Yes. They'd said yes. I couldn't believe it, I was actually going to Thunderson High. They said I could go as long as I didn't join the club Principle Pine had talked about, but as that was the only reason I'd wanted to transfer, I decided to ignore that one rule. My only concern was that I didn't know how to join. I figured my best bet would be to find Graystripe and ask him, but (assuming Graystripe wasn't his real name) I couldn't ask the staff about him and it was highly unlikely I'd find one person in a school of 1753 strangers. For the most part, my classes were relatively similar to the ones I took at Lake Edge. My classmates paid me as much attention as they did the chalkboard gathering dust in the back of the room and only looked at me when I said "here" during attendance. The majority of my classes were in the honor's course since Lake Edge had, admittedly, put me a little ahead of the average Thunderson freshman. Lunch wasn't all that fun- since I didn't know anybody, I ended up eating outside under a tree by myself. While I munched on a sandwich, I noticed something interesting. Over by a side entrance, I saw three guys exit and start running toward the parking lot. I recognized one of them as the Asian kid I'd seen with Graystripe the other day. I almost called out to him, but he and his companions jumped into a car and sped away before I could say anything.
It wasn't until art class- the last period of the day- that things started to get interesting. There were four floors at Thunderson High including the basement and I came to realize that the farther down you went the odder things seemed to be. I didn't really know how else to explain it, but I knew the minute I walked into the art room (the only class I had in the basement) that there was something different about the atmosphere. The room was long and narrow with small tables lined up against the two longer walls. The tables sat two people each and as I looked closer I noticed that there were green notecards in front of every chair, each of which had a different name on it. When I finally came to mine, I sat down at my seat awkwardly and glanced over at my table partner. She had strawberry blond hair that was shaved off on one side and long on the other. A small tattoo of an unrecognizable shape was slightly visible on her left wrist. "Yeah?" I jumped in my seat at the sound of her voice. Guess she'd caught me looking at her.
"Um, nothing," I turned to face the front of the room and hoped these seats weren't permanent. Minutes later, after the remaining students had found their places in the room, I felt something hit me in the back of the head. I turned around and saw a crumpled up piece of paper behind my chair. Looking up, I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Graystripe sitting all the way in the back of the room. He looked pointedly at the piece of wadded up paper so I picked up and unfurled it.
Come to room 103 after class. Also, ignore Sandstorm. She's the one sitting next to you.
I glanced at Sandstorm again, then turned around to look at Graystripe. He winked, then jerked his head toward the door before pointing to the clock. He cocked his eyebrows and nodded and I nodded back. He gave me a thumbs up before returning to his work.
At the sound of the final bell I felt simultaneous relief and anxiety. Relieved, because I didn't have to sit next to Sandstorm any more. She wasn't openly mean to me, but she still made me feel uncomfortable. But the anxiety soon took over at the prospect of following Graystripe to room 103 and staying there for at least three hours with a group of people I didn't know. The second I left the classroom I was greeted with a "Boo!" from Graystripe, who'd pressed himself against the wall. I caught my breath and jumped back a bit. "Haha! I totally got you!" Graystripe laughed as he motioned for me to follow him.
"Look, man, I'm scared enough as it is," I said to him as we shoved our way through the hallway, "If this doesn't turn out well I'm stuck here for the next four years." The reality of it was just sinking in and I began to wonder if I'd made a huge mistake.
"Trust me, dude, you'll have fun," Graystripe called over his shoulder as we neared room 103. "Seeing as how you…won that night, I'd be surprised if Bluestar didn't let you in." The minute I entered the room I met with a feeling of surprise. I'd been expecting students punching each other, practicing martial arts, meditating, even. But while the training dummies were set up and there were, admittedly, a few weapons scattered around, everyone in the room was just casually talking. They all seemed totally relaxed, one of them was even eating a cookie. The shock must've been obvious on my face, for Graystripe laughed and shook his head. "Come on," he began walking away, "Let's go see Bluestar." As I followed him to a corner of the room, I felt a few glances dart my way, but none of them really lingered. I guess since it was still the beginning of the school year, late comers weren't terribly uncommon.
The far left corner of the room was closed off by a dark green curtain. Graystripe knocked on the wall next to it, "Hey, Bluestar, can I come in?"
"Sure," a female voice replied from behind the green waves. Graystripe pulled it aside to reveal a tall, older looking girl sitting behind a desk and writing something in a notebook. Her hair was straight as a pin and dyed a silvery blue. She looked up from what she was doing and our eyes met. "Who's this?" Bluestar asked, keeping her voice neutral.
