DISCLAIMER: Sierra and Jaryn own themselves, but are featured in this chapter and parts of the story.
Chapter 2:
Paige Michalchuk and her best friend Hazel Aden walked around the halls of Degrassi, their daily routine since they could remember. "Hazel, I totally need my hair redone," Paige was complaining. "I ran out of hair spray for the third time in two months, and my parents REFUSE to give me the money for another stylist to fix this."
"What do they want you to do for the money?"
"Clean out the disgusting garage again. Ugh, the last time they wanted me to do that, I got paid by you and Spinner to go out with J.T. Yorke, that little Grade 9 kid."
"We can do it all over again, if you want," Hazel said as the bell rang.
Paige saw the mysterious twinkle in her eyes, and shook her head. "No way, Hazel, I am NOT going through the date from Heaven and Hell again. I don't need the money THAT bad."
"Well, then I guess you're stuck cleaning out the garage." They were rushing to get to Media Immersion when they ran into a girl walking the halls.
"Hey!" Paige cried as she tripped over the girl's foot and fell to the floor. "Watch where you're going!"
"You watch where you're taking off to. Not everyone is gonna be as nice as I am when it comes to accidents like this."
Paige scoffed as Hazel helped her to her feet. "New girl?"
"What's your point?"
"What grade?"
"10th. Know the way to this dude named..." She checks her schedule "...Mr. A. Simpson?"
"Media Immersion," said Hazel. "Right this way. We're headed there too."
xoxoxo
"Alright class, today we have a new student," Mr. Simpson announced, walking around the classroom filled with computers. "She comes to us from our southern brethren, the United States of America. Please stand up and tell us a little about yourself."
Sighing, the girl stood up and looked around. "My name is Krystle, but call me Krys. I came here from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I didn't ask to be here, I didn't ask to come here. I had no choice. I'm only here to learn, graduate, and get out. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll earn a few acquaintances while I'm here."
She sat back down, and the class was silent. Then, a hand rose into the air. "Yes, Mr. Manning?" asked Mr. Simpson.
A nasally voice sounded, and Krys wrinkled her nose. He sounds like he has a permanent cold, she thought. "Yeah, hi, my name's Craig Manning, but you can call me Craig. I just wanted to know...what's Philly like?"
"It's hard to explain, seeing as how I never really was the outdoors type. History-wise, it was great. Traveling down to 2nd Street, you could see a lot of historical things, like the Independence House, and Betsy Ross's home. If you go to 5th Street, you'll be able to see the Liberty Bell near Independence Hall. On 15th Street, there's City Hall, and a few other things. If you're into culture and the arts, there's the Kimmel Center, and the Art Museum. Food, there are a lot of food courts and stands in the city, but our personal trademark would be the cheesesteak and the soft pretzel." She had a misty look in her eyes as she spoke about the city she came from. "There are a lot of great things about Philly, but also a lot of horrible things as well. Things that wouldn't be appropriate to go into here in school."
"We have plenty of time, Krystle," Mr. Simpson said, wanting to learn more about his newest student. "And we had a tragedy of our own here not too long ago, so it would come to no surprise what you would tell us."
"Fine." She told them of school shootings in her old high school, fires being set in the lockers and bathrooms, tons of empty classrooms, students who didn't want to learn, students who fought their teachers, and a lot more. "And that's just in SCHOOL," she said. "The things outside the schools were worse. A lot worse."
xoxoxo
Coming out of MI, Krys left the classroom with her bookbag over her shoulder. Turning the corner, she saw a young girl with reddish brown hair and piercings talking to another girl who was similar to her, and a young girl with gray eyes and blackish brown hair. "Ellie, this is kickass," she said, looking at sheets of paper. "I love these songs, I can't wait to try them out."
"You're welcome, Ash," the Ellie girl said. "Si, have you talked to Marco lately?"
"Not for a few hours, El," the Sierra girl, a pretty girl with long brown hair, said. "The last time I talked to my dear cousin was this morning before his mama dropped us off. I need to grab Mindy and Jaryn and go over our dance routine this week before Paige and Manny have our heads."
Dance? Wrinkling her nose, Krys walked ahead of them, ignoring their looks of curiosity. "Preps and punks," she whispered to herself. "What's next, the wannabe thugs?"
Just then, two boys and a girl came through the hallway, bumping people into lockers, and laughing loudly. "Sean, man, classic!" one of the boys said, slapping hands with the one in a knit cap and a hoodie. "Keep these punks in check."
"I know right," the boy, Sean said, slapping the other boy's hand. "Jay, Alex, man, who's the new girl?"
They had stopped her in the hallway and had ganged around her. The boy Sean had called Jay knocked her books out of her hands, and looked at her mockingly. "Got an eye problem, girly?" he asked, smirking at her.
She picked up her books, then looked Jay dead in the eyes. "Fuck. You," she said calmly, then pushed past him and Sean, walking her own way. Turning back to them, she said, "You think you're all bad boys, don't you? I've seen worse. You're a bunch of sissies compared to them."