October. The gathering of rejects p.2

Starting school a month into the year was never Kori's ideal situation, but here she was.

She knew her older sister would manage to turn the situation around. She'd make a glorious entry as the cool, mysterious newcomer. Kori wasn't sure she could work the same magic.

But she chased those thoughts away. This was the first time in her life she was in a school her sister wouldn't be attending, and she wouldn't ruin it by invoking Komila. Her sister was far away finishing high school in Spain, and this was Kori's chance to get out from under her shadow.

First things first. She went to the Secretary's window, got her schedule and found out what her first class was. Then she faced an American locker for the first time in her life. She had only just figured it out, when a girl's voice said, "Hi."

Kori turned with a smile. Three girls were looking at her with smiling faces. "Hello," she returned, relieved and nearly giddy. Was she being engulfed by a friend group already? Could it be so easy?

"Oh, I really love your hair, honey," said the girl who had first greeted her. She herself had smooth tan skin and long black hair.

"It's so red!" said another girl, the one with rosy pale skin and a blonde pixie cut. "Isn't it, Jade?" she asked the first girl.

"Thank you," Kori made out.

Jade laughed. "Aww. Just like Komi said, so sweet and shy."

That was when things started going downhill. Kori slowly lost her smile.

Jade turned to the other blonde. "Kitty, this is who we were telling you about. Komi's little sister."

"The little sister who used to stick rocks up her nose," said the girl with the pixie cut, covering her mouth in a mock whisper. "And had to be rushed to the hospital one time."

"Oh my God, that's her?" Kitty dutifully added.

They were freely snickering now.

"Okay, stop, you guys." Jade made a show oflooking at the others reproachfully. "What's your first class, sweetie?" she asked Kori, and made a grab for her schedule.

Kori held it close to her chest. She would have liked to defend herself, except she had forgotten what little English she knew. So she simply closed her locker and walked away, with the three girls' now unabashed laughter following her.

She dashed to wherever –because she had no idea where her first class was- and tried not to cry. Komi's shadow followed her. She'd been a fool to think she could ever get out from under it.

Dick first became aware of Kori in Dr. Light's Physics class.

"Korina Andro… Androko…-" struggled the teacher.

"Androkinova," the girl said helpfully.

Dick heard laughter arise with her intervention, inexplicably. Had he missed something? The name wasn't funny.

He tuned into the whispers that rose around him, and heard a girl tell someone, "That's Komila's little sister."

Which meant nothing to him.

The girl at the front of the class had incredibly green eyes, an enormous smile, warm golden-brown skin, and lots of red curly hair. She was tall, and stood to her full rightful height. He thought she looked older than them—more like a diplomat model sent to talk to them than a fellow classmate—and the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. He looked away before he did something stupid, like blush.

Were the other girls sneering at her because she was too pretty? …Did girls do that in real life?

The girl introduced herself in tentative English, proving Dick's impression that he was before a foreigner. When Jade Nguyen-Crock openly laughed at it, Kori looked at her with a cool hatred that froze Dick in place, and he wasn't even the recipient of it. That glare promised trouble. It surprised him that he kept hearing the giggles; those girls seriously didn't know what they were messing with.

Every single guide and list Kori had anxiously googled in preparation for her first day of school agreed in a single point: the best thing for making friends was joining a club.

So in her first free period, Kori went hunting for one.

To say it went badly would be an understatement. A few clubs told her they had already filled their quota—apparently the maximum number of members for some clubs was thirteen, or eight, or four. Others told her she had to have been at school for a longer period of time, or she had to have joined the middle school version of this club to get in. The Chess Club adamantly denied that they were the Chess Club, even as they sat inside the room whose door said Chess Club, with several chess games going on around them.

After the tenth club rejected her, she was forced to admit there was a pattern. Her suspicions kept pointing back to those three girls—Jade, Angel and Kitty, she had learned. She had to conclude they were sabotaging her; the alternative was thinking there was something so wrong about her that no one wanted her around, and Kori wasn't ready to succumb to that level of hopelessness yet.

Before the day was over, she was going to confront those girls. It wasn't as much a decision as something Kori knew would inevitably happen. She was finally free from her sister's influence. Would she let her minions defeat her? Kori sat in her fourth period class and glared at the back of Jade's head. No. Certainly not without a fight.

In the hallway, one of the popular girls talked to Dick, which was weird.

