Ch. 2
No one else seemed perturbed by this Osage nonsense so Dani just followed everyone else. They led her into the park she had been admiring earlier, and most of them had already seperated into their "groups". It appeared that the cliques here were very obvious and tight-knit. Now what was she to do? She walked a little behind a group of loud, preppily-dressed girls and wondered if she was going to fit in. Almost as soon as she thought it a girl fell in step her. She had long dyed-dark brown hair and astonishingly blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with mischief.
"Hey. I'm Emily Wilson. You must be new," the girl said confidently.
"Yeah, I'm Dani Clarins. I moved here from San Ramon, but I kind of wished I'd stayed...your the first person to speak to me besides Hayden," Dani replied sadly. Dani had always hated feeling left out or being alone too long. It just made her feel weird, like she needed to talk to people to survive.
"Hayden? Hayden Fischer?!" Emily replied her eyes widening.
"Yeah. Why?" Dani puzzled furrowing her brow.
"He's like the most popular guy at this school!"
"Yeah. So?"
"How on Earth did you talk to him without a bunch or girls swarming around you? I used to be friends with him in 4th and 5th grade but then the other girls wouldn't leave us alone so we just sorta stopped talking," Emily rambled incredulously.
"I don't know...I guess he's a ladies man..."
"Yah think?" Emily shot back sarcastically, "Even Tiffany swoons when he's around."
"Who's Tiffany? Is she the 'popular' girl at this school?" Dani guessed already knowing the answer.
"Yeah. Tiffany Burkhardt. Where to begin... She's beautiful, rich, wears designer clothes, and she's blonde. Not to mention the biggest bitch I've ever met," Emily answered rather hatefully. She even shuddered.
"Wow. That bad huh? What'd she do to you?" Dani challenged not wanting to be around people who judge by outlook and rumors. She had already been there and done that. People had made up this crazy rumor in sixth grade that she was going out with one of her close guy friends, Shawn Mahoney, and it had totally destroyed their friendship. Especially with Shawn's real girlfriend Hannah. Stupid Hannah, she actually believed all the stupid rumors.
Yeah. I'll say.
"Well, considering the fact that she put her gum in my hair and glue in my friend's lip gloss just for entertainment, I'd say I have a legitimate reason to dislike her. There's also the fact that she stole my boyfriend and was a huge bitch to me the one time we were friends," She explained bitterly.
"Oh...Well, at least you have a reason to hate her. I hate it when people claim they hate people when they don't even have a reason or even know the person at all. It's really sadistic," Dani half-apologized.
"Yeah, so do i," Emily agreed.
The next few minutes were spent walking in a rather awkward silence. That is until Emily pulled out her green iPod mini.
"Tell me you listen to My Chemical Romance or something good," Emily pleaded.
"Of course! I love that band! How could I not?!" Dani replied enthusiastically.
"Here," Emily handed Dani a headphone and turned up the volume on the iPod. "Sharpest Lives", one of Dani's personal favorites, was playing and together she and Emily sang the song at the top of their lungs.
"I've really been on a bender and it shows, so why don't you blow me a kiss before she goes? Give me a shot to remember, and you can take all the pain away from me, a kiss and I will surrender, the sharpest lives-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" someone screamed.
"Why don't you asshole?" Dani yelled in return and continued to sing.
"No really shut up! You guys are seriously annoying. And your music sucks," a girl's voice rang out. When Dani and Emily didn't stop singing, she turned around.
"Oh. Its you," she said sourly when she saw Emily.
"You disappoint me more," Emily sighed boredly.
"Who are you?" the blonde girl demanded rudely giving Dani the once-over.
"No hablo ingles," Dani answered in perfect Spanish.
"What?"
"She's an exchange student from Peru. She doesn't speak English," Emily stated flatly.
"Well, she seemed to be singing it just fine," the girl snapped.
Oh! She got you there!
"Me llamo Dani. No me gusta tu. Tu eres una penguina muy gorda," Dani pronounced randomly keeping with the Spanish even though the girl had ratted her out. Emily giggled while the girl squinted at them.
"Whoever you are, my name is Tiffany and if you know anything you'll stop insulting me," she cautioned.
"I know many things, many of which involve ways to one-up people like you. And how did you know I was insulting you?" Dani said in English.
"I could tell by your tone of voice. And if you have to ask stupid questions like that then you obviously were," Tiffany replied boredly flipping her hair over her shoulder and turning back to her friends. She began complaining about "emo" people loudly, but all Dani and Emily did was roll their eyes.
Too bad. It's always more exciting when people do more than roll their eyes.