AN: Hello Readers! Welcome to the beautiful and magnificent world of Battle Royale. Filled with gore, death, bloodlust and so much more! But I don't want to be the stereotypical Battle Royale writer that just focuses on the weaponry and bloody deaths. I want to show the social aspects of Battle Royale: Friendship, Rivalry, Revenge, Jealousy, Love, Hope, Inspiration and even Desperation. I want to bring back the plot behind the murder, the human nature that revolves in the minds of teenagers forced into this nightmare. And with that let the Program begin!
Caution: This chapter may be slightly boring since it introduces all of the students in the class and their relationships with each other as well as some defining descriptions and characteristics.
Disclaimer: Koushun Takami owns all rights to Battle Royale. Only the characters here are of my ownership. The movie sucks by the way, read the book!
Chapter 1: Pilot
Jake Anderson's POV (Boy #1)
Two hours had passed since we left Northridge High for our annual school field trip and the bus still had a lot of life in it. Beside me, lounging on the back of the bus, was head cheerleader Tiffany Evans (Girl #6), my on again off again girlfriend. We've been dating for almost a year now and everyone expected it to happen like the age old cliché. She was beautiful, I was in all means hot (and the captain of the basketball team), and we were on the top of the social food chain so we were bound to hook up. We were the white picket fence couple of the school and easily won the Prom Prince and Princess Title in the Junior Prom (technically due to lack of reasonable competition). But our relationship was rocky at best. We have arguments almost every week about some of the most stupid things like picking her up late for a date or not dedicating a game winning shot to her.
She was talking animatedly with her girl friends Ashley Saunders (Girl #15), Milan Avery (Girl #2) and Vanessa Cohen (Girl #4). They were the popular girls in our class and each one had a contribution to their fame. Ashley's a cheerleader, just like Tiff, who is very well known for her venomous tongue and mean girl attitude. Milan brought the dough to the group being the richest girl in the school. I actually wonder why she's still enrolled in a public school. Lastly, Vanessa was the definition of beauty in all aspects.
They were having one of their girl talks that included manicures, the latest trends in fashion, Vampire Diaries and of course, the current school gossip. They were talking so loud, that I couldn't help but overhear things like some guy Klaus killing Bonnie or something like that. I felt Tiff's arms wrap around mine and she leaned on my shoulder a bit and snuggled. She's been sweet like this since we won the championship game in basketball against Elder High a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes I really wonder if our whole relationship is just an act on her part to make herself more popular than she already was.
I looked to my right and saw my teammate, Greg Lanter (Boy # 12) staring at me, no wait, more like glaring at me. He averted his gaze when I noticed it but he still looked annoyed about something. I don't know what his problem is but he's been kinda pissed for some time now whenever we're together. Maybe it's because I won the MVP award even though he scored more points than I did in the game. I'll just ask him about it later once we reach the camp grounds. Our other team mate in the class, David Arias (Boy #2) was staring blankly at the window while listening to his iPod. He's probably blocking out the sound of the girls in the front of the bus hogging the karaoke machine.
Celina Trevino (Girl # 17) was definitely tone deaf but she kept on screaming "Baby, Baby, Baby Oh!" as she sang along to her crush and idol, Justin Bieber. She's been basically shoving her Bieber Fever onto the whole population of Northridge ever since she got to meet the guy in a concert. I still don't understand how that guy became so popular, but I never did try to understand Hollywood and all that crap. Celina bowed while kneeling on her chair as her friends Isabelle Burton (Girl #3) and Sarah Howell (Girl # 10) clapped even though they didn't enjoy the performance. Those three girls were a tight bunch as they knew each other before high school. Cara Howell (Girl #9), Sarah's twin, was technically part of the group as well but she never shared their enthusiasm on anything. She was probably sleeping or playing with her secondhand PSP trying to drown herself out of the real world. For twins, Sarah and Cara didn't have much in common except for physical features.
