Chapter II

"Jaeda! Get your lazy butt out of bed this instant! You're going to be late!" her mom, Emily shouted from the downstairs kitchen. Jaeda slowly rose out of bed and answered back.

"But I'm always on time," she moaned.

"Sure, it's the rest of the world that's early," her mom said sarcastically. Jaeda felt herself fall back into her pillow, wishing she could just stay there. But knowing that her dad might come up any time soon, she got out of bed (more like fell, really) and dragged her feet to her mirror to take a look at herself. Through her weary eyes, she could she an extremely bad case of morning hair she had ever seen. She was probably flopping in her bed like a flounder again, dreaming of something, and now she has forgotten it, as always.

She got herself ready for school, backpack was ready and her clothes were on (it was a miracle she could even get dressed that fast, how tired she was). Jaeda skipped a few steps while coming down the stairs to get to her breakfast more quickly. When she got downstairs she saw Mariah, her older brother's girlfriend sitting on the couch. They weren't surprised to see each other; Mariah came often in the morning, knowing Jaeda's brother, Michael (Mike or Mikey) she saw Mariah a lot. Hard fact was Jaeda didn't like her brother's girlfriend very much; she knew a tramp when she saw one.

I'll give it three weeks, then they'll be broken up because Mariah will have already found a new "playmate", Jaeda thought. That was usually the deal with her brother. He would find the hottest looking girl he could, go out with her a few times, the girl finds a new boyfriend, and then dumps Mike right on the spot.

But just to be polite, Jaeda smiled and said "Hey, Mariah! Good to see you." When are you going to dump my brother? She wanted to ask, just to be dramatic. But her mom always told her "If you can't say something nice, don't say it." But what if a guy likes me, I don't like him, then he confesses to me? What do I say to him then? was always her thought.

"It's good to see you too, Jaeda," Mariah said in a happy tone. Jaeda knew she was lying. She could see that through her bright white smile. Those teeth probably weren't even real, as well as some other body parts that popped in her mind.

Mike ran in with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He was at least six feet tall, black hair (he liked to keep it greasy--nasty boy), and wore dark clothes just to match. Whatever girls had seen in her brother, Jaeda will never know.

"Hey, sis," he said, rubbing his hand on her head, messing it up again. While Jaeda tried to straighten it out again, Mike said "Better find something else to eat; I ate the last of the pancakes." He ran out the door, with Mariah, knowing what was going to happen. He knew that pancakes where Jaeda's favorite breakfast and Emily had always made enough for everyone to eat.

"You PIG!" Jaeda screamed. She took a slipper from her foot and threw it at her brother. It hit the car window as he and Mariah climbed into his Mustang and drove off.

"Don't worry Jaeda," said her dad, George, from the living room. "Your mom made extras, knowing that Michael would eat your share." Jaeda skipped over to her mom, in the kitchen, and kissed her on the cheek while she was still having her toast.

"Thanks, Mom," said Jaeda as she grabbed her plate and started looking for the extra pancakes.

"They're in the stove, so your brother couldn't find them," her Mom said without looking, and continued to eat her toast as she picked up the newspaper and started to read the comics, like she was a little kid again.

Jaeda gulped down her pancakes in five minutes, had a few sips of milk, and rushed to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She did it as fast as she could, but when she came back into the living room, her father did a captain's inspection on her front teeth. She went back to the bathroom about six or seven times until she had finally gotten all of the food scraped off.

"Now, get your stuff and get in the car, we're late as it is," said George, pulling on his jacket. Jaeda snatched her twenty-pound backpack off the couch and followed her dad to the car.

xXx

It was an hour's drive to Nickerson High School. The whole way Jaeda was wondering if her friend Tara was standing at the waiting zone in front of the school, getting impatient for her to show up. It was the exact opposite when George had dropped off Jaeda. When Jaeda got out of the car, her friend came running to her, telling her about what happened to the popular girl, Cindy, and how she was just dumped by the hottest senior boy at the school.

"Have a good day, Jaeda!" George called to her. "Don't let any boys touch you, not even Carter."

Carter was an old friend of Jaeda's. He was a charming, funny, and childish sort of guy, but lots of fun to be around. She and Carter had known each other since they were both just a year old.

