I got up early on my first day of classes. I wanted to take a quick trip around the classrooms and meet my new teachers. I also got up early so as to avoid the rush of all the other students getting to class.
First class I had was with a Ms. Mae in cooking. She was the short and stout type and had very short red hair. She seemed to treat every student like a baby and use baby words in every sentence.
I chose a seat in the far left of the front row. That way I could see without being noticed too much by the other students.
As the other students began to file into the classroom I noticed that none of them were wearing uniforms. I looked down at my attire, the school uniform, brand new and almost glowing. I sunk down in my seat. I was going to stick out like sore thumb.
"Quiet down, children, sit your widdle bums down and settle yourselves" Ms. Mae said. Everyone slowly chose their seats, as far back as they could get. I was the only person in the first two rows. Well, let's just say my plan to blend in was screwed.
Ms. Mae acted like her goal for the day was to embarrass me. She made a huge deal about how I was the new scholarship student and that I wasn't used to such nice things that were offered at the school.
I had to choose between making a raspberry or strawberry pie in class and when I picked up one of each said fruit up to compare she said, "This is a strawberry."
"I know." I said as politely as I could.
She stared and smilled, "Good, good, and this one is a:" she left out the word for me to fill in the blank. I pretended to think hard.
"Its a banana! No a blueberry! No wait I know it! Oh yeah it's a raspberry."
Ms. Mae jumped up and down with delight. I smacked my forehead for encouraging it.
Just then the doors burst open and a boy with short red hair wearing sunglasses rushed in and took the closest seat he could find which happened to be close to my seat, but a few rows back.
Ms. May tsked to herself and shook her head as she walked to the boy, "Leroy Harper, your father would be ashamed. He puts so much into this school and you don't even care."
He scoffed and I just knew he was rolling his eyes under the tinted lenses, "First off, Ms. Mae, I've told you before that my name is Roy. It's not short for anything! Second, the man who you refer to as my dad is in no way, shape, or form related to me. I'm too cool." he shrugged and put his feet up on his desk. Ms. Mae narrowed her eyes.
"well then, back to he topic of pies!.." She rambled on about state fairs and blue ribbon pies while I slumped back down in my chair, wishing I could just die rather than sit through classes at this school. Ms. Mae had her back to the class as she looked out a window and told a long and boring story about a past flame, as in a fire that started in her house while she baked a pie.
"Hey!" I heard a voice behind me whisper, "Hey! You! New girl!"
"Silence Roy!" Ms. Mae shouted without turning, then she continued her story.
I slowly turned my head and saw that it was Roy, "Yeah, you! Hey whadya say we ditch the old lady and head over to a party my buddy and his girlfriend are hosting? I need a date!"
"Sorry, I don't cut classes." I whispered back then faced forward in my seat again.
He shrugged, "Suit yourself."
I listened in agony as the teacher had a heated discussion with herself about oven temperatures. I peeked back and saw Roy begin to crawl towards the door. I looked back at Ms. Mae. She wasn't looking.
"wait!" I whispered.
Roy looked back and smiled as I got down on all fours and crawled over to him, "I knew you'd change your mind. The ladies always do." he led the way until we were out then slammed the classroom door, then he grabbed my wrist and took off running down the hall with me in tow.
We turned a corner and Roy stopped, panting, "That- that was too easy. Wooh! And kudos to the lady for skipping on her first day." he held up his hand expecting me to high five it. I just crossed my arms. "Ohh I get it. Your a little sourpuss. Whatever. So what up with the clothes? You don't actually think you'll be in trouble if you wear something else do you?" I blushed because his words were true, "Oh ho ho! I was right! You do believe that! It's okay, though. I wouldn't expect a newb to get it. Anyways, we got a party to get to! Here, put this on." he took off the red and white striped jacket he was wearing and handed it to me. I hesitantly took it and put it on.
"So who's room is this party in?" I asked.
"Oh it's not here. We don't party at school. We're going downtown!" he jumped once and started heading down the hallway. I followed, shaking my head at myself for what I had gotten myself into.
This was not me. I didn't ever cut school, ever. And I didn't ever have anything to do with the "bad kids". So why was I following Roy to an against-the-rules off-campus party while cutting my first class?
I don't know why I did it then, but in the end, I was glad I did.
We got out through a side door in the school. Then we jumped the security fence. It kind of felt... Good. Then Roy started talking nonstop about how he was the MVP of the school archery team while we walked.
It got quiet once he had told me the summary of his life. I knew he was expecting me to talk about myself now, but I was afraid he wouldn't want to hang out with me if he knew about my past, if he knew about everything my father had done, so I didn't speak.
