BlackFire- Not a Jack fan, I presume? Thanks for reviewing!
Mondie- Yes, I'm shocked. It's more than I've ever gotten!
Frenchy- Thanks for reviewing!
StardustDreamer- Hmm, never heard of that book… Thanks so much for the review!
Crunchy- YES! He DOES look like a goat! No one agrees with me on that! Thanks bunches for reviewing! Love to the Crunchy!
Falco Conlon- *nods* Know how it is with the profiles, luv. And YES! Update Burning Eyes… tis one awesome fic! (Eh heh, been reading it, just lazy on the reviews) Loves to Falco!
Studentnumber24601- No need to be scared of Armani!Spot! He is merely Spot, dressed in Armani! *Armani!Spot straightens suit and glares at B* Thanks for the review, luv!
Nerikla- Don't like modern day fics!? You must have not read the great ones! I would plug them here, but am too lazy. Ask me, you will not be disappointed. Thanks much for reviewing!
Raven- Sent you a profile! Thanks for the review!
Sparker- Heh, you always get me to smile. Such a wonderful reviewer you are *pats Sparker on the head*
Omni- Heh, I want Kloppy as a principal too! Actually, I want Kloppy as my grandpa. He's awesome! (I expect to see an update dance now!) Thanks for reviewing Omni luv!
SmartassLeprechan- Thanks for the great review!
Angelic One- *Poke* Where have you been, girly? Haven't talked to you in agesss! Thanks for the review!
Jaede Loriele Conlon- Where am I going with this? Like I'd give it away in the first chapter? XD! Thanks for the review!
Dreamer- Well, the sixth reviewer at least… Thanks for reviewing, hun!
SpottedOne- *snicker* JP, you're awesome! Thanks for the review!
Artemis-chan- Thanks for the review! I'll send you a profile uber soon,
Dannysgurlo2- Thank you for reviewing, hun! I'll send you a profile when I get the chance.
Deejay Superstar- That is SO funny that you mentioned Breakfast Club, cause it was playing in the background while I was writing that! It's where I got the Saturday detention idea from! Thanks for reviewing!
Sureshot Higgins- Sure I'll be in your fic! Just send me a profile! Thanks for asking! And thanks for the review as well!
Cards- Teehee. You are so cute. *bounces with Cards* Loves to you!
Skittles- *biiiig grin* Boy do I have an idea for us! Loves to the awesome Skittles!
Glitter Punk- Ah, Shade, my INSPIRATION! I LOVE YOU, SWEETIE!
Big thanks too: My good friend Chantal and Neiman Marcus Online for helping with the research for this fic. And a even bigger thanks to the wonderful Crunch for beta-ing.
~
IMPORTANT NOTE TO ANYONE WHO SENT ME PROFILES:
By sending me your profile, you are giving me rights to your character and how she/he is portrayed in this fic. That gives me the rights to do any tweaking I need to. In some cases, it's small things that I just need to fix so that it fits. In other cases it's much bigger. For instance, if your character RADIATES 'Mary Sue' she WILL be tweaked, no exceptions. That is, if she doesn't sicken me so much that I actually use her. Also, I know you think you're being cute and creative when you decide things about MY school, but it is just annoying. Please don't tell me what your character can and can't get away with, because I will decide, not you. Also, just so you know, there is a uniform at this school. Your character will be wearing a skirt whether you like it or not. If anyone has any problems with this, feel free to contact me at ShortLilQT721@aol.com
Thank you.
~~~
New Money
Room 4-16 was decorated entirely in beige and mahogany- rich people colors if I'd ever seen them. A big, plush, mahogany throw rug practically covered the polished wood floor, and upon it sat two beige couches facing a 48 inch TV set. Behind the rug, beige curtains covered a large picture window with a rather crappy view of the city. A small kitchenette was set up in the corner of the room, consisting of a mini refrigerator, a microwave, and a small table with three chairs set up around it. It reminded me a lot of a hotel room, actually. Okay, so if worst came to worst, I wouldn't mind hanging out here when I found out how much the rest of the school sucked.