"Hey. You have a club, right? You're the leader?"

"Yeah?" Dick admitted.

The girl tossed back her glossy blonde hair. This was Kitty, Dick knew. Popular people were like popular songs: you were forced to know them, whether you wanted to or not.

"Okay, listen, this new girl who just started here, the redhead?" Kitty said. "I wouldn't let her into your club if I were you."

"Uh-huh," was Dick's noncommittal reply.

"Yeah, I heard she steals from the treasury from whatever club she's in," Kitty said, putting on fake concern in her voice. "That's why she got transferred from her last school."

"Really." Dick saw the real message the girl was trying to deliver. The popular kids hated the new girl. If you let her into your group, you were getting bullied too.

"Yeah. So keep that in mind." Kitty was watching for his answer closely.

Dick decided to go with sarcastic deference. "How could I not trust you?"

She looked him up and down, appalled. "Are you flirting with me? Ew."

And she flew away in disgust, which worked well enough for Dick.

A school day, when you're all alone, stretches to unbelievable degrees. Kori trudged on, weighed down by the anxiety and boredom that came with belonging to no one in a brand new place. Every time she went back to her locker, she noticed the changing patterns of sunlight on the hallway as the hours passed, with nothing better to occupy her mind. Friends talking cheerfully around her sounded too loud to her ears, and cast a stark contrast on her own aloneness. These were all sensations Kori knew well.

Her earlier courage had all but evaporated. She couldn't confront her sister's friends. What if she was wrong? She had no proof against them, and with her shaky command of the language, she had no way to eloquently prove them to be villains.

And really, maybe… maybe she'd been too quick to decide she wasn't the problem. Maybe it was her after all. Maybe she was so weird and off-putting that she didn't even realize how much she turned people off. Maybe there was no great ploy against her: maybe it was just Kori herself.

By her lunch period, she was exhausted. She was already wary of cafeterias from what she'd seen in movies, so she didn't even try to enter this one. She looked around the school for a deserted spot instead.

That was how Dick found her, making camp in a hallway next to a stairway.

Something pushed him to ask, "Hey. You okay?"

Kori looked up and locked her impossibly emerald eyes on Dick. Mr. Mod had just yelled at Dick to take off his sunglasses in school, so Kori got to appreciate his light blue eyes in turn. In that moment where the two first properly met, all of human history slid to a stop and fate rearranged itself, to make space for the epic love story those two were meant to have.

But for now, Dick only thought again how pretty she was, and when that subsided, he recognized the sadness in her eyes.

Then he noticed she was holding a sandwich in a paper bag.

"Hey, um… it's actually against the rules to eat in the hallways."

"Oh," she said simply. There went one more mistake. She was close to not caring. "What if no one comes?"

"Well then I guess nothing's against the rules," he reflected. Then he decided, what the hell, and sat next to her. "Tell you what. Let's both get in trouble."

Kori was immensely relieved, even over the nervousness that she'd blow this. In any place in the world, she thought, there was always the rare kind specimen who would be nice even to someone as odd as her.

Dick took out a bag of cookies –it was all he had since he would've bought lunch at the cafeteria- and struck up a conversation. "Your name, is it Russian?"

"That is close," she replied, smiling. "It is Tamaranean."

Dick stopped chewing. "I've never heard of that place."

"It is a little country, and it is near Russia." She doubted then. "You… did not know my sister, then?" People she met usually already knew about Tamaran—because they knew Komi.

"I don't think so," Dick replied. "Maybe I just missed her. I was homeschooled for a year before coming here." He was met with a vacant glance, then she looked away. "Uh, that's when you don't go to school and tutors teach you at home instead. Or sometimes it's your parents, but… I had tutors."

She nodded in understanding. "Perhaps I would like to try that instead of come here," she said, smiling sadly.

No, don't, thought Dick, though he couldn't say why. He saw the pamphlets peeking from her bag and commented, "Wow, you're joining all those clubs?"

Her gaze was suddenly liquid again. "No," she said simply.

And then he remembered the conversation with Kitty in the hallway. Dick wanted to kick himself. He hadn't been paying enough attention to connect the dots, and now he felt like an idiot.

He put his cookies down. "Hey, listen. I need to tell you something."

He told her what he knew—about Kitty's warning against her, and how he thought she was probably saying that to everyone. As he talked, he thought her sad eyes solidified into strong emerald, relief washed over her face, and Dick knew he'd done the right thing.

