Chapter Three:
Power & Spring Of Life
One Week Later...
Population: 67 students...
Carlotta was in one of the nerd hangouts, finishing up an essay for advanced english, when Zoe called out to her from the front entrance. She looked up and saw Julian hesitating at the front door and she stood up.
"What's wrong? I thought you and the team were practicing," Carlotta frowned, recalling the massive arguement between the jock and a certain dark skinned prep about time on the field.
"Max was spying on us with some some of mini-helicopter with a camera attached to it and streamed it all back at Hearst," Julian said bitterly, looking like he wanted to punch something and fast.
"Okay," Carlotta held up a hand to calm him down as she thought of a plan. "Grab your best wing man from the team and Vera. I'll get Emilio, Cameron and Zoe."
Julian nodded, leaving the hangout as Carlotta gathered Emilio from one of the labs and found the two gamers in the entertainment room. When she returned with them in tow to the main area, Julian, James and Vera were waiting for them there.
"Why can't we meet up in our area?" James asked, a little uncomforable in the nerd hangout as Emilio rolled his eyes.
"Because ours is secured with the top fire walls and connection scramblers," Emilio answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world and James looked annoyed.
"Don't start fighting or we'll never get through this," Carlotta warned the blonde jock who closed his mouth and pursed his lips into a thin line, obviously not happy. "Emilio is right, since there might be a chance that Hearst will try to spy on us again, we're safe from electronic attacks."
Julian nodded, a firm look on his face. "We need to come up with a playbook better than the last one. Something they don't expect coming and so solid there are no..."
"Loop holes," Zoe inputted and Julian nodded. Carlotta's phone vibrated in her back pocket of her black skinny jeans as they all gathered around the white, round table and began planning.
"Mom? What's wrong?" Carlotta frowned as she answered, stepping away from the others to take the call.
"I just wanted to let you know that I won't be able to make it to the football game tonight. Something's come up at the office and it needs my attention," Ellen informed her daughter, allowing Carlotta's face to fall slightly.
"It's okay, I figured something might come up," Carlotta said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "There's always next time though. Right?"
"Of course. I want to see the school you and Dick have built together. From what I have heard, it's becoming a rising success," Ellen complimented before pausing as someone spoke to her in the background. With a tired sigh, Carlotta's mother's voice returned to the phone. "I need to deal with something. I'll see you at home."
"Sure, good luck with work," Carlotta murmured, hanging up. She stared at her white IPhone 5 in silence for a moment before putting it back into her pocket and returned to the others. They all seemed confident with the new playbook, evident from their victory grins.
"Let's go practice it," Julian stated as Vera and James stood up. "Can you bring that...thingy you were talking about?"
Emilio nodded confidently. "The EMP will ensure no more surprise attacks while you practice."
"Make sure it's small enough to avoid shutting down the school," Carlotta warned him as he held up the small IPad device in his hand.
"Of course," Emilio snorted, rising from his seat to follow Vera and Cameron out while Julian stayed behind, seeing the disappointment in Carlotta's eyes.
"Something wrong?" he asked, concerned for his friend and she looked at him, the negative emotion disappearing from her eyes as she gave him a small smile.
"Nope, we're all good and sounds like you better get to practice for tonight's game," she reminded him and he nodded, not convinced but left it at that as he left the hangout.
oOo
During Half-time...
While Payton, a few dancers, cheerleaders and Amy dressed in the wildcat mascot costume were performing on the field for the half-time show, Julian brought the team together, along with Zoe and Emilio, going through the plan from what Carlotta observed.
"This is turning out better than I thought," Richard commented, moving slightly to the up-beat of the music played from the 'Enchanted Forest' float made by the artist kids. "So much team spirit."
"Yeah," Carlotta agreed, a proud smile on her face as she watched her favourite prep on the float.
"And I'm impressed the team was able to come up with a solid playbook in time," Richard continued, having known what occured with the quardcopter earlier today. While he was beyond furious that Hearst would stoop to such low actions, he agreed with Julian and even encouraged that the wildcats 'beat their faces in with a victory,' making the students fall in love with the principal even more.
"It's too bad Ellen couldn't come," Richard frowned slightly, annoyed with his elder sister. Although his niece never complained, it was evident that she was disappointed yet again that the company took priority.
Carlotta didn't say anything as the half-time show came to an end, with both teams heading back onto the field. Payton joined Carlotta and her uncle in the stands, a grin on her face.
"Well done, Payton," Richard praised her with a warm smile. "That was definitely a show worth remembering."
Payton blushed a little. "Thanks Principal Winters!" she beamed as they turned back to the game. Hearst was up by two points and all Twin Wings needed was a touchdown to win the game.
"Go wildcats!" All students of Twin Wings shouted, with the cheerleaders singing a chant with Amy dancing to it.
