Chapter 3- Talya
"Now class, we have 2 new students." I stood nervously at the front of the room. I hated having all the attention focused on me. This time I actually wished Skyler to be in the spotlight. Yay, wishes do come true! "Now introduce yourselves. Don't be shy." At this, Skyler started laughing.
"I'm Skyler, and this is Talya, we come from Edmonton- that's in Canada, y'know? The country with all the ice- and we're gonna be here for a while!"
"Thank you. You can take your seat." The teacher turned to the class. "Now I want you to be nice and one person gets to show one of these girls around. Who'd like to show Skyler around?" All the guys raised their hands. Sometimes I hate how lucky she is.
"How 'bout… Roy?" I looked over at the guy the teacher had selected. He was tall, but maybe on the lanky side, with blue eyes that went against his brown hair. Skyler practically skipped over to him and sat next to him. Boy #1.
"And for Talya?" Only a few girls put their hands up. Damn.
"Okay, Beatrice." I went across the room to sit next to her. She was taller than me and wore red rimmed glasses. She looked very scary and I did not want to get on her bad side.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Uh, hi."
"Just follow me all day. No one's gonna bother you and you'll have a place to sit." I smiled gratefully. At least I wouldn't come home crying. Until lunch all the classes were extremely boring.
Beatrice led me to a table in the sun. I smiled as I sat next to her. "Is anyone else joining us?" As the words came out my lips, this guy I met earlier, I think his name was Garret, sat next to us.
"Hey Beatrice. Hey…uh…Tanya, right?"
"Um, no, it's Talya."
"Sorry, I'm Garret, in case you forgot." I'd gotten his name right. Dumbass. Wait, that's mean.
"Thanks," I smiled politely.
"Where's Roy?" asked Garret.
"He's showing that girl Skyler around," Beatrice answered.
"More like she's showing him around…her mouth," I muttered.
"What did you say?" questioned Beatrice.
"Nothing," I replied quickly.
"Hey there's Roy! Yo, over here!" Garret waved at Roy who was leading Skyler (by the hand) through the tables towards ours. Please, don't let her have been Skyler. Please, God, please.
They sat across from us. Roy smiled, but something seemed odd about Skyler. I pulled her aside.
"Why are you acting weird?"
"I'm not acting weird." Sky gave me a puzzling look.
"I thought by now you would've made him your boyfriend."
"I wanted things to be different and Roy's… different."
"Look at that, even you can fall in love."
"Shut up!" The siren buzzed.
"Well, there's your bus." Beatrice pointed the way.
"Aren't you coming?" I asked.
Beatrice cast a look at Roy. "We've got some stuff to do." They began to walk away. Sky hopped over to the bus. I moved to follow Beatrice and Roy.
"Where are you going?" asked Sky.
"I'm following them."
"Why?" I rolled my eyes and turned to Sky.
"Sweetie, what if they're going off because they like each other?" Sky's eyes went huge.
"Let's go." She grabbed my hand and we went silently behind them. I don't know if they noticed us, or maybe they were just careful, but Beatrice and Roy were taking a long twisting path to wherever they were going. Somehow we ended up in a forest. It was getting harder and harder to keep them in sight. All of a sudden we came to a fork in the road. Skyler looked over at me.
"You take left, I take right," she mouthed. I nodded and went on my way. I followed the barely visible path for what seemed like hours but according to my watch was only 11 minutes and 38 seconds until I reached the end.
Before me lay a gigantic mangrove forest. The ocean lapped up against the dirt of the banks. I sat at the edge. Figures that everywhere I go I end up at the ocean. I picked up a stick and began drawing designs in the water and humming.
"Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-na-na-na-na!"
"What are you doing?" asked a low voice from behind me. I know this is going to sound weird, but I seriously thought this was my imagination.
"I'm singing danger music."
"Why?"
"I'm calling a shark to me with my danger music."
"Why?"
"'Cause I'm lost."
"I'll help you out." Next thing I know I felt a hand on my shoulder and the defensive moves kicked in. I elbowed behind me hard, twisted around and placed my foot on the person's neck. A boy my age looked up at me with complete surprise. He had bleached blond hair and grey eyes. He was wearing a white shirt and had no shoes on.
"I'm sorry," I apologized as I helped the guy up. Skyler was right; guys don't like me because I'm violent.
"It's alright," the guy answered as he got up, "I've never seen a girl fight like that."
"Um, it's only basic defense moves."
"Why would you know that?"
"I grew up in the murder city of Canada!"
"Okay…that explains why I don't know you." We stood for a moment in awkward silence.
"So, you were saying you were lost."
"Yeah, I just need to find my way back to town. I can find my way home after that."
"Okay then." The guy grabbed my fingers and led me through the trees. I couldn't see a path, but for some reason this guy's hand made me trust him.