"I thank you for saying this to me," she said solemnly. She stood. "Please excuse me now."

Dick watched her walk into the cafeteria and felt an inexplicable growing dread. Led by something he couldn't name, he quickly picked both of their stuff and followed her.

The next chain of events happened extremely quickly.

Kori making a beeline for the popular kids' table. Kori pushing Jade Nguyen-Crock down onto the bench, and holding a lunch tray to her head for some reason. Dick running after Kori to try to talk her down. Kori saying something along the lines of 'Never coming after her again' before continuing in another language. Jade looking terrified in an undignified way, as Angel Edenfield screamed bloody murder, and Kitty obediently followed suit. Suddenly the principal was there. Next thing Dick knew, he and Kori both were sitting outside Blood's office, waiting for a verdict and under the watchful eye of the school Secretary.

Kori had morphed back into her harmless soft self, and she was currently throwing Dick guilty glances. Dick was in silence, still processing what had happened. When the secretary left the office for a moment, Kori leaned over to Dick.

"I do not know enough English to defend myself with words," she whispered, "I am so sorry you are in this problem too."

It took Dick a second to understand that was the explanation as to why she'd resorted to violence. He had never seen someone so cute and dangerous at the same time. He was fascinated. "Don't worry about it," he replied. "Detention's not a big deal to me."

Principal Blood came out and indeed decreed detention for the end of the day. They were allowed out after an hour, having served detention under the half-hearted vigilance of the school Secretary.

Dick looked up at Kori –she was like a full head taller than him- and said, "Okay, listen. I happen to be a club leader. That's why I knew what Jade's group was doing to you. Would you like to j-"

"Yes."

Kori had still been contrite as they left the classroom. Now her entire vibe had changed. She was brimming with excitement.

"No, let me finish. Here's the thing about the club-"

"I accept, let us go."

Kori pulled him along the hallway. Dick let himself be pulled.

When they went into the clubroom, the other three were still there. Gar and Vic did a double-take at them. Raven, as usual, didn't.

"Kori, this is Gar, Victor, and that's Raven."

Kori went forward and said hello to both boys. She gazed at Raven, hesitated a moment, and ultimately went to the elusive girl.

"Uh, Dick?" Gar started. "Why did you invite the crazy girl everyone says almost killed Jade?"

"Because I'm a genius, Gar," Dick replied.

It slowly dawned on Gar, and he smiled. "If you add the girl no one wants in their club, no one else will want to join ours. Dude!"

Vic looked downright skeptical at Dick. "Yeah. The fact that she's hot has nothing to do with it."

Dick ignored him, and they watched as Kori tried to make contact with Raven. The redhead had gotten as much as a passing glance, and even a returned handshake before Raven delved back into her reading.

Admitting defeat, Kori made her way back to the boys. "I realized I did not let you tell me the… the meaning of the club?"

They boys turned to Dick. Gar with unmitigated faith; Victor was just waiting expectantly for the new bullshit.

"The meaning of the club," Dick said airily, "is celebrating laziness."

Kori's presence in the clubroom was marked by the addition of a portable stove, an electric kettle, and a few pots and pans and utensils, because she said she wanted to make them recipes from her country. For now, those additions simply occupied the entire counter and half a shelf, making the small clubroom seem even smaller.

Gar examined their new existence. The new normal was the five of them bothering each other in a too-small space most days starting three pm. During the day, they moved separately, each going through their particular set of obstacles, in Gar's case mostly in the form of bullies, because Jade had made good on her tacit promise and the five of them were marked for associating with Kori. But in the afternoons, they came together, they'd go to the clubroom and… did that count as hanging out if they barely talked to each other?

Right now, around the clubroom, Dick was doing some kind of homework. Victor was scrolling on his phone. Pretty soon he'd get a text from one of his friends and leave. Raven had her nose deep in a book. Was it always the same book? He didn't dare look at her long enough to find out—let alone ask her. Kori was reading a magazine with way more attention than it probably deserved, lost in her own little world. Everyone was quiet; everyone was doing their own thing.

The clubroom was a safe place, yes. They were getting credits for nothing, which Gar didn't really care about. But was that all he could hope for? Were they never going to be more than… ploy partners?

