"Are you excited about school? I wish I was going, it's going to be so trash! Hey, take this camera and take pictures of all the weird kids for me, okay?" Sabrina Grimm looked down at her little sister and frowned. " 'Trash'?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's my new word. It means 'awesome'." Daphne replied with a grin.
"Daphne, that's not what trash means unless you're being ironic."
"I am not! What does 'ironic' mean?" Sabrina sighed and shook her head.
"Nevermind. I'm gonna be late. Seeya later!" She climbed onto the big yellow bus that had just pulled up to the end of their driveway and stopped, feeling a prickle of discomfort on the back of her neck. She was the new kid today, and she hated being the new kid, no matter how many times it happened. Taking a deep breath, she forged her way down the aisle between seats. Whatever. Sabrina Grimm was tough, and she wasn't going to let anyone mess with her today. Scanning for a seat, she finally found one that was empty as the bus began to pull forward, and flopped into it, lifting her bag with the intention of setting on the seat to prevent anyone from sitting next to her. Before she could, however, someone slid into the seat with a movement almost too fast to see. A boy with messy blond hair and green eyes grinned at her impishly.
"Uh, hello," Sabrina snapped "This seat's taken."
"Who're you?" The boy asked, ignoring her.
"Sabrina Grimm, yes, I'm new, and no, you cannot sit here." The boy pulled an apple out of his pocket and took a large, loud bite, putting his feet up on the back of the seat in front of them. "Nice to meetchya, Grimm." He said through a mouthful. "I'm the Trickster King." Sabrina blinked at him, her blood growing hotter and hotter by the second. "Right." she said sarcastically.
"It's true! If you're gonna be attending this school, you might as well know who your royalty is from the start." Sabrina took a deep breath. She didn't want her first day at a new school starting off with a fight, but she was on edge as it was and this guy was not helping. "And what am I, then?" She asked through gritted teeth. He took another bite of his apple and squinted at her for a minute, then declared authoritatively "Nerd." Sabrina was too taken aback to respond for a minute.
"Excuse me?" She spluttered at last. The boy shrugged.
"You asked, I just call it like I see it." Sabrina clutched her backpack to her chest and clenched a fist. This kid was infuriating. Just as she was opening her mouth to give him a sharp retort, the bus pulled to a stop and students began scrambling off. The boy swung his feet off the seat and stood up. "Well, seeya later, Grimm!" he said said with a wink, then flashed her a grin and was gone. Feeling suddenly dizzy, Sabrina sat on the bus until every other student had gotten off, then slowly got up, swinging her bag over her shoulder, and made her way off the bus. The kid was infuriating, but awfully cute—which really just made him even more annoying. She shook it off and hurried to her first class.
Sabrina didn't see the boy again for the rest of the day, but by the time the final bell rang, his assessment of her as a "nerd" seemed to have spread to the whole school, and she was livid. It wasn't entirely untrue—she was admittedly probably rather nerdy about some things, puzzles and forensic science had always fascinated her—but she was not fond of labels, and especially not labels slapped on arbitrarily by a person she'd just met. So when she stepped into the parking lot and saw him waiting for the bus, twirling onion rings around on his fingers, she made ready to march over and give him a piece of her mind. Suddenly a petite brunette girl appeared beside him, and Sabrina paused.
"Puck!" The girl exclaimed in a painfully shrill voice. "Where have you been all day? You didn't come to the student government meeting. It's important to be there if you want to get elected!" The boy, who Sabrina now knew was called Puck, wrinkled his nose, clearly not enjoying the girl's attention. "Sorry Moth, I had other subjects to attend to." He said flippantly, then caught sight of Sabrina and bounded over to her. "Hey there Grimm! How's my kingdom treating you?" He flung an arm around her shoulders and practically dragged her onto the bus. Sabrina was irritated, but she could feel the girl called Moth staring daggers at the back of her neck, and she decided not to resist. She hadn't liked the girl's attitude and decided irritating her won out over her own irritation towards Puck. They sat down at the back of the bus and Puck shoved her head down rudely, ducking his own so that he couldn't be seen through the window. "Hey!" Sabrina protested. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Be quite, ugly, we're hiding from Moth." Sabrina felt she really would slap him this time. To heck with making a good impression on the first day. "Ugly?" she hissed furiously.
"I was being ironic." Puck said, giving her that infuriating grin again.
"Whatever." She growled. "But why am I hiding from her? She's your problem."
"Oh, that." He said, with mock sheepishness. "Well, since she saw us together, she probably hates you now, so I'd suggest hiding." The bus jerked forward and turned out of the school parking lot. Puck popped his head up and peered cautiously out the window. "Good, we lost her." He said cheerfully. "You're safe now, Grimm. And don't worry, I won't let her murder you." he reassured loftily.
"Hello, apparently you talking to me is what put me in danger in the first place."
"Oh." He cocked his rumpled blond head and thought for a minute. "I guess you're right. Sorry about that." Sabrina stared at him in disbelief. What the heck was wrong with this boy? When the short drive home was over, Sabrina got up and shoved past him without a word of farewell, stomping down the aisle and jumping down onto the gravel of her driveway. Daphne was sitting in a lawn chair waiting for her. "Sabrina!" She cried, jumping up. "How was your day? Was it totally trash?" Sabrina opened her mouth to reply, then suddenly felt a presence at her shoulder and whipped round. Puck was standing next to her. "What are you doing here?" She cried, but he ignored her, staring at Daphne.
"Trash?"
"It means awesome." Daphne said. "Who're you?"
"Oh, so you're being ironic." Daphne frowned.
"That's what Sabrina said, too, but I don't know what ironic means."
"It's when you say one thing but what you really mean or what's really true is the opposite." Sabrina said shortly, crossing her arms and glaring at Puck.
"Oh! I get it now." Daphne said. "So like trash means awesome and ugly means pretty?"
"You're pretty smart, marshmellow." Puck said, rubbing Daphne's head and winking at Sabrina. Suddenly Sabrina remembered his words on the bus: "I was being ironic." She blushed, feeling all at once flustered. Daphne beamed at him.
"Daphne, we have to go now, it's time to feed Elvis." Sabrina said, grabbing her little sister by the hand and pulling her up the driveway. "Okay. Bye, mister, it was nice to meet you!" She waved at the impish boy. "Sure thing, marshmellow! Catch ya later, Grimm!" He called. Sabrina grumbled something incoherent and waved a hand dismissively without looking back, but she smiled slightly for the first time that day. Maybe infuriating means intriguing she thought.