Chapter 1: Welcome To Bullworth

Bullworth Academy, I had been dreading coming here for weeks. Leaving behind all of my friends, stolen booze, worldly possessions and most importantly my last fucking box of black hair dye. However, the so-called "fresh start" my parents keep going on about did have some appeal to it. This could be a blessing in disguise or a total fucking nightmare.

"Now Kristina, we will be checking in with you every couple of months. Even though we won't be present in your day to day life we are still expecting top academic performance from you…" My mother droned on while I looked out the window not internalizing anything that she was saying. She and I had always seemed to have a strained relationship, maybe it can begin to repair itself with the distance we'll have between us. Looking out the window at the scenery I began to notice the campus, thank god. I was itching to get out of this car and get everything over with.

"Kristina, please don't forget to call once in a while okay?" My dad looked back at me and grinned. I applaud him for maintaining a positive attitude throughout all of this, or maybe he wanted me gone more than anyone. He was difficult to read and a part of me had always longed to know what he really thought of me, his one and only daughter.

"I won't dad. Promise." I just wanted to keep it short and sweet, no final goodbye's nothing.

We came to a full stop in front of the school gates, I got out and made sure to slam the door behind me. I quickly grabbed whatever luggage I had from the trunk and made my way towards the school. A tall woman with short brown hair seemed to be waiting for me, great.

"Kristina Webb I presume? We have been expecting you child. Now I haven't got all day, so follow me."

Of course, everyone in my sights suddenly had a staring problem and was looking directly at me. We made our way to the school's front office where I waited for the "headmaster" as the tall woman called him. She seemed to just babble on about him, but I was good at tuning people out. After what felt like years of waiting I was finally called back to the headmasters office. I made myself comfortable in the singular chair he had sitting directly in front of his desk.

"Kristina Webb is it? I would like to personally welcome you to Bullworth Academy. However, I've heard that you are quite the troublemaker young lady. Your record seems to be never ending , and I hope you don't feel good about yourself regarding these past actions." He glared at me, I really couldn't care less about what prick had to say. But I had a game to play.

"No sir, my past is a very touchy subject for me. I'm hoping that Bullworth will make me into a better individual for my future because I certainly don't want to be defined by my past mistakes." I smiled weakly at