Chapter 11: No longer in Kansas

September 2003 part 2

Two weeks had passed since Spinelli's first day, she and Amy had quickly become good friends. Amy, however was also close to her cousin, consequently Spinelli had also began spending her time around Will and his two friends, Bob and Rob. In total, there were five of them. Amy and Spinelli had instantly gelled, both girls were similar, slightly alternative and happy being their own person. They both seemed to prefer the drama free company of boys; although Amy did have her slightly girly qualities, such as tending to avoid confrontation if possible; she was generally a nice girl and she was easy to get along with.

Then there was Will, the crew leader, and all round bad boy. All the girls wanted him. Spinelli wasn't immune to his bad boy appeal, nor his good looks. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realised that the crush on Will, that she was trying her hardest to deny may have been because he was the furthest thing from TJ Detweiler. Spinelli knew she wanted to erase those painful memoires, and feelings however possible, both consciously, and subconsciously. Deep down, she was aware of the fact she was latching onto Will for all the wrong reasons, she was rebounding from whatever happened with TJ. She tried her best to ignore this. Perhaps this, and his bad boy appeal is what seemed to make Will that much more appealing. This was an appeal Spinelli found it hard to ignore. There something about not knowing what a person is going to do all the time that Spinelli found extremely exciting. Spinelli had known TJ all her life, she knew him like the back of my hand, and she knew what he was going to do, say, what he was thinking. With Will, its different, she literally had no idea. Not only that, but her patents hated Will, so the rebellion of spending time around him was even more enjoyable, and added to the appeal. Spinelli and Will had also jelled, they'd settled into a comfortable rhythm, a lightly flirty friendship. They shared a lot of banter, light-heartedly teasing each other, play fighting, or arm wrestling; this had not however moved on to anything further. Their bond had not, however, gone unnoticed by the girls of the school, who had become particularly jealous of Spinelli, and her bond with Will.

Finishing off the gang were Bob and Rob. The pair had a real bro-mnace, best friends and rarely seen without each other. Despite their bro-mance, they followed Will with loyalty; it was always clear he was the leader, being friends with Will made them cool.

Being around a big group of friends like this felt familiar and comfortable. It almost reminded her of being back at Third Street with the gang.

Together they were a crew, respected and feared by the rest of the school. Spinelli had already begun to set her reputation, the girls knew she wouldn't hesitate to touch them, to beat them up if they crossed her. Heck, she'd already gotten detention for beating a guy for asking if she and Amy were in a lesbian relationship. She, of course didn't have an issue with that sort of thing, despite it all being a very new concept to her: it was a term she had yet to come across while in her sheltered life in Third Street. Fact was, just over two years ago, the children of Third Street had been horrified of the idea of kissing. They had lived in a rather naive bubble. However, Spinelli's new school were certainty not part of this naive bubble. It was the furthest thing from it, in every way possible. To maintain her reputation, Spinelli needed to make sure people didn't insult her, or her friends, and just walk away. As a rule, the role of fighting was the work of Bob and Rob. They did the dirty work at Will's say so. Will rarely got his hands dirty: he didn't need too.

Spinelli and Will were stood together out on the school steps on their morning break. Will sat casually smoking a cigarette as they waited for Amy, Bob and Rob, who had been in a different class.

"So what's next?" asked Will, cigarette smoke clouding around his mouth as he spoke.

"Maths" replied Spinelli with a heavy sigh "the old battle-axe said we were starting trigonometry today, you know, because maths isn't bad enough!"

"Triga-what? What the fuck is that?"

"I think it's something to do with triangles" shrugged Spinelli.

"Screw that shit! Let's ditch"

"Ditch?" asked Spinelli, feeling confused.

"You know" said Will, flicking his cigarette butt at one of the school nerds that passed "cut class?"

"You can cut class?" asked Spinelli "What happens when you do? That's against the rules, right?"

"The rules of this place? Who gives a crap? Most of the time the teachers don't even notice or do anything. Otherwise if they do, you just get detention" replied Will.

"Right"

"Just as I forget you've moved here from suburbia, you remind me!" said Will, standing up, and clicking his heels in an apparent imitation of Spinelli "I want to go home BoeBoe, I want to go home"

"The dog is called ToeToe" corrected Spinelli.

"Right, you would know, Dorothy"

"Shut up" snapped Spinelli, punching Will in the arm.

"I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore" mocked Will, trying to pull Spinelli into a headlock.