The awkward silence ended when Roy spoke again, "So, Rachel, have you ever been to Jump City before now?" he asked.
I looked down, "No I have never left my hometown until now. I had seen pictures and movies, but this is much different than I expected."
Roy seemed intrigued, "How so?"
"Well, it always seemed beautiful, and strong, full of sharp people, and expensive things. But the first day I came here all I heard was mean things and all I saw were bad people. Except for this one guy, he goes to school with us. His name is Dick." I explained.
"Oh, so you met Dick. Him and his girlfriend are hosting this. Doesn't surprise me that you already know he's a good guy."
He smiled broadly. And picked up his pace to a happy speed walk, "Hey! There it is! This is where the party's at." he pointed to a brick building across the street. It looked old, yet still had class and was well kept.
Once we were inside people immediately were calling at Roy, giving high fives and saying hi. There were around 20 to 30 people there. All seemed to be around my age. He responded to them cheerily, but I noticed him eyeing a girl with some emotion I could not figure out. He mumbled a random excuse to me and walked towards the girl. She was sitting and he came over and must have been shouting or exclaiming, though I couldn't hear over the chatter of everyone else, but he was flailing his arms around angrily it seemed. Then someone stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Roy.
"Hey Rachel! What are you doing here?" it was Dick, he was arm in arm with a beautiful girl with green eyes and red hair and had very tan skin. She was taller than him but not too much taller so there wasn't too much Dynamic between them.
"Oh, Roy Harper brought me." I looked at the girl next to Dick and she smilled and waved to me. I attempted to do the same but I'm sure it looked pretty awkward.
"Oh, Raven this is my girl, Kory. Kory, this is Raven. She's the new scholarship student. I met her yesterday."
Kory beamed at me, "It is such a pleasure to meet you. I hope I am not being too friendly forward but I hope we can be good friends. I do enjoy having girls to hang out with." She smiled broadly. She was so joyful and kind that I couldn't help but give her a small grin.
"Of Course," I said, "I really want to make some friends here." they grinned and walked away, just as someone bumped into me from behind.
I turned to see a blonde girl dancing around sloppily and running into other people, "Weeeeee!" she shrieked happily. There was a guy following her, and trying to get her to stop. He was also blonde and both of them seemed to be a bit younger than everyone else.
"Terra! Come on, quit acting all crazy!" the boy yelled. He caught one of her arms and pulled her closer and mumbled quietly to her, but not quiet enough for me to not hear, "You need to get in control of your problem, and don't give me a lame excuse. Last time you got drunk, you called a teacher who found out that some of us were skipping class and all of us were off school grounds without permission. Roy overcame his similar issue and you can too." my eyes widened. Roy had had a problem similar to a drinking problem? He just didn't seem like that kind of guy.
I noticed the blonde girl, whom i now knew was named Terra, had an angry look on her face, and she pulled out of the boy's grasp and walked strait to the door and right before she left, flipped off the entire room. The boy sighed and looked down at the floor, where it seemed he saw my feet, right across from his. He looked up at me and smiled. Jeez, what is with this crowd and smiling?
"Hey your the girl from the restaurant!" my eyes widened even more than before. I looked around the room and I saw it. These were all the people I had seen at the restaurant and in the main hall of the building on my first day, "Kory thought you looked lonely so she followed you to the bathroom but you weren't there so we all assumed you went out a back door or something. Then we found out you were the new scholarship student which was cool. Terra," he pointed towards where the blonde girl had left. He chuckled, "is also on scholarship like you. Actually I think Kory's here," he looked around the room, trying to see above the heads of everyone else who was taller than him.
"I already met her." I said.
"Oh. Did she bring you? She's always making new friends and inviting them out with us. It's nice. I've met some of my best friends through her."
"No, she didn't bring me, but I got that sort of impression from her." I pursed my lips and looked around awkwardly.
He did the same then snapped his head back to me and cocked his head to the side, "I didn't catch your name yet." he said.
"Um, its Rachel Roth." I said quietly.
"Alright. Rachel, my name's Garfield Logan. But you will just call me Gar." he laughed, "I hope I don't seem too frank but you look like you either don't know or don't like the people here. I mean your just standing here alone. Who brought you again?" The girl who Roy had seemingly been arguing with bumped past Gar and pushed through everyone else to get to the door, "Watch it Jade," Gar called. Jade glared back and Gar looked away quickly and scratched his neck nervously. Roy came up to me and narrowed his eyes at Jade as she left. His face softened and looked at me, then Gar.
"I see you guys have met," he seemed more relaxed now that Jade was gone, "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, Rachel."
I shook my head, "No, it's fine. I met Kory and Gar, and I met Dick before this."
