She stood in front of Hollywood Arts like a baby squirrel stands in the middle of the highway - scared, nervous, tiny, insignificant, squeaky, with a craving for almonds. The building towered over her, it's modern catwalks and neon colors feeling much too loud for a girl like her.
She did what her mom always told her when faced with a scary situation. She closed her eyes, not brushing her hair away when her dark fringe swooped over them, and sucked in as much air as her lungs could hold. She froze for a second of preparation and then dove in, swinging open the glass doors and throwing herself into the building without giving herself a chance to turn back.
She opened her eyes, twitched her hair out of the way and took in the scene without releasing her breath. The Rainbow of color outside the building was nothing to the kaleidescope inside. It was unlike any school she'd ever seen, in real life or on TV. Each locker lining the walls of the wide hallway had its own unique flair. Some had crazy patterns or colors, or funky gimmicks like a keyboard door. Like and vibrancy just seemed to explode into the hallway, and it was beautiful - but a little overpowering. She breathed, walking cautiously into the middle of the empty hallway.
Her name was Laurel, and she was sure coming to Hollywood Arts was a bad, bad idea.
Classes wouldn't start for twenty minutes, which gave her time to try and find the attendance office in this crazy fun house. Cautiously, like a student driver, she explored the graffitied halls.
It was hard not to be transfixed by the pictures on the wall. Despite the sudden barrage of color upon entering the the hall, the murals and originality and pop had a lively beat about it. The place was just so full of life - Laurel wandered and just tried to take in the scene, finally relaxing, when, distracted, she almost walked right into a young African American man.
She jumped and squeaked (rather embarrassingly) and the man steadied her, catching her elbow. His hands were moist, for some reason.
"Whoops, sorry - are you okay?" he said, stepping back a little. Laurel nodded.
"Sorry..." she mumbled, so quietly he probably couldn't hear her. The man looked at her and cocked his head.
"Wait a minute, I don't recognize you." Then it dawned on him. "Oh! You're the new student. Laurel Ringer?"
Laurel nodded again, and smiled awkwardly. Best to start off with a friendly impression.
"I'm the guidance counselor here," the man continued. He extended his hand. "Lane Moorefield."
Laurel took his hand and shook it tentatively. Still very moist. She tried not too make a face. Lane however, did make one. It was kind of sympathetic with mild revulsion. He took his hand back slowly, paused, and then rummaged through his pocket.
"Your skin's so dry," Lane muttered, and withdrew a travel-sized bottle of lotion. He held the nozzle in front of Laurel, and she confusedly held out her hands. Lane dropped a dollop of lotion in her hand, and when she just looked up at him, bewildered, he motioned for her to rub it in. She obliged hesitantly.
"Do you need help finding the attendance office?" Lane asked helpfully as Laurel spread the lotion, feeling like she was having a bizarre dream. She nodded, trying to wring her hands dry. "Well, follow me, then."
He turned on his heel and headed down the hall, and Laurel walked numbly after him. If first impressions are any indication, Hollywood Arts was a very offbeat place.
Laurel emerged from the office with a map of the school clutched nervously in her hands. She tried to hide her face behind to huge paper, trying to shield her embarrassment of her obvious new-student aura. Then she realized, upon this close inspection, that the map was very confusing and near impossible to read. Someone must have taken creative license with the design of this map, just like with the wacky designs of the rest of the school.
Her first class was Stage Acting with a Mr. Erwin Sikowitz, according to her schedule, but it was nearly impossible to find it on the map.
School was going to start soon and the halls were bustling with students. Students were carrying things like chunky horns and stereos or silly props (one boy was dragging along a "YIELD" sign). The bulky luggage and packs of students made Laurel feel sort of squeezed a claustrophobic. She was never very good with crowds.
She agonized over picking someone from the crowd to show her to class. Why did she have to be so awkward? She felt her insides tighten and lowered the map infinitesimally. But suddenly, like a ray of sunshine and the singing of angels, her prayers were answered.
"Hey, do you need help?" a girl's voice asked. Laurel spun around to see a pretty Latina girl with long, wavy brown hair approach her, looking concerned and sympathetic.
