The three weeks that Chloe had attended Bullworth almost seemed to have whizzed by without much of a thought. She was glossing over her biology textbook in the cafeteria when a screeching message over the pa rung out and drew her attention away from the previous knowledge she craved.
"In light of the football game happening tomorrow evening Mr Burton would like all students to gather in the gymnasium."
This voice obviously belonged to Miss Danvers, Chloe groaned and heaved herself from the seat where she resided before classes started.
"Hey skunk head, are ya ready for one of our good ol' famous Bullworth pep rallies?" Kirby Olsen asked.
"Kirby, I couldn't give less of a shit considering the fact that my mum won't let me come tomorrow and could you not call me skunk head, it's just a botched dye job and I'll be sorting it out next week" Chloe responded.
"Aw that's a shame, hey I'll save you and Liz a seat, see ya there skunk head."
"Kirby, I swear to god himself if you call me skunk head one more time."
The irritation in Chloe's voice was starting to show even after her friend walked off chuckling. She held her textbook close to her body and trudged to the gymnasium, she sighed when she climbed up the steps to greet Kirby and Elizabeth.
"Hey what's up?" Elizabeth questioned her friend's solemn mood.
"I don't know, I know it was a long time ago but I really miss my dad, I was only 7 when he died, and every time I bring it up my mum just screams at me to be quiet."
"Oh man, hey I know what'll cheer you up, why don't you come to cheerleading practice with me tonight we've got to practice before the big game, Mr Burton is going to be so happy seeing you there."
"Yeah that sounds nice, I'll come along to watch."
"What are you guys talkin' about?" Kirby butted in.
"Cheerleading practice" Elizabeth answered.
"You two are dweebs" Kirby scoffed.
"Says the literal fourteen-year-old hanging out with us" Chloe retorted with a raised eyebrow.
"I can't help it, if you two hadn't have stepped in Ted would have flattened my ass" Kirby grumbled "right I gotta bounce, Mr Burton probably wants me or something."
"Oh look, the capitalist pig actually has a father" Elizabeth commented.
Chloe gazed over at the man who sitting next to the headmaster, he looked like an older version of his son Derby, it freaked Chloe out with the resemblance he had to his son, he then caught sight of Chloe and his face dropped, she knew why he reacted like that, he had every right to be scared. He was the reason Chloe's father was no longer alive, she remembered him quite clearly from the funeral, he looked younger then, but she could never forget a face that was the root cause of her family's suffering.
"Liz, I need to go" Chloe muttered, she didn't want to be anywhere near the Harrington's so she exited the gymnasium with haste, she wanted to run straight back to the cafeteria, however her path was interrupted by a prep, but not just any prep, it was Bif Taylor, seeing him made her flinch.
"Please don't hurt me" Chloe spoke in a fearful tone.
"Whoa, okay I'm not going to hurt you, I only did that just so Derby didn't hit me" Bif reassured Chloe.
"I've got to get out of here" Chloe sighed.
"What happened, if that mascot scared you I'm not surprised that thing still gives me the heebie jeebies" Bif wondered and then shuddered.
"N-no no it's just I've had a bad experience involving Derby's family and seeing his dad just set me off" Chloe attempted to speak in a calm manner.
"Oh, well then come sit with me, Bryce and Parker, we're supposed to be on guard, but to be completely honest we just fuck about, it's not like Derby is here to smack us one when we aren't doing our jobs"
"Thank you."
"No problem."
Bif slowly led Chloe to the other preps who greeted her.
"Pep rally too boring?" Parker asked, he was nonchalantly leaning back on his hands inspecting the game of chess he was playing with a quieter, snootier looking prep Bryce.
Bif responded for Chloe by lightly hitting Parker round the head. Chloe had to giggle, this in turn made Parker smile, his brown eyes gleaming in the autumn sun, Chloe was captivated by this.
"Your move" Bryce commented.
"Alright, ha you fool, you left your defences wide open for me to come and attack your king" Parker remarked "I do believe that's checkmate and you owe me $50."
Bryce muttered angrily under his breath and he dug out his extremely lavish leather wallet, he took out a few notes and passed them to Parker who folded them and put them in his pocket.
Chloe had to laugh at the two boys and their business dealings, $50 was like spare change to them probably, Parker then whipped out his phone, he made dissatisfied noises when he realised he had no service.
"Ugh you can never get any bloody service around this dump" Parker groaned "right I'm going for a jog, I can't stay this still for this long."
"Wait how do you guys get away with having your phones?" Chloe seemed outraged.
"It's called having a Derby as a friend" Parker chuckled.
"Fair enough, right I think I'm going to head to Maths, you coming Parker?" Chloe sighed and then asked the prep, who shook his head.
Chloe forced herself to lessons, it was maths first which was a mood killer considering the fact that Mr Hattrick was stingy with his heating and never turned it on, even if half the class had hypothermia. Chloe settled down and got on with her work, it was a packet of worksheets full of questions, she thought the education at Bullworth was supposed to be enriching but she guessed not, she felt lonely at her desk, usually Parker did turn up to maths when he felt like it, but she figured he was having an off day, that fact was true until ten minutes into the lesson the prep turned up, pink faced and panting.
"Could you explain to me why you are so late Mr Ogilvie" Mr Hattrick was not amused.
"I—I had a bit of trouble in the toilets..."
"Spare me the details and sit down."
Parker nodded silently and did what was ordered of him.
"What really happened?" Chloe asked.
