Untouchables
Chapter 1
The last bell before lunch sounded, and Nikita thankfully snapped her binder shut. She snatched up her bookbag and headed for the classroom door with quick, sure strides.
"Hey!" one of her good friends, Gabrielle, yelled after her. "Where's the fire?"
Nikita's best friend, Kat, shrugged, then quickly hurried out of the classroom too. She knocked into a few people, muttering sorries as she tried to catch up with her best friend.
She finally found Nikita perched on a ledge overlooking the senior hall. "There he is," Nikita whispered, knowing it was Kat without looking back. "Isn't he a god?"
Kat rolled her eyes. "Sure, Nikita. A real Apollo, that boy."
Nikita chose to ignore the sarcasm in Kat's voice and instead focused on her crush. "God, he's perfect."
"So first he's a god and now you're complimenting a single God for making him?" Kat wondered.
Nikita rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Kat, and just be happy to bestow your eyes on that wonder." She let a sigh escape her lips.
Walking confidently through the hall, his head thrown back and chest stuck out, was the most respected senior to ever set foot in Gato Verde High School. He always wore black. That day, he was wearing a tight black t-shirt and baggy black jeans. The only color in his outfit was the crimson armband tied tightly around his left bicep.
"Hi, Spot," said a giggly girl who had positioned herself directly beside his locker. He merely glanced at her, then turned back to twirling his combination on the lock. He swung the door open and pulled out a sack lunch, then continued on his trek down the hallway, slamming the locker behind him. The girl sighed dramatically and fanned herself with her hands.
"Pathetic," muttered Nikita. Spot Conlon was almost to them, and she jumped off the ledge, landing next to Kat. Nikita fluffed up her light brown hair and readjusted her lavender tank top. Spot was avoiding eye contact with everyone in the hallway, though the stares following him would've driven any reasonable person mad. He came closer and closer, until mere inches from Nikita.
"Hi, Spot!" she said brightly, falling into step beside him.
Or at least she tried to.
Her voice squeaked, coming out like she was a guest voice on Alvin and the Chipmunks. Then someone from behind jostled Kat, pushing her forward so that she hit Nikita. Kat caught her balance, but Nikita toppled right over in her platform Skechers.
Spot stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at Nikita, who was blushing as furiously as possible while trying to get herself up off the ground without flashing everyone, since she had worn her new cute jean miniskirt that day. Humor seeped into his eyes, and he gave a snort of laughter before heading back out on his parade. Kat, trying to salvage her friend's pride, helped Nikita to her feet.
"I'm so sorry!" the person who had knocked into Kat apologized, bending to pick up her books.
"Oh, don't worry about it," she answered, turning to smile. Her smile got caught and instead she wore a half-grimace as she set her eyes on Swifty Stea. One of the cutest boys in school.
Swifty wore a pair of cut-up, slightly loose jeans and a Jimmy Eat World t-shirt. Tied around the left sleeve of the brownish shirt was the deep red-colored armband which matched Spot's. He flashed her his beautiful smile and then handed her the books. "See ya around, Kat." He turned and followed Spot. She hadn't known that he knew her name….
Disappointed and having not even noticed Kat's brush with Swifty, Nikita was swearing to herself as she dusted off her outfit. "C'mon, let's go to lunch," she growled, turning on her heel and stomping off in the direction Spot and Swifty had gone, to the courtyard.
"The Crimson Gang." Nikita sighed as she watched the seventeen senior boys cross the Quad and, goofing around and joking, sit in the middle of it. The Quad was sacred ground at Gato Verde High. For years it had stood abandoned, no one ever feeling the need to sit there or even walk across it. Then Spot Conlon organized his Crimson Gang, and they had claimed it. Now it was forbidden for anyone sans crimson armband to so much as breathe on the patch of cement.
"Forget about it, Nikita," Kat told her, looking over at them too. "They're untouchables."
"So what's wrong with a little crush?" Nikita responded innocently, never taking her eyes of Spot.
"Because he's not just a member of the Crimson Gang," Kat reminded her. "He's the leader. The most untouchable of them all."
The two fell silent and watched them. The only thing they all seemed to have in common was the crimson armband, proudly displayed on the left bicep. That, and there was the fact that each of them was the best at whatever he chose to do.
