The unexpected Clique

"Annoying pest… Ugly fatso… Swimming Chicken…" Garfield muttered to himself while listening to Adam's annoying voice continuously saying: Thanks for the spotlight, loser. Garfield continued cussing as he walked down the hall to look for Kory. As he kept on walking, Raven came rushed out of the cafeteria to look for Kory as well. Raven looked up and saw Garfield who was walking towards her. What am I gonna do, she thought. Garfield, however, didn't see her coming since he was staring at the floor, still muttering those insults.

"Okay… J-just act natural…" Raven muttered under her breath. She was getting closer to Garfield who was still glaring at the ground.

"Time to speed up," she said to herself then started to walk faster. When she was closer to Garfield, she slipped. Garfield (who was still staring at the ground) slipped as well. Raven was on her back and Garfield fell on top of her. Just then, the Janitor, Mr. Matarazzo, came out holding a bucket of water and a mop.

"Tsk, Tsk. Kids these days! They never read the "Slippery" sign I put up to warn them about the slippery floor." He laughed as he moved on to clean the hall.

"Get off me, NOW!" Raven shouted at Garfield who was actually gazing at Raven.

"Ohmygoshit'sRaven…" he gasped. Garfield, being the goofy kid as always, never took ladies seriously until Raven came to Jump City. At first, Raven seemed like the typical shy new girl; therefore Garfield tried to befriend her. Raven was a regular kid. She biked, played in the park with friends and even wore bright clothes. The only thing unusual about her was that she loved dark poems, scary movies and supernatural stuff. After she adjusted to the new city, a group of girls had spread rumors about her being a witch. No one wanted to be friends with her anymore; even Garfield stepped back and was convinced that the rumors were true. Raven hid herself in her room the whole summer. She dyed all her clothes black, stayed away from the sun and became paler than ever. But even with the gothic, freaky look and the sour attitude, Garfield still liked her; after all, he used to have a crush on her.

"Oh, hi Raven." He said to her with his "dashing" smile.

"Hey. You're going blind aren't you?" she asked hoping that he'd explain his clumsiness.

"Oh… That! Right. It's Adam Finn, he's a real jerk," he told her as she nodded her head and rolled her eyes, "Btw, have you seen the Kory? I promised her that I'd have lunch with her and save her from humiliation on her first day."

"She went that way," Raven said as she pointed to the door behind him. "I'm looking for her, too. I thought she'd want to have lunch with me my pals."

"I know! Let's sit together," Garfield said as they walked to the door.

"Just don't humiliate me." Raven responded in her usual boring voice.

They walked out of the building and entered an open space with round tables which were already occupied by students. Garfield and Raven walked around and spotted Kory sitting with the most popular guys in school—Rich, Sam, Victor… and Adam??? Garfield was enraged when he saw his best enemy sitting with his new best friend. He walked to their table and was greeted by a mischievous Adam.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my newly-promoted towel boy," he said with a smirk. Garfield's fists were ready to punch until Rich stood up.

"Adam, sit down. You wouldn't want to be going to detention again," Rich reminded him. Kory stood up; she was happy to see her bus mates getting along.

"Hello friends! I have made a new friend in the place they call 'the cafeteria'… his name is Richard" she introduced Rich to them.

"And these are his friends; this is Victor, that is Sam and I believe you have met his other friend, Adam"

"Yeah, we met." Garfield said coldly with narrow eyes.

"Excuse me, Kory… But we need to talk." Raven quickly said and pulled Garfield and Kory to a corner.

"Raven, I was gonna tackle Adam right there!!! Why'd you pull me out?!" Garfield asked annoyingly.

"To stop you from getting your ass kicked,"

"Um, friend Raven, can you not see that Garfield does not have an ass? I do not see an animal anywhere." A concerned Kory asked Raven, thinking that Raven was referring to a donkey. (Donkey ass)

"Never mind… I'm sorry for what happened in the bus. My friends and I are inviting you to hang out with us for the rest of the year… So, wanna join us?" Raven asked. Kory looked from Raven to Garfield. Raven seemed nice and she wanted to join her, but when she looked at Garfield who looked goofy and lonely, she realized that he needed a friend too.

"Apology accepted, friend Raven. However, I would be pleased if Garfield can join us in this 'Hanging out' ritual. He needs companionship as well." She said giving Raven a bone-crushing hug.

"Y-yeah… K-kory, I c-cant breeeeaaaaathhh!" she told Kory who had suddenly let go of her out of embarrassment.

"Hey! Wait! Who says that I don't have friends???" asked a confused Garfield; no one answered him but Kory and Raven just grinned as they walked away from the corner.