Before Celina could sing another Bieber song, another girl carefully walked up front and took the microphone away from her. Thea Schultz (Girl # 16) is the triple thespian of the class. She can dance, she can act and she's definitely the best singer in all of Northridge, unlike Celina. Thea was very active in the performing arts department; landing every lead in the school musicals and being the main soloist of the school's glee club. She was gifted in looks as well and can turn heads when walking down the hallway, but her Achilles' heel was her diva attitude and her ego as big as her vocal range. She began singing some Broadway ballad that no one but herself knows about…
Okay, make that herself and Francis Jackson (Boy #9), the other glee club person in our class who was now singing along with her. He's also the class VP and a fairly decent student. The only thing peculiar about him is that he's the son of an interracial couple and he was very effeminate (Cara's probably manlier than him). He was seated next to his best friend, Percival Hale (Boy #8), who was laughing as Francis failed to reach the high notes of the song Thea was singing. I actually wonder how they became best friends since Percy is an athlete. If he tried to try out for the basketball team, I'm pretty sure he'd get in easily but he's dedicated his entire time captaining both the swim team and the water polo team.
In the chair next to them sat my neighbor, Damien Knight (Boy # 10), who is commonly known as the class genius. Almost as tall as me and blond as well, he really bent the dumb blond stereotype. He also dresses nice and even wears contact lenses instead of glasses making him not nerdy at all. He was seated with Adam Gruesen (Boy #6) and the exchange student from the Philippines, Aileen Alcantara (Girl #1). Adam's the real geek between him and Damien, with his wire-rimmed glasses and his expansive amount of sweater vests. He's also the Class President so he was in charge of accommodating Aileen throughout the school year. After the field trip, Aileen will finally head back to her country since the school year is almost over.
Adam suddenly stood up from his chair and glared and somewhat scolded the people behind him. I looked closely at the seat behind Adam's and saw that it was occupied by none other than Camille Richmond (Girl #13) and Logan Steele (Boy #16). They are the longest lasting couple our batch has, sporting an almost three years of dating and romance. If they decided to run against us for Prom Prince and Princess then we might have had some serious competition. They were just laughing at Adam's attempt to berate them, making him red with frustration. The couple was probably making out again and emitting sounds that made anyone hearing them uncomfortable, though I just find it amusing. Adam is just a bit of a stickler when it comes to the rules, even the lousiest ones like littering.
If I was Adam though, I should probably be more worried about the 3Ks: Kiefer Blanchard (Boy #3), Kenneth Cheng (Boy #4) and Kristian White (Boy #18). Those three get into trouble a lot because of their pranks and silly antics. Kiefer is the real mischief maker in the bunch; even getting suspended once for pranking the principal on a school assembly. Kenneth's the school mascot, with his height and body structure fitting well with the Polar Bear costume. He's an all out funny guy that can make anyone laugh with his jokes and crazy dance moves. Lastly, Kris was the group's techie. He's always updated with the latest gadgets which he uses for their more complicated pranks. He once hacked into the school's teleprompter to change the principal's speech during the freshman welcoming assembly. Everyone was laughing loudly when Mr. Shields announced in front of the freshmen and their parents that he was a pedophile that loved to tie up his students. The trio was quiet the whole bus trip, which worries me, because that could only mean one thing: they were planning a big prank once we reach our destination.
When it comes to real trouble, our class has its own representatives: Vincent Thorne (Boy #17) and his cronies Ervin Gunner (Boy #7) and Mitchell Lane (Boy #11). Vincent and his crew were the real bullies in our school. They didn't settle for the lunch money taking nor the slushy facials and the toilet swirlies. They really harassed and beat up people that got in their way like Allan Rowe (Boy #14) who once spilled his plate full of mystery meat on Vincent. Allan got his ass kicked that day and showed up with a swollen eye the next. They even pick on Enrique Sanchez (Boy #15) who had some weird condition that made him do these bizarre actions. Greg actually picks on him sometimes but never on the same level as Vincent's crew.
