Unknown Title- Rough Draft
Introduction
Jeff stood at the top of his new driveway waiting for his new school bus to arrive. The new bus that went to the new school that contained new students, which went to the school that had new teachers. The school was a Private school, and Jeff had never been to a private school before. His mom's father, who Jeff had never known, had just died, and she had inherited his large fortune, 3.2 million dollars. It sounded like a dream come true, but then his parents said he had to go to a new school. "William Dubois Private School is the best learning facility around, and you are going!", his dad had said when Jeff argued. Dad's word was always final, so it was off to that swank new school. He even moved to a new town. He used to live in a quiet town called Jacobsonville in Delaware, but he now lived in the rich, astute town of Smetherville Peak, in Maryland, in his brand new Mansion. Jeff had not even heard of the place before they moved there. Everything was going by so fast, and Jeff was excited to finally relax, but then he had to go back to school.
He wasn't even starting off a new school year, he had come in the start of the third marking period, so that was even harder. Jeff thought about everything. Did he have the right uniform? Was he nice enough? What were the girls like? One thousand things ran through his head at once, and he did not know what to do. Then he saw it. Coming down the street, with red flashing lights, and a yellow paint job. It was the bus. In black letters on the side it said "William Dubois Private". His heart pounded, his palms were sweaty. The bus doors opened to reveal a short, fat male bus driver. He had a dark blue hat on with what Jeff assumed to be the school's seal. It had two lions on it, with a holly branch in the middle. It was outlined in red. Jeff walked onto the bus steps and looked around. The kids all stopped talking when he got on. It made him feel worse, like he was just there to be laughed at. He stepped forward to look for a seat.
No one would budge to let him in a seat, and the bus had started to move. "Come on kid, sit down." The driver said, and he was covered in even more glances from his peers. "Here, I have a free seat here!", came a voice from the seat to his left. It came from the mouth of...a girl. She had platinum blonde hair that almost hit her shoulders. Her eyes were hazel.
Jeff just stood there, looking at her. "Um, hello? I said you can sit down here.", she said, snapping Jeff from his trance. "Oh, thanks.", he said, and he sat down in her seat. She smelled of some kind of perfume, and Jeff's nostrils were filled with the sweet smell of it. "So, you are the new kid everyone is talking about.", she said. "Yeah. My name is Jeff, Jeff Marks.". "Oh, hi Jeff, my name is Courtney, Courtney Reynolds, pleased to meet you!" She replied. Her voice was soft in tone. "So, your parents won the lottery, right? That is why you moved here?", she asked. "No. We received an inheritance. Who told you that?", Jeff asked, almost insulted. "Only everyone!", she laughed "That's what everyone else thinks.". "Oh." Was all he could say.
Jeff couldn't believe that it was his first day of school, and he was already talking to a really cute girl. Maybe this school won't be so bad after all", he thought. "So, what homeroom do you have?", Courtney asked. "113, Mr. Panacki." "Oh my gosh, so do I, that's cool!", she responded. They talked through the rest of the bus ride, until they finally arrived.
The building was built in red stone on the outside, and it was clearly an old building. It almost reminded Jeff of a castle. Almost every decorative piece on the outside was curved, and the building was enormous. Jeff thought there must be at least four floors to the gargantuan school. The bus stopped, and the doors opened, releasing the students. Jeff was in ninth grade, and this building was from K-12, so he knew why it was so big. He walked slowly to the door, just trying to feel the moment. The first time in a new school, and it wasn't temporary. This was for real. "I sure hope something exciting happens this year." Jeff said under his breath. Yes, this looks like it will be a very exciting year.
Chapter 1
Jeff walked into the hall of the huge school, map in hand. He looked for room 113 on the map. It was on the second floor, so he headed for the stairs. He opened the door to the stairs. The stairs were marble, and resembled the stairs in some kind of capitol building. He stood on the first step and looked up. The stairs were so high; Jeff couldn't even see where they ended. So, he started up. He was about to make the first turn to the second flight of stairs when BANG! Jeff was thrown to the floor.
He stood up to find a girl sitting on the ground. "Oh my God, are you OK?", Jeff queried. "Yeah, it was my fault, I'm sorry." Jeff put out his hand to help her up, but she was up before he even reached out his hand all the way. She had dark hair, almost black, with two tiny strands of blonde on the front. Her hair was about shoulder length, and her eyes were brown. She had on the traditional girl's school uniform, complete with plaid skirt, and white collared shirt with the blue sweater, bearing the school's seal. She was a little on the chubby side, but not fat. "Carolyn Bradley. You must be that new kid that won the lottery, right?", she said.
"No, that was a rumor, my parents received an inheritance. And my name is Jeff Marks." "Oh, pleased to meet you Jeff. I assume I will see you around the halls. I'm in room 112, Mrs. Wetherby.", Carolyn said, almost like she wanted to see him again. "OK, I'm in room 113.", Jeff replied. "OK, well, I hope to see you later.... Jeff. I think you will like this school, I'm sure you will be a good addition." She said flatteringly, then she went down the stairs the other way, and like that, she was gone.
Jeff finally arrived in room 113. In small letters engraved outside the door, it said "Mr. Panacki". By this, obviously Jeff knew it was the right place, so he opened the door. The room was filled with about twenty- five desks, all arranged in a straight row. There were no more than three kids in the room with him, so it was pretty quiet. There were no lockers in this school, so there was a set of cubbies in the back of the room. He slowly walked in, and there, standing in front him was a man. He wore a pinstripe suit, with a dark blue tie, almost black. On his lapel was a pin of the school's seal. He had a very large forehead, but he looked only to be about thirty. He wore black-rimmed glasses, which looked to be very strong, making his large blue eyes look even larger than they already were.
Jeff assumed that this was his homeroom teacher for the rest of his year at William Dubois. "And who might you be?", the man asked. His voice was deep, and low. Jeff wasn't sure, but he was sure he heard a bit of an English accent in his voice. "Jeff Marks.", Jeff said as clearly as he could. "Oh, you must be the new boy!", He said happily. "Welcome to William Dubois Private school. I am sure you will find that this school is very well run. You won't find any filth such as drug paraphernalia, et cetera. These teenagers are the finest bunch I think you will ever see in your young adult life.", he sounded like a training video, as if he were applying for a job. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Mr. Panacki, and I am your homeroom teacher, and History teacher. Pleased to meet you!", and he put out his hand. Jeff took it with appreciation, and Mr. Panacki shook vigorously. The shake lasted about 5 seconds, when finally released his grip, leaving Jeff's hand feeling like it had been through a steamroller.
"You can take your seat here.", Mr. Panacki said, and he pointed to a desk. It was the first seat in the first row. "Thank you, Mr. Panacki.", Jeff said as politely as he possibly could. "No problem Mr. Marks, I hope you grow to like this school.", Mr. Panacki said. "Yes Mr. Panacki, I think I will.", Jeff lied. Jeff took his seat with the few other classmates in the room. Everyone was silently whispering, Jeff thought he heard his name a few times, which he probably did. Jeff knew it would take a while to convince the other kids at his school that he did not win the lottery. In the midst of Jeff's thought, someone new walked into the room. It was Courtney. Mr. Panacki pointed out a desk to her. First seat in the second row. Courtney's face lit up, and she went over, and sat down. "Wow, what a weird coincidence, huh? Both of us in the same homeroom sitting next to each other!", Courtney said to him as she sat down. "Yeah, what a coincidence.", Jeff said, trying not to show that he was in fact very delighted to have her sit next to him. Mr. Panacki stood at the front of the room, and the room was silenced almost immediately. "As you all know, we have a new addition to the school. His name is Jeff Marks, and he has moved here from Delaware. Why don't we all say hi to Jeff, and make him feel as comfortable as possible.". Mr. Panacki walked away, and the talk resumed. As the minutes went by, more chatting kids walked into the room, until finally the bell rang. It was an ear-piercing shriek, very unlike the bells at Jeff's old school. He almost jumped out of his chair when it happened, and he turned to his right to see Courtney laughing her head off.
Jeff looked at his schedule. His first period class was Math, in Mrs. Wetherby's room. Jeff grabbed his binder, and headed next door. He walked into the room. There were many posters thrown about the walls, stating little poems about fractions, and multiples. The desks were in the same order as those of Mr. Panacki's room, all in perfect order. The teacher's desk was in the corner of the room, facing all of the desks, and there sat who Jeff assumed to be Mrs. Wetherby. She looked to be rather short. She had curly brown hair, which was thinning. She looked to be about in her late fifties, and she wore red framed glasses that sat on her crooked, witch-like nose.
