CHAPTER ONE: The new kid

I. Get a good and reliable group of friends.

Alright, Ophelia, calm down, you'll be fine, Ophelia Irving kept telling herself as she made her way through the classroom desks, trying to look normal while scanning a fitting empty space.

There.

She sat down and shot a quick smile at the nearest classmate caring enough to spare her a look.

"Hi, I'm Martin Qwerly and I'm not new- well, technically we're all new but some of us know each other since middle school and some even pre-school! We've been friends for what feels like ages, and it's so cool that most of us ended up here- I guess our parents thought it was a good idea to put us on the nearest-to-home high school or we'd be taking long rides in the morning and afternoon. ¿Do you like long rides? I don't, I usually…"

Ophelia nodded and smiled on cue, seemingly taking in every little detail this Qwerly boy spouted. In reality, she was just scanning his chatter for relevant details while shooting furtive glances around to get a feel of the rest of the class.

"Hey there, CH!"

Another boy sat on an empty desk in front of Martin and waved at him. He brought a rather stark contrast to the conversation, as he seemed to be the ultra-silent kind.

"CH?" Ophelia asked, puzzled.

"Oh, that's short for 'Coconut Head'," Martin replied, eager to explain, "it's the nickname he's gone by all these years because of his haircut- it made him look like he had a coconut head, you know."

His head certainly did not look 'coconut-y' now. CH's hair was cut really short and gelled up in neat spikes. He looked rather good, Ophelia thought.

"That's kinda cruel…" she said, unsure whether to smile or not.

'CH' merely shrugged as someone used to be called that.

"So," Ophelia asked, "what's your actual name?"

'CH' and Martin looked back at her with surprise.

"Uh… did I say something wrong?"

"No, no," 'CH' spoke for the first time, "only that no one had ever asked that before, not even the teachers…"

Ophelia thought his teachers could not have been very good if they had not taken the trouble to find out a student's name.

"Robert," CH replied, with a somewhat shy smile, "but they used to call me Rob back at home, before the whole 'Coconut Head' thing…"

"Well, nice to meet you, Rob," Ophelia smiled, "I'm Ophelia Irving."

"Hi," Rob replied with the shy smile still on.

"Ophelia, that's a nice name. I used to have a cousin called Ophelia," Martin went on, "I guess I still do but I haven't seen her in years- you see, she moved to Alaska when her father got a job there- at first we'd email each other but then she got really busy with her AP levels and didn't have the time, and then-"

Ophelia tuned out Martin's endless drone while feigning attention. She scanned the room discreetly, trying to figure out what everyone else was on about.

Hm, mostly boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, she said, spotting a few couples behaving like they were alone in the world. There was a blonde girl at the other extreme of the room apparently engrossed in conversation with two similarly dressed girls, and they shot looks at a boy who looked rather out of his element; he was alone and no one would talk to him, and with good reason: he looked positively scary with a scowl and a black leather jacket.

"… and then Ned told me that I'd better start listening to what she had to say and she might start liking me and guess what- it worked!"

Ophelia was slightly jolted by the excitement of Martin's voice. She smiled with an interested look.

"So you've been dating ever since?" Rob asked.

"Yeah, and she's awesome!" Martin said, looking really happy.

"Does she go to this school?" Ophelia ventured to ask, hoping that topic had not been covered already.

"No, she goes to a private all-girls school, but we see each other every afternoon- well, as soon as she's done with her homework and special classes- her parents want her to reach her full potential so they've signed her up for several musical instruments since I can remember, and also…"

There was something bothering Ophelia. At first she could not pinpoint what, but there was certainly something she was missing. She could feel it, and when she felt something, it was usually true.

At that moment, the teacher walked in and everyone went back to their seats.

After a brief introduction, they were asked to take out their books and read out loud in turns. Ophelia zoomed out; she had already covered that book and judged it a waste of time to concentrate on it again.

But it was not as if she was going to be amused just by not listening. It was a new environment, a whole new experience to absorb, a new place to make acquaintances, friends, and perhaps…

Ophelia looked away to hide her smile. She had thought that this year was it: she was getting a cute, smart and overall awesome boyfriend, or her name was not Ophelia Sydelle Irving.