Laurel nodded vigorously, and said "Thank you," in a tiny, indistinguishable voice. She handed the girl her schedule and map. The girl smiled at her in a friendly way.
"Don't worry, I was new last year, too," she said kindly. "This place isn't as crazy as it looks."
As she said it, a boy on a unicycle wearing a frilly pink dress and licking a toothbrush-shaped lollipop cycled by. Laurel watched in confused horror.
"Well, you get the hang of it after a while, anyway," the girl continued, frowning after the pink unicyclist, mystified. "By the way, I'm Tori."
"I'm Laurel," she mumbled, but Tori didn't seemed to hear her. She was pulling up the big, crinkly map. She took one glance at it and then crumpled it up into a little ball. Laurel watched, scandalized.
"Trust me, the map of this school is impossible. You'll be better off just walking with people from your classes." Tori proceeded to scan Laurel's schedule, and Laurel watched apprehensively, trying to scoot out of the way of passing pedestrians.
"Hey," Tori exclaimed suddenly, elbowing Laurel lightly. "You have Sikowitz with me next!"
As she said it, too boys ambled up to them. It was a pale, bushy black-haired boy with thick-rimmed glasses and a puppet, followed by a black boy with a very chilled-out, calming aura and a keyboard tucked under his arm.
"Tori!" called the pale, glasses-boy. "Rex has been absolutely out of control today!" He said it in a helpless kind of way.
"He just made Cat cry," said the piano guy. "He sort of indirectly called her an airheaded, dyed-haired freak."
"Hey!" spouted the pale kid's puppet in a husky, voice. "I didn't say anything we weren't all thinking." The pale kid gazed at his own puppet in indignation and then beseeched Tori.
"Tell him he's being a huge jerk, Tori!"
Tori leaned down so that she was eye-level with the offending puppet.
"Listen up, Rex," Tori hissed.
"Come a little closer, babe," the puppet, "Rex" said. "I can't hear you too well from here." Tori smirked and leaned a little closer.
"If you keep being an obnoxious chizz-ball, no girls will wanna be within ten feet of you."
"Hah! Come on, girl, you don't know me like that. Just lean a little closer and you'll-" But suddenly Tori stuffed the crumpled map into Rex's mouth and all the could be heard was muffled obscenities.
Laurel, who had watched the entire conversation unsure if she had really woken up this morning at all and wasn't just having a nightmare of the impending dooms of her new school, watched as the glasses-boy crammed his puppet into his back. Meanwhile, Tori decided to introduce her friends.
"So this is Andre-" the guy with the piano nodded coolly at Laurel and grinned. She smiled shyly back. "-and this is Robbie."
Puppet-boy looked at her as if he hadn't noticed she was there and then beamed at her in an awkward, friendly kind of way. He had an air of insecurity and geekiness that took away from his manliness, but to Laurel, this was good. He was not intimidating in any sense of the word.
"They're in our next class, so we can all head over to Sikowitz's room together," Tori said. "And guys, this is a new girl. Her name's..." Tori stopped to think and then looked at Laurel. "Umm..."
"Laurel," Laurel choked out, still very pathetically. Tori, Andre and Robbie all leaned in to hear better, which, needless to say, was highly embarrassing. "My name's Laurel."
"Ohh, right," Andre said, straightening up. "Her names Lauren."
"Okay, Lauren," Robbie said. "Let's go, you can sit with us in Sikowitz's class."
And with that they turned and headed down the hall, Tori motioning for Laurel to follow. Laurel turned pink and shouted after them (in her meek version of a shout, which is not too powerful).
"It's Laurel! With an 'L!' Laurel!" and with that she scurried after them, catching up andjoining their welcoming little group.
A/N: Hey guys. I hope you like, not much happened in the first chapter, and you guys really don't know much about Laurel, but don't worry, her character becomes a lot more clear next chapter. Thanks for reading! I know OC's can be kind of hit-or-miss and aren't a big thing with Victorious fics, but I promise you Laurel isn't just some 2-D Mary-Sue. Personally I'm a Cabbie fan myself, but I just love the freedom of original characters - they add a kind of new element of drama that you can't find in the show!
Anyway, thanks! Please review, reviews are what really make me love writing, even if they're bad :)