Jeff just stood there in the doorway, until the storm of kids pushed him away. He walked slowly up to her desk. She looked up from her paperwork, and smiled at him. "Oh, you must be the new student! Jeff Marks!", her voice squeaked out. She sounded nice. "Yes, that would be me.", Jeff responded. "Oh, good. Well, I'm Mrs. Wetherby, and I'm your math teacher. Right now we are working on identifying prime numbers, are you familiar with that at all?", Mrs. Wetherby asked. "Kind of.", Jeff plainly answered. Mrs. Wetherby pointed out a desk to sit in, and he slowly walked over and sat down. He was just getting his pen out when someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around, and there, sitting in the desk behind him was Carolyn Bradley, the one he had run into in the stairwell.
"Hey there hottie!", she said to him. Jeff was taken aback. She had only just met him, and already she had started calling him "hottie"? It was weird. Jeff didn't know what to say, so he just stared. "Hello, anyone home?", Carolyn said, and she knocked on his head. "Um, yeah, hi." Jeff finally answered. "Oh, don't sound too excited to see me, Jesus!", Carolyn said sarcastically. Jeff was about to ask her what her deal was, but just then, Mrs. Wetherby had come to the front of the classroom. "Good morning class, how are we all today?", she asked cheerfully. A few "good's" were quietly said, but that was about it. "Oh, I hate first period, you people are always so sleepy!", Mrs. Wetherby said playfully. She began her lesson, which Jeff wasn't really paying any attention to at all. He was thinking about Courtney, and Carolyn. What was Carolyn's deal? If she pulled anything funny like that any time soon, he was going to say something to her. He was thinking about Courtney. She sure was very nice, and cute to boot. She was the only one who had talked to him so far, nicely anyway, and he liked that. Jeff really couldn't really say that he liked Courtney, after all, they had only just met today. So many things were running through Jeff's mind at once, and to Jeff's surprise, school was at the bottom of his importance list.
It was lunchtime, most likely the most complicated time he would have on the first day of school. Jeff had no clue where to sit. He looked at the tables, seeing anyone who he might have become acquainted with in the day so far. He stood there for about five minutes before he saw a hand waving in the air. It was Courtney's hand! Jeff walked over with his packed lunch, and took a seat. "Thanks for letting me sit here.", Jeff said to Courtney. "No problem Jeff!", Courtney happily exclaimed. Jeff was happy he had made at least one friend so far. He had started to eat his lunch and talk to Courtney, when she walked in. It was Carolyn again. A huge smile spread across her face, and she came to sit down. Hey there our new man!", she shouted to him as she sat down next to Courtney. He did not think he could feel any more embarrassed than he felt right now. "Hi.", Jeff said. "Hey there Courtney, how are ya?", Carolyn asked Courtney. "I'm very good thank you. I assume you already know Jeff.", Courtney said. Were her and Carolyn friends? "Well Jeff, as you might have figured out by now, Courtney and I are the best of friends!", Carolyn said, like it was some great thing. I guess that was the answer to that question. "Yeah, we are like practically the most popular girls in the school, so consider yourself lucky that we are even talking to you.", Carolyn said. After that, when Courtney wasn't looking, Carolyn mouthed "Well; really, I am the most popular!".
Jeff sat and finished his lunch, and then sat and waited for the end of the period, which he spent away by talking to both Courtney and Carolyn, Carolyn of course was hogging up the limelight. In this conversation, he found out that Carolyn had a boyfriend, his name was David, and he was in Jeff's History class. He definitely looked popular, and from what Jeff saw, he acted it too. Courtney on the other hand was single, and had been for a few months after her loser boyfriend, who did not go to the school, cheated on her with Courtney's sister, who is in a grade lower than her. Courtney and Carolyn had seemed to be total opposites. Carolyn was the wild one, while Courtney was more laid back, she had a life, but wasn't as into it as much as Carolyn was. Jeff had also found out that Carolyn was in fact not even a virgin, and she had lost it last year, when she was thirteen. Jeff was not surprised, just because of what he had heard her say previously.
'So, what is your Screen name?", Carolyn asked Jeff. "Grade-A- Idiot112.", Jeff answered. "And what is your phone number?", she asked again. "Why do you need to know so much?", Jeff asked, sounding agitated. "Oh Jesus, aren't you all in a huff mister Man, well, I am sorry I asked!", and she ignored him for the rest of the lunch period, which really didn't bother Jeff. All his other classes had gone smoothly, except for the fact that Carolyn was in every one of them.
He got onto the bus, and once again sat with Courtney. "So, Carolyn is...um...", Jeff said, but Courtney interrupted him "A little bitchy, I know, but you learn to deal with it!", Courtney said. Jeff was surprised, he thought they were best friends. "Well, that isn't exactly what I was going to say, but yea, I noticed that.", Jeff said. Courtney and him talked about the day, and about Carolyn, and about dating, and about if either of them have ever been kissed (Courtney had). It was pretty much a typical talk among friends, and Jeff was glad he had finally made one pretty good friend on the first day. Jeff's stop finally came, and he went to get off, when Courtney stopped him. "Hey Jeff, you know I play field hockey, and I have a game on Friday at 4:30, if you would like to go, it's right up at the school, so I hope you come.", she said, then she added "Hey, its Grade-A-Idiot112, right?" "Yeah, that's it!", he said, and with that he got off the bus, and walked to his house.
Jeff walked in, dropped his backpack on the floor, and walked up to his room. It was on the second floor, out of three floors in his house. Even though his parents had inherited that money, after they bought the house, they still had to work, so for the time being, until 5:30 when his mom got home from her job, he was home alone. Jeff's computer was in his room, so he went in, booted it up, and knowing it would take a while, he went downstairs again to get something to eat. He found a bag of Queso Grande Doritos, still unopened. Jeff pulled open the bag with a squeak, and he could smell the spiciness already. He decided to wait to get on the computer, so he went into the living room and turned on his fifty-seven inch Hi-def television, and turned on one of the news channels. There was a blonde haired lady sitting at a desk. She had a tan blazer on with one of those small, black little microphones on. As like all news reporters, she had a huge, beaming smile on, which showed her perfectly straight, white teeth as she blurted out the news. To her right was a picture of a fire, and underneath that, it said "ARSON" in big white letters. Jeff turned it up and listened as the reporter, apparently named Jenny McCleary rambled on. "And police suspect the fire started at McGregor dairy farms on west 57th street was indeed an arson case. Police are looking for clues as to what really" BANG! The screen went blank with a flicker, and he heard the fridge shut off. Jeff nearly had a heart attack, and he got up, and looked out his door. No downed lines, no animal fried on the transformer. Everything was fine. Jeff was bewildered, and as he went to get on his mom's emergency cell phone to call and tell her, there was a whirring sound, and the power was back on.
Jeff walked back into the living room, put his Doritos away, and went back upstairs to check on his computer. The surge protector must have worked pretty well, because the computer was still on, and ready to go. Jeff sat down at the computer, and clicked on the little icon that said "AOL 7.0". He got connected, and his buddy list loaded. Here was only one person on, and it was Jeff's old friend from his old school. His name was Brad, and he was Jeff's best friend. He went to IM him, but then suddenly a window popped up. It said "Will you accept a message from the following screen name: Blackwidow2389?". Jeff clicked yes, and the message popped up.
Blackwidow2389: Hey Jeff, it's Carolyn;) Grade-A-Idiot112-O, hey there... Blackwidow2389: Um, I wanna apologize about 2day, I was way 2 comfortable around u, do u 4giv me??:) Grade-A-Idiot112-Um. , I guess...It was only my first day at skool. Blackwidow2389-YAY, now I know we can be the best of friendz!:):):):):):) Grade-A-Idiot112-Yea, I guess.
Suddenly, another window popped up. It was just like the one that popped up before when Carolyn IM'd him, only the screen name was different, this one was PrincessGrl79432. Jeff said OK, and the IM window popped up.
PrincessGrl79432-Hey there Jeff, it's Courtney, hey, wutz shakin??:) Grade-A-Idiot112-O, hi, sry, I gtg, ttyl! PrincessGrl97432-WAIT, can I call u? Grade-A-Idiot-um, yea, I guess so, my number is 612-543-2287., but wait a few min., it'll take a wile 2 get offline, talk 2 u then! PrincessGrl97432-OK, bye;)
And they both signed off
Jeff waited until finally the phone rang. Jeff hurriedly rushed to the chiming phone, and he picked it up. Out of breath, Jeff said, "Um, hello?". There was a pause then, a voice that said, "Um, Jeff, is that you?". It was Courtney. "Oh, yeah, what's up?" "Oh, nothing here, I am just so bored, and there isn't anything to do.". "Oh well, why didn't you call Carolyn?", Jeff asked. "Well, don't get me wrong, she is my best friend, I mean we've known each other for practically all our lives, but there are some times when I need a break from her. Sometimes she just gets a little annoying. And she can be mean, I mean, she's done some pretty mean things to me in the past, you know, stealing boyfriends, cheating with my boyfriends, she's pretty much got the name whore of the school tattooed on her forehead. That's the reason while she is so popular, I mean, she's been with practically been with every guy in school at least once. But for some reason, I'm always forgiving her, and becoming friends with her again..." And she went on about how evil and conniving Carolyn was without Jeff even saying a word. It went on for about twenty minutes, with some pauses here and there, but all Jeff did was sit in astonishment about how she was spilling her guts to her without even knowing him for more than a day.