"C'mon, let's get some grub!!!" Garfield shouted.

"You two may go ahead of me. I shall tell Richard that I will be having lunch with you," Kory told her new friends. As they left, she went back to Rich whose friends were teasing him about the new girl. Kory tapped Rich's shoulder and when he looked at her, Kory blushed again. Sam was a little jealous when he saw this but realized that Rich was his friend.

"Hey Kory, what's up?" he asked as he stood up.

"Um, I believe that the sky is up, Rich." She said with a giggle. Richard just smiled at her and let out a chuckle.

"Um… Is there, uh, anything you wanna tell me?"

"Oh yes! I would like to inform you that I will return to my friends right now. Thank you for all your help, Richard." She said with a smile. She walked away to catch up to Raven and Garfield. Rich gazed at her as she walked away. Victor stood up and patted Rich on the back.

"Ooooo! Do I sense 'love at first sight' here?" he teased Richard who looked down, still blushing.

"Vic, leave me alone. By the way, there's no such thing as 'love at first sight'." Rich confirmed. The table became silent; then after six seconds, Vic asked:

"You gonna ask her out?"

"Definitely," Rich replied with a grin.

Raven led Kory and Garfield to a table of 2 girls and a boy who were all in black. Raven walked to Brianna and her best friend Jenny and told them about her incidents with Garfield and Kory and explained to them why they would be sitting with them. Brianna stood up from her seat and greeted Kory by holding out a hand. Kory shook it but realized the Brianna, just like Victor Stone, had quite a grip. Jenny stood up and handed Kory a friendship bracelet made up of light blue and purple thread.

"Glad to have you with us," she said with a soft, brassy voice. As the girls did that, Matt welcomed Garfield into the group. First he started by hugging Garfield the way Kory tried to crush Raven. When he let go of Garfield, he grabbed the skinny guy by his shirt and said:

"Welcome to the team,"

"Yeah, no problem…" Garfield said, trying to recover from dizziness. The 6 of them sat down and started talking.

"We are "The Socially-Challenged"," said Jenny

"What a name… it fits you guys," he scoffed.

"Shut up," Raven snapped.

"Yes, Raven." He said quietly and felt like hiding under the table; Raven on the other hand felt terrible after saying that.

"That means that we treasure our privacy, green boy." Jenny continued.

"We also have one thing in common…" Brianna added in.

"And what is this that you have in common?" Kory asked.

"We hate those girls over there…" Matt said as he pointed at a bunch of girls fully clad in pink miniskirts and halters.

"That, too. But we're all artists. Matt can sing," Brianna interrupted. Matt smiled when he heard his name.

"Raven can write… she's a poet." Raven grinned, for the first time.

"And Jenny is into sculpture…" Jenny showed her calloused hands to show some evidence.

"I've been sculpting ever since I was 8," she said.

"Whadya do, Brianna? Dance?" Garfield asked.

"My specialty… tattoos." She said, flashing her bumblebee tattoo.

"That is beautiful, Brianna. My sister, Katie, had a tattoo applied to her bottom before. It looked nothing like this!" she said as she examined the tattoo. The other girls made a face at Katie's tattoo story while the boys tried picturing Katie's "bottom" in their minds. The bell rang. The students of Jump City High went through two more classes; and then the bell rang again. Kids spilled out of the building and went into their cars, mounted their bikes and set off, walking home.

Kory was in a classroom, talking to her Algebra teacher, Ms. Arachnida, who was impressed by her performance in class. Ms. A, was a tall, thin and pale lady who was as stern as their principal. She gave good grades to those who earned it and failed those who don't show interest in math. How can anyone love algebra so much?

"Kory, you've been so active in your first day in class… Did your mother teach you all this?" she asked as she looked at Kory's worksheets which had grades like 94, 92, 97 encircled.

"Yes, Ms. Arachnida. My older sister once left her Math Workbook at home and I decided to solve a number of problems with my mother,"

"How would you like to take Pre Calculus, child? It would be good for a college résumé."

"I shall ask permission from my parents first, Ms. Arachnida."

"Well, let me know tomorrow."

"Yes, I will. Thank you." She said then ran out of the classroom to get away from the freaky teacher. She ran out of the building to look for Katie. After looking for her sister for a few minutes, Katie's head poked out from a blue car that stopped in front of the school.

"Kor! I've got a ride home, so you're on your own again. Love ya, Bye bye!" Katie shouted.

"B-but, Katie! I do not know where our new home is!" Kory shouted back; but Katie didn't hear a thing for she was gone. Kory stood there and sighed. Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Rich. Kory blushed again when Rich grinned at her.

"Need a ride home?" he asked her with his usual "pulse-stopping" smile.