With a sigh, I recapped my chapstick before giving myself another once over in the mirror hanging by my dresser. The grey t-shirt and dark jeans I was wearing would hopefully let me blend into the crowd. I'd opted for my all black Vans instead of my favorite boots because I had to walk to school. Doc had poked his head into my room earlier to tell me he had to get to the garage early, so he wouldn't be able to drop me off on my first day. "Alright, ma, this is what I look like today."
"You look great, honey." She didn't look up from the bacon she was cooking.
"Really? So you don't think the bra top is too much?"
"No, you look great." I waited for my words to register in her brain. She turned towards me sharply. "You brat. I'm just trying to make sure you get some breakfast in you. Don't do that."
"Well don't tell me that I look good without even looking at me and I won't." She rolled her eyes as she assembled what I could only assume was supposed to be a breakfast burrito. It was a little sad appearance wise, but my mother was no chef. She had the basics down, and that was about it.
"Mobile friendly because you have to walk." I put my backpack on before taking the burrito from her. Then started towards the front door. It was just over a mile to school. If I didn't get going now, I wasn't going to make it on time.
"Thanks, mom. Love you."
"Love you too. Have a good first day!" I paused briefly on the driveway to slip my headphones in before starting my walk to Southside High. To quell my growing nerves, I focused on eating my breakfast. Halfway through the burrito, my stomach started to revolt. With a quick glance around, I stopped at a trash can sitting out for pick up and tossed the rest of my breakfast into it. When my pinky fingers started tingling, which was always the first indicator that a panic attack was brewing, I swallowed harshly and started counting out my breaths. I kept doing this until I was making my way through the high school parking lot. There was a loud group standing off to the side of the front doors, all with jackets that matched Doc's. I opted to avoid them. I might've let them into my house during the summer, but that didn't mean we were automatically friends. Or if they even knew who I was. Which honestly, I preferred it if they didn't. Getting through high school without causing any problems was my goal.
Southside High hadn't been directly affected by the murder of Jason Blossom. But it was the biggest piece of gossip over the entire first day of school. I heard snippets of conversation here and there as I wove through the unfamiliar hallways. I kept my head down and sat through the majority of my classes without incident. My last class of the day was pre-calc. And while it was my best subject, I was anxious to get out of this building, so I was barely paying attention. The teacher also seemed like he was barely paying attention. After he'd passed out the syllabus and given everyone a text book, he'd talked for five minutes before giving up and sitting at his desk.
"Hey, it's Aria, right?" My head shot up from the doodle on my paper at the sound of my name. Standing before me was a short girl with long pink streaked hair. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place her. The look on her face told me she already knew it was my name; she didn't need me to confirm it. "You moved in with Doc and Molly over the summer." I didn't question how she knew that. The emblem on her jacket confirmed it for me.
"Yeah, yeah, I did."
"I'm Toni, Toni Topaz." She dropped into the seat next to me. "We met once before, but you didn't really stick around." She again wasn't wrong. Whenever someone came knocking at the back door of our house, I let them in and then went for a walk for a while. Our guests were usually gone by the time I got back. If not, then I just waited in the living room until they were.
"Right." I began to nervously spin the pen in my hand around my fingers.
"So, what's your story? Why'd you move from the beautiful Northside to the Southside? From what I hear, you had a pretty cushy life up there." She leveled an unwavering stare at me.
"Where'd, uh, where'd you hear that?"
"She's not wrong, is she?" A new voice added. This one was decidedly not female, rather it belonged to the guy who'd claimed a spot at the table behind us.
"I mean, technically, no. I guess you could say it was a pretty cushy life. But," I paused, trying to find the right words, "it just works better for everyone that I'm here instead."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" I opened my mouth to reply, not really sure what I was going to say, but was cut off by someone across the room yelling. This was followed by several punches being thrown by both Serpents and Ghoulies. Everyone who wasn't officially involved with either side, stepped back to let them deal with it. Including myself. I'd stepped back, but apparently not far enough. One second, I was watching the fight with raised eyebrows, the next there's a stray Ghoulie elbow connecting with the side of my face. I hadn't seen it coming, so I didn't have time to brace myself. My head snapped to the side. My hand automatically going up to press against the now throbbing cheekbone. Luckily, he hadn't hit my nose. My eyes welled up with tears that sprang up on their own. The first thought that ran through my head was 'what just happened'. The second was me praising whatever had compelled me to use the waterproof mascara today.
I took the extra-long way home, winding all through the southside neighborhoods. Which probably wasn't a good idea, but I was hoping to avoid the reaction that I knew was coming. When it started getting dark, I decided I'd better just get it over with. My mom had stopped mid-sentence when she looked up as I walked in the front door. My step-dad's face set into a hard stare. They both demanded to know what had happened. After I had explained the whole thing, Doc picked up his phone and stepped outside. The night was routine after that. We had dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and I retreated to my room while they watched TV. I was scrolling through several different forms of social media on my bed when there was a rapid knocking on the back door. With a sigh, I got off my bed and pulled the door open. Standing on the other side of the door were the two Serpents that had spoken to me in my pre-calc class plus the tall one I'd seen them with in the hallways at school.
"Aria, hey, can you get Doc?" Toni gave me a strained smile while stepping inside. I nodded, heading back towards the front of the house.
"Somebody's here." I called out. Doc got up, grabbing the large med kit we kept on top of the fridge. This time, instead of leaving, I returned to my bedroom. Toni looked like her normal self, just a little disheveled. The tall one had a cut on his forehead, and a bruise that matched my own blooming on his face. The guy from my pre-calc class, however, was clutching his arm, and there was a steady flow of blood coming from under the bandage wrapped around his arm. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed the ice pack I'd gotten out of the freezer a few minutes earlier for myself and handed it to the tall one, who's name I hadn't learned yet. He held it up to his face while staring at me.
"What's up, Doc?" The guy from class attempted to grin up at Doc, still holding onto his injured arm. Doc just rolled his eyes and sat down in front of him.
"Pony, clean him up, will you? This idiot needs stitches." Doc spoke up, while rummaging around in the med kit after peeling away the bandage on his arm. He handed me some anti-septic and a steri-gauze packet before turning back around. I swallowed harshly before looking back to the one person in the room I'd never interacted with before. He'd taken a seat on the edge of the futon across from my bed, the chair usually used for this being occupied by his friend. I ripped open the steri-gauze, poured a little anti-septic on it, and carefully pressed it onto the cut on his forehead. He let out a hiss.
"Sorry." The word was out of my mouth before I could catch it.
"'M fine." He stated, even though he was clearly not fine.
"So, how'd it go?" Doc spoke up as he continued to stitch the cut on the Serpents arm.
"We won." The guy sitting in front of me spoke up, grinning.
"And the other thing we discussed?"
"We've got it handled, Doc." Toni gave me a small smile. The action confused me, but I kept at the task of cleaning the cut in front of me.