Disclaimer: I do not own The Magic School Bus or any of its characters! Though if I did, there would be a Magic School Bus: High School edition with the same awesome characters!
Summary: The Magic School Bus kids have grown up and made it into the dog eat dog world of high school. Friendships and attitudes change once hormones become involved.
Pairings: Of course I have my personal favorites, which will become more and more apparent as the story unfolds. I will try not to make it too obvious from the get go. That way I can draw you guys in before you guys are like "Nuh! I don't like that pairing!" and it adds suspense.
Warnings: There may be teenage pregnancy; I am not sure whom yet. There may be other teenage issues like sex, drugs, and partying. I don't think I will get in too much depth with angst such as rape and what not. I just don't have the heart for it, but who knows!
0000
The school year was beginning with a limited amount of stress for the population of Wakerville High, other than the fact that the dreaded school year had begun and ruined the ever-pleasant joys of summer. However, that was only to be expected as everyone knows that all good things must come to an end, and summer vacation was always ever present on the list of good things to end.
The time of empty school halls was over as more and more of the upcoming year's students flooded throughout the door and dispersed into groups that had been established Freshman year or even before that, and Arnold Matthew Perlstein was not far from that analogy as he walked through the crowded halls of Wakerville High to find his locker from last year. The teen must have been moving a little too slow for some of his classmates considering the fact that half way through the crowd he was practically run over as his glasses flew from his face.
"Oh no, damn it, my glasses," The Jewish young man exclaimed as he fell down to the hard linoleum floor and began to feel around its cool surface in search of his glasses. Angering a few of the patrons who happened to stumble over his wandering form.
"Hey, watch it buddy!"
"Sorry."
"Get off the floor!"
"I apologize."
"Ugh! Must be another freshman weirdo."
"No, close, but it is just Arnold Perlstein," A familiar voice said as Arnold knocked his noggin smack dab into a set of jean clad legs.
The young man yelped in shock before a groan of pain followed as his hand sat unceremoniously atop his mop of red wavy hair.
"Really Arnold, you are just determined to make your name and the word weirdo synonymous by the end of your high school career," Said the voice again as Arnold looked up into bleary chocolate orbs before the blurred figure before him slipped his glasses on him to reveal to him the eyes of his boisterous friend, Wanda Li.
There she stood in all her glory with her hair cut sharply into a bob with red streaks running vicariously throughout her bangs, which were whip lashed to the right. She was still by far the shortest amongst their group since she stood at a mere five foot two, but that did little to delay her maturing process.
Wanda had; frankly, grown boobs that were being pushed adamantly up and out in her bright red tank top that stopped just a bit above her toned pale tummy. Her jeans, which were slightly ripped hung carelessly across her waist, and the two brown belts slung across her waist half hazard, one horizontal and one slanted, were more for the appeal then for actual use. Her look of cool skater chick was topped off characteristically with black converse and her black and white checkered backpack that was slung across her shoulder lazily.
Anyone who didn't know the tiny Asian teen woolly say she was calm, cool, collected, and down to Earth, but Arnold, who had known her since third grade, knew it was just her yearly reinvention of her look that almost never matched her wild personality. The look was just way too casually deceiving for Arnold to buy into, and the smirk firmly placed on pouty pale pink lips only added to the young man's look of suspiciousness.
"Whatever Wanda," Arnold said through gritted teeth as he pushed himself off the cold hard floor to transition from looking up at slanted chocolate orbs to glaring down at them heatedly to the amusement of his friend.
"Oooo, someone has gotten feisty. Looks like someone has gotten a little confidence since ditching the jewfro!" Wanda said before she started howling with laughter. Attracting the attention of several people around them unintentionally even though she could care less. Though, Arnold was another case as he grabbed the short Asian by the crook of her arm and began to drag her in the midst of her laughter down the hall and towards their lockers. His cheeks stained a bright red as he tried to shush her in the process. Only succeeding in being ignored.
"Wanda. Wanda! Wanda, stop laughing because I don't even understand what that is supposed to mean," Arnold said in a hushed whisper that only earned him and her more weird looks as his cheeks darkened in color.
The young girl, having heard everything her buddy said, only slightly lightened her chuckles as she let her eyes focus on her friend only to determine if he was truly clueless or playing the lovable gullible, and what she saw caused a small relief of soberness to her mood.