Finally, she said, "Wow, I'm probably boring the hell out of you, aren't I. Do you want me to stop? Well, not that I really have anything left to say about Carolyn. How about I hear some stuff about your life.". Jef finally got the chance to speak, and he did. "Well, not really. Well, I never really did anything bad like Carolyn did, but I got a detention once for punching a kid in the eye because he tried to steal my lunch money. He cried like a little baby, until his big friends came along. They beat the crap out of me, and we all got a detention. His parents never did press charges. They almost thanked me. They said he needed to be taught a lesson anyway. It's kind of weird how things like that work out, you know?". "Wow, I never could see you do that, you look so mild mannered, I guess that all changes when you get mad, kind of like the Hulk, I guess." They both laughed, then Jeff asked, "Well; did you ever do anything bad in your life before?"
Courtney paused. Jeff waited. It must have taken about a minute until she said, "Well, not really. I'm your average good girl. I mean, I used to b e a big tattle tale, but I grew out of that in the second grade, or some time around there. Well, there was one time when Carolyn slapped me in the face one day for no reason. I slapped her back, and we got into this big fistfight in front of all these people. Luckily none of the teachers saw, and we eventually resolved the conflict. I guess you can almost say that I came out on top. I popped her in both eyes, and gave her a fiat lip, and all I got was a black eye. We actually kind of became better friends when that happened."
Jeff could tell that Courtney loved to talk, and he liked to listen. It was so weird how well they got along with each other and Jeff liked it. They talked for about an hour more, until Courtney said she had to go. They exchanged goodbyes, and Jeff hung up the phone. Not two seconds after he hung up did the phone ring again. Jeff picked it up. "Hello?", Jeff answered. "Hello, Jeff, is this Jeff?". It was a girl's voice, and he was definitely sure he had heard it before. It was Carolyn. "Um, yes, this is Jeff.", "OH! Hey there Jeff, I have been trying to get a hold of you for about an hour! What have you been doing? Talking to the frikkin President?", Carolyn asked sarcastically. "No Carolyn, I was having a life, and I'm not going to stop it for you Carolyn!", that was it, Jeff had had enough, and Carolyn knew it. "Oh, sorry, I did it again, you have to get used to me", and she laughed. "You know, take me in doses, I am sorry though.". Jeff was about to reply, but he heard his mom scream "Jeff! Come down here and help me with my groceries!". "Sorry, I have to go Carolyn; I'll talk to you late in school." "Oh, can't you cal me later?", Carolyn whined. Jeff thought fast, and said "Sorry I would, but I'm expecting a call from my best friends from back home soon, so I'll call you later, Bye.", Jeff lied. And before she got a chance to utter a word, he hung up the phone.
Jeff walked downstairs to greet his mom at the door. "Hey mom, what's up?" Jeff asked. "Oh, nothing honey, work was a hassle though. Sometimes I just hate people.", his mom replied as they walked out into the cold October air to get the groceries. There were about five bags full of groceries in the back of Jeff's mom's black Mercury. Jeff picked up three of the bags, and his mom took the other two. They walked back into the house, and put the bags on the kitchen table. Jeff then helped his mom unload the bags and put the groceries where they belonged, then they both sat down on the couch. "So, Jeffrey, how was your first day of private school life?", his mom asked him. His mom had gone to a private school too, and she really enjoyed the idea of him going to one too.
"Well, it was OK...I met a girl, well, two actually.", Jeff said, but he knew that was a mistake. His mom was always talking about how handsome he was al the time. To her friends, neighbors, and his family. "Oh, my little boy's all grown up, swooning the girls on his first day there!", she said. "Mom, they probably only talked to me just to get me to feel like I wasn't an outcast, you know", Jeff tried to get her to stop. "Oh Jeff, why must you think so negatively all the time, I thought I taught you otherwise. You were born with good looks, and you can't help that.", Jeff's mom said to him, trying to make hi feel better. It didn't work. "Mom, you have to say that, you are my mom, that's what all moms say about their children. Well, they should anyway.", Jeff said. That got her to stop talking, which gave him time to go upstairs and log back on again.
He got on, and of course, he heard the voice of the man say "You've got mail" come from the small speakers on the side of his computer. He clicked the little mailbox with the envelopes sticking out of it, and his inbox popped up on the screen. The top of it said he had fifty-four e- mails. Jeff knew that about fifty of which would be junk mail. Thee-mails loaded. He deleted all the junk mail until; he reached one from Blackwidow2389@aol.com. The subject was GET BACK!!!. He clicked on it to read it. It said:
Jeff, Get back on, I miss you so much. I really think that we can be good friends, and maybe something more. Please E-mail me back soon, or call me. My number is 612-543-2399. I am waiting.
Love Always, Carolyn Jeff couldn't believe it. He barely knew her for a day, and already he's practically asking him out. "Courtney was right about Carolyn, she is a whore", Jeff said to himself. He clicked the forward button, and a new email window popped up. Jeff thought, then he typed:
Carolyn,
What's is wrong with you? I barely know you for a day, and already you practically ask me out? You are one weird girl Carolyn. All you want is a boyfriend, so you can show him off to everyone. Boy, wouldn't I be a prize.. Dating the new boy before he is even here for a week. Well, Carolyn, I am no prize to be won, and I would like it if you left me alone forever.
Jeff
With that out of the way, Jeff clicked the send button, and returned to his buddy list to see if anyone worth talking to was on. He looked. There was no one on. So, Jeff got off, and shut down the computer. He went downstairs again. It was 6:15, and he knew dinner would be ready soon. He could smell something cooking in the kitchen, so he went in to look. His mom was at the stove cooking something in a frying pan. "Hey mom, what are you cooking?", Jeff asked curiously. It smelled like something spicy, and Jeff's mouth watered as the smell flowed through his nostrils. "It's brown rice with peppers and beans. Sounds good, doesn't it?", his mom asked him. "Yeah, it does, when should it be ready?" "Right about now.", she said, and she turned ff the burner.
Jeff and his mom usually ate alone. Jeff's dad worked at Infotrak Industries. They made hard drives, and memory chips for business computers, so, Jeff's dad brought home free computers about every year, which was really cool. The down side was that he got home as late as 11:30, when Jeff and his mom were already in bed, and left early he next morning. So Jeff rarely ever saw his dad except on the weekends, when he had off. Jeff and his dad really didn't have a close-knit relationship to begin with, so it wasn't really something he thought about every day or anything.
Jeff's mom had finally finished fixing up the plates for dinner, and she and Jeff walked into their enormous dining hall. It looked like something out of a castle, which was not really a place to be eating dirty rice. They had another dining room, for family, but his mom liked this one. It had a long dark wooden dining table. The ceiling was very tall, and in the middle of it stood a humungous brass chandelier. It reminded Jeff of the chandelier from The Phantom of the Opera, only this one was much more elaborate, and much bigger. Jeff loved having money, but he wasn't snobby.
Jeff and his mom sat down next to each other in the dining room. The scraping of the forks echoed through the room, and that was all that could be heard. "Jeff, are you sure you had a good first day?", his mom asked him. "Yeah, I did...It was OK, not as bad as I thought it was going to be.", Jeff answered plainly. "You know, I am really sorry that you had to go and change schools all of a sudden. I know you miss your old friends, but you can always invite them to come here. One day we can go pick up a couple of your old friends, and maybe they can stay here for a while over the summer. Or for a weekend or something. Would you like that Jeff?", she asked, almost sympathetically. He knew she felt bad, but he knew that if he kept on thinking about his friends, he would be even more homesick. "Yeah, maybe some time over the summer, that would be cool", Jeff said, just to please her, to make her think that he was OK. To make her think that he didn't think about his old home every single day, and how he would give up all the money just to go to his normal public school again, with all his old friends. He missed it all.