Julian grabbed the ball as Max tried trip him. The girls watched as he threw the ball to Vera who caught it with ease and sprinted towards home. A few Hearst players tried to stop her but she dodged them with ease and scored.
Immediately, all of Twin Wings stood up in a roar of cheers, the football team practically tackling each other on the field. Payton and Carlotta were grinning and covering their ears as Richard seemed the loudest in the stands.
oOo
Later that evening...
Autumn, Julian, Payton and Carlotta all headed back to Payton's place to celebrate four things: beating Hearst, winning their first game, Autumn's transfer and the apparent rivalry between the two principals.
"I never knew about it," Carlotta admitted, holding her hot chocolate in her hands. "It makes sense though, Uncle Dick would never hate someone without a reason."
Autumn shook her head. "No wonder Hearst has it out for you."
"For us, remember?" Payton reminded her firmly, a big grin on her face. "You're officially a student of Twin Wings now."
Autumn beamed as she remembered her father allowing her to transfer to the school. She turned to Carlotta with a question in her eyes. "By the way, is there a place for artists like me? I know there's are hangouts for jocks, nerds and preps, but what about me?"
Carlotta smirked, showing the other three that she was up to something. "Something like that..." she vaguely answered.
oOo
A Week Later...
Population: 69 students...
And up to something she was, as Carlotta showed the three newest buildings to the artistic and musical talented students. Let's just say, the results were very positive.
"Carlotta, remember the quardcopter?" Autumn asked as they walked through the courtyard. "I have an idea on who might have built it but we need to get back to Hearst."
"Then we'll need to disguise ourselves," Carlotta said, nodding as ideas flowed into her head. "I'll disguise myself as a janitor since no one pays attention to them."
Autumn nodded, seeing where she was going with her train of thought as they quickly disguised themselves before driving over to Hearst High. Both dressed as janitors, they snuck into the school and split up so to not rouse suspicion.
"Leave Scruffy be," Carlotta grumbled in a low voice, pretending to sweep the floor as she headed towards a science lab. Just as she was about to turn a corner, Mia, Max's little sister, spotted her and stormed over.
"Hey, you!" Mia exclaimed, looking annoyed beyond belief. Carlotta froze, not wanting to move a muscle. "My locker was supposed to be scrubbed spotless!"
"I...uh..."
Mia rolled her eyes, pulling out a twenty dollar note. "Look, have this. Probably more than your normal wage," she sneered just as Kara called out to her. Putting the money back into her wallet, the blonde stormed off as Carlotta let out a sigh of relief before escaping to the lab. She could hear Autumn's voice and a guy's voice upon entering.
"-Check out the school then," Autumn suggested as Carlotta closed the door behind her and peeled off her fake grey beard and matching wig.
"How men wear beards is beyond me," Carlotta commented before standing next to Autumn. "You must be Nishan."
The dark skinned genius gaped at her, eyes widened in awe and he shook her hand immediately. "I can't believe I'm meeting Charlotte Winters! I have to say I admire your brain."
Carlotta nodded, a little uncomfortable as Autumn looked confused and Nishan had seen that.
"Don't tell me you don't know?" Nishan exclaimed at the artist. "Charlotte Winters, along with myself and a few others, have been acknowledged as genius's across the country!"
Carlotta withdrew her hand and gave Autumn a look that said she would tell her later as the artist turned back to the male nerd. "Just call me Carlotta, only my grandmother called me Charlotte and that's when I was in trouble," she told him and he nodded eagerly. "Why don't you come and check out the school then?"
Nishan hesitated, seeming a little unsure before finally nodding. "Alright..."
oOo
Ten Minutes Later...
Nishan seemed surprised as the three of them walked through the school gates and into the courtyard. "Well, well, so this is the new school. From all the talk at Hearst, I was expecting more of a sprawling dump meets post-apocalyptic wasteland...but instead, it looks like you've got a state-of-the-art learning facility! I haven't been this pleasantly surprised since I tried to create synthetic peanut butter," he turned back to then. "It was totally inedible. Just awful. But it worked amazingly as an industrial sealant!"
Carlotta raised an eyebrow as Nishan caught himself in his ramblings and focused himself. "Where was I? Oh yeah, nice school."
"So...you're impressed?" Carlotta questioned to clarify and he pursed his lips, examining the courtyard.
"I mean, the place is nice and all...but it's no Hearst. I mean, Hearst has connections and snobby faculty and a robotics club..." Nishan trailed off and Autumn gestured for him to follow her. They walked towards the nerds section of the school where in the middle of all of the hangouts for the academically talented students, was a battle arena. "...You've already got a battle arena..."