Spot's mere presence, mere name caused even the most lion-hearted to tremble, and he was known throughout the city for his fighting. Cowboy, the second-in-command, was the best artist in a tri-county area. Mush was the swim-team captain and the school's ladies' man, for he was often seen serenading whatever eligible girl he decided he liked with early Elton John or Elvis songs. Swifty had broken almost every one of the school's cross country and track records, and was also the star center on the basketball team. Bumlets was known far and wide for his gymnastics skills, and had been named the MVP of the gymnastics team every year in high school so far. Kid Blink was a poet whose works had been published in "Teen People" magazine and also Chicken Soup For The Teenage Soul. Specs ran the A/V club and nearly always got the lead part in the spring musical. Crutchy was the teacher's pet, brown-nosing his way into conversations he probably should not have heard; therefore, he knew more about everyone in the school than anyone else, even more than the school nurse. Dutchy, known for his beautiful piano-, tuba-, and cello-playing, nearly directed the school band. Racetrack was the class clown, and he was known and liked by virtually everyone for his incredible talent at turning a classroom upside down. Davey was a bonafide genius, the senior class president, and a shoo-in for valedictorian. Skittery was the most crucial member of the debate team. Jake was a sheep farmer, and he always took the blue ribbon at 4-H competitions and shows. Snitch was an incredible bowler, who always bowled strikes. It wasn't anything rare for him to have a perfect game; it was more rare for him to get anything under 300. Itey, who shone on the golf team, had never once gone over par. Pie Eater was the school's huge football star; the only freshman to make the varsity team, and every year with him on the team they'd gone to state and won. Yet the most recognizable, after Spot, of course, was Snoddy, who was a school and town celebrity: a model for Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle.
Nikita looked around the courtyard, which was milling with students. Some bought food from the vendors, others had packed. Reaching back into her backpack, she pulled out a Diet Pepsi and grinned, bringing the plastic bottle to her lips. After taking a swig, she re-capped it and threw it back in her bag. "Follow me, Kat."
"Where are we going?" Kat said, obediently falling into step.
A few people watched interestedly as Nikita led Kat straight to the edge of the Quad. Then she plopped down on the grass and leaned forward so that her shadow almost—but not quite—graced the cement. Spot looked over from where he sat and scowled in annoyance.
At that moment, though, Cowboy, for no explainable reason, stood up and yelled "YEE-HAW!" A few of his admirers looked over and grinned. Spot turned to look at Cowboy to figure out what was going on.
Nikita used the split second to her advantage. As soon as Spot's head was turned, she stretched out one of her legs and set down one sneakered foot onto the smooth cement.
Instantly the constant buzz which normally droned at lunchtime was silenced. Everyone who wasn't on the Quad stared at Nikita, disbelieving. It took a moment longer for the Crimson Gang to notice what was going on. She still sat cutely in the grass, one foot on the Quad, as if unaware. She crossed the other leg over it, and jauntily bounced her foot in the air.
"Nikita… what are you doing?" Kat whispered.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant black figure stood in front of her. Nikita looked up and up, before finally meeting herself in a full-out gaze from Spot Conlon.
Hmmm… I never thought his eyes would be so dreamy close up, she thought. Or, for that matter, so scorchingly mad…
"What do you think you're doing?" Spot asked, trying to remain calm as he stared at her foot.
"Sitting," Nikita answered, trying to sound carefree and cute, though she hadn't counted on Spot's eyes being so hate-filled.
"Go sit someplace else." Spot was so angry, drops of spit were raining down on Nikita.
"It's a free country, isn't it?" Nikita said cheerfully back. She squinted up at him, keeping a pixie smile across her face.
"Not here, it isn't," Spot answered, then leaned down and picked her up in his arms.
Nikita giggled. "Oooh, Spot, I didn't know you cared!" she said, about to throw her arms around his neck.
She wasn't given the chance. Half a second later, she found herself sprawled, a jumble of arms and legs, three feet away from the Quad. Spot hadn't moved from his place. "Never, you hear?" he said threateningly, as much to everyone else in the courtyard as to Nikita.
Kat once again helped Nikita to her feet. "C'mon," she said in a low voice, and the girls ran across the courtyard, among snickers, to the school. Kat helped Nikita wash up in the bathroom, scrubbing at the grass stains.
"Well. That went better than I thought it would!" Nikita smiled.
Kat stared at her. "What are you talking about?"
Nikita dreamily gazed at her reflection in the mirror. "Well, Spot Conlon obviously knows who I am now."
"I'm not so sure that's a good thing," Kat said grimly. "Now c'mon, the bell is gonna ring any moment now." She threw the wet paper towels into a trash can and the girls headed out into the halls.