming." Taylor said. Everyone looked up.
"Felicia." Trihn said.
"Who's that?" Niki asked.
"Hey D.L." called Felicia. D.L. looked up and smiled. Niki noticed this.
"Is she D.L.'s girlfriend?"
"Well-" D.L. began.
"He wishes." the others said simultaneously. Niki giggled.
"Shut up. Shut up." D.L. said.
"He's got a little- wait, did I say little? I meant huge crush on Felicia." Itchy said.
"You guys are so mean."
"Why do you like her?" Niki said.
"The four B's. Beauty, brains, and booty." D.L. said.
"That's three."
"Ah, with a booty like that, I had to count it twice." He gave Itchy a high five. Niki rolled her eyes at D.L.'s sexist comment.
"Hey guys." called a voice. They all turned their heads.
"Oh, hey Linderman." D.L. said.
"Ah, I see you have a new friend." Linderman said, sitting by Niki.
"Yeah, this is Niki. Niki, this is-"
"Alexander Linderman." said Linderman in a smooth voice.
"Hi." Niki said. Linderman was a very wiry young man. He had blonde hair, in which none were out of place. His blue eyes looked as if you could drown in them. He had a boyish smile and an adult voice.
"So, guys. There's this… thing I need from you."
"What's in it for us?" D.L. said.
"D.L., you owe me $20 anyway. So, it doesn't matter what you get. You'll do as I say. I hope to see you after school. It was nice meeting you, Niki." Linderman took her hand and kissed it. He stood up and walked away.
"Who's that?" Niki asked.
"Alexander Linderman. His dad is an investor in the school. Gives the most money. So you could say that he owns the school. Linderman is basically the school loan shark. He even puts interest on it. I originally borrowed 3 bucks from him. Now I owe him 20. The way you erase your debt is, obviously, you pay him back, with cash, or you do something for him." D.L. said.
"And basically we're his lapdogs." Trihn said. D.L. nodded, going back to his comic.
"Why'd you ask what do you get?"
"We're basically the school mercenaries." D.L. said. Niki turned her head and watch the young man in his sweater vest talk to a few other people.
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"Hey sweetheart. How was school?" Niki's mom asked.
"Good." Niki said simply.
"Make any friends?"
"Yeah. Trihn, Warren, Taylor, Itchy, Linderman. Oh, and D.L."
"Most of them sound like boy names."
"All of them except Trihn."
"Any love interests?"
"Mom!"
"Just wondering."