Next to the kitchenette was a large oak door that I guessed led to where I'd be sleeping. I was right. Two huge four poster beds, with mahogany and beige bedspreads, of course, were pushed against opposite walls. One was covered in so much crap that I couldn't even see the bed. The floor next to it was much worse; clothes, CDs, schoolbooks, porno magazines, and countless other things were everywhere, including on my side of the room. Great, so my roommate was a slob.
I threw my bags down near the doorway and flopped down on the unused bed. I was wrinkling my suit, but I didn't care. I would be spending the next five months in an overpriced, sugar coated hellhole, and I wanted out!
Somewhere in the midst of my self pity, the door opened, and some guy, who I supposed was my roommate, entered. He was short with dark hair, and if his shirt hadn't proclaimed that it was 'Diesel,' I wouldn't have pegged him for being rich.
"You Sullivan?" he asked in a thick New York accent.
I shook my head. "Not anymore. Call me Jack Kelly."
He nodded, and I could tell he wanted to ask me why, but he didn't. "Anthony Higgins," he held out his hand to me, and I shook it. "But everyone calls me Racetrack. I, eh, have a bit of a gambling problem."
"Well, at least you have the money for it," I said, with a touch of bitterness in my voice.
He laughed at that, even though it wasn't supposed to be funny. "Guess so. So, Jack, rumor says you're here from Vegas?" His eyes shone when he mentioned Casino land. He really did have a problem.
I snorted at that. "Not even close. Santa Fe, New Mexico."
He looked deflated, "So you're a cowboy, huh?"
"Not everyone in the west is a cowboy."
"Yeah, but you look like one," I opened my mouth to retort, but he continued before I could say anything. "It's almost dinner time. How bout I introduce you to some of the people here?"
I nodded. Why not? Even though I was bound to hate them all. I got up and started to follow Race out the door, but he stopped me.
"You might want to change. No one dresses like that here."
Well, that was a relief! The best news I'd heard all day! Happily, I changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt from Structure. It seemed to be an okay outfit for a first impression; didn't make me look dirt poor, but at the same time, said: 'I'm not like you.'
Then, leaving the Prada suit in a crumpled heap on the floor next to my bed, I left the room and let Race lead me to the cafeteria.
~~~
The 'cafeteria' was really more of a four star restaurant. Every table was a booth that sat six, and each booth had candles on it. About thirty waiters went from table to table, taking orders and bringing out elaborately arranged food, which was probably more expensive than anything I'd eaten in my life.
Race and I sat down at one of the open tables, and almost immediately, a small girl with brownish-blonde hair wearing a waitress uniform came over to our table and handed us some menus. She was cute, and looked about my age- unlike the rest of the help, who seemed to be in their twenties.
"Hey, Scrappy," Race greeted the waitress. Scrappy; somehow that name did not seem to fit her…
"Hey, Race! Who's that?" Scrappy gestured to me with her thumb.
"His name's Cowboy. He's from Santa Fe."
"Actually, my name is Jack Kelly. Race just thinks that I'm a cowboy just because I came from the west," I introduced myself for real.
"Well, you would make a pretty hot cowboy…" she said with a flirty grin.
"Thanks," I smiled back at her. She was cute. I should really date more girls.
"Scrappy, don't you have tables to wait?" Race butted in. Scrappy nodded and took our orders, and we said goodbye. She scampered away quickly. "Cowboy, I know you're new, both to the school and to money, but that's not the type of girl you want to be seen with. She's the help for Christ sakes!"
"You seemed pretty friendly with her!" I retorted.
"It's called being nice so she doesn't spit in my food, Jack."
Okay, yes, he was definitely a rich snob…
"She's a student here, too," Race continued. "We're nice enough to her, but she really isn't one of us. You understand?"
No, I didn't understand, but I nodded anyways, just to change the subject.
"Good. A few guys have gone out with her, and she's friends with some of the girls, but being new, she's not who you want to hang out with. Anyway, I said I'd show you people, didn't I?"
I nodded again, kind of confused by his sudden shift of character. All of a sudden, he'd gone back to being the Race I'd met before.
