Chapter 1: New Student
"Wow. This place is a dump."
The statement was one made in observing the state that Southrock Regional High was in, and a declaration Duncan couldn't bring himself keep privately as he looked it over from the edge of the grounds. The entire exterior was in shambles: cracks scarred the face of the school; trees were dried and withered, if not already dead; trash littered the ground as if no one picked up after themselves; windows were missing, replaced with several layers of plastic sheeting kept in place with copious amounts of duct tape, the cause, Duncan observed, being a student tossed from a window screaming to the ground below. Yet this was the school Duncan was transferred to, whether he liked it or not.
And for the most part, he really didn't like it.
Duncan walked across the courtyard, nearly tripping and falling into a small crater a good five feet across and half as deep. He surveyed the courtyard, seeing other such craters across it of varying sizes. He moved around the crater and continued on to the entrance.
"So far, this place kinda sucks," he said to himself, startled from his thoughts at the sound of glass shattering and a scream from above. He looked up just in time, holding his arms outward to catch the falling figure. He held the figure close to him while he pulled his bag over his head, shielding them both from the oncoming shower of glass. He took the moment to examine his catch. She wore green khaki high-water pants, a grey sweater and a dress shirt underneath. She was caramel-skinned with a peppering of freckles sprayed across her nose and cheeks and shoulder-length brown hair. She was still clearly in shock from the fall, grey eyes darting around before settling upon Duncan standing over her, inspecting his face, from the piercing in his nose and eyebrow to his ear rings and then to his green Mohawk.
"Didn't know cute girls fell from the sky around here," Duncan said joking, pushing the girl to her feet. She pushed off him, taking a few steps away and looked about bewildered as to what exactly just happened.
"Who the hell are you?" she exclaimed, uncertain how exactly to treat Duncan, apparently not yet registering the fact he caught her.
"You're welcome, sweetheart," Duncan answered, rather indignant at the lack of gratitude, not that he ever expected it in the first place. "But since you asked nicer than most have, I'm Duncan. I just transferred." The girl's eyes lit up at the sudden revelation of her situation and looked at Duncan more carefully.
"You… caught me?" she asked, taking another step toward him. Duncan nodded; slightly irritated it's taking her this long to figure it out.
"So, do hot babes jump out of weather-laminated windows often around here?" Duncan teased. She crossed her arms in a huff.
"For your information, I didn't jump, I was kicked," she stated in a matter-of-factly tone. "And I would have been fine on my own." Duncan held back a scoff.
"Didn't look like it from where I was standing, princess," he said. She glared at him a little darker.
"That's Class President Courtney to you," she corrected, "and I will thank you to remember it." Duncan rolled his eyes at her.
"Whatever, princess sounds better anyway," he said, walking past her to the entrance. She blocked his way inside.
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked. "I'm not done talking to you." Duncan furrowed his brows at her.
"Well I am, and I want to actually be on time for class for a change," Duncan retorted. He shoved her bodily out of the way, opening the door and going through. He wasn't in the mood to listen to her protest and examined the school interior.
For the most part, the inside looked better kept than outside. White-washed walls were decorated with artwork donated by past alumni, posters for upcoming dances and club meetings were spaced neatly and the tiled floors were bright and shining, as if they were recently polished. Duncan was rather overwhelmed by the massive contrast, and at the same time impressed. The halls to his left ran to a staircase, while the one on his right bent right again toward classrooms. Ahead of Duncan, the administration office sat in the middle, two paths on either side connecting to wherever else the corridors behind it led. Duncan approached the front window, seeing a student seated at the front. She had long blonde hair and wore a pink tank top. Duncan stood at the window, clearing his throat.
"Give me a sec, my nails are drying right now," she said, not bothering to look up at the person addressing her. She thought for certain whoever was bothering her wouldn't mind the wait.
She had clearly never met Duncan.
Duncan pressed his face to the window, screwing up his face to look even further grotesque and rapped on the window to get the girl's attention again. She looked up, annoyed at being bothered and let out a scream at Duncan's face pressed against the glass. He pulled back, making a popping sound like suction cups and could barely contain his laughter at the girl's reaction. He glanced over to Courtney standing beside him, looking very un-amused. The girl behind the window stood once she recognized Courtney.
"Courtney, who the hell is this?" she asked bewildered, almost in the same tone Courtney had asked just moments earlier. Duncan sighed at the sudden sense of déjà vu.
Courtney approached the window. "Sorry about that, Dakota," Courtney said. "Do we have any new transfers named Duncan coming in today?" Dakota opened a drawer underneath the desk, leafing through the folders, found one, and opened it.