Trying to look attentive, Ophelia rested her chin on the back of her hand and threw a subtle glance around the room: there were several cute boys in her class. The girl could not help but notice a couple of possible boyfriend prospects for her; there was the blonde, grumpy guy at the back, who seemed clearly as little concentrated as her in the reading; there was also a really attractive blue-eyed boy exchanging notes with a black boy wearing glasses; they did it as a second nature without being caught a single time by the teacher.

Ophelia recognized the boy as one of the involved ones; he had been looking rapturously into the brown eyes of the girl sitting to his left.

Note-boy's taken, Ophelia thought, shrugging mentally, but who knows? Maybe they'll break up soon or something…

She discarded him for the moment and turned, metaphorically, to the grumpy boy.

He sure looks like a bully… I wonder if it's worth the try?

The person in front of her started reading and Ophelia began to pay attention. It would not do to look like an idiot on her first day at this new school.

* * * * *

"Hey guys, why don't we team up for the English project? Mr. Reed said to group in threes, and since there's three of us…"

It was fine by Ophelia. Keeping people around would mean she was not a lonely weirdo, even if her associates were not exactly popular material. That would come later, she thought.

Rob nodded his agreement and so did Ophelia. There was no need for them to say anything else. Martin carried the whole weight of the conversation on his own and, apparently, without any effort.

"Great! So, what book do you think we should pick? I had thought that maybe…"

Ophelia tagged along with Rob and Martin to the next class, in which they happened to be together.

"So you brought back Le Forge for the job?"

She had lost track of the conversation overruled by Martin, but Rob's reply caught her attention.

"LeForge?" Ophelia asked, coming out of her mind. She missed the smile Rob and Martin shared which had more to it than mere agreement.

"Eh, well, I…"

It was surprising to see Martin unable to find words to fill an empty space with.

"He used to know this guy who could forge anything," Rob replied, "and when Lily needed some help with a bad report card that needed signing, well… good old Martin tracked the guy down to help her."

"Oh, I see," replied Ophelia, not seeing it. It was clear Rob was lying, but she did not push the issue any further.

"Anyway, that was after I asked her how she was doing, and she asked me if I could help her, eh… track that guy down, but if I hadn't asked, maybe we wouldn't be dating right now."

"Yeah, I guess that was probably a good idea," Ophelia replied, slightly unsure of what to say.

"Well, that's our Ned," Rob added. "It was actually him who phoned me back in summer vacation and told me to get this haircut," Rob said, pointing at his hair. "He said it probably wouldn't stop the people who knew me from calling me 'Coconut Head', but as that wouldn't make sense to any new person I'd meet, they'd start calling me by my real name, and maybe one day I'd stop being known as 'Coconut Head'."

"And it worked, at least on me," Ophelia replied, smiling widely. "So, who's this Ned?" she asked, with interest.

"A friend of ours," Martin replied, "he's not here at the moment, I guess he didn't take this course, but he'll probably be on the next one, or we could point him at you at lunch, or-"

"And you say he gives advice?" Ophelia cut Martin's chatter.

"He's got this guide thing he's been writing on for a while with tips on how to survive school and stuff like that," Martin replied.

"Really good stuff," added Rob.

"Hm."

That was some good advice, Ophelia thought. She had not thought it possible for a boy her age to display that amount of common sense.

That's it! That's what was bothering me!

"This is the same Ned that told you to listen to your girlfriend?" Ophelia asked, after she remembered something from their earlier conversations.

"Yeah, that was him!" Martin replied, nodding eagerly.

"He seems smart," Ophelia said.

And certainly worth meeting, she thought, eager for their Algebra I class to be over, which was a pity, since it was one of her favorite subjects.

* * * * *

"Over there, that's Ned, with Moze!"

Just my luck, thought Ophelia when Martin pointed at the blue-eyed boy from earlier.

The taken blue-eyed boy from earlier.

Ophelia eyed the boy called Ned. He sure was cute, but was also really into his girlfriend, judging from the way they held hands over the lunch table and looked at each other with adoring eyes.