"OK, then, we can make plans after school lets out. So what is this about girls?", she started again. "Nothing mom, I just made some friends, that's all.", Jeff said. "Well, do you think they are cute?" 'Well, one of them is. Her name is Courtney Reynolds. She is nice too.", Jeff said, but he wished again that he could have taken back those words. "Oh, really, I knew it, I knew something was different about you!", she exclaimed. Then she started singing "Jeffy's got a crush!", over and over again. "Oh, come on MOM! Jeff said, embarrassed, and he walked out of the room. "Oh, come on hun, it's only you and me, have a sense of humor. She walked up and put her arms around him, he just stood there as she hugged him. "Oh, Jeff, you are growing so fast. I am so happy that we raised you right.". Jeff's mom always said that.
She let go of him, and hen walked onto the living room, and turned on the TV. He flipped thorough all five hundred channels, and found nothing interesting, except some show on the Discovery Channel about UFO's. I t was about all the hoaxes, and about supposed "sightings" of UFO's. He had just caught the end of it. It was over, and he was till bored, so he turned his computer back on, and got back on the Internet to see if Carolyn had mailed him back. He looked in his inbox, and sure enough, she had e- mailed him back. He went to read the e-mail, which was called "...So this is how it is...". He opened it, and it said:
Jeff,
How could you? I barely know you, and you are already judging me. Maybe this is just the way I am around people; did you ever stop to think about that? How dare you call me a whore? Do you hear me? I was wrong about you, I hate you! Don't ever talk to me again!
Screw you! Carolyn
Jeff laughed. He really got her mad now. He couldn't wait until tomorrow when he saw her. She would probably hit him, and Jeff wouldn't are, he finally got her out of his hair. She was getting annoying anyway. He surfed the net, and talked to a few people from back home. By then, it was 9:54, and he decided it was time to go to bed. He told his mom goodnight, and hopped into bed. He was up for a while; just pondering about how he thought Carolyn might act towards him tomorrow. Would she still hate him, or would she cool off, and be the same again. Jeff hoped it would be a happy medium. He would find out tomorrow. Jeff turned over, and fell asleep.
Chapter 2
The beep of the alarm woke Jeff up with a start. It was only his second day, and it was already Friday. He lumbered out of the bed, and walked straight into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror. His eyes were heavy, and he had a hard time keeping them opened. He decided to splash cold water on his face. That would wake him up for sure. He turned on the faucet to put his hand into the water. He got a handful of the cool, clear water, and counted to three in his mind. With one movement, he shot his hands up to his face. The ice cold water hit his face like a thick frying pan. He gasped, and opened his eye. His face was soaked. He was now definitely awake now.
He dried off his face, and walked down the stairs into the kitchen. He walked out onto the cold tile floor out to the pantry, where all the cereal was. He opened the door with a slight creak. In front of him in the pantry there was only one box of cereal. He rubbed his eyes to read the label, and in red letters on the top, it read: "Post All-Bran". Jeff twisted his face in grimace. There was no way he would let that stuff anywhere near his mouth! So much for that, he thought. He walked over to the fridge, and opened it. A cold chill escaped from the chrome-plated fridge as Jeff opened it. He looked. There were only a few bottles of soda, leftover roast from the other night, and a carton of orange juice.
Jeff figured that that was going to have to do, so, he took the carton out of the fridge, and poured it into a glass. He put the glass up to his lips to take a sip...and almost threw up. This was not orange juice. It tasted sour, sickeningly sour. Jeff ran over to the sink and spit it all out. He looked at the carton of juice again. He looked at the expiration date. It had expired about one month prior. No wonder it tasted so awful, Jeff thought. Now what am I goin to do about breakfast?
Jeff decided to skip breakfast and head to his room to change. He retrieved his school uniform, already hung out on the front of his armoire, ready to go. He put them on and then headed to the bathroom. He looked into the mirror. He looked a lot more awake than he did just moments ago. Jeff figured it was because of the cold water, and that long expired orange juice.
He brushed his teeth first, because of the vile taste of the juice that still lingered in his mouth. As soon as he started to brush, a cool mint overcame the sickening, sour taste. He rinsed, and went on to his hair. The dark brown mess on top of his head was sticking out this way and that. It looked as if he had slept on his head all night. Nothing a little gel can't fix, he thought to himself. He took out the gel and squeezed a glob onto his hands. He then smoothed it into his hair, and styled it into it stuck up. His mom had always told him that he looked like he stuck his fingers into a light socket when he styled his hair like that, but he was used to it by now, and did it anyway. He looked at the clock in his room, which was adjacent with the bathroom. 6:45. He figured he better start up his driveway so he could be on time.
His driveway must have been about a quarter of a mile long, but Jeff was fit, and he would make perfect time if he jogged up the way. He put on his thick winter coat, then his backpack, and stepped out into the cold fall air. The bite in the wind that gusted felt like the water, only much colder. As soon as he got out of the door, he started to jog up his newly paved driveway. By the time he reached the top, he was about to die. He thought it would have been easy, but he forgot about his backpack, which must have weighed about thirty-five pounds, on account of how many books he had to carry in it.
The big yellow bus slowed to a stop in front of him and the doors swung opened with a creak. He walked on to the bus, feeling a lot more comfortable than he had before, on his first day at this school. He looked for Courtney, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then he spotted her. She was near the back of the bus, and her eyes lit up as she saw him. She beckoned for him to come, with a waving motion of her hand, and he walked back, and at next to her.
"Hey Jeff, what's up?", she asked him. "Nothing, I'm just tired. I didn't have breakfast." "Why not?", she asked him. "It's a long story", he simply said. The bus started to finally move, and Jeff took out his CD player from the little pocket on the front of his backpack. He put on his headphones, and turned the volume all the way up. Disturbed rang through his ears, and he began to nod hi head, up and down.
"Hey Jeff, what are you listening to?", Courtney said, but all Jeff could hear was the music, and all he could see was her mouth moving. He removed his headphones, and asked her to repeat herself. "I said, what are you listening to?", she said again. "Oh, Disturbed, ever hear of them?" "Uh, yeah, I like them, but we're kind of not allowed to have 'bad' music in this school...Or CD players.", she told him. "Oh crap, that sucks!", Jeff blurted out. "Why did they make up that rule?" "I don't' know, that rule has jus always been...well...A rule", she added bluntly. "Oh, OK...", Jeff muttered, and he placed his CD player back into the pocket of his backpack.
The bus pulled behind the other busses to let the kids out. Finally, it was Jeff's bus's turn, and the doors hissed open. The kids filed out of the bus neatly, until it was just Jeff and Courtney. They then both stood up and emptied out of the bus. Jeff walked into the school's main entrance. He pretty much knew the way to his homeroom, so he headed up the stairs. He reached the top, and opened the door. He walked out of the stair well, and off to his locker. On his way, someone passed his way. It was Carolyn. She had her coat in her hand, and her backpack on her back. Before he had time to hide, she walked up o him and said "Jeff, I was really mad at you. But I guess I'll forgive you...for now. No more smart talk from here on out, OK?", she said. Was she serious? Jeff thought. Did she honestly let it blow over her that quickly? Jeff was astonished. "So, are you still going to sit at our table at lunch?", ahs asked him. "I guess so Carolyn.", he said tiredly to her.
They turned to go the opposite direction from each other when Jeff accidentally bumped into Carolyn's arm, which had the coat in it. From the pocket of her coat, something fell out. What looked to be a sandwich bag, only there wasn't a sandwich in it. It took Jeff only a moment to realize what it was. He gasped, and Carolyn jumped down to the floor to pick it up. It was definitely pot!
She stood back up, and when he was about to tell her how astonished he was, she shoved the bag in her pocket, and grabbed both of Jeff's shoulders. She shoved him into the wall and held him there. "You say one word, one word, and I promise you I will make your life a living hell from now until the day you leave this damn school! Understood?", she said to him. Her eyes were nothing but slits of pure fury on her face. "Uh, y-y- yeah Carolyn, yeah, I won't tell anyone, I swear!" Jeff said, scared to death. She pushed him once more and pointed to him. "Remember Jeff, not one word.". She walked down the hall, and left Jeff dizzy standing against the wall of the hallway.
Jeff walked slowly down the hall where his homeroom was. One-ten, one-eleven, one-twelve, one-thirteen. He walked into the room and sat down in his chair. He could still remember the sound of her voice as she threatened hi. Would she really do something? Could she? The question lingered in Jeff's mind. He was in a daze when snap! He heard someone snap their fingers next to him. It was Courtney.
"Hey Jeff, are you OK, you look like you just saw a ghost.", she said to him, she sounded concerned. "Oh, I'm OK", Jeff managed to say. He sounded weak, in a daze. "OK, you just look really weird, but as long as you're OK", she said to him. He was about to tell her about what really happened, but then Carolyn's warning flashed into his head again. He quickly changed his mind. Jeff was trapped. What could he do? There was nothing left to do. He could tell no one, because if he did, he had no idea what the consequences would be.