"Only one transfer, named Duncan," Dakota said, sliding the sheet to the slot in front. "That's your schedule, so you better learn it." Duncan took it and looked it over. He smirked and waved it to Courtney as he started toward the stairwell.
"See you never, princess," he said over his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Courtney shouted after him.
"I'm at a new school, I want to make a good first impression," Duncan replied, still heading toward the stairwell.
"I said wait, damn it!"
Duncan stopped on the steps heading to the second of three floors, turning to see Courtney on the landing. She caught her breath a moment longer before taking two steps at a time before she was level with him.
"Listen, I'm thankful you saved me, I really am," she said, "but you're new here and you don't know the protocols." Duncan hated that she was right on that front. He clearly knew nothing about protocol, but that was only because he didn't really care for it.
"And what, pray tell, are these 'protocols'?" Duncan asked, gesturing with air quotes to emphasize his question.
"You must attend a welcoming committee headed by the Principal and myself," Courtney answered, standing a little straighter, like it was her idea to hold a welcome committee in the first place. Duncan regarded her a moment longer, decided he'd heard enough and continued climbing the stairs.
"Hey!" Courtney exclaimed, sounding rather indignant at his silent rejection of the proposed protocol. "Where the hell are you going?"
"To class," Duncan responded, as he kept climbing, "I don't do welcome committees." Courtney grunted in irritation. The first welcome committee she got to head and the new student blows her off!
Duncan, for a moment, felt a pang of guilt about leaving Courtney on the stairwell like that. Fortunately for him, those feelings were quickly replaced with irritation when he thought back to how she was getting in his way. Yeah, OK, she was cute, he argued with himself, but there's no way he'd go out with such a control freak. He couldn't deal with procedure and protocol; he had no head for it. He hated following a system. It made life boring. There was no sense in it. He always did what he wanted, and it worked out just fine at East Blues. He wasn't going to start now.
Duncan reached the second floor, checking his schedule again and finding his classroom number after a few minutes of searching. He eventually found Room 213 with little trouble, and upon introducing himself to the teacher Mr. Nelson, he was welcomed into the class with a warm reception. He was directed to the empty seat near the back by a window and sat down for class.
Duncan packed up at the end of class, grabbing the text book Mr. Nelson had set aside for him to study from for the semester. Duncan checked his schedule again, exiting the classroom into the hall and went in search of his next room.
"There you are!"
Oh, come on! Does she ever give up? Duncan spun on his heel to face Courtney, fed up enough with her constant hounding.
"Listen, princess, as far as first days go, this one has sucked with you constantly on me for nothing," Duncan snapped at her. She opened her mouth to argue in turn, but was stopped as someone called for her.
"Courtney! Oh, thank God you're alright!" Duncan and Courtney glanced over to the approaching source; being an unkempt scraggly rat of a boy with a squashed face and a shock of bright orange hair covering his head. His white tank-top was stained, clearly unwashed in several weeks. He was thin, almost wiry, but Duncan saw the build of muscle on him. Courtney scowled at his presence and crossed her arms turning away from him.
"Oh come on, Courtney!" the boy said begging. "I'm sorry I didn't have your back, but I really needed to pee! You couldn't have waited to face Heather until I got back?" Courtney rolled her eyes at him and rounded to face him.
"You're supposed to have my back, Scott, and you couldn't even do that!" she snapped at him. "Sorry, Scott, but we're through. You abandon me one time too many."
Scott opened his mouth to argue the point further, but Courtney, having enough of his excuses, punched him square in the face, and the force of it sent him flying down the hall for fifteen feet. Duncan gawked as she relaxed her form, and turned again to face him. He wasn't the only one to notice, of course, several students and a few teachers were awe-struck at the display of power from such a slender frame.
Many students muttered in surprise and shock, "Iron-Fisted Courtney has smote another evil-doer!" said one, "She's so scary when she's mad!" said another. "I think I peed a little," said a third with a whimper.
"Now, about that welcome committee?" she said, cracking her knuckles.
"Like I need any more convincing!" Duncan replied quickly. "Lead the way!"
Author's Commentary: I wanted this chapter to be longer. Then I decided it was too long, so I decided that the rest of the chapter would be better off as the next chapter. There are really few changes from the original concept here, the document kind of had an episode and I had to try and rewrite a lot of it from scratch again. But most of it was intact, I just had to rewrite a few parts of it, which seemed to be an improvement over the original. I guess Courtney punching out Scott works as a sample of what to expect in later chapters. I wanted at least one fight per chapter, which was why I wanted chapter 1 to be so long, it would build up to the fight at the end of it. But I guess having Courtney punching out Scott would count as a moment of catharsis.