Chapter 555: The Commons

Monday, February 27th, Morning

They walked into The Commons as they usually did in the morning. The three young ladies were the classic blonde, brunette, and redhead. They looked across The Commons and saw someone sitting at one of the tables. The redhead looked at the brunette and then at the blonde. After a grunt, the redhead stormed off towards the table, the blonde looked to the brunette, who shrugged, and finally, the brunette headed off to follow the redhead.

Brett Pierce-Brett arrived at the table and looked at the person sitting there. He looked up from his book at Brett and titled his head.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Who are you?" Brett asked, just as Avril Popova and Baylee Miller arrived.

"I'm me, and I guess you're the plastics," he said.

"Not hardly," Brett said.

He tilted his head to the opposite side, "Let me take another guess," he said.

"Another guess?" Brett asked.

"Yeah, your name is Karen, right?" he asked.

"Not hardly," Brett said.

"B, it's not worth it," Avril said.

"B? Does that stand for something?" he asked.

Baylee took the bait, "Of course it does," she said.

"Hmm, I can see a few things," he said.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Baylee asked; Avril whacked Baylee to get her to shut up.

"Bossy, Bitchy, Brat, or how about plan old Bitch," he said.

"Not hardly," Brett said.

He looked at Brett, her blue eyes locked onto his dark eyes. "So, you're the queen of the school?" he asked.

"No, we're on the basketball team," Baylee said, getting another jab from Avril. "Hey!"

"Keep your mouth shut for a change," Avril said.

He nodded and looked at Brett, "You're the brains," he looked at Avril, "You're the muscle," and finally, he turned to look at Baylee, "You're, well, I don't know."

"Whatever," Brett said.

"So, you're the important girl jock," he said and stood up, showing he was pretty tall.

"I wouldn't say important," Baylee said and got shoved again," Hey, why do you keep doing that?"

"I'll stop when you stop putting your foot in your mouth," Avril said.

He looked past Brett to Avril and Baylee. Shaking his head, he turned to Brett. He sat back down and tapped down on the table.

"What's with those two?" he asked.

"So, you're being nice?" Brett asked.

"Curious, actually," he said.

"They're always like that," Brett said.

"I see, and you're not?" he asked.

"Why do you ask?" Brett asked.

"I don't know, B, maybe; I'm trying to figure you out," he said.

"You shouldn't," Brett said.

"Why?' he asked.

"You just shouldn't," Brett said.

"But I should listen to you?" he asked.

"That's not what I was saying," Brett said.

Before he could say something else, a teacher came over. She is tall, not as tall as the redhead, Brett, most certainly not as tall as the blonde, Avril, and maybe a little shorter than the brunette, Baylee. The teacher had light sandy brown hair and looked down at the three younger women. He noticed she wore slacks, a pale blue blouse, and a sweater.

"What are you three doing?" the teacher asked.

"Just having a discussion, Doctor O'Brien," Brett said.

"Looks like a rather heated debate, to me," Doctor Cassidy Shayla "Shay," O'Brien said.

"I was just a conversation," Baylee said.

"Nothing out of your mouth, Ms. Miller; I'm talking to the alpha here," Shay said.

"Yes, Dr. O'Brien," Baylee said.

Shay looked all the girls over. "Get out of here, and leave this guy alone. Y'all have a big game coming up; you don't want me talking to Coach Scott, do you?" Shay said.

"No, we don't," Avril said.

"That's the first thing I heard that made sense from you three," Shay said.

"Yes, Doctor O'Brien," the three girls said.

"Get out of here," Shay said.

"Yes, Doctor O'Brien," the three girls said and walked out of The Commons towards the Field House.

Shay sighed and looked at the boy sitting at the table. "You're one of the two new students, aren't y'all?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Which one?" Shay asked.

"Kyler, how did you know?" he asked.

"Small town, we kind of know everyone else," Shay said.

"I guess," Kyler said.

"Don't worry about them, Kyler; they're all bark and maybe just a little bite," Shay said.

"Thanks for the save…." Kyler said.

"Doctor O'Brien," Shay said, "I'm your US History teacher."

"So, that's how you knew there were new students," Kyler said.

"I'm not going to say that, but they are trying to act like their parents," Shay said.

"How do you know?" Kyler asked.

"I went to school with'em," Shay said.

"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" Kyler asked.

"I didn't say that," Shay said, "But be warned, not every dog has a big bark and small bite."

"What does that mean?" Kyler asked.

"Exactly what I said, " Shay said, nodded, and walked away.

Kyler watched her walk away and noticed she wore Doc Martens. He nodded; this is going to be an interesting year. Kyler shrugged and looked back down at his book.