Take It in Stride: Chapter 1
The Rules of McKinley
Damian slowly walked into the reception area of McKinley High. "Hello ma'am. I'm the new transfer student." He said timidly.
"Oh," the receptionist ate up Damian's thick Irish accent and smiled, "yes, I have a schedule for you. There is a map on the back. I'll call for a guide student." She picked up a telephone on her desk. "Mr. Lee, could you please send a guide for the new transfer student. Yes. Thank you Mr. Lee." She looked at Damian, "Your guide will be right here. You can go sit over there."
"Uh… Thank you, ma'am."
After a few minutes of suggestive questions, a voice came from the door, "Hey! Are you the new kid?"
"Um, yeah. I'm Damian. Are you my… guide?"
"Uh-huh." Said the tall blonde boy. "I'm Cameron. Come on."
_Damsay_
The two boys walked in silence for a moment then Cameron said, "Hey, are you from Scotland? I heard you accent back there and couldn't help wondering."
Damian immediately adapted the boy's laid back attitude. "No, actually I'm Irish. I just moved here a few weeks ago. My mam and dad got… separated and my dad took me with him over to the U.S. of As." He ended his sentence with his words dripping with sarcasm.
"Cool. Irish. So, do you play any sports? I play basketball and, well, I'm like a benchwarmer for the football team. If you don't want to end up like that," He said, pointing at a black guy covered in blue ice chips, "then I advise you to pick a sport or two. Also, I hate saying this, if you want to stay clean, stay away from glee. They all get slushie facials almost daily, well unless they are popular. Do you like to sing?"
"I, uh, sometimes sing. I'm not amazing or anything. Also, I play football and sometimes play tennis. I love football, but what is a 'glee'? Why do they get… facials so much?"
"Glee is the show choir of McKinley. They are the people who love to sing and dance. We are the underdogs, but we have gotten closer through that. Glee is like one big dramatic family. We try on relationships like clothes. Glee is where the people who aren't accepted anywhere else go. It is the place where it is OK to be different. It is a safe place."
"Are you part of it?"
"Um, yeah, but I don't think anyone will slushie me if I'm with you. You're probably safe from the jocks. So, uh, are you good at football? If you are, the team is looking for a new receiver since Puck was arrested."
"Receiver? What position is that? Are American positions different than European ones?"
"Oh wow. I've been talking about football. You were talking about soccer. Sorry man, but soccer doesn't have much pull at this school. You'll probably want to lean about American football fast if you want to be cool. Let me tell you now. The cool sports are football and Cheerios. Join one of those, you don't get slushied. Hockey, glee, and volleyball all spell s-l-u-s-h-i-e."
Damian began to say something, but then he crashed into someone.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. Yari?"
"What? It's fine… what did you call me?" A pretty brunette girl said. She had long dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. For a few seconds Damian couldn't look away. Her gaze had him completely enticed.
"Oh, uh, yari. Are you alright? I wasn't looking where I was going and…"
"It's fine. Just… "She glanced around her and locked eyes with a tan boy in a letterman jacket. "Watch it next time. I don't have time to talk to losers like you."
"Alright…?" The brunette hurried off to class and Damian looked at Cameron. "Is she always that rude? I mean, I didn't mean to run into her."
"I know bud. That is Lindsay. She is Queen B around here. What she says is law. She is the captain of the Cheerios and is the empress of McKinley. Do not get on her bad side or your high school career will forever be tainted with slushies."
There seems to be a lot of things to avoid here. Hockey, jocks, Cheerios. What are the Cheerios anyway? Are they like a pep squad? We had one of those backing Ireland."
"No dude. The Cheerios are supposed to be cheerleaders, but they only go for football. Sue Sylvester is their coach and she is just… oh crap. Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Here comes Coach Sylvester now." A woman in a track suite was walking with a Hispanic man, and she looked pissed.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY! Figgins, these budget cuts are the worst decision you have ever made. My Cheerios need funds. Those glee clubbers need nothing but a program cut. How many national victories have they claimed? Zero. My girls have won so many I have a separate room for trophies. If you want a winning team, you better give me my funding back. Or would you rather have me send your ugly wife a scandalous picture of you and a certain Sue Sylvester. Give me back my budget by the end of the day, or all the students at McKinley will know just how much chest hair their principle has." As she finished her rant, Sue stalked down the hallway shoving students. One of them was Cameron. Thinking that she had no right to act that way, Damian yelled after her. "OI! Coach Sylvester!" "Damian, no, don't do that! You better hope she didn't hear you." But evidently, she did. An even angrier Sue came back down the hall towards Damian. "Did I hear a Leprechaun? My school will not have any drunken Irishmen inside of it. Where is the brat?" A Cheerio piped up across the hall, "Right there, Coach. The one next to the nerdy tall guy." Sue scanned the crowd and her eyes landed on Damian. She slid forward. "Did you have something to say, Leprechaun?" "Yeah, I did. You pushed my friend and I think you owe him an apology." "An apology? Never heard of one. Come with me. NOW!" Damian confidently walked forward, avoiding all the legs sticking out to trip him. "Alright then. Let's go, Coach."
_Damsay_
"Do you now understand who I am, Lepy?" Damian just endured twenty minutes of Coach Sylvester rant about her own self importance and had to shake himself out of his zoned out mentality when he heard her closing sentence. "Yeah. I get it. I'm not supposed to mess with you or your Cheerios." "Good. But I hope you like making friends, because by the end of the day the whole football team will have your name and physical description. I have a feeling that they will introduce you to their fists. Now OUT! I have work to do."
The bell rang as Damian walked out of the office. Cameron came running down the hall. "Damian! It has only been a period, but everyone already knows about you run in with Coach Sylvester! Dude you are like a legend, although that might backfire and get all the jocks and Cheerios on your back, but I cant believe you're alive! What class do you have now?" Damian glanced down at his schedule, "Spanish 2. What about you?" "Hey, cool, me, too. Let's go man. Vamos!" The two traversed down the hall together and ended up at the Spanish room. As the two new friends walked in, Damian could not help but think about how different life in America is. There seemed to be a lot of rules for just one school, but Damian decides as he sits down, he'll just take it in stride.