Introduction
Jeff stood at the top of his new driveway waiting for his new school bus to arrive. The new bus that went to the new school that contained new students, which went to the school that had new teachers. The school was a Private school, and Jeff had never been to a private school before. His mom's father, who Jeff had never known, had just died, and she had inherited his large fortune, 3.2 million dollars. It sounded like a dream come true, but then his parents said he had to go to a new school. "William Dubois Private School is the best learning facility around, and you are going!", his dad had said when Jeff argued. Dad's word was always final, so it was off to that swank new school. He even moved to a new town. He used to live in a quiet town called Jacobsonville in Delaware, but he now lived in the rich, astute town of Smetherville Peak, in Maryland, in his brand new Mansion. Jeff had not even heard of the place before they moved there. Everything was going by so fast, and Jeff was excited to finally relax, but then he had to go back to school.
He wasn't even starting off a new school year, he had come in the start of the third marking period, so that was even harder. Jeff thought about everything. Did he have the right uniform? Was he nice enough? What were the girls like? One thousand things ran through his head at once, and he did not know what to do. Then he saw it. Coming down the street, with red flashing lights, and a yellow paint job. It was the bus. In black letters on the side it said "William Dubois Private". His heart pounded, his palms were sweaty. The bus doors opened to reveal a short, fat male bus driver. He had a dark blue hat on with what Jeff assumed to be the school's seal. It had two lions on it, with a holly branch in the middle. It was outlined in red. Jeff walked onto the bus steps and looked around. The kids all stopped talking when he got on. It made him feel worse, like he was just there to be laughed at. He stepped forward to look for a seat.
No one would budge to let him in a seat, and the bus had started to move. "Come on kid, sit down." The driver said, and he was covered in even more glances from his peers. "Here, I have a free seat here!", came a voice from the seat to his left. It came from the mouth of...a girl. She had platinum blonde hair that almost hit her shoulders. Her eyes were hazel.
Jeff just stood there, looking at her. "Um, hello? I said you can sit down here.", she said, snapping Jeff from his trance. "Oh, thanks.", he said, and he sat down in her seat. She smelled of some kind of perfume, and Jeff's nostrils were filled with the sweet smell of it. "So, you are the new kid everyone is talking about.", she said. "Yeah. My name is Jeff, Jeff Marks.". "Oh, hi Jeff, my name is Courtney, Courtney Reynolds, pleased to meet you!" She replied. Her voice was soft in tone. "So, your parents won the lottery, right? That is why you moved here?", she asked. "No. We received an inheritance. Who told you that?", Jeff asked, almost insulted. "Only everyone!", she laughed "That's what everyone else thinks.". "Oh." Was all he could say.
Jeff couldn't believe that it was his first day of school, and he was already talking to a really cute girl. Maybe this school won't be so bad after all", he thought. "So, what homeroom do you have?", Courtney asked. "113, Mr. Panacki." "Oh my gosh, so do I, that's cool!", she responded. They talked through the rest of the bus ride, until they finally arrived.
The building was built in red stone on the outside, and it was clearly an old building. It almost reminded Jeff of a castle. Almost every decorative piece on the outside was curved, and the building was enormous. Jeff thought there must be at least four floors to the gargantuan school. The bus stopped, and the doors opened, releasing the students. Jeff was in ninth grade, and this building was from K-12, so he knew why it was so big. He walked slowly to the door, just trying to feel the moment. The first time in a new school, and it wasn't temporary. This was for real. "I sure hope something exciting happens this year." Jeff said under his breath. Yes, this looks like it will be a very exciting year.
Chapter 1
Jeff walked into the hall of the huge school, map in hand. He looked for room 113 on the map. It was on the second floor, so he headed for the stairs. He opened the door to the stairs. The stairs were marble, and resembled the stairs in some kind of capitol building. He stood on the first step and looked up. The stairs were so high; Jeff couldn't even see where they ended. So, he started up. He was about to make the first turn to the second flight of stairs when BANG! Jeff was thrown to the floor.
He stood up to find a girl sitting on the ground. "Oh my God, are you OK?", Jeff queried. "Yeah, it was my fault, I'm sorry." Jeff put out his hand to help her up, but she was up before he even reached out his hand all the way. She had dark hair, almost black, with two tiny strands of blonde on the front. Her hair was about shoulder length, and her eyes were brown. She had on the traditional girl's school uniform, complete with plaid skirt, and white collared shirt with the blue sweater, bearing the school's seal. She was a little on the chubby side, but not fat. "Carolyn Bradley. You must be that new kid that won the lottery, right?", she said.
"No, that was a rumor, my parents received an inheritance. And my name is Jeff Marks." "Oh, pleased to meet you Jeff. I assume I will see you around the halls. I'm in room 112, Mrs. Wetherby.", Carolyn said, almost like she wanted to see him again. "OK, I'm in room 113.", Jeff replied. "OK, well, I hope to see you later.... Jeff. I think you will like this school, I'm sure you will be a good addition." She said flatteringly, then she went down the stairs the other way, and like that, she was gone.
Jeff finally arrived in room 113. In small letters engraved outside the door, it said "Mr. Panacki". By this, obviously Jeff knew it was the right place, so he opened the door. The room was filled with about twenty- five desks, all arranged in a straight row. There were no more than three kids in the room with him, so it was pretty quiet. There were no lockers in this school, so there was a set of cubbies in the back of the room. He slowly walked in, and there, standing in front him was a man. He wore a pinstripe suit, with a dark blue tie, almost black. On his lapel was a pin of the school's seal. He had a very large forehead, but he looked only to be about thirty. He wore black-rimmed glasses, which looked to be very strong, making his large blue eyes look even larger than they already were.
Jeff assumed that this was his homeroom teacher for the rest of his year at William Dubois. "And who might you be?", the man asked. His voice was deep, and low. Jeff wasn't sure, but he was sure he heard a bit of an English accent in his voice. "Jeff Marks.", Jeff said as clearly as he could. "Oh, you must be the new boy!", He said happily. "Welcome to William Dubois Private school. I am sure you will find that this school is very well run. You won't find any filth such as drug paraphernalia, et cetera. These teenagers are the finest bunch I think you will ever see in your young adult life.", he sounded like a training video, as if he were applying for a job. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Mr. Panacki, and I am your homeroom teacher, and History teacher. Pleased to meet you!", and he put out his hand. Jeff took it with appreciation, and Mr. Panacki shook vigorously. The shake lasted about 5 seconds, when finally released his grip, leaving Jeff's hand feeling like it had been through a steamroller.
"You can take your seat here.", Mr. Panacki said, and he pointed to a desk. It was the first seat in the first row. "Thank you, Mr. Panacki.", Jeff said as politely as he possibly could. "No problem Mr. Marks, I hope you grow to like this school.", Mr. Panacki said. "Yes Mr. Panacki, I think I will.", Jeff lied. Jeff took his seat with the few other classmates in the room. Everyone was silently whispering, Jeff thought he heard his name a few times, which he probably did. Jeff knew it would take a while to convince the other kids at his school that he did not win the lottery. In the midst of Jeff's thought, someone new walked into the room. It was Courtney. Mr. Panacki pointed out a desk to her. First seat in the second row. Courtney's face lit up, and she went over, and sat down. "Wow, what a weird coincidence, huh? Both of us in the same homeroom sitting next to each other!", Courtney said to him as she sat down. "Yeah, what a coincidence.", Jeff said, trying not to show that he was in fact very delighted to have her sit next to him. Mr. Panacki stood at the front of the room, and the room was silenced almost immediately. "As you all know, we have a new addition to the school. His name is Jeff Marks, and he has moved here from Delaware. Why don't we all say hi to Jeff, and make him feel as comfortable as possible.". Mr. Panacki walked away, and the talk resumed. As the minutes went by, more chatting kids walked into the room, until finally the bell rang. It was an ear-piercing shriek, very unlike the bells at Jeff's old school. He almost jumped out of his chair when it happened, and he turned to his right to see Courtney laughing her head off.
Jeff looked at his schedule. His first period class was Math, in Mrs. Wetherby's room. Jeff grabbed his binder, and headed next door. He walked into the room. There were many posters thrown about the walls, stating little poems about fractions, and multiples. The desks were in the same order as those of Mr. Panacki's room, all in perfect order. The teacher's desk was in the corner of the room, facing all of the desks, and there sat who Jeff assumed to be Mrs. Wetherby. She looked to be rather short. She had curly brown hair, which was thinning. She looked to be about in her late fifties, and she wore red framed glasses that sat on her crooked, witch-like nose.