As for Tara, Jaeda has only known her since the beginning of the school year. She was a good friend, though. Never told a lie, but she liked juicy gossip, and she loved to hang out with her friends every Saturday, if they didn't have plans.

"Okay, Dad, I won't. I swear," Jaeda promised to her dad.

"You don't swear, Jaeda," George mumbled, and drove of to work; to the lab downtown, he was an astronomer. He was trusted with studying the fossils found on Mars and see if there was life. The board didn't want any more guesses, they wanted facts now.

"Hey, pretty lady," said a voice. Jaeda and Tara turned to see who it was. As soon as they saw his face, Tara had frowned and Jaeda glared at him. It was none other than the players of the school, Kenneth (Kenny) Rogers and his friend, Jamal Malcolm, Jr. Both of them were complete idiots to Jaeda and Tara. Kenny liked Jaeda; Jamal liked Tara.

"Leave us alone, guys," said Tara. Kenny smiled and said, "I wasn't talking to you." He walked over to Jaeda and put his arm around her waist, pulling her towards his chest. Jaeda kept her hands at her side and stared up at him, not in loving way, but more of what a snake looks like when it's about to have its next entrée.

"I know you like me, Jaeda," he said with a sly smile. Jaeda kept glaring at him, hoping a stare down would back him away from her body.

"For the millionth time, Mr. Looks-At-Playboy-Magazine-During-Free-Time, I'm not into you, and never will be!" Jaeda moved her right hand to push her away from this creep. Kenny looked at her, with the smile still on his face.

"Come on," he said, moving towards Jaeda. "Don't be like that." He moved close enough for him to kiss her.

"No!" Jaeda screamed.

"Hey!" said another voice. Kenny stopped what he was doing, still holding Jaeda, and looked at the owner of the voice. Jaeda looked too and was glad to see Carter. "Everything okay here, Jaeda?"

Kenny released his grip on Jaeda and stared at Carter, thinking it would scare him away. Knowing Carter, Jaeda knew he'd never back down if he tried to save her. Finally, Kenny gave up and walked away, telling Jamal to come on. Jamal hugged Tara from behind as she struggled to get free.

"Back off, ape!" she screamed.

"Later, baby," he said, let go of Tara, and followed his friend to some other area of the waiting zone.

"Ooh!" Tara groaned. "That boy makes me so mad!" Jaeda took a quick glance at her and imagined steam coming out of her ears. It was a possibility that it could've happened.

Carter came over to join his friends in the rage of hating the players of Nickerson.

"You two okay?" he repeated. Jaeda and Tara forgot about the boys who tried to kiss them and went over to group hug on Carter.

"Thanks, C.," said Jaeda.

"Yeah, what could we do without you, man?" Tara said happily.

The bell rang for them to get inside the building, grab their things out of their lockers, and go to class (and with what the vice principal says "if you have extra time and need to go to the restroom, go now, 'cause you ain't goin' until lunch" ).

The first class Jaeda had was with Tara and that was science, the most boring and most difficult subject any high school student could think of, next to Geometry and Calculus.

"All right, class. The bell will ring in four minutes, and I expect you to be in your seats by then," said Ms. Abercrombie as she walked into the room. "For now, you can wander and talk to your friends." Ms. Abercrombie was a nice teacher in Jaeda's opinion, it was just the teaching she hated.

Four minutes had flown by and every one was in their seats, but most were still talking about how cute the new quarter-back looked or how their girlfriend wanted to go to some place special on Friday.

"All right, that's enough," Ms. Abercrombie shouted. "I have something to tell you all." The class quieted down. "Now, this permission slip I'm going to give you is not mandatory, only optional. It's to go to the museum in New York City. Though if you choose not to go, it will be like you missed a day's work on science notes. Not to mention the chance of getting out of your other classes." The room laughed softly at the joke. She started to pass around green slips that gave out what was needed for the trip. When the class received their papers, Tara leaned across the aisle and whispered, "You goin'?"

Jaeda nodded. "Yeah. And who knows, it might actually be fun."

"Come on," Carter said turning around in his seat to join the conversation. "A science field trip, fun? Get real, guys."

xXx

Author's Note: Well, Carter, you could be very wrong...3 Anyone notice Jamal's name? There's a guy out there; Malcolm-Jamal, Jr. You know, the guy who plays Theo on The Cosby Show.