Aside from the bullying, Ervin and Mitchell have their own respective reputations. Ervin was a woman hater and he was pretty vocal about it. He refused to work with girls on any project and he barely listens to any of our female instructors. Mitchell was quite an opposite; he loves girls to the point that it's disgusting for us. He was a horndog that harassed almost every girl in the class. His personal favorite was Rachelle Dawson (Girl #5), who rarely stood up for herself. She could have easily reported Mitchell for sexual harassment so he could be expelled and sent to juvie. Too bad Rachelle was such a goody two shoes that she doesn't want others hurt because of her actions. In short, she was a masochist.
"Yowww, what was that for?" a guy yelled out loud. Most of us looked at the source of the screech, Cody Miller (Boy #13). He was apparently painfully jabbed in the arm by his seat mate Janine Williams (Girl #18).
"Because you're an idiot!" Janine teased. They usually bicker a lot about the stupidest of things but every argument had the same result. Cody will always ends up whining like a dork as Janine triumphs over her daily victory. Usually, Chloe Fitzhugh (Girl #7) would stop them from their silly, childish fights to prevent them from killing each other, but this time, she was just heavily laughing at Cody while giving Janine a high five.
Some of us chuckled along with them but there were others who remained passive and without a care. Like Cynthia Morgan (Girl #12), the Goth girl in class, with her black clothes and heavy amounts of make-up. Her black hair has outrageous streaks of pink and purple making her really stand out in the class. I knew her before high school and I can attest that she wasn't always like that. I have no idea though, why she suddenly had this weird transformation. There was also Lily Long (Girl #11), the shortest girl in class, who always preferred to be a wallflower. She's a year younger than most of us because she got accelerated. Beside her was Francesca Rivera (Girl # 14), another quiet girl like Lily who could usually be seen in the library or the music room. Both of them more or less hung out but they never talked to one another. They were comfortable with spending their entire high school life in complete silence and with zero social life. Then there was Justin Cowan (Boy # 5), the only guy in class who doesn't have a group or even a decent person he could remotely call a friend. The only people I've ever seen that talked to him were Chloe and Celina. And Celina's conversation technically didn't count because she was interviewing Justin on how lucky he was to be named Justin, like Justin Bieber… I couldn't see him from where I was seated so he was probably slouched in his seat, catching Zs.
A loud ringing suddenly sprang inside the bus and it came from (Girl #8) Lauren Garcia's cell phone. She's probably the biggest oddball in class. For one thing she's like twenty plus or something and second, she's already a mom but she's not married. A story Tiff told me before was that Lauren became pregnant when she was in our year level in high school some years ago. She dropped out to get a job and take care of her child since the father ran away from his responsibilities. She's apparently trying to finish high school this time around to get a better job to take care of her child. She was talking rapidly in Spanish to the person on the phone and when she was done, the noise of the bus roared back to life as people chatted, gossiped, snored and sang…
Around 7 in the evening…
It was awfully quiet when I woke up from a nice nap. Celina and Thea have stopped using the karaoke machine. David was leaning on the window snoring, his iPod still playing. No one was talking anymore, not the girls beside me, nor Cody and Janine's usual squabbles. Miss fashionista Vanessa was snoring like a truck driver and I was highly tempted to record it with my phone but I slowly started getting dizzy. My eyelids were getting heavy and though I just woke up from a nap, I felt like I needed another one. I closed my eyes and immediately joined my classmates in the sweet slumber…
AN: Well there you have it folks! You've met the cast of my Battle Royale! I'll try to update at least twice a week or something unlike my previous discontinued fanfic. I already have a plan for the next 12 chapters of this story but it could change if some of your reviews inspire me! So please review my beloved readers. Even a smiley will brighten up my day.
Oh and yes, I'm part of this 36 students but I'm not Percival Hale. Try guessing in your reviews XD
Also I'll start leaving a question at the end of the chapter for some feedback form you guys. So here is the question.
Which of this 36 people is your bet as the winner of this Battle Royale? And who do you think will be the first few ones to die?
And with that, Percival Jones is out. Peace!