Jeff just stood there in the doorway, until the storm of kids pushed him away. He walked slowly up to her desk. She looked up from her paperwork, and smiled at him. "Oh, you must be the new student! Jeff Marks!", her voice squeaked out. She sounded nice. "Yes, that would be me.", Jeff responded. "Oh, good. Well, I'm Mrs. Wetherby, and I'm your math teacher. Right now we are working on identifying prime numbers, are you familiar with that at all?", Mrs. Wetherby asked. "Kind of.", Jeff plainly answered. Mrs. Wetherby pointed out a desk to sit in, and he slowly walked over and sat down. He was just getting his pen out when someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around, and there, sitting in the desk behind him was Carolyn Bradley, the one he had run into in the stairwell.
"Hey there hottie!", she said to him. Jeff was taken aback. She had only just met him, and already she had started calling him "hottie"? It was weird. Jeff didn't know what to say, so he just stared. "Hello, anyone home?", Carolyn said, and she knocked on his head. "Um, yeah, hi." Jeff finally answered. "Oh, don't sound too excited to see me, Jesus!", Carolyn said sarcastically. Jeff was about to ask her what her deal was, but just then, Mrs. Wetherby had come to the front of the classroom. "Good morning class, how are we all today?", she asked cheerfully. A few "good's" were quietly said, but that was about it. "Oh, I hate first period, you people are always so sleepy!", Mrs. Wetherby said playfully. She began her lesson, which Jeff wasn't really paying any attention to at all. He was thinking about Courtney, and Carolyn. What was Carolyn's deal? If she pulled anything funny like that any time soon, he was going to say something to her. He was thinking about Courtney. She sure was very nice, and cute to boot. She was the only one who had talked to him so far, nicely anyway, and he liked that. Jeff really couldn't really say that he liked Courtney, after all, they had only just met today. So many things were running through Jeff's mind at once, and to Jeff's surprise, school was at the bottom of his importance list.
It was lunchtime, most likely the most complicated time he would have on the first day of school. Jeff had no clue where to sit. He looked at the tables, seeing anyone who he might have become acquainted with in the day so far. He stood there for about five minutes before he saw a hand waving in the air. It was Courtney's hand! Jeff walked over with his packed lunch, and took a seat. "Thanks for letting me sit here.", Jeff said to Courtney. "No problem Jeff!", Courtney happily exclaimed. Jeff was happy he had made at least one friend so far. He had started to eat his lunch and talk to Courtney, when she walked in. It was Carolyn again. A huge smile spread across her face, and she came to sit down. Hey there our new man!", she shouted to him as she sat down next to Courtney. He did not think he could feel any more embarrassed than he felt right now. "Hi.", Jeff said. "Hey there Courtney, how are ya?", Carolyn asked Courtney. "I'm very good thank you. I assume you already know Jeff.", Courtney said. Were her and Carolyn friends? "Well Jeff, as you might have figured out by now, Courtney and I are the best of friends!", Carolyn said, like it was some great thing. I guess that was the answer to that question. "Yeah, we are like practically the most popular girls in the school, so consider yourself lucky that we are even talking to you.", Carolyn said. After that, when Courtney wasn't looking, Carolyn mouthed "Well; really, I am the most popular!".
Jeff sat and finished his lunch, and then sat and waited for the end of the period, which he spent away by talking to both Courtney and Carolyn, Carolyn of course was hogging up the limelight. In this conversation, he found out that Carolyn had a boyfriend, his name was David, and he was in Jeff's History class. He definitely looked popular, and from what Jeff saw, he acted it too. Courtney on the other hand was single, and had been for a few months after her loser boyfriend, who did not go to the school, cheated on her with Courtney's sister, who is in a grade lower than her. Courtney and Carolyn had seemed to be total opposites. Carolyn was the wild one, while Courtney was more laid back, she had a life, but wasn't as into it as much as Carolyn was. Jeff had also found out that Carolyn was in fact not even a virgin, and she had lost it last year, when she was thirteen. Jeff was not surprised, just because of what he had heard her say previously.
'So, what is your Screen name?", Carolyn asked Jeff. "Grade-A- Idiot112.", Jeff answered. "And what is your phone number?", she asked again. "Why do you need to know so much?", Jeff asked, sounding agitated. "Oh Jesus, aren't you all in a huff mister Man, well, I am sorry I asked!", and she ignored him for the rest of the lunch period, which really didn't bother Jeff. All his other classes had gone smoothly, except for the fact that Carolyn was in every one of them.
He got onto the bus, and once again sat with Courtney. "So, Carolyn is...um...", Jeff said, but Courtney interrupted him "A little bitchy, I know, but you learn to deal with it!", Courtney said. Jeff was surprised, he thought they were best friends. "Well, that isn't exactly what I was going to say, but yea, I noticed that.", Jeff said. Courtney and him talked about the day, and about Carolyn, and about dating, and about if either of them have ever been kissed (Courtney had). It was pretty much a typical talk among friends, and Jeff was glad he had finally made one pretty good friend on the first day. Jeff's stop finally came, and he went to get off, when Courtney stopped him. "Hey Jeff, you know I play field hockey, and I have a game on Friday at 4:30, if you would like to go, it's right up at the school, so I hope you come.", she said, then she added "Hey, its Grade-A-Idiot112, right?" "Yeah, that's it!", he said, and with that he got off the bus, and walked to his house.
Jeff walked in, dropped his backpack on the floor, and walked up to his room. It was on the second floor, out of three floors in his house. Even though his parents had inherited that money, after they bought the house, they still had to work, so for the time being, until 5:30 when his mom got home from her job, he was home alone. Jeff's computer was in his room, so he went in, booted it up, and knowing it would take a while, he went downstairs again to get something to eat. He found a bag of Queso Grande Doritos, still unopened. Jeff pulled open the bag with a squeak, and he could smell the spiciness already. He decided to wait to get on the computer, so he went into the living room and turned on his fifty-seven inch Hi-def television, and turned on one of the news channels. There was a blonde haired lady sitting at a desk. She had a tan blazer on with one of those small, black little microphones on. As like all news reporters, she had a huge, beaming smile on, which showed her perfectly straight, white teeth as she blurted out the news. To her right was a picture of a fire, and underneath that, it said "ARSON" in big white letters. Jeff turned it up and listened as the reporter, apparently named Jenny McCleary rambled on. "And police suspect the fire started at McGregor dairy farms on west 57th street was indeed an arson case. Police are looking for clues as to what really" BANG! The screen went blank with a flicker, and he heard the fridge shut off. Jeff nearly had a heart attack, and he got up, and looked out his door. No downed lines, no animal fried on the transformer. Everything was fine. Jeff was bewildered, and as he went to get on his mom's emergency cell phone to call and tell her, there was a whirring sound, and the power was back on.
Jeff walked back into the living room, put his Doritos away, and went back upstairs to check on his computer. The surge protector must have worked pretty well, because the computer was still on, and ready to go. Jeff sat down at the computer, and clicked on the little icon that said "AOL 7.0". He got connected, and his buddy list loaded. Here was only one person on, and it was Jeff's old friend from his old school. His name was Brad, and he was Jeff's best friend. He went to IM him, but then suddenly a window popped up. It said "Will you accept a message from the following screen name: Blackwidow2389?". Jeff clicked yes, and the message popped up.
Blackwidow2389: Hey Jeff, it's Carolyn;) Grade-A-Idiot112-O, hey there... Blackwidow2389: Um, I wanna apologize about 2day, I was way 2 comfortable around u, do u 4giv me??:) Grade-A-Idiot112-Um. , I guess...It was only my first day at skool. Blackwidow2389-YAY, now I know we can be the best of friendz!:):):):):):) Grade-A-Idiot112-Yea, I guess.
Suddenly, another window popped up. It was just like the one that popped up before when Carolyn IM'd him, only the screen name was different, this one was PrincessGrl79432. Jeff said OK, and the IM window popped up.
PrincessGrl79432-Hey there Jeff, it's Courtney, hey, wutz shakin??:) Grade-A-Idiot112-O, hi, sry, I gtg, ttyl! PrincessGrl97432-WAIT, can I call u? Grade-A-Idiot-um, yea, I guess so, my number is 612-543-2287., but wait a few min., it'll take a wile 2 get offline, talk 2 u then! PrincessGrl97432-OK, bye;)
And they both signed off
Jeff waited until finally the phone rang. Jeff hurriedly rushed to the chiming phone, and he picked it up. Out of breath, Jeff said, "Um, hello?". There was a pause then, a voice that said, "Um, Jeff, is that you?". It was Courtney. "Oh, yeah, what's up?" "Oh, nothing here, I am just so bored, and there isn't anything to do.". "Oh well, why didn't you call Carolyn?", Jeff asked. "Well, don't get me wrong, she is my best friend, I mean we've known each other for practically all our lives, but there are some times when I need a break from her. Sometimes she just gets a little annoying. And she can be mean, I mean, she's done some pretty mean things to me in the past, you know, stealing boyfriends, cheating with my boyfriends, she's pretty much got the name whore of the school tattooed on her forehead. That's the reason while she is so popular, I mean, she's been with practically been with every guy in school at least once. But for some reason, I'm always forgiving her, and becoming friends with her again..." And she went on about how evil and conniving Carolyn was without Jeff even saying a word. It went on for about twenty minutes, with some pauses here and there, but all Jeff did was sit in astonishment about how she was spilling her guts to her without even knowing him for more than a day.
