Claire Lyons waited patiently in her 7th period Psychology class awaiting the arrival of Josephina Hotz. She made sure to sit in the usually empty seat behind her, thankful for the fact that she was new for the first time since moving to New York. This way, she was able to infiltrate Joise's life without any suspicion.
As time winded down to the ringing of the bell, a boy, she recognized as basketball star Dempsey Solomon, teased as Joise as she fell into the classroom in a fit of giggles. The rest of the class seemed to stare at her in a mix of jealousy and admiration.
Their teacher, sucked her teeth as she typed on her laptop, "Miss Hotz a little respect of those students who are here on time, and working on their journal entries!" she scolded.
"I'm not late ," Joise said as the bell tinkled. "And I was being harassed." Joise took her seat and primped her hair. She pulled out her sparkly red journal to start her writing.
Claire looked at the pretty girl, and thought about all the things she could possibly say to strike up conversation. She settled with, "Mrs. Henson was probably that kid who ate her lunch in the bathroom."
Joise turned to look at the blonde behind her, looking at her funny. "Are you talking to me?" she whispered, although the chatter in the classroom muffled out their conversation.
"Uh yeah." Claire smiled. "You're Josephina right?"
"Call me Joise, but yes I am Josephina. Claire, right?"
Claire nodded her head, "So is Dempsey like your boyfriend?"
"Goodness no. I wish though. He is so cute." Joise's eyes became dreamy as she scribbled in her notebook. "But with my brother, it will be impossible to date outside the 10th grade."
"You have a brother?" Claire asked, even though she already knew.
"Yea, Joshua. Or Josh. He is very overprotective, he treats me like a toddler. My pseudo- older sister Kristen, Gregory. You know her?" Joise looked at Claire with wide brown eyes. Claire nodded no. "Of course you don't. But she is my saving grace. She's the reason I get to even go to parties, but she is still just Josh's watch guard."
"Well, I'm new and the only child. So I can't really relate, no social life and no one to disrupt it." Claire said as she was drowned out by Mrs. Henson's stopwatch signaling their journal time was up. "
The lanky teacher slinked up to the front of the class playing around with her yellow stopwatch. "Times up! Turn in your journals!" she announced to the class as a pile formed on her front table, as the students returned to their seats, chattering even more she announced, "Today class, we are going to do an assignment that will get this chatty class to use all those conversations for good. Everyone partner up!" smiled as the kids started to point and giggle, asking people to be their partners. "But they have to have to be someone completely different than you. Different hair color, gender, ethnicity."
Joise turned to Claire. "I'm half-Latina, with brown hair."
"European for sure." Claire said with a giggle. "Partners?"
"Partners." Joise's smiled, her white teeth bright against tan skin and pink lipstick.
The assignment required the girl to trade places and say one thing they would do if they were the other. The girls also compiled lists of things they would assume about themselves through each others eyes. They bonded together, as Joise released her frustrations about being under Josh and Kristen's thumb and laughed about Claire's shortcomings in Westchester.
Claire forgot that they whole reason she was being nice to the girl was to get close to her brother.
"We should hang out Claire!" Joise stressed as she wrote down her closing answers. "I can help you experience the social scene in Westchester, and I won't need Kristen as much."
Joise's proposition reminded her of Dylan's orders, as Claire laughed, "Won't Kristen hate being by herself?"
Josie played with her eagle charmed necklace, "Nah, Kristen doesn't enjoy having to keep an eye on me. She wants to party with her friends Massie and Olivia or with Josh."
"Wait, do Josh and Kristen date?"
"Goodness no. Ewww. We are all best friends." Joise said. "And you're new so you can hang out with me without being suspected of being a boy crazed hooker."
The girl was so unsuspecting. It made Claire feel a little funny, so she didn't say anything and just nodded her head.
"So hangout with us on Friday night? At the basketball game! Super fan with us!"
"Super Fan?"
"Yeah we're the best team in the region. We cheer on the boys and girls, it's like a big pre-party. The real fun is afterwards. Usually at Olivia's house."
"Sound fun. I have to ask my parents if I can get the car-"
"Give me your number, Josh can come get you."
So Claire gave Joise her information, and by the time the exchange was over, the class was winding down. With perfect timing, Dylan texted her while she was in possession of her phone. She asked about the status of the operation, and Claire replied with. "Major progress!" Dylan seemed pleased, and asked to meet her in the parking lot after school.
Claire hauled out of the class so she could make it to the student parking lot before it crowded. Once she located Dylan's black Audi sedan, Claire looked around again to make sure no one was around, before walking towards it. Dylan leaned against the car, her purple cape jacket, and oval lenses, all work to make her look bad ass.
"So what's the major progress?"
Claire bit her lip in excitement. Although she was awfully terrified of Dylan and what she was capable of, she longed to impress her. "Joise adores me. She wants me to go with her and her friends to the game Friday. She says Josh will pick me up."
Dylan seemed impressed. "It's been less than a day of knowing her and you're hanging out with all of them. Including Josh. Good work."
"She says she needs other older friends to get out from Kristen and Josh. So I'm going with them to Olivia's too."
"Damn, Ryan." Dylan threw her head back. "I have to apologize to Olivia for something but I should be able to come."
"Apologize for what?"
"Olivia is a childhood friend, but sometimes we have our falling outs, big and small. Olivia's a crybaby who never apologizes. I hate doing it but I have to help you."
"Help?"
"A party is different than the game Claire. There are no teachers, there's alcohol. I have to make sure you don't mess up."
Claire's mind raced. She'd been to high school parties, but not the privileged, Westchester parties. She did need Dylan. "You're right!"
"Don't worry. It will all be fine."
"They all seem to be overly friendly and naïve." Claire mentioned. "I wasn't expecting for Joise to hang out with me this quickly."
"I know. And we will use it to our advantage." Even though her eyes was covered, Claire could feel her staring at her. "You drive today?"
"No."
"Then you're coming with me. You need new clothes to hang with those girls."
Claire, for the second time since meeting Dylan Marvil, had no clue what she was doing.
