Chapter 1
The first day of school… I was so dead.
I used to go to school in Vermont, but then I applied for a scholarship at a school in the UK. A lot of people from all over the world try to get in here. Either they had a scholarship like me, or they're loaded.
I finally found my locker but the stupid thing wouldn't open. I tugged on it once, then twice, then three times, four, five, six. The warning bell rang. I only had about ten more minutes to get to class – not that I would be able to make it in time anyway.
"Um, I think the lock is winning." I whipped my head around. A tall boy with short brown hair loomed over me, which wasn't that hard, considering I'm only about 158 centimeters tall.
"You need help, señorita?"
"No, gracias, estoy bien," I responded, reentering the combination.
"Oh, habla usted español?"
"Un poco."
" Zere you are! Ve vere looking evrivar fur you!"
Two people were walking toward us. Both of them were tall. The first was a blonde guy with shoulder length hair pulled back in a ponytail. He saw me looking at him and winked. Yep, definitely a player, I thought to myself. The other guy was waving at us. He had spiky white hair and his eyes were scarlet red. Now I was surrounded by the three of them just when I thought things couldn't get worse. I finally managed to open my lock, but now the door was jammed.
"Damn it!" I yelled in frustration.
"Mademoiselle? You need help with zat?" The blonde asked me.
"No!" I snapped back. Instead of leaving like I hoped they would, they just stayed there hanging around my locker. I kicked the door, but that didn't work. I searched the hallway franticly trying to find someone who would rescue me, but everyone was talking to friends or getting to class.
"You know, girlie, zat vould be a lot easier if you vould just let one of us help you" the albino guy asked in his heavy German accent. He leaned against the locker next to mine.
"How many times do I have to say no?" I asked impatiently.
"Get lost, you three." A new guy stepped into the fray. His voice was firm, and you could tell he meant business. The three boys who had been bothering me rolled their eyes and moved on.
"Thanks," I said, relieved.
"Don't mention it," he responded, his voice still flat and emotionless. The bell rang and he walked up to my locker and quickly got it open.
"Um, aren't you going to be late to class?" I asked him.
"I could say the same for you, couldn't I? Besides, I was supposed to find you anyway, so come on." He motioned for me to follow. I grabbed my stuff and walked after him.
"So you're the welcoming committee?"
He nodded. "The president was supposed to help you, but I found out that he was in detention, so I had to come myself."
"The class president is in detention?"
"He doesn't think before talking, and he sucks with schoolwork. He must have mouthed off to a teacher."
"Then why is he the president?"
"Because no one else wanted the job, and he likes bossing people around."
"So then you must be the vice president."
He shook his head. "The vice president has too much cleaning up after the president to do. I'm the treasurer."
He stopped in front of my home room.
"If you need something just ask," he told me and started walking away.
"How am I going to ask if I don't even know your name?!" I yelled after him.
"I'm Vash," he answered without even stopping.
What a strange guy! I muttered to myself.
My home room class was pretty cool. The teacher let us hang out and do whatever we wanted and he just told me to sit in between Feliks and Toris. As soon as I took my seat, I was bombarded with questions from Felix.
"Hey, Broski! So you're, like, the new person right? Where are you from? Is it anywhere near here? This is, like, so totally rad! I've been, like, trying meet new people lately but I already know everyone here! Like, what kind of hobbies do you have? What's your favorite color? Mine's like totally pink!"
"Uh, Feliks, you might want to try talking slower. It's really hard to understand you."
I turned around in my chair to face the guy behind me. "So do you have any idea what he's saying?" I asked him.
"Nah, no one does."
I extended my hand to him. "Hi, I'm Alex."
"Toris."
"That's a cool name," I replied.
"Thanks."
"So where are you from?"
"Lithuania."
"Really? I've always wanted to go there. Vilnius sounds really cool."
"It's nice to finally meet someone who's actually heard of my country. So where are you from?"
"I'm from the US."
"Oh, that explains why you speak English so well."
When class let out Toris and Feliks had to go to math while I had biology.
I walked into my classroom, and there, talking, were the three guys from this morning.
Crap! was all I could think. The French guy stopped in the middle of his sentence and winked at me. The other two turned to look at me. The Spanish guy smiled and waved. I took my set as far away from them as possible. The teacher quieted the class and announced that today was dissection day.
Everyone got up to find a partner, but I stayed sitting. What else was I supposed to do? I didn't know anyone. I saw the trio in the back corner of the room. After some discussion, the French guy got up and started walking towards me with cool confidence.
I looked around the room franticly looking for a way out. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"Um, miss? We met earlier. My name is Francis. Would it be okay if we were partners?"
My face grew warm. I looked for anyone else to pair up with, but my luck had run out.
"fine." Having to work with this guy while surrounded by nice, pointy objects was going to take some restraint.
I snapped on my gloves and walked over to an empty station.
"What would you like me to do?" Francis asked.
"I don't care what you do. Just don't get in my way!" I snapped.
He stood behind and watched me as I made the first incision. I tensed as I felt a lock of my hair being lifted from my shoulders.
"You have very beautiful hair."
I pulled my head away instantly. I could feel the heat rushing up to my cheeks.
The stupid teacher was reading and didn't see a thing. I went back to work, lowering my head so that my hair shielded my face.
"Stand next to me, and keep your hands were I can see them." I ordered.
"Désolé," he apologized. He put his hands up defensively, and stepped to my right side. After a while, though, I had to ask Francis to help me.
"Excusez-moi" he said as he reached for the tool on the other side of me. His hand brushed by mine, scaring the crap out of me. Did he do that on purpose? Or was it just an accident? Why am I even worrying?! He's just trying to get to me. I pretended not to notice the flirting and continued working. This worked for a while, until I slipped and cut a wide gash in my thumb.
"SHIT!" I dropped my knife instinctively and swore as I ripped off my gloves. As soon as I did, Francis grabbed my hand and asked me if I was okay. He actually looked concerned. He quickly examined my bleeding phalange and told me to go wash it in the sink, while he went to go get a bandage.
I did the first part without the usage of my wounded hand, but have you ever tried to open a Band-Aid with only one working opposable thumb?
"Let me help you," Francis wrapped it gently around my thumb. "Better?" he asked. I nodded and he smiled.
He finished up the dissection for us just as the bell rang
At lunch, I met Elizabeta and Roderich. Toris and Feliks joined us just as Elizabeta asked how I was liking the school.
"I like it, it's just some of the students I could do without." Elizabeta nodded in agreement.
I felt someone pat my shoulder. "Hi, Newbie!" an all too familiar voice shouted.
I nearly spit out my food."AL?!"
"Um do you two, like, know each other?" asked Feliks.
"Yeah," I said, still stunned. "We used to go out."