"Okay, we'll start with the table next to us." He gestured to the table to our right, where a group of three guys and three girls were sitting. "The blond guy there, the one with glasses- that's Dutchy. Well, his name is Ivan, but he looks Dutch, and therefore is called Dutchy. He's going out with the redhead- Bridie, but we call her Carrot, cause of her hair… and also with the guy sitting between them- Mark, but his nickname is Specs."
"He's with both of them?" I asked.
"Yeah, but they don't know about each other."
"How is that possible?"
Race shrugged. "Not sure, actually. All I know is that Specs will kill Dutchy, Carrot, and then himself, when he finds out."
"Dutchy really must know what he's doing, then!"
"Yeah, that girl on the other side of Dutchy will kill him too. She's Hotshot. She's always liked Specs, but well, he's very gay. Instead she looks out for him. She doesn't belong here though, she hates money." Race pointed a disgusted look her way. "She shops at K Mart. Then the guy next to her on the other side is Danny, but we call him Snitch since Ms. Schook caught him stealing from the school treasury."
"Why would he steal? If he comes here, he obviously has money…"
"I don't know, why did Wynonna Rider shoplift? But not everyone needs money to be here. The girl next to him- his girlfriend- she doesn't have any. She's here on a musical scholarship." He let out a low whistle. "Girl's amazing with a flute, let me tell you. It's like fate that she plays flute, since her name's Lute. We call her Swinger, though, because she loves to swing."
I was confused. "Swing like on a playground?"
He looked at me like I was an idiot. "No, swing as in swing dancing."
"Oh."
"You ever seen Swing Kids?" I shook my head no. "You should, great movie. You know, a guy in it actually looks a lot like you."
"Oh. So wait, it's okay to date her, even though she has no money, but not Scrappy?"
"You seem to be missing the point," Race sighed. "Snitch has been here for a while. He can get away with dating outside his class. Anyway, Lute doesn't work here. It's different."
I wanted to ask him exactly how it was different, but I kept my mouth shut.
"There are a few others here on a scholarship," Race continued. "That over there…" he pointed to a girl with really awesome looking hair, long and blond with red highlights, "…is Dreamer. Take a guess at her nickname. She's here on an academic scholarship, and those two, Snoddy and Jake, are both here for athletics.
"The table next to them- you want to watch out for them, especially him." Race pointed to a sullen looking blond kid. "Spot Conlon is the self-proclaimed King of Brooklyn; his dad practically owns it. Don't cross him if you value your life, especially if you're new money."
"Him?" I asked incredulously, as he'd just stood up. "I see why they call him Spot then." The kid was fucking tiny. "People are actually afraid of him?"
Race looked at me with a serious face. "Looks can be deceiving. The only person he'll listen to is Shade." He pointed to a pretty girl on Spot's right. "She's kind of in an on-again-off-again relationship with him, but she can control him better than anyone else."
"Next to Shade, that's Drabs, because, well, look at her! She has money but doesn't know how to spend it. She's Shade's lackey, follows her around like a goddamn puppy dog. But then again, Conlon has his own groupie: Manca Campbell, known to some of the girls as 'Mm mm good'. You know, cause of Campbell's soup? His dad invented the clap on. He's new money just like you, but he is the most spoiled son-of-a-bitch you'll ever meet."
"Wait, which one is he?" I asked, trying to get this straight.
"The Italian kid trying to get Conlon's attention. See him?" He went on at my nod. "On the other side of him- that's Netty, our school's resident lesbian. Sure, we have others, but she's the only one who's really known for being a dyke. Rumor says she has a poor girlfriend living in the East Village."
"And over there," he nodded at another table, "that's Teacher and, oh hi, guys." He stopped to greet the three who'd just sat down at our table: two girls, both clad in Velour jumpsuits, and a curly haired guy in black Armani jeans and a light blue silk shirt. A pair of sunglasses hid his eyes, even though it wasn't all that bright in the room.
"Hi Race!" One of the girls said, with a big smile. She was much shorter than the other two, and wearing a pink jumpsuit.
