Hey, peeps! This chapter is kinda long but it would have been even longer if I had left it attached to the previous chapter instead of cutting in two.
Anyway, the Disclaimer applies here as well as "Barbie does not belong to me."
'thoughts'--in-head thoughts, "everything else"--spoken words.
On with the show!
Chapter Three-Introductions and Confrontations
After picking up both Tucker and Sam (the latter taking a little bit longer since Danny had to sit through a ten-minute interrogation by Sam's parents), Danny pulled into the high school's parking lot. The three friends piled out of the car and headed up to the school. They were starting their junior year and were hoping that this first day would be better than last year's.
"Hey, Fen-Turd!"
This was going to be pretty much the same as the previous years.
Danny sighed as he opened his locker. "Hello, Dash."
"Well, well, well. Looks like little Fentina finally grew up! What am I going to do, now that you don't fit in the lockers?" Dash sounded wounded and held his hand to his chest, garnering a laugh from the students around him.
Danny sighed again and shut his locker. "Nice to see you too, Dash," Danny mumbled so that only Sam and Tucker could hear him. Both friends suppressed grins. Danny could have easily taken Dash, but he didn't like using his ghost powers against innocent people, even if they were as annoying as Dash Baxter.
The three teens made their way to their first class, which just happened to be English with Mr. Lancer. (Yep, it's an appearance by everyone's favorite teacher!) They made their way to the back of the classroom and sat down. For the next ten minutes, they talked amongst themselves as students slowly drifted into the room.
Soon, the bell rang and Mr. Lancer called his class to attention and started to take roll. When he was about halfway through, there was a knock on the door. Mr. Lancer went to open it and there was a hushed conversation. Mr. Lancer nodded a couple of times and stepped back into the classroom.
"Well, class. It seems we have a new student joining us today. Come on in."
The door opened completely and a girl stepped into the room. She had long blond hair that had bright blue streaks and was tipped with the same bright blue, bright green eyes and tan skin. Her t-shirt was dark green and had a white dragon on the front with the words 'Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with tomato sauce'. She wore dark denim capris that were frayed at the ends and had various patches sewn on the legs. Her outfit was completed with bright yellow sneakers with green laces and little drawings.
Mr. Lancer coughed to get the attention of his class. He said, "Everyone, this is Alexandra Stokes. Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, Miss Stokes?"
The girl smirked. "First of all, the name's Alex. And don't even think of changing it to something else. You won't like the consequences." This last bit was said with a scowl and a hint of anger in the girl's voice.
The class laughed a little nervously and Mr. Lancer merely harrumphed.
"Not much to say about me. My parents, my little brother, and I just moved here about a week ago from a little town outside of Orlando. My brother Adrian is the most annoying person in the world."
Another nervous laugh rippled through the classroom. Mr. Lancer pointed to an empty desk in the back of the room. "Why don't you take a seat behind Miss Manson? Then we can get started."
Alex made her way to the back of the room, sat down in the assigned desk, and pulled out a well-worn notebook. As Mr. Lancer turned to the board, Alex started drawing the people in her class. When the overweight English teacher went to ask her a question, hoping to catch his new student off-guard, he was rewarded with a correct answer even though she never looked up from her notebook.
Sam, Tucker, and Danny shared a glance and were about to ask Alex a question when the bell rang. The students gathered their stuff and headed off to their other classes.
Alex stopped at her locker to check her schedule. She had Western History next, but she didn't know where the room was. She turned to see if she could find someone to show her around when someone bumped into her. She dropped the books she had been carrying. She apologized, even though it wasn't her fault, and bent down to pick up her dropped supplies.
Suddenly, there was a girl on the floor next to her, helping her gather her stuff. Alex looked up and saw that it was the same girl she had sat behind in English.
Sam finished helping the new girl pick up her stuff and stood up. Danny and Tucker appeared behind her. The new girl stood up and brushed herself off. She then stuck out her hand and said, "Thanks. Not many people would risk their reputations to help the new kid. I'm Alex and you are…?"
Sam took the offered hand and shook it. "I'm Sam Manson. The two guys behind me are Danny Fenton," He inclined his head at her, "and Tucker Foley." Tucker didn't say anything. He just stared, not even trying to flirt with the girl. "And don't worry about our reputations. We don't exactly go with the popular crowd."
Alex looked from one face to another. "Could have fooled me. Anyway, it's nice to meet you all. Can any of you show me where Western History is?"
Tucker spoke up then. "Sure. I'll show you. I'm headed that way anyway."
Alex nodded her thanks and they set off, not wanting to be late. Sam and Danny headed in the opposite direction.
They walked in silence for awhile, contemplating Alex's words. Sam was the first to break the silence. "Do you think she meant when she said we could have been with the popular crowd?"
Danny shrugged and squeezed Sam's hand. "That wasn't what confused me. Did you notice that Tucker wasn't trying to hit on her?"
Sam thought back to their meeting and was startled by what she remembered. She gasped. "You're right! I thought Tucker flirted with any and all girls. Maybe he's been possessed by a ghost."
Danny chuckled. "Nope. My ghost sense didn't go off. He was the Tucker we know and love." In his head, Danny said to himself, 'Not all girls.' The couple sped up their steps so they wouldn't be late to class.
The rest of the morning passed without incident. In fact, Danny only had to fight one ghost (The Box Ghost, of course!) and even then, he didn't miss any class because he showed up just as Danny was heading to lunch.
