They Call Me Cha-Cha
by Auryn Rei Evroren
Chapter Two
"Ah, here's our new student. Nice of you to join us, Miss DiGregorio."
I slunk into the room and dropped into the only empty seat, trying to look as surly as I felt. "I got lost," I muttered, my face turning bright red.
I heard laughter, and the teacher 'tsk'ed at me, but what did it matter? I didn't want to be here anyway. The teacher said her name was Sister Laurel, and that she would be teaching English Literature. Fabulous- I hate reading.
I'd been sitting there for about five minutes listening to her drone on and on when a note hit my desk. I glanced up, and saw the girl next to me staring expectantly at me. She had bright red hair that seemed unnaturally curly, but she'd tamed it into the best ponytail she could manage. She mimed at me to open the note before Sister Laurel saw.
Saw you talking to the scuds from Burger Palace out front. You friends with them?
What was this? Had she been spying on me or something? Well…Tony had said that he was the leader of the Flaming Dukes, so these Burger Palace boys had to have been Zuko and his crowd. No, I don't even know them, I wrote on the note and passed it back. In a splitsecond, it was on my desk again.
They're a bunch of creeps. I'm Kathleen Simpson, by the way.
I didn't even bother to answer her comment about the 'scuds'.
Charlene DiGregorio. Call me Charly.
After that, we noticed that Sister Laurel was looking in our direction, and didn't pass notes anymore. When the bell rang, I shuffled to the next classroom. It was strange, letting everyone else sit down before I took the last seat available, but at least it meant I didn't have any unpleasant encounters with anyone. This had to be the most boring school in existence! I had Geometry with Sister Helen, History with Sister Greta, and Science with Sister Olivia. Geometry was the only slightly interesting class. I've always had a bit of a head for numbers, and Sister Helen was good at making me feel welcome to like math. Most places, I didn't want to be known as a math nerd, but it didn't bother me so much here.
Lunchtime wasn't bad. Mama had given me a quarter, in case we were expected to buy lunch, and a turkey sandwich in case we weren't. As it turned out, the nuns made pretty good food. That day it was a chicken and rice casserole that didn't taste half bad. I sat with Kathleen, the girl from Sister Laurel's class, and her friends. Donna was the pretty one, with long brown hair that reached to her waist. She had it pulled back with a ribbon into a really beautiful ponytail. Besides her there was Cindy, the spunky raven-haired sweetheart who wouldn't shut up, and Melissa, the quiet blonde who didn't speak at all. Kathy, as Kathleen liked to be known, was like Cindy's twin. They bubbled and gushed about every little thing. Personally, I was drawn toward Donna…she didn't speak much, but she didn't have to. I could tell she was the group leader.
"Girls, this is Charly DiGregorio," Kathy said as she pushed me into a seat next to Cindy. "You mind if she sits with us?" The other girls nodded agreement. I just tucked my hair behind my ear and started poking through my food, until Donna popped her gum loudly and said, "She might as well, since Sheila's not coming back. Or hadn't you noticed, she's ditched us for the scumbags over at Rydell?"
From the conversation that followed, I learned that the girls of St. Bernadette's were a snooty group, who thought of themselves as too good for public school. Their lives revolved around being pretty and smart at the same time. Donna was an English genius, and Cindy was quite good at science. Kathy was convinced she didn't know a thing about history, but according to the other girls, she always made A's on the tests. They also said that Melissa was good at almost everything. All of this explained why no one had made fun of me for being good at math.
By the end of the day, I wasn't really convinced that St. Bernadette's was any better than Rydell, but it at least sounded like I wouldn't die of anything but possible boredom. As I walked carefully down the front steps of the school, trying not to drop my books, I heard whistles. Turning, I saw Tony Moretti and the rest of his cronies, leaning against the building, smoking. Tony was smiling at me, and he beckoned for me to come over.
If my Daddy had seen me, he would've hit me with his belt, but he wasn't there yet. So I went to talk to the Flaming Dukes.
"Whaddaya want?" I asked them, trying to sound uninterested. Tony shrugged. "I thought you might like to meet the boys. Smoke?" One of them was holding out a cigarette box. Now, normally, I didn't smoke, but I'd experimented with Daddy's cigarettes enough to know how it was done. I took one and lit up, to be polite. The boy who'd given me the cig introduced himself as Nathan DeTroyt. Tony said, "Nate's where we get all of our cigs and drinks. His older brother's a big help." He then pointed out his other two boys, Sam McEvoy and Mack Daniels. They were all caramel-skinned, like Tony, except Sam. He was as pale as pale could be, but his black hair helped him blend in. From the accent, I figured Mack was from Puerto Rico.
"So, you're new in town, right? Charly DiGregorio, the new kid on the block," Tony teased. I gave him the finger and he laughed at me. "You got spunk, kid. Say, you wanna head over to the drive-in tonight with me and the boys? We got some girls taggin' along, and you wanna make some friends, right?"
I thought about it…and shrugged. "I'll see if I can get out."
I told them where I lived, and to drive by around eight. If I was coming, I'd be out front. Tony grinned and said they'd be there.
That was when I heard Daddy's car coming, so I quickly dropped the cig, crushed it under my heel, and ran for the car. I smelled smoke in the car when I got in, so Daddy didn't notice it on me. Served him right.
"Mama," I said, while I was helping with the dinner dishes that night, "I made some new friends at school today."
"Did you? That's wonderful!" she said.
"Yes. They want to know if I can go to a movie tonight at the drive-in," I said carefully. Mama's eyes narrowed. "I don't know, honey, it's a school night, and I haven't even met these girls…"
I put on my best excited eyes, and told her everything I knew about Kathy, Donna, Cindy, and Melissa. I said they were the best friends I'd met so far. I said Kathy's mom was a nurse at the hospital, and she would drop us off on her way to take the night shift. Melissa's father would be picking us up when the movie was over, and he sounded so nice, couldn't I please please please go?
"Oh, alright, just this once," Mama said. "Since it's your first day." She kissed my forehead, and two minutes later I was skipping out the front door. "Be careful, and have fun, sweetie!" she called after me.
Oh I was planning to have fun, alright. Just not with Kathy, Donna, Cindy, or Melissa. I grinned evilly to myself just as Tony's car rounded the corner.