"I got caught by a prefect, oh boy can those pricks run."
Chloe laughed to herself and continued with her work, she glanced over at Parker's work every so often and helped him with any questions he couldn't answer when Mr Hattrick wasn't looking of course. When the bell for lunch rang Chloe packed her equipment away and she walked to lunch mainly to find Elizabeth more than anything just to let her know that she wasn't going to stay after school. When Chloe did find her friend, she was surrounded by the cheerleading team.
"Lizzie, you can't hang out with that saddo all the time like it's so totally bumming you and us out" Mandy, the cheer captain groaned.
"Mandy you're making a big deal out of nothing, she's new and I want her to feel welcome" Elizabeth murmured.
"Uh oh Ethay ittlelay atfay owcay isway erehay" one of the cheerleaders whispered loudly, she received some very blank looks "ugh you guys don't know pig Latin? I just said the little fat cow is here, oh my god" she then explained herself a little bit too loudly for the rest of the cafeteria to hear.
"Chloe is not a fat cow what the hell is wrong with you" Elizabeth chimed out "I can't believe people who are supposed to boost morale bring others down, this isn't why I became a cheerleader."
"Well if you have a problem with how we act you're more than welcome to quit the team, it's not like we'd miss you or anything" Mandy sneered.
"Don't speak to my friend like that" Chloe attempted to defend Elizabeth, she did admit that it possibly wasn't the best idea considering that she was less athletic than most of the cheerleading team.
"Excuse you, a little wretch like you shouldn't even be here" Pinky spoke up.
"Oh, and little miss cousin fucker has an opinion on what's considered a decent enough standard for this school?" Chloe retorted in defence, the whole cafeteria went silent. She was well aware of the romantic arrangement between Derby and Pinky. Pinky's lip quivered and she broke down into tears.
"Shit Chloe why did you make her cry, Derby and his friends are gonna kill you" Elizabeth panicked.
Chloe stood her ground. Her heart raced. Her jaw was clenched. She felt a presence behind her.
"Oh, Elizabeth we won't just kill her, we'll make her regret being born in the first place" the sound of Derby's voice sent a chill through Chloe's body, he then went to console Pinky who was a blubbering mess at this point "Bif, Parker, politely show this trash why she should keep to herself."
"Chloe, run" Elizabeth instructed.
Chloe did just that, she ran. But it was no use, the two preps caught up with her.
"Guys please don't hurt me, I'm begging you" Chloe cried.
"I'm sorry Chloe, but if we don't Derby will kill us" Bif sighed.
"Well you know what screw what Derby says, I'm sick of him pushing me around like this, Chloe stuck up for herself and she had every right to do so" Parker grumbled.
The bell rang out for the next lesson, Chloe was saved from another beating. She had music, a lesson she also enjoyed as well as English, she did have musical talent as she taught herself how to play the drums at a very early age, she had become proficient enough in that skill that she decided to start a band, her band mainly did covers of already existing songs but it was her own band and the fact that she created something like that still made her grin from ear to ear.
"Right everyone get out your books, we're going to study some more music theory, I also have an exciting announcement at the end of the lesson" Miss Peters called out in her sing song voice.
Chloe got on with the work that was asked of her, she finished it on time with a few minutes to spare.
"Very good work Chloe, you have really good knowledge in music theory tell me do you play an instrument?"
"Yes, I taught myself how to play the drums, I'm actually in a band as well."
"Well I feel you're going to benefit from the announcement at the end of the lesson."
Chloe felt herself getting nervous, although she was in a band she had terrible performance anxiety and if she was forced to perform she would genuinely throw up, it had happened before in Chloe's old school in San Fierro she was asked to sing in front of the entire school and before she even got a single word out she projectile vomited all over the front row, which unluckily the principal, vice principal and school governor were sitting in, the principal never let it go and he made Chloe's life a living hell after that incident.
"Well my lovely little angels I'm pleased to announce that our annual talent showcase has crept up on us once again, and I would like some of you to enter, even if you don't make it past the first auditions in two weeks I'll still be very proud of you," Miss Peters addressed the entire class "Chloe I'd like you to stay behind though, the rest of you take a leaflet and go, it's the end of the day now."
Chloe felt her nervousness grow, she felt sick. She felt like she was going to be sick in fact.
"What did you want Miss?" Chloe wondered.
"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I'm automatically entering you, and if you don't show up for auditions, I will put you in detention for a year, I hope you haven't got stage fright."
"But Miss, I can't, the last time I was forced to perform in front of the whole school I projectile vomited into my principal's lap because I was so nervous."
"Chloe don't argue with me, I'm entering you and that's final, I trust you will be able to prepare something for the auditions, yes?"
Chloe nodded sadly, she then left the classroom. She walked to her locker and claimed her bag, she saw Pinky at her locker and she decided to do the mature thing and apologise for her seemingly nasty comment. She walked over to the prep.
"Pinky, look I'm sorry about what I said about you, I wasn't thinking, I was just angry that people were making fun of Liz" Chloe apologised.
"Well apology accepted, I was being rather horrible, I'm sorry too."
"Is that street rat giving you trouble, princess?" Derby asked when he walked over to the pair.
"No, she was just kindly apologising about lunch, surely this means you'll leave her alone now?" Pinky responded.
"We'll see, come on, I want to take you to dinner, to that little restaurant you like in the next town over" Derby chuckled, he then kissed Pinky tenderly which Chloe had to stifle a gag considering that they were cousins.