"Yep," Carlotta grinned a little smugly, secretly glad a couple of the nerds, gamers and film maker kids wanted one built a while ago. "We even have a workshop in one of the hangouts."
Nishan seemed impressed. "Needs more lasers, though...but then again, what doesn't, am I right?" he asked her and she chuckled but then his face fell slightly. "Look, I...I couldn't leave Hearst even if I wanted to. I owe Max. He's kept me safe from bullies for years!"
Autumn looked at him, a sad look in her eyes. "Nishan, he's exploiting you! Is this like some find of advanced stage of Stockholm syndrome?"
"No. Maybe," Nishan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, we've got a symbiotic relationship, like those little fish that cling to sharks...that reminds me...I need to go check on my fish tank..."
The two girls exchanged a look.
"Do you realise that in your own metaphor, you're a tiny fish clinging to a shark?" Autumn asked, wanting to clarify what Nishan said.
Nishan scowled a little. "This is high school Autumn! Open your eyes. Jocks rule the school and pick on nerds. No one cares about your personality until you get to college."
Autumn frowned, a determined look in her eye as she placed her hands on her hips. "You're wrong. It's not like that here and I'll prove it!" she declared, heading off towards Party Central. Nishan looked confused and Carlotta shrugged her shoulders and followed after the artist.
There was a small, party going on between the gamers, nerds and some of the student council members from what Carlotta could remember. And it proved to still be in full swing as she opened the doors and the artist looked back at Nishan.
His face was shocked, slowly turning into awe as he watched the academically talented students party like jocks and preps.
"Okay. I'll admit I'm surprised," Nishan confessed before turning to Carlotta. "Do you think if I came here, I'd be able to throw a party? I've always imagined I'd make quite the host. I know a stunning amount of magic tricks..."
Carlotta smiled at him. "At this school, you can be yourself. And everyone will support you," she informed him and he smiled back a thought crossed him mind.
"There's just one last thing..."
"Are we going to have to build a rocket?"
"No," he shook his head before frowning. "Well, yes, later. But right now, I'm worried about the...how do I put this nicely...musclebound, chest-thumping students..."
She raised a brow. "You mean...jocks?" she asked and he nodded.
"Sure, call them what you want. I..." Nishan's face fell slightly. "I realise now that the way the jocks treated me at Hearst was not okay. But I don't want to go from a frying pant to...well, another frying pan, I guess."
The two girls exchanged a look as Nishan continued to admit his worries.
"I saw that Julian joined your school. That guy was not exactly nice to me back when we were at Hearst together," the dark skinned nerd informed them and Autumn gave him a reassuring smile.
"Julian can be a little rough around the edges, but his bullying days are behind him," Autumn explained but Nishan didn't look convinced. With a sigh, Autumn gestured for him to follow her as the three of them headed to the main jock hangout.
A few waved and smiled at the presence of Carlotta and Autumn whilst a few other jocks cast a curious glance at the dark skinned teen accompanying them.
The three of them found Julian clipped to a mountain climbing wall, about to go up when he spotted the girls. A smile in greeting was on his face until his eyes fell on Nishan's figure.
"What's Hide-And-Go-Geek doing here?" Julian demanded with a scowl aimed at Nishan who flinched a little as Autumn gave the jock a look of disapproval.
"We're actually trying to recruit him to our school...and we need your help. You see, according to Nishan, you haven't exactly been nice to him in the past," she said pointedly and Julian rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed and ashamed.
"Yeah, okay. I might've been kind of hard on the guy," Julian admitted half-heartedly before turning to Nishan. "So what do you want to do to settle the score, little guy? Wanna punch me in the face a couple of times? I can take it."
Nishan didn't look too keen on the idea as he gave Julian a challenging look. "Given my soft, delicate hands, I think I'll pass on the punching. I suggest a game of wits! You against me on the checkered field of battle. Knights and bishops, kings and rooks! A true game of men!"
A look of confusion crossed Julian's face. "Are you...hitting on me?"
Nishan rolled his eyes with impatience. "I'm challenging you to a game of chess!"
The entire hangout fell silent as everyone waited eagerly for Julian's answer. He felt the eyes on them before his competitive nature kicked in and accepted Nishan's challenge.
oOo
Twenty Minutes Later...
Autumn and Carlotta were sitting in the chess section of the library in the main nerd hangout, both working on something as Nishan and Julian played chess. Both nerds were surprised that Julian held his own for so long.
Autumn was working on her log book for an art project while Carlotta was finishing her research essay for Ancient History when a high pitched alarm rang throughout the library.
Seeing as out of the four of them knew what that meant, Carlotta got up and headed upstairs to the computer labs where the security of the school had been set up and established.
Inside, Victor, the brown haired and blue eyed British genius behind the security software at the school, was watching security footage on his computer in the middle of the room.