"This is my friend, Rusty," Graystripe replied, "He wants to join Modern Warrior."
"Oh, do you have an older brother or sister or something who did this?" she asked. "It's just that I've never really seen you before and I was wondering why you wanted to…" she added, seeing the confused look on my face. I shook my head.
"No, I actually went to Lake Edge before. This is my first day at Thunderson." Bluestar's eyes lit up with sudden interest.
"Really?" she asked. "Huh." The older girl closed her notebook and stood up. "Hey!" she yelled as she walked past me and Graystripe. Everyone in the room turned their attention to her. She motioned for me to step forward, "Guys, this is Rusty." A murmur of hellos traveled through the group. "He just transferred from Lake Edge and he wants to try out for Modern Warrior." It looked as if Bluestar was about to say more, but before she could a different voice from the crowd piped up.
"If he's transferring from Lake Edge he shouldn't get to try out," I could tell from the volume and tone of voice that the comment was a whisper meant to be heard.
"Longtail?" Bluestar called out into the crowd. "You wanna say something?"
"Uh, yeah," replied "Longtail". I squirmed uncomfortable at the thought of facing opposition so quickly. A boy stepped out in front of everyone, too confidently. He was considerably tall, but his face made him look as if he couldn't be too much older than me. His hair was long, clearly bleached, and pulled back into a loose ponytail. Looking closer I noticed that he had a few black stripes running horizontally across the end of his hair, similar to the Asian kid I'd seen earlier. "Guys like him have already got the better grades, the better stuff, the better family. What we've got is special, but it's all we've got. Do we wanna give him something extra? Something that has to be earned, that we need, but that he can buy his way into and doesn't need?" I could tell that Longtail took this a lot more seriously than most of the people here. While a couple of them were nodding in agreement with what he said, most of them looked impartial. "Look, all I'm saying is that if he really wants to do this he shouldn't have to be tested like normal guys are. He should actually have to fight."
"He already fought me," I heard Graystripe mutter from where he'd silently slinked into the crowd.
"Shut up, Graystripe." I jumped at the sound of Longtail's accusatory voice, assuming I'd been the only one to hear my friend's comment. Looking up at Bluestar, I realized in slight dismay that while she didn't seem to be enjoying what was going on, she wasn't making a move to stop it. "Hey!" Deep in my thoughts, I didn't realize that not only had Longtail continued talking to me, he'd walked up to me until we were nose to chest. I looked up at him and our eyes met. "I'll destroy you." Before I could react, he grabbed me by the shirt collar and threw me down to the ground. I heard a gasp of surprise come from a good number of students. I looked over at the door I'd come through and realized with horror that it was closed. I scrambled up to my feet, only to have Longtail's fist connect with my stomach, sending me back on the ground again. Spots started to flash in my eyes and felt a throbbing in the back of my head. I got up again and pulled back my arm to deliver my own punch, but Longtail swept my legs in one smooth motion and dug his elbow into my back as I hit the ground for the third time. I tasted blood and felt tears stinging my eyes.
"Longtail, stop it! You're being an idiot, get off him!" Bluestar was finally doing something to stop him. I looked up slightly but could only see shoes. The pressure on my back lifted and I rolled over on my other side so that my face was turned towards the ceiling's fluorescent lights. I could feel the shame washing over me as I gasped for breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Longtail heading for the door, probably to wash his hands of any of my blood that had gotten on them. On the other side of the room, people were looking at me with pity and some soon began to dismiss my presence. Suddenly, I felt something I had never felt to this high degree before. Somewhere inside me, a flame was beginning to grow. I had given up my best friend, the moral support of my family, and possibly even Graystripe's friendship to be lying on the floor covered in sweat and defeat. Against my body's will, I got up and, swiftly and quietly as I could ran after Longtail.
I could feel everyone, including myself, holding their breath as I reached the other boy just as he got to the door. Without thinking, I grabbed the ponytail for which he was probably named and yanked it as hard as I could. With a scream of surprise and pain, Longtail stumbled back and I took the opportunity to shove him into the wall. He collided with the scraggly plaster on his side and as he fell away I noticed a few drops of blood smeared on the whiteness of the wall. Clutching the side of his head where I guess his ear to be, he fell to his knees and groaned. "You motherfucker you tore my earing out!" He shouted at me from his place on the ground.