Gar cut in, "So you came here with Roy?" he didn't seem too thrilled when I nodded my head.
"Me and Gar are roomates." Roy said. I nodded along, but couldn't help but wonder why they were roommates when they seemed to dislike each other.
Gar looked around, "I should probably head back to class." he pointed and dashed away. Roy looked at his watch.
"Shit! We should head back too! We already missed second class. I can't miss anymore, I'm on the verge of expulsion! Come on!" he pulled me along and out the door.
Once we were outside and on our way back I felt the urge to ask Roy all the questions about him that I had collected at the party.
It seemed kind of rude so I held in the questions.
We walked peacefully in non-awkward silence for a few blocks. We were in a less populated part of the town it seemed, so there was no one else there but us. I liked it. I allowed myself to close my eyes for a second to enjoy the moment...
Suddenly I felt two hands on each of my arms pulling me backwards. I saw two large men on either side of me and another three were trying to grab Roy.
They pulled us into an alley and forced me up against the wall while they beat up Roy. Then another man came out of the shadows. He was wearing a white suit with a purple tie.
"Where is my money you son of a bitch!" he yelled.
The men let Roy alone and he coughed up blood as he spoke,"Eight hundred. In my pocket!" he choked out. The man in the white suit snapped his fingers and the other men found the cash.
"That's three hundred less than you owe me." he looked at me and grinned, "But since I like you, and seeing as though your with this beautiful young lady, I'm gonna let you have another three days. But if I don't get my money, even your fancy school couldn't protect you." he snapped his fingers and the five men shoved myself and Roy out onto the empty street.
"Roy!" I gasped, I was almost crying from fear and it didn't help that he was covered in blood. I took a deep breath and and knelt beside him. He was still conscious because he was coughing. He was holding his stomach and chest and his leg was twisted beneath him.
"You can't be moved, you could have head or neck injuries. Do you have a phone on you?" he nodded, then threw up, sputtering out blood with it.
"My left pocket," he managed to say.
I got his phone and dialed 911 ,"Hello, we need an ambulance... Location?" I looked to Roy.
"Were one Lynch Drive," he coughed, "near the corner of Lynch and 23rd."
I relayed it to the responder who told me to stay on the line until the ambulance got there.
I was shaking and I let the tears fall. The tears I had held in for years.
"Rachel." Roy lagged slightly, "calm down. A few cuts and bruises aren't gonna kill me."
I shook my head and lowered the phone, "No. It's not that or you, it's me. I'm in so much trouble. They picked me for the scholarship and now I cut classes and I'm involved in off school violence. I'll be lucky if my old school will take me back." I buried my face in my hands and tried to wipe away the tears because I could hear emergency vehicles in the distance.
Roy was quiet for a moment, taking short breaths and looking up at me, "They won't. They won't expel you because of this. Its all my fault!"
"So far I haven't benefited them at all. I don't give them money and I'm not a star athlete who brings the school victories." I sighed.
"I don't want you to leave. Rachel, I have a girlfriend. At least I hope I do. Jade. I didn't really intend to bring you here as a date, I brought you because you are like us." he coughed and wheezed a few times and I could year the ambulance only a few blocks away, "you are just like us." he coughed a few times then closed his eyes.
"How?" I asked as the ambulance and some police cars pulled up, "How am I like you!" I yelled. He didn't respond.
People were rushing out of the back of the ambulance. They lifted Roy onto a cot and rolled into the back of the ambulance. Somehow I made it in there with him. They asked me to identify him. An officer pressed me for what happened which I told him that we were jumped by six guys. I know you aren't supposed to lie to officers but I just knew this was something to do with Roy's 'Similar Issue' which I now believed was drugs, and I didn't want to put Roy in more trouble than he was already in. The made calls to people from his phone. Giving them info on where to find him and saying that he was alright and would a slow, but full recovery.
When we got to the hospital I had resumed crying. They took Roy into a room where they could examine his internal injuries, but they made me wait in his own personal waiting room, where everyone that they had called would gather.
I sat there alone for five minutes. The first person to get there was Gar, who's eyes were red and his clothes were dirty and had traces of red on them. He looked confused, seeing me there.
"Rachel? What... What are you doing here?" he asked almost accusingly.
"I- Roy was jumped. I thought you would know, I mean, isn't that why you're here?" he immediately looked down sadly and his lip began to quiver.
"Uhh, Terra was... in an accident." he broke down crying. Dick, Kory and others walked in just as he said it, "She's dead!" he cried, collapsing in the nearest chair.
end of chapter four
special thanks to hinata28 for review the first 3 chapters.
I thought this was only like 1000 words but it's actually more close to 3000, so I hope I get triple the love for this one. Wink wink.
-LLTT