"I'm from Arkansas. Not Kansas" said Spinelli, kicking Will in the legs, trying to break free of the headlock he had her in.

"So what'dya say Dorothy?" asked Will, releasing Spinelli "you gunna cut?"

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?"

"Nah"

"Ok" said Spinelli, smiling as the excitement at breaking the rules, and being alone with Will, took her.

"There's hope for you yet" said Will, giving Spinelli a casual wink.

Spinelli felt a whooping sensation in her stomach as it swarmed with butterflies (not unlike what she'd felt with TJ). Being around Will and breaking the rules with him gave her a thrill at the sense of danger. His bad boy attitude was becoming more and more alluring; she was becoming more and more infatuated with him. Spinelli wanted to impress Will, to shrug off the Dorothy image he had of her. Her parents were already cracking down hard on her about the rules, telling her she'd developed a bad, disrespectful attitude. Spinelli loved how Will scoffed at the rules, and shrugged off any responsibility, seeing him action just drew her in.

Five minutes later, Spinelli was sat with Will, hidden in the small ally way behind the school. Again Will was smoking, Spinelli sat, leaning against the wall lazily as she watched him.

'What on earth did I see in TJ?' Spinelli thought to herself, ignoring the other voice trying to argue with this 'he was boring and predicable'

"Want a drag?" asked Will, realising that Spinelli had been watching him.

"Nah, you're alright"

"You're so good, Dorothy "

"Shut up!"

"Try it then"

"Ok I will!" said Spinelli taking the cigarette from him, and inhaling deeply and pointedly. As the smoke filled her lungs, her head span, and she began to cough uncontrollably. She tried to regain her breath, and dignity, but it was useless her eyes were streaming as she coughed uncontrollably. Finally, Spinelli regained her composure, but was at a loss for anything to say to Will.

"No, you've got it all wrong" said Will, taking the cigarette from Spinelli to demonstrate "Put it to your lips, but not past your teeth. Rid your mouth of air, then put the cigarette to your mouth and suck the air into your mouth. Not your lungs like you just did. Then you hold the smoke there for a second and exhale normally, you'll also want to bring your tongue up so it nearly touches the butt of the cigarette, the smoke will travel along your tongue meaning you can taste it." (A/N: I've never smoked a cigarette in my life, so I got these instructions from WikiHow!)

He handed the cigarette to Spinelli and she took it, trying to take on board what he'd said, and mimic his actions. It felt different this time, her head still span, although not as much, and she let out a small cough but beyond that, it tasted good and she felt a mixed rush of pleasure and rebellion.

"Now that's hot" said Will, taking the cigarette from her hand, leaning across and kissing her. Spinelli was caught by surprise, only for a moment, but responded by kissing him back.

Will, who was apparently more experienced than Spinelli, threw the cigarette on the floor, and deepened the kiss. Although feelings rather out of her depth, Spinelli tried to hide this, mimicking his actions and trying to ignore the rather unpleasant taste of cigarette smoke, it was a little like kissing an ashtray. She really didn't want Will to think she was some stupid kid, who didn't even know how to kiss, all the kids kissed here! The only other person she'd ever kissed was TJ, from her fourth-grade kiss, she had the vague memory of a minty taste. She'd just assumed all kisses were like that, the almost-kiss she'd shared with TJ more recently was too brief to really take note of anything.

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So, Spinelli seems to have found a friend in Amy, and a new romance with Will (although boo! He's not TJ!) What do you all think of Will? Is he bad news, Spinelli's parents certainly seem to think so!

Rose-Aki: It was so sad writing the bits where TJ realised Spinelli had gone (although I found the bits where Spinelli was pushing him away sadder to write!) Things are certainly changing for Spinelli in her new life!

Aryal Stone: I used to watch all the time too, and used to love the cartoon, hence the fanfics now! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I'm definitely going to continue, its already complete, 64 chapters long! I'm not posting all at once, as I always proof read and find things to tweak! I'm glad you loved the connection between TJ and Spinelli, I really enjoyed writing those chapters! Keep reading to find out if they meet again in the future! Thank you so much for the reading, reviewing with such lovely words, and thank you for the support with adding this as a favourite!

Please review, it would make my day! If not, and you can offer me some constructive criticism, please do! I will just ask for "no flames" please? I am dyslexic, and have worked hard to make sure this is perfect, but if you see any, please highlight any spelling/grammar errors that I've missed in proof reading, please highlight them, so I can correct!

I will update as soon as possible, but can't update every day.

Big Cliffy Meanie