"That's Shortie." Race introduced the girl who'd just spoken. "The other girl is Mondie, and he's Mush."
"He's gonna be in a movie!" Mondie simpered, gripping his arm.
Shortie glared at her and clung to his other arm. "Yeah! His dad's Mike Meyers! He's going to be in the next Austin Powers movie!" she cried with a huge smile. I briefly wondered how much money her parents spent on dental work.
Mush removed his sunglasses. "Who are you?" he asked bluntly.
"That's Jack Kelly." Race said.
"Oh, you're the Cowboy. Scrappy's been telling all of her tables about you."
I wasn't really sure what to say to that, but Race saved me. "Where's your third groupie?" he asked Mush.
"We're not really sure where Skittles is." Mondie said, tilting her head a little.
"We're not complaining, though! More Mush for us!" Shortie grinned again and kissed Mush on the cheek, then shot a triumphant look at Mondie, who just scowled. This school was seriously messed up.
"There she is." Race pointed to the door, where another girl in a velour jumpsuit was entering.
"Excuse me girls!" she called, sauntering over. "I believe that Sunday is my day with Mushy!"
Reluctantly, Shortie and Mondie let go of Mush. He kissed each of them on the lips before relocating with Skittles to an empty table.
Race smirked at me, "Confused?"
I nodded, "Immensely."
"Oh, it's not so hard!" Mondie said, "See, we're all best friends and roommates, and we all fell for the same guy."
"But who wouldn't? I mean, look at him!" Shortie put in breathlessly.
"So instead of fighting over him, we just decided to share him." Mondie continued.
"I get Mondays and Fridays, Mondie gets Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Skittles gets Thursdays and Sundays, and we alternate for Saturdays and social events." Shortie mapped it out.
I blinked, "You share him?"
"Yup!" Mondie nodded.
"And what does he think of that?"
"What do you think, man? He loves it." Race smirked.
"Hey Mondie, wanna go dig through Mush's laundry?" Shortie asked.
Mondie's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I could always use another pair of his boxers!"
"Bye Race! Bye Cowboy!" Shortie called to us as they both ran away giggling.
"That was…" I couldn't even find the words.
"Yeah, I know," Race nodded. "You'll get used to them."
Scrappy brought our food out then, and I must say, it was definitely a perk to this place. The food was fucking amazing- not school food in the least. I was so absorbed in my Chicken Marsala that I hadn't even noticed Spot Conlon and Manca were standing in front of our table until Spot cleared his throat. Manca followed suit a few seconds after.
I looked up at them, ready with a snarky comment, but it caught in my throat along with my breath when my eyes landed on the most intense pair of blue eyes I had ever seen in my life. They were cold, yet warm at the same time, if such a thing even makes sense. I felt like they could see right through me, into every emotion I'd ever felt, every secret I ever kept. I felt vulnerable and naked beneath them, and honestly, I couldn't have cared less.
"You're new money." a voice said, sounding as though it was from far off. It took me a minute to realize this statement was directed at me, by the owner of those amazing eyes: Spot Conlon.
"Huh?" I answered eloquently.
"You, you're new money," Manca repeated, practically verbatim.
I blinked and swallowed a few times to wet my suddenly dry mouth. "What?" It seemed that I'd lost all control of my speech.
"He's Jack Kelly, the Cowboy." Race answered for me.
"He's new money." Spot stared at me and flipped back a stray lock of hair. He had to have been the sexiest person I'd ever seen. I was being obvious, but I couldn't stop staring at him!
"So's you're shadow." Race pointed out. Manca glared at him and punched his fist into his other hand, but Spot just ignored him.
"I don't like new money, Cowboy. You don't belong here."
My vocal cords still didn't seem to work. I just couldn't take my eyes off his. I'd been with guys before, but I hadn't looked at any of them quite this way. It was like everyone else in the room had disappeared and it was only Spot and I, in oblivion that would last forever.
And from that moment on, I had hopelessly fallen for the King of Brooklyn. And I knew how much trouble that could bring.
~~~