"We have eyes on Dark Lord of Evil and Ice Queen in the school car park," Victor announced as Carlotta walked into the room, followed by an awed Nishan, a panicked Autumn and a confused Julian.
"Bring up the footage on the projector," Carlotta said as Victor quickly typed away onto his computer. A few moments later, the footage shot out onto the projector screen and displayed what the cameras had picked up.
"Since when did we have this?" Autumn questioned, curious about it as Carlotta gestured to Victor with a proud smile on her face.
"Ever since he joined the school," Carlotta answered. "And this is just a tiny piece of his work. Victor has invented and covered all security in the school."
"Easy as buttering up my crumpets in the morning, no big deal," Victor replied like it was no big deal, his eyes focused on the screen in front of him. "I'm actually tempted to set off the sprinkles nearby to see if the Ice Queen will melt."
Nishan looked a little panicked. "Is he here to hit me? Because I have a shockingly low pain threshold..."
"We'll talk to him first," Carlotta decided firmly, wanting to avoid violence in anyway possible. "Julian, come with me and Nishan. Victor can you-"
"Already on it," he punched in a few buttons, allowing the footage to be recorded. It was a rule made by the principal that any interaction with Hearst High on school property must be recorded for legal reasons.
"Come on," Julian gestured for them to go as the two nerds followed him.
"You guys sure you've got my back? Because Max has the strength of a bull with the speed of a cheetah," Nishan quizzed before pausing as a thought came to him. "Hmmm...Note to self: add 'cheetah-bull' to genetic hybrid list...Beetah? Cheebull?"
"You'll be fine," Carlotta reassured him as they left the nerd hangout and headed towards the car park. With each step towards it, Nishan grew more nervous until they stood a few meters apart from Max and a very bored looking Kara.
"Uh, hey, Max," Nishan greeted nervously, making sure to stay a little bit behind Julian as Carlotta stood in the middle between the two guys. "You wanted to talk to me? With words and preferably not punches?"
Max was a good actor, Carlotta had to given him credit for that with the mockingly shocked look he placed on his face.
"Punches? Why would I punch you, Nishan? We just came here to talk. Didn't we, Kara?" Max looked at his girlfriend pointedly and she rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Nishan. We came here because we miss you so much. Please don't transfer away. That would be sad. Blah blah," Kara said in a bored tone, no sincerity in her voice at all.
Max didn't look too impressed with Kara lack of even trying to convince Nishan. "I'm serious, Nishan. I don't know what crazy ideas these losers have put in your head but you do not want to transfer. You're a valued student at Hearst!"
Nishan looked at Max warily. "Are you just saying that because I build you things? Because I'm your shark-cleaning fish?"
"I don't know what that means, but..." Max admitted before quickly fixing a smirk onto his face. "Is that so bad? I help you, you help me, no one gets hurt..." his gaze fell onto Julian. "Except for these losers here."
Nishan raised a brow. "Wow, Max, I have to say thanks but no thanks," he told the blonde jock who seemed surprised and shock that he didn't win the dark skinned nerd over. "You know, I always figured I had it pretty good for a nerd...I was being lovingly exploited after all."
He turned and smiled at Carlotta. "But now I realise that things don't have to be that way. People don't have to treat each other like that. Not here," he gestured to Julian. "I mean, look at Julian! I spent years terrified of that guy...and the two of us just played a game of chess!"
Kara looked a mixture of confusion and shock. "Julian played chess?! Did her, like, eat the pieces?"
Annoyance flashed onto Nishan's face as Julian and Carlotta glared at Kara. "See? That's what I'm talking about. That's what I want to get away from. The people here don't just want me for what I can do for them. They want me for me. And that's why I'm transferring."
At Nishan's words, Carlotta's mind wandered back to her time at her old school. Thinking back on it now, she was no different from Nishan.
Both of us were used because of what our minds possessed, Carlotta thought, a little bitterly, her hand clenching slightly at her side. Her thoughts tuned the nerd girl out that she missed most of what was said afterwards until Max and Kara began to walk away. When she came back to reality, Carlotta saw the surprised look on Nishan's face.
"I really just did that, didn't I? I'm not imagining it?" he stammered, pinching his arm slightly to check.
Carlotta chuckled a little. "Nope. You just stood up for yourself and made the best decision of your life," she held out her hand to Nishan. "Welcome aboard, Nishan."
Songs: Power by BAP and Spring of Life by Perfume. One is Korean and the other Japanese...so yeah.
Anyway, our favourite resident nerd has arrived! Yay!
On a side not: Because I am Australian, writing this from Down Under, I would spell things differently from Americans. So while you guys spell realize wit would spell it like realise. So it is not a boo boo or a spell mistake. Just clearing that up.
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