"Come down," a voice much softer in comparison reached my ears as another figure came running from the crowd. A girl about the same age as Bluestar knelt down beside Longtail and gently pulled his hands away from his ear. "See, it's just a scratch. Your earing's still there, shhh." The girl helped up the shaking Longtail and led him away to the back of the room, curtained off like Bluestar's corner. I watched her go in total awe. Her hair was long, wavy, voluminous, and it curled slightly at the ends. The color ranged from brown to black to white to orange in a misshapen pattern of splotches.
"Dude…" Graystripe came up behind me and shook his head. "That was awesome! You're in, buddy!" He held up his hand to give me a high five. Still shaking from the fight, I tentatively hit his hand back. "Yeah! Alright!"
I heard the sound of Bluestar clapping among everyone else's excited murmuring. "That was really cool, Rusty," she said as she came up on my left side. "You've definitely got some stuff to learn, but your determination and perseverance is refreshing. From this moment on, you'll be known to everyone here as Fireheart! Welcome to Modern Warrior!" At the sound of Graystripe's "Whoo!" everyone else followed suit in cheering and clapping. A broad smile broke out on my face. People seemed genuinely pleased that I had joined.
"Hey, Fireheart, that was a good fight!" A familiar older looking boy said as he came up to congratulate me. "I remember you," he continued, "You were the one me and Whitestorm dared Graystripe to jump. Sorry about that, by the way. I'm Lionheart." He stuck out his hand and I shook it eagerly. I had won a fight, made it in, and now people were starting to like me. Now that he mentioned it, I realized I did recognize Lionheart. His spikey yellow-tipped orange hair and matching goatee were not to be missed. Looking over his shoulder I saw Whitestorm as well. He gave me a small smile and nodded before returning to the conversation he was having with another guy. I had to do a double take at the sight of Whitestorm and the guy he was talking to for they looked like exact opposites. Whitestorm, as his name would suggest, had shocking white hair that was cut neatly on top of a tanned, well-toned body. The other one had a messy jet black fringe that ended in silver surrounding a face that was almost as white as Whitestorm's hair.
Looking around some more, I noticed to my dismay (but not at all to my surprise) Sandstorm talking to a brown haired boy about my age. Once and a while the two of them would look over at me and glare. "Hey, dude, Fireheart!" Graystripe grabbed my shoulders from behind and used them to propel himself upward before landing in front of me. "That was totally awesome! And your name's cool too, much better than Graystripe." I laughed, mostly out of relief to see another friendly face after receiving the cold shoulder from Sandstorm and her friend. "Okay, let me tell you everything I've learned in the past week. Also, from what I could get out of my brother, but that's not much."
"Who's your brother?" I asked, not having noticed anyone who looked too much like my gray haired friend. Graystripe pointed to the guy Whitestorm had been talking to earlier who seemed to be heading to where Longtail was being bandaged. "That's Darkstripe. He's kind of a dick, to be honest. He's a junior, mainly hangs out with Tigerclaw, sometimes Longtail and Dusty. That's Dusty," he pointed to the boy Sandstorm was talking to. "You beat the shit out of Longtail, so you know who that is. Tigerclaw's a senior and… he's not here right now…" Graystripe trailed off as he looked around the room for Tigerclaw, but not finding him. "Oh, there's also Raven. He's also kind of my best friend, so we can be a threesome now!" He laughed a second after he'd heard his choice of words. I smiled and shook my head, trying to hide my amusement. "Anyway, I haven't seen him since this morning," Graystripe continued, "I wonder where-" A door I hadn't noticed in the back was suddenly thrown open and everyone turned to look at who had arrived. "There he is," Graystripe finished under his breath.
I recognized Raven as the Asian kid I'd seen before, but he looked nothing like he had earlier. His shirt was torn and a flower of blood was blossoming near the base of his shirt. Panting, he stumbled in and clutched at where he was bleeding. A couple of people ran to help him stand up while Whitestorm shut the door behind him. Bluestar ran up to him with a wet cloth and started dabbing his face with it in an effort to calm him down, "Oh my God, Raven, what happened? Where the hell have you been? What are you doing? Where are Redtail and Tigerclaw?" Raven shook his head quickly, then slowly. The minute he stopped shaking his head, his eyes rolled up and collapsed on the ground. Any pride and happiness I'd felt instantly drained away at the sight of a boy my age who looked like he'd just been shot.