Finally, she said, "Wow, I'm probably boring the hell out of you, aren't I. Do you want me to stop? Well, not that I really have anything left to say about Carolyn. How about I hear some stuff about your life.". Jef finally got the chance to speak, and he did. "Well, not really. Well, I never really did anything bad like Carolyn did, but I got a detention once for punching a kid in the eye because he tried to steal my lunch money. He cried like a little baby, until his big friends came along. They beat the crap out of me, and we all got a detention. His parents never did press charges. They almost thanked me. They said he needed to be taught a lesson anyway. It's kind of weird how things like that work out, you know?". "Wow, I never could see you do that, you look so mild mannered, I guess that all changes when you get mad, kind of like the Hulk, I guess." They both laughed, then Jeff asked, "Well; did you ever do anything bad in your life before?"
Courtney paused. Jeff waited. It must have taken about a minute until she said, "Well, not really. I'm your average good girl. I mean, I used to b e a big tattle tale, but I grew out of that in the second grade, or some time around there. Well, there was one time when Carolyn slapped me in the face one day for no reason. I slapped her back, and we got into this big fistfight in front of all these people. Luckily none of the teachers saw, and we eventually resolved the conflict. I guess you can almost say that I came out on top. I popped her in both eyes, and gave her a fiat lip, and all I got was a black eye. We actually kind of became better friends when that happened."
Jeff could tell that Courtney loved to talk, and he liked to listen. It was so weird how well they got along with each other and Jeff liked it. They talked for about an hour more, until Courtney said she had to go. They exchanged goodbyes, and Jeff hung up the phone. Not two seconds after he hung up did the phone ring again. Jeff picked it up. "Hello?", Jeff answered. "Hello, Jeff, is this Jeff?". It was a girl's voice, and he was definitely sure he had heard it before. It was Carolyn. "Um, yes, this is Jeff.", "OH! Hey there Jeff, I have been trying to get a hold of you for about an hour! What have you been doing? Talking to the frikkin President?", Carolyn asked sarcastically. "No Carolyn, I was having a life, and I'm not going to stop it for you Carolyn!", that was it, Jeff had had enough, and Carolyn knew it. "Oh, sorry, I did it again, you have to get used to me", and she laughed. "You know, take me in doses, I am sorry though.". Jeff was about to reply, but he heard his mom scream "Jeff! Come down here and help me with my groceries!". "Sorry, I have to go Carolyn; I'll talk to you late in school." "Oh, can't you cal me later?", Carolyn whined. Jeff thought fast, and said "Sorry I would, but I'm expecting a call from my best friends from back home soon, so I'll call you later, Bye.", Jeff lied. And before she got a chance to utter a word, he hung up the phone.
Jeff walked downstairs to greet his mom at the door. "Hey mom, what's up?" Jeff asked. "Oh, nothing honey, work was a hassle though. Sometimes I just hate people.", his mom replied as they walked out into the cold October air to get the groceries. There were about five bags full of groceries in the back of Jeff's mom's black Mercury. Jeff picked up three of the bags, and his mom took the other two. They walked back into the house, and put the bags on the kitchen table. Jeff then helped his mom unload the bags and put the groceries where they belonged, then they both sat down on the couch. "So, Jeffrey, how was your first day of private school life?", his mom asked him. His mom had gone to a private school too, and she really enjoyed the idea of him going to one too.
"Well, it was OK...I met a girl, well, two actually.", Jeff said, but he knew that was a mistake. His mom was always talking about how handsome he was al the time. To her friends, neighbors, and his family. "Oh, my little boy's all grown up, swooning the girls on his first day there!", she said. "Mom, they probably only talked to me just to get me to feel like I wasn't an outcast, you know", Jeff tried to get her to stop. "Oh Jeff, why must you think so negatively all the time, I thought I taught you otherwise. You were born with good looks, and you can't help that.", Jeff's mom said to him, trying to make hi feel better. It didn't work. "Mom, you have to say that, you are my mom, that's what all moms say about their children. Well, they should anyway.", Jeff said. That got her to stop talking, which gave him time to go upstairs and log back on again.
He got on, and of course, he heard the voice of the man say "You've got mail" come from the small speakers on the side of his computer. He clicked the little mailbox with the envelopes sticking out of it, and his inbox popped up on the screen. The top of it said he had fifty-four e- mails. Jeff knew that about fifty of which would be junk mail. Thee-mails loaded. He deleted all the junk mail until; he reached one from Blackwidow2389@aol.com. The subject was GET BACK!!!. He clicked on it to read it. It said:
Jeff, Get back on, I miss you so much. I really think that we can be good friends, and maybe something more. Please E-mail me back soon, or call me. My number is 612-543-2399. I am waiting.
Love Always, Carolyn Jeff couldn't believe it. He barely knew her for a day, and already he's practically asking him out. "Courtney was right about Carolyn, she is a whore", Jeff said to himself. He clicked the forward button, and a new email window popped up. Jeff thought, then he typed:
Carolyn,
What's is wrong with you? I barely know you for a day, and already you practically ask me out? You are one weird girl Carolyn. All you want is a boyfriend, so you can show him off to everyone. Boy, wouldn't I be a prize.. Dating the new boy before he is even here for a week. Well, Carolyn, I am no prize to be won, and I would like it if you left me alone forever.
Jeff
With that out of the way, Jeff clicked the send button, and returned to his buddy list to see if anyone worth talking to was on. He looked. There was no one on. So, Jeff got off, and shut down the computer. He went downstairs again. It was 6:15, and he knew dinner would be ready soon. He could smell something cooking in the kitchen, so he went in to look. His mom was at the stove cooking something in a frying pan. "Hey mom, what are you cooking?", Jeff asked curiously. It smelled like something spicy, and Jeff's mouth watered as the smell flowed through his nostrils. "It's brown rice with peppers and beans. Sounds good, doesn't it?", his mom asked him. "Yeah, it does, when should it be ready?" "Right about now.", she said, and she turned ff the burner.
Jeff and his mom usually ate alone. Jeff's dad worked at Infotrak Industries. They made hard drives, and memory chips for business computers, so, Jeff's dad brought home free computers about every year, which was really cool. The down side was that he got home as late as 11:30, when Jeff and his mom were already in bed, and left early he next morning. So Jeff rarely ever saw his dad except on the weekends, when he had off. Jeff and his dad really didn't have a close-knit relationship to begin with, so it wasn't really something he thought about every day or anything.
Jeff's mom had finally finished fixing up the plates for dinner, and she and Jeff walked into their enormous dining hall. It looked like something out of a castle, which was not really a place to be eating dirty rice. They had another dining room, for family, but his mom liked this one. It had a long dark wooden dining table. The ceiling was very tall, and in the middle of it stood a humungous brass chandelier. It reminded Jeff of the chandelier from The Phantom of the Opera, only this one was much more elaborate, and much bigger. Jeff loved having money, but he wasn't snobby.
Jeff and his mom sat down next to each other in the dining room. The scraping of the forks echoed through the room, and that was all that could be heard. "Jeff, are you sure you had a good first day?", his mom asked him. "Yeah, I did...It was OK, not as bad as I thought it was going to be.", Jeff answered plainly. "You know, I am really sorry that you had to go and change schools all of a sudden. I know you miss your old friends, but you can always invite them to come here. One day we can go pick up a couple of your old friends, and maybe they can stay here for a while over the summer. Or for a weekend or something. Would you like that Jeff?", she asked, almost sympathetically. He knew she felt bad, but he knew that if he kept on thinking about his friends, he would be even more homesick. "Yeah, maybe some time over the summer, that would be cool", Jeff said, just to please her, to make her think that he was OK. To make her think that he didn't think about his old home every single day, and how he would give up all the money just to go to his normal public school again, with all his old friends. He missed it all.