"You called her Moze, what's that short for?"

"Mosely," replied Martin, "but her name's Jennifer, but we call her 'Moze' because there were four Jennifers in first grade and Ned made up that nickname for her to avoid confusion, and it stuck, and now they're dating, but it's recent- I think they started dating at the end of last year, right, CH?"

"Yeah, it was on our field trip to the Huffington Gardens, or so I heard…"

"Wait, wasn't Ned with Suzie when we went there?"

"Suzie?" Ophelia asked.

"Yeah, Ned's crush since fourth grade, or second… or something, but he dated her for a while and then she left the school but then she came back and they resumed their dating, but apparently Moze also liked Ned, and Ned liked her back, too, but they couldn't be together because of Suzie and… I don't really know what happened."

"Hm," was all Ophelia could say. For a couple of average-looking boys, they surely gossip like girls, she thought.

"And where's Suzie now?" Ophelia asked to shift the topic away from Ned and Moze.

"I heard she went to a private school at the other side of town," replied Rob.

Martin shot him a puzzled look.

"How do you know that?"

"Our parents play tennis on Sundays," he replied simply.

"Oh."

"Guys, who's that one over there?" Ophelia asked them.

The grumpy, attractive blonde boy from class had joined the lunch line, looking, of all things, lost.

"That's Billy Loomer," replied Rob, "former bully and soon-to-be-bullied-by-the-older-kids, we hope!"

"Yeah!" added Rob with enthusiasm.

Ophelia was surprised to see this display of emotion from Rob.

"He must have picked a lot on you…"

"Yeah, on us," Martin replied for both, "but not anymore. His cronies are not with him anymore, and as long as we keep a low profile, the bullies here are more likely to notice him, since he's taller and, well, he does call attention more than us, and bully him and, who knows, maybe he'll finally know the hell he gave us all those years!"

Ophelia was not sure that was how things worked but decided against taking that tiny shred of hope from Martin and Rob.

She observed Billy as he slid his tray, picking food. He looked downcast, and… sad? Ophelia wondered briefly how it would feel to have power for a while and then be stripped off it by the passing of time. It probably did not feel good.

"Excuse me, can we talk to you?"

Ophelia looked at the source of the shrill, demanding voice. It was the blonde she had observed gossiping earlier and her two cronies.

"Sure, what is it?" Ophelia replied.

"In private," she said, shooting dirty looks at Martin and Rob.

What, seriously? Ophelia could not help thinking.

She got up and followed them to a corner.

"Okay, here's the thing: we noticed you from the moment you walked into English class and knew you had to be part of our group. You are good-looking, dress very well and, if you are the tiniest bit smart, you must know strength lies in numbers. So, are you in?"

In, as in…?

"I'm confused…" Ophelia judged better to feign temporary stupidity to make them reveal themselves.

"It's not that hard!" replied the blonde, "you hang with us instead of those losers and we make you popular! It's a treat we're offering you!"

Ophelia had a few choice words she would have liked to share with this girl, but knew she had to keep it shut… for the moment.

"Uh, what's your name?"

The blonde sighed with exasperation.

"I'm Missy," she replied, "and these are Kara and Courtney. Anything else you want answered?"

"Nice to meet you, all, I'm Ophelia Irving," she smiled, reaching out a hand to Missy.

Missy pursed her lips and gave her a 'yeah, right' look.

Ophelia withdrew her hand with a scared look. She hoped with all her strength that they bought it.

"OK, Ophelia, you've bought yourself some time but just because that senior over there is eyeing me," Missy replied, offering the senior a sugary smile. "But when classes end, we'll be waiting at the main entrance for an answer, and it better be 'yes, I'll devote my life to you Missy', understand?"

Ophelia nodded and the girls left.

As she got back to her table, Martin and Rob shared a look.

"We heard the whole thing," Rob said, to Ophelia's surprise, "and we'll understand if you decide to go with them. After all, we'd do it if we had the chance."

"Yeah, we would," said Martin, dejectedly.

Ophelia gave the boys a look.

What to do, what to do…

"Guys, don't worry," she finally said with a devious smile. "I have a plan."