Gar tried to break the ice one day. He waited until they were all about to leave; they were in the hallway and Dick was closing the door when he said it.

"H-hey. Guys. Let's keep this going, right? Who wants to go to the carnival? I heard it's a really good one."

Even as he was saying it he knew it was hopeless. The four looked at him, then at each other, like they couldn't think why on Earth they'd go along with that.

Dick said, "Can't. I got a ton of homework."

"Yeah, maybe some other time," Victor said, sarcastically, which was maybe worse than Dick's white lie.

Raven had just walked away without saying anything.

Gar looked at Kori. She gave him a sympathetic smile and walked off as well.

That had been a week ago. Now, it was Halloween, and Gar wouldn't have known unless he looked at a calendar. There was no acknowledgement of it in town –in the way of spooky decorations, party flyers or costume bundles in stores-, let alone at school, and the lack of awareness for his favorite holiday of the year put him on edge. Of all the places he'd lived in, Jump City was the one with the least Halloween spirit.

Entering the cafeteria, he glanced at Victor, who always ate with his old friends. The football table was so… homogenous. All hulking dudes wearing the same jacket, all participating in the one conversation.

He tried to talk to Victor, sometimes. Victor just looked at him like the twerp way too many steps below him in the high school food chain they both knew he was.

Gar sat at his usual table. After he'd sat down, he watched Raven walk into the cafeteria, not spare a glance his way, and choose an empty table. He tried not to feel snubbed.

In reality, he couldn't decide whether he'd want her to sit with him or not. The more people the merrier, he always thought; girls counted for two people. But Raven was a special case. He didn't know exactly why she was scary. She looked at you and always seemed one second away from… jumping at you, or hexing you, or saying something cutting and humiliating you in front of everyone. He wasn't sure. She had the potential of danger. Or at least of meanness.

In any case, he decided he'd better lie to himself and pretend she hadn't seen him.

Eventually, Dick came in and sat with Gar, and for that he was glad. There was nothing he hated more than eating alone.

Two tables away, Kori sat with Raven and attempted to make conversation; Gar considered that girl was his kindred spirit in terms of attempting to extract friendship from unwilling recipients.

In the afternoon of Gar's favorite holiday ever, Victor arrived to the clubroom after all of them, stayed for a few minutes, then checked his phone, put his letterman jacket back on and said he was leaving.

"If you're never here maybe you should quit the club," Dick said after him.

"Nah, I like the easy credit," answered Victor. "And you like the arrangement, don't you? It's not like you like hanging out with me, short stuff."

"And whose fault is that?" Dick asked after he was gone. "That guy isn't exactly a joy to be around. Bet his old friends only stand him 'cause he was good at football."

Gar kept playing video games. One gone, three left, he thought. He already knew he wasn't going to ask them to do something for Halloween, though. He'd learned after last time. They hadn't gotten any closer since then.

Gar stayed a while longer. Dick was scrolling on his phone, Kori was hard at work in a recipe, and Raven was…

…not there. Her seat by the window was empty, her things were gone. When had she slipped out?

"Hey, where's Raven?" Gar asked, referring to her in a much more daring tone than if she had been present.

Kori looked toward the window in confusion. "I am sure she came today."

"Yeah, she did," confirmed Gar. "Damn. She's way too quiet."

He stayed until Kori's project started smelling like wet laundry, somehow. When Kori was done cooking, usually only Dick stayed behind. Gar made up an excuse and ran.

That night, Gar stayed home and waited for kids to come trick-or-treating. Rita had warned him kids in this town didn't do that, but he couldn't quite believe her; he got enough candy to fill a big bowl just in case. She was right, though. They ended up having the candy themselves over a spooky movie marathon, so the night was kind of nice after all.

When Gar was little, he used to go trick-or-treating with the other foster kids, and he never got to keep the candy, because the bigger kids stole it as soon as the neighbors closed the door. He always seemed to be the smallest kid in any given house. One year, he connived to eat the candy as soon as the adults put the candy in his bag, which got him some alarmed looks; the older kids just beat him up for the sake of it that year.

Even that Halloween was better than this one.

Technically, he had a group of people he hung out with every day. But in reality, did he have friends? If he did, he wouldn't be alone night after night.

He'd once thought Dick was his ticket for a smooth ride through high school. He thought he could work his destiny so everything would be easy and nice. He wasn't so sure anymore.

Thanks for reading!