"OK, then, we can make plans after school lets out. So what is this about girls?", she started again. "Nothing mom, I just made some friends, that's all.", Jeff said. "Well, do you think they are cute?" 'Well, one of them is. Her name is Courtney Reynolds. She is nice too.", Jeff said, but he wished again that he could have taken back those words. "Oh, really, I knew it, I knew something was different about you!", she exclaimed. Then she started singing "Jeffy's got a crush!", over and over again. "Oh, come on MOM! Jeff said, embarrassed, and he walked out of the room. "Oh, come on hun, it's only you and me, have a sense of humor. She walked up and put her arms around him, he just stood there as she hugged him. "Oh, Jeff, you are growing so fast. I am so happy that we raised you right.". Jeff's mom always said that.
She let go of him, and hen walked onto the living room, and turned on the TV. He flipped thorough all five hundred channels, and found nothing interesting, except some show on the Discovery Channel about UFO's. I t was about all the hoaxes, and about supposed "sightings" of UFO's. He had just caught the end of it. It was over, and he was till bored, so he turned his computer back on, and got back on the Internet to see if Carolyn had mailed him back. He looked in his inbox, and sure enough, she had e- mailed him back. He went to read the e-mail, which was called "...So this is how it is...". He opened it, and it said:
Jeff,
How could you? I barely know you, and you are already judging me. Maybe this is just the way I am around people; did you ever stop to think about that? How dare you call me a whore? Do you hear me? I was wrong about you, I hate you! Don't ever talk to me again!
Screw you! Carolyn
Jeff laughed. He really got her mad now. He couldn't wait until tomorrow when he saw her. She would probably hit him, and Jeff wouldn't are, he finally got her out of his hair. She was getting annoying anyway. He surfed the net, and talked to a few people from back home. By then, it was 9:54, and he decided it was time to go to bed. He told his mom goodnight, and hopped into bed. He was up for a while; just pondering about how he thought Carolyn might act towards him tomorrow. Would she still hate him, or would she cool off, and be the same again. Jeff hoped it would be a happy medium. He would find out tomorrow. Jeff turned over, and fell asleep.
Chapter 2
The beep of the alarm woke Jeff up with a start. It was only his second day, and it was already Friday. He lumbered out of the bed, and walked straight into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror. His eyes were heavy, and he had a hard time keeping them opened. He decided to splash cold water on his face. That would wake him up for sure. He turned on the faucet to put his hand into the water. He got a handful of the cool, clear water, and counted to three in his mind. With one movement, he shot his hands up to his face. The ice cold water hit his face like a thick frying pan. He gasped, and opened his eye. His face was soaked. He was now definitely awake now.
He dried off his face, and walked down the stairs into the kitchen. He walked out onto the cold tile floor out to the pantry, where all the cereal was. He opened the door with a slight creak. In front of him in the pantry there was only one box of cereal. He rubbed his eyes to read the label, and in red letters on the top, it read: "Post All-Bran". Jeff twisted his face in grimace. There was no way he would let that stuff anywhere near his mouth! So much for that, he thought. He walked over to the fridge, and opened it. A cold chill escaped from the chrome-plated fridge as Jeff opened it. He looked. There were only a few bottles of soda, leftover roast from the other night, and a carton of orange juice.
Jeff figured that that was going to have to do, so, he took the carton out of the fridge, and poured it into a glass. He put the glass up to his lips to take a sip...and almost threw up. This was not orange juice. It tasted sour, sickeningly sour. Jeff ran over to the sink and spit it all out. He looked at the carton of juice again. He looked at the expiration date. It had expired about one month prior. No wonder it tasted so awful, Jeff thought. Now what am I goin to do about breakfast?
Jeff decided to skip breakfast and head to his room to change. He retrieved his school uniform, already hung out on the front of his armoire, ready to go. He put them on and then headed to the bathroom. He looked into the mirror. He looked a lot more awake than he did just moments ago. Jeff figured it was because of the cold water, and that long expired orange juice.
He brushed his teeth first, because of the vile taste of the juice that still lingered in his mouth. As soon as he started to brush, a cool mint overcame the sickening, sour taste. He rinsed, and went on to his hair. The dark brown mess on top of his head was sticking out this way and that. It looked as if he had slept on his head all night. Nothing a little gel can't fix, he thought to himself. He took out the gel and squeezed a glob onto his hands. He then smoothed it into his hair, and styled it into it stuck up. His mom had always told him that he looked like he stuck his fingers into a light socket when he styled his hair like that, but he was used to it by now, and did it anyway. He looked at the clock in his room, which was adjacent with the bathroom. 6:45. He figured he better start up his driveway so he could be on time.
His driveway must have been about a quarter of a mile long, but Jeff was fit, and he would make perfect time if he jogged up the way. He put on his thick winter coat, then his backpack, and stepped out into the cold fall air. The bite in the wind that gusted felt like the water, only much colder. As soon as he got out of the door, he started to jog up his newly paved driveway. By the time he reached the top, he was about to die. He thought it would have been easy, but he forgot about his backpack, which must have weighed about thirty-five pounds, on account of how many books he had to carry in it.
The big yellow bus slowed to a stop in front of him and the doors swung opened with a creak. He walked on to the bus, feeling a lot more comfortable than he had before, on his first day at this school. He looked for Courtney, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then he spotted her. She was near the back of the bus, and her eyes lit up as she saw him. She beckoned for him to come, with a waving motion of her hand, and he walked back, and at next to her.
"Hey Jeff, what's up?", she asked him. "Nothing, I'm just tired. I didn't have breakfast." "Why not?", she asked him. "It's a long story", he simply said. The bus started to finally move, and Jeff took out his CD player from the little pocket on the front of his backpack. He put on his headphones, and turned the volume all the way up. Disturbed rang through his ears, and he began to nod hi head, up and down.
"Hey Jeff, what are you listening to?", Courtney said, but all Jeff could hear was the music, and all he could see was her mouth moving. He removed his headphones, and asked her to repeat herself. "I said, what are you listening to?", she said again. "Oh, Disturbed, ever hear of them?" "Uh, yeah, I like them, but we're kind of not allowed to have 'bad' music in this school...Or CD players.", she told him. "Oh crap, that sucks!", Jeff blurted out. "Why did they make up that rule?" "I don't' know, that rule has jus always been...well...A rule", she added bluntly. "Oh, OK...", Jeff muttered, and he placed his CD player back into the pocket of his backpack.
The bus pulled behind the other busses to let the kids out. Finally, it was Jeff's bus's turn, and the doors hissed open. The kids filed out of the bus neatly, until it was just Jeff and Courtney. They then both stood up and emptied out of the bus. Jeff walked into the school's main entrance. He pretty much knew the way to his homeroom, so he headed up the stairs. He reached the top, and opened the door. He walked out of the stair well, and off to his locker. On his way, someone passed his way. It was Carolyn. She had her coat in her hand, and her backpack on her back. Before he had time to hide, she walked up o him and said "Jeff, I was really mad at you. But I guess I'll forgive you...for now. No more smart talk from here on out, OK?", she said. Was she serious? Jeff thought. Did she honestly let it blow over her that quickly? Jeff was astonished. "So, are you still going to sit at our table at lunch?", ahs asked him. "I guess so Carolyn.", he said tiredly to her.
They turned to go the opposite direction from each other when Jeff accidentally bumped into Carolyn's arm, which had the coat in it. From the pocket of her coat, something fell out. What looked to be a sandwich bag, only there wasn't a sandwich in it. It took Jeff only a moment to realize what it was. He gasped, and Carolyn jumped down to the floor to pick it up. It was definitely pot!
She stood back up, and when he was about to tell her how astonished he was, she shoved the bag in her pocket, and grabbed both of Jeff's shoulders. She shoved him into the wall and held him there. "You say one word, one word, and I promise you I will make your life a living hell from now until the day you leave this damn school! Understood?", she said to him. Her eyes were nothing but slits of pure fury on her face. "Uh, y-y- yeah Carolyn, yeah, I won't tell anyone, I swear!" Jeff said, scared to death. She pushed him once more and pointed to him. "Remember Jeff, not one word.". She walked down the hall, and left Jeff dizzy standing against the wall of the hallway.
Jeff walked slowly down the hall where his homeroom was. One-ten, one-eleven, one-twelve, one-thirteen. He walked into the room and sat down in his chair. He could still remember the sound of her voice as she threatened hi. Would she really do something? Could she? The question lingered in Jeff's mind. He was in a daze when snap! He heard someone snap their fingers next to him. It was Courtney.
"Hey Jeff, are you OK, you look like you just saw a ghost.", she said to him, she sounded concerned. "Oh, I'm OK", Jeff managed to say. He sounded weak, in a daze. "OK, you just look really weird, but as long as you're OK", she said to him. He was about to tell her about what really happened, but then Carolyn's warning flashed into his head again. He quickly changed his mind. Jeff was trapped. What could he do? There was nothing left to do. He could tell no one, because if he did, he had no idea what the consequences would be.