Arnold, in all his naive honesty, truthfully did not know what she meant in reference to his looks. He still considered himself the small meek frizzy headed boy who sat cautiously and fully aware in Miss Frizzle's third grade class when in all honesty he had made a giant stride from that young frightened boy.
It had started in middle school with his growth spurt, and it had increased every year for the past few years. In sixth grade, it had been the growth spurt. In seventh, the deepening of his voice and an increase in muscle mass. In eighth, he had new glasses. In ninth, he stood up to his middle school bully, who was also good-natured Carlos, but no one really elaborated on the fact since they would rather let Arnold have the achievement. But, digressing, now in tenth, the jewfro had disappeared.
Arnold was changing little by little every year, and no one except Wanda had seemed to take any notice. To them, he was and would remain just plan old Arnold so far into the fact that now not even the red head could recognize the change within him. It took Wanda's charm year by year for the young man to even notice he had grown taller, leaner, stronger, and even cooler. He was steadily growing in front of all of their faces, and Wanda was getting scared because he had all too soon grown into someone the petite Asian could love, and if she wasn't careful, he would soon grow into someone that she could love.
"If you are referring to my new haircut, my mom has been trying to get me to get one since the beginning of sixth grade, and you know I figured...I figured that since everyone else was changing and growing up, I might as well do it too." Arnold said as he looked down.
He honestly didn't see any change in the way he looked. He was only wearing loose boot cut jeans, a white t-shirt, a yellow plaid button down shirt, and a pair of red sneakers he had grabbed on his way out the door. The only thing in his mind that had truly changed about him was his shorter, sleeker hair cut that was cut closer to his head at the back and that was still slightly unruly upfront, from hair gel his mom made him wear, and the fact his frizzy hair was now replaced with wavy silky red locks. Other than that, he was still plain old Arnold.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever hot stuff! We both know that the only reason you even thought about growing up in the least was in order for you to be able to impress Miss Phoebe Terese," Wanda said jokingly as she removed herself from Arnold's grip when they reached her locker.
"Phoebe? Where!" Arnold asked as he looked around expectantly for his auburn haired crush. Either missing or completely ignoring the hurt look that graced Wanda's face.
"Calm down lover boy! She's probably on the other side of the school, you know, where her locker actually is, and if you hurry up, we might actually make it to homeroom to actually see her," Wanda said a little more harshly than necessary, but Arnold barely noticed as he grabbed up Wanda's arm again to pull her along to their homeroom.
A few years ago, that would have seemed a little forward of someone as meek as Arnold, but after him and Wanda had become such good friends, it was only natural that a little of her would rub off on him.
"And while we are talking about new looks and everything, what's up with that?" Arnold said as he made reference to the small gem that was gleaming in the center of Wanda's small belly button. Wanda only smirked again as she unlatched her arm from Arnold's grip to speed pass him slightly in a small saunter.
"Awww nothing, its just the first addition to more to come! I was thinking about a tongue or nose ring next. After that, who knows, maybe a nipple ring,...or two. What do you think lover boy?" Wanda asked mischievously as she looked back to see Arnold's face scrunched up in a grimace. His mouth was working in the process of telling Wanda off, but nothing came out.
The young teen girl stopped walking since her friend couldn't seem to process what he had just heard and think at the same time, and she just watched him struggle in amusement before she began to crack up laughing again.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, now, what's so funny? I want to laugh too!" Came the smooth accented voice of a one Carlos Ramon, with his girlfriend and best friend, Dorothy Ann Pawlinski walking not too far behind as they caught up with their other two friends.
Carlos being the resident 'comedian' of the group could only be all to interested in hearing any kind of joke, rather it be corny or not, in order to create some sort of lame pun of it. It had been his running gag for years, and no matter how many times his friends told him that they truly were very annoyed by his epic lameness, he would continuously make the corniest puns to ever be heard on Earth.
"Go ahead, tell them Wanda! Tell them how you want to defile your body with all sorts of weird piercings,"Arnold said as Dorothy Ann looked on slightly confused and Carlos looked a little too interested.
"Oh, really now, tell me Wanda, is that the truth? Or are you just GOUGING for our reactions?" Carlos said rather obnoxiously before he fell into a fit of laughter while Dorothy Ann just stood there shaking her head in shame and Arnold just stood there with a look of utter disgust. Wanda seemed like she was the person other than Carlos who thought the joke was amusing as she too fell into a fit of giggles herself.