Sam and Tucker sat down at their usual table and waited for Danny. Sam opened her sack lunch and pulled out a turfwich while Tucker sat down with a plate loaded down with the Casper High's infamous 'Meatloaf Surprise.' Danny showed up a few minutes later and sat down with a sandwich and some chips. Tucker scanned the crowd and spotted Alex. He waved to get her attention and motioned for her to join them.
Alex wound her way to their table and sat down, a notebook in one hand, a brown sack in the other. Alex set the sack down and opened the notebook, continuing her sketch of Mr. Lancer from her morning class. No one said anything for a few minutes. When Alex finished her sketch, she set the notebook down and opened the sack, pulling out a blue container with a red lid, a bottle of water, and an apple.
Sam was the first to say anything. "So, Alex, you don't like cafeteria food either?"
Alex grimaced and shook her head. "Eww, no. Do you know what they put in that stuff? Makes me sick just thinking about it."
Sam perked up at this and Tucker stopped shoveling food into his mouth.
Sam decided to risk it and asked, "So are you vegetarian or do you like to eat meat?"
Alex shrugged. "Some meat's ok," Sam's face fell a bit at that but Alex continued anyway, "but I don't think I could do Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian. Besides, I like to eat stuff that's been freshly prepared." With that, Alex opened the container. Inside were three California Rolls and two pieces of Smoked Eel sushi.
After seeing Alex's lunch, Tucker blanched and dropped his fork. He could eat pretty much anything but when it came to raw fish, he just couldn't stomach it.
Danny paid no real attention to what the group was eating. He was eyeing Alex's sketchbook. He noticed the drawing of Lancer and thought it looked real.
Alex noticed this and turned the notebook towards Danny. He looked up to see her grinning. "Go ahead. Have a look. You're not gonna hurt anything." Alex picked up her chopsticks and continued eating.
Danny wiped his hands on a napkin, not wanting to get chip grease on everything, and picked up the notebook. He flipped to the front of it and started looking at the pictures. Most were of a city from somewhere high up, with a few portraits thrown in. Danny was surprised to see that, like the drawing of Mr. Lancer, most of these looked like photographs instead of drawings. "Wow, Alex. These are amazing. They look so real," Danny remarked as he flipped forward through the notebook.
Then something caught his eye. On one page of the notebook was an outfit description and sample designs. On the page next to it was a picture of an unusual creature wearing the aforementioned outfit.
Danny turned the notebook to Alex and pointed to the picture. "Alex? Who's this?"
Alex looked up from her lunch and nearly choked on her sushi. 'Oh, crud. I forgot that picture was in there.' She coughed a little and looked into Danny's questioning gaze. "She was…my…uh…friend…before I had to move. Her name is Demonica." 'Well, that was close.' She regained her composure and finished eating.
Danny wasn't quite convinced but he handed the notebook back to Alex. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Paulina whispering to her groupies. When she stood up and started their way, Danny turned back to his friends and said, "We should leave. Paulina's headed this way."
"No." Alex turned her notebook to a fresh page and started a new drawing.
Danny started. "What do you mean, 'No'?"
"Just that. We shouldn't have to leave simply because some popular girl says so," Alex calmly replied while adding more to her sketch.
Danny stared open-mouthed at her while Sam gave her a genuine smile. 'This girl's got guts.' was the thought that ran through Sam's head. Just then Paulina made her presence known.
"Excuse me. You're Alex, right?"
Alex merely nodded, choosing to continue her drawing.
Paulina continued, ignoring the fact that the new girl hadn't answered her. "Well, I was just wondering why you were sitting with these losers when you could be sitting with the popular people." Paulina waved her arm behind her in a vague gesture to the table she had been sitting at.
Alex turned to her then. "The only people I see here are Danny, Sam, and Tucker, all of whom are great people to be around and just happen to be my friends. The only loser I see is you. You are nothing more than a stuck-up Barbie clone who can't think for herself and has to have a flock of mindless sheep follow you around and bow to your every whim. Now, if you don't mind, I'll ask you to leave before you ruin my appetite any more than you already have."
Alex turned back to her notebook and put the finishing touches on her sketch. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at her, some with their mouths hanging wide open, and there was no sound in the entire room. Paulina simply stood at the end of the table with her mouth hanging open, staring at the new girl.
Alex turned to the three people sitting in front of her. Danny and Tucker had similar expressions: eyes wide and mouths open. Sam had a huge smile on her face. Alex turned the notebook around so the three of them could look at her new sketch.
Danny and Tucker stopped staring long enough to look at the picture in front of them. Sam looked at it as well. All three of the teens broke out in huge grins and started to laugh. Alex had captured Paulina at her most unique. The sketch showed Paulina in a shepherdess outfit with Anime-eyes and her mouth clear to the floor. Behind her was a small flock of sheep who had similar expressions. In one corner, Alex had even drawn little figures of Sam, Danny, and Tucker who were clapping. The entire drawing was topped by the words, The Shepherdess and her Sheep.
Alex put on a big grin and gathered her supplies. She got up from the table and, as she passed Paulina, gave her a sickeningly sweet smile and said loud enough for the entire lunchroom to hear, "You might want to close your mouth before the flies think it's a garbage pit to make a home in."
With that, Alex walked out of the cafeteria leaving behind a stunned silence from the popular table and small smiles from her new friends.
Well, what did you think? I loved dissing Paulina! Gummi bears and a yellow Peep if someone draws that sketch.
Leave a review and tell me what you think!