"Really Carlos? That joke was completely ridiculous. Even by your standards," Dorothy Ann said snootily with her nose in the air before she turned and began to walk off towards their homeroom. Carlos's laugh seemed to stop almost immediately before he took of in order to follow his girlfriend.
"Awww! Come on, D.A.! I'm sorry! I thought that was a good one," Carlos shouted towards her disappearing back as Arnold and Wanda looked at each other with smirks etched on to their lips. It seems like the only thing that had changed with those two were their looks.
Carlos still had his tanned caramel skin, boyish good looks, and happy-go-lucky personality, but other than that, he too had changed. Arnold had grown to a pretty good height of five foot ten, but Carlos had passed that at a nice six foot one while also gaining a nice bit of muscle from being on the soccer and baseball teams.
His hair was still the color of a Raven's wing, but now instead of its neat looking softness, Carlos had spent half of middle school and the beginning of high school constructing his hair into looking smooth yet slightly unruly and spiked at the back before spiking out slightly across his forehead and every which way but upward before falling lightly into his chocolate brown eyes. The whole gang was sure that the pronounced Chico guapo/Rico Suave of Wakerville High had used over two gallons of hair spray and gel each morning to get his hair to glisten and stay in place the way it did.
Arnold even considered getting some hair styling lessons from the boy since this was his first year having to even deal with that sort of thing, but he wasn't so sure if he was willing to ask Carlos for clothing advice.
Since he was introduced to the skater scene in middle school, Carlos had taken a liking to colored straight leg or skinny jeans. Thank goodness Carlos had the nerve to never wear his jeans too tight or Ralphie would probably disown him, but despite that, Arnold didn't think he would have the nerve to ever wear what the boy was wearing now.
Carlos had on some black and navy blue Nike air force ones, bright red skinny jeans, a navy blue hoodie, and a long sleeved gray undershirt. In all honesty, nothing had really changed about the Hispanic boys style except that now people were more aware of his more colorful choice of clothing.
"You know, I never pictured those two getting together in a thousand years. I mean, it was kind of obvious that they liked each other in elementary and middle school, but it was still a bit of a shock to me when they ended up getting together last year," Wanda said in thought before she and Arnold began following the two in to their first period class.
"Yeah, whatever, Wanda, you are still not off the hook about your piercing," Arnold said matter of factly as he finally caught up to Wanda.
"I never doubted it for a second Perlstein."
0000
"Phoebe, are you even listening to me?" Keesha Franklin asked exasperatedly as she waved her hand in front of Phoebe's absentminded face before placing her left hand on her hip. Shocking said brunette out of her stupor.
"Uh, huh, what were you saying again?" Phoebe asked in her airy soft voice as she tried to shake off her daydream.
"Ugh, see, I knew that you weren't listening to a word I said!" Keesha said as her temper flared slightly before she closed the door to her locker and turned around to walk away and leave her best friend.
"Oh, Keesha, I'm sorry, I really am! I just...I just got a little side tracked for a second. I promise I am ready to listen now! I won't interrupt or anything, so please tell me, please," Phoebe begged in her sweet soft voice and even though Keesha longed to be mad at her as soon as she saw Phoebe's patented puppy dog look out of the side of her eye, she knew she couldn't stay mad at the girl as she sighed.
"Oh, calm down Phoebe, you already know I can't stay mad at you long," Keesha said as she continued towards homeroom with her friend in tow.
Phoebe, however, knowing what Keesha said was to be true, couldn't help but feel relieved. She had enough problems going on in her life, and she did not need a steadfastly angry Keesha to add to her list. They had been friends for a long time, and she knew how the girl could hold a petty grudge or two if you didn't squash the conflict as soon as it began.
"Okay, now, what were you talking about again? Some boy you have a crush on?"
"Ugh, Ralphie, Phoebe, Ralphie! Only the only boy I have liked since sixth grade, come on, if you don't know that then I can no longer call you my best girl friend," Keesha whispered harshly as she looked over at Phoebe with a hurt look.
"Oh, I'm sorry Keesh, I should know this shouldn't I?" Phoebe said in a very hurt voice as she looked away from her friend. A blanket of brown burnt auburn hair shielding her from the hurt in Keesha's eyes.
Somewhere in between third and fifth grade, Phoebe had decided to grow out her long wavy hair, and she had been wearing it long ever since. She had changed a lot since her days of being a student in Miss Frizzle's third grade class, and unlike Arnold, people had started to notice almost immediately.
Gone were her days in her little red frock and mustard yellow undershirt. These days, Phoebe settled for a more eccentric relaxed look with her flowing sheer peach top littered with pink and blue small flowers and birds over a white camisole. The end of her blouse became a tight stretchy like material at the end of her waist that clung to her hips before her dark skinny jeans took over and ended at her nude colored flats. Phoebe was known for wearing her wild and unruly wavy hair down, but today she had decided to put her hair in a low pony tail with some hair left out to make a make shift bang.
Keesha looked at her suddenly reclusive friend, and suddenly felt like there was something the girl had been holding back. A feeling Keesha had felt since the beginning of the summer hadn't had time to get the full effect of until now since she had been so caught up in checking out Australian beaches, and Aussie boys she had only a little amount of time to speak with Phoebe. Now, that Keesha thought about it, maybe she was the one not being a good friend.
"Sigh, Pheebs, what is it? What's wrong, and don't deny that you are upset because its me you are talking to, so you might as well fess up," Keesha said as she stepped in front of the other girl. Phoebe looked down at her feet as she contemplated rather to reveal what she had been thinking. A huge part of her told to hide everything that was going on in her mind when she looked up into Keesha's eyes and realized she wasn't going anywhere unless she gave the girl at least some of the truth.
"Ummm, well, you know how I told you my parents have been fighting a lot recently?" Phoebe asked as she referred back to the conversation the two had had that summer.
"Yeah, so? That's what parent do, they fight." Keesha said as she shrugged.
"Well, my parents have been doing it a lot more often, and the yelling and insults are getting a lot worse," Phoebe said forlornly as she looked up at Keesha to show how desperate she was.
"Keesh,...I think...I think that my parents may be getting a divorce," Phoebe choked out before she heard Keesha's resonant gasp.
"But, b-but, your mom can't do that, your dad is..."
"Blind, yeah, I know, and she knows, and the whole world knows, but they still can't seem to work it out some how! She called him useless Keesh! Right in front of my face, and I still can't get the look of hurt he wore out of my head. She said she is tired of taking care of him, and when she said that it made me scared and I couldn't help but feel guilty," Phoebe said as tears welled up in her eyes as she looked away from her friend.
"Why? Your mom's the one being unreasonable. Why would you feel guilty?" Keesha asked as she placed her hand on Phoebe's shoulder. The girl began to look down at her flat as she spoke the next words in shame.
"Because I am scared that...that if she leaves us...that if she leaves him...I'll be the one who has to stay and take care of him in order to pick up the pieces," Phoebe said as a small sob left her rose colored lips.
"Shhh, shhhh, there, there. It's okay...it's alright," Keesha said as she heard the tardy bell sound as students rushed passed the two of them to get to class. Some looking at Phoebe like she had grown an extra head, and Keesha knew her friend would not be able to make it to homeroom with her face puffy and mascara running.
"Pheebs, how bout me and you ditch first and second period to head out to that new cafe down the street to have a cup of coffee and talk because I can not half my best friend having a nervous break down in class,"
"But Keesha, won't that ruin your perfect attendance record for the beginning of the year. I remember how mad you got at Carlos for drinking out your apple juice without asking you and giving you a cold last year, and you said you promised yourself you would never miss a day of school again since you want to be on the student counsel, and you said that Florrie hates people who miss days," Phoebe said as she sniffled and Keesha cringed as she thought of a sheepish looking Carlos they day he brought her missing homework and homemade Menudo from his mom.
"Oh forget Florrie! She is a bitch anyways, and the only reason she said that to me last year was because Carlos chose Dorothy Ann over her. She was a junior anyways, who know what she ever saw in Carlos," Keesha said as she pictured the Hispanic boy putting on his 'flirting' face to try and get her on the student council only for Dorothy Ann to slap him with her chemistry book, which held over one thousand pages. Now, that brought a giggle to Keesha's lips before she put her arm around Phoebe's shoulders and lead her towards the double doors.
"Besides, Florrie's a senior, and I am a sophomore, so...there is always next year," Keesha said optimistically even though she was whimpering on the inside at the prospect of waiting another year to take control of the school.
0000
AN: First chapter! Hope I didn't rush it, but I really wanted to get this chapter out. I know Carlos's joke was so LAME, and I know I didn't really show enough of Ralphie, Dorothy Ann, or Tim , especially him since he didn't even get a mention, but trust me, there is more of them to come. Each one of them has a VERY VERY special role in this story. Pairing may seem obvious, but trust me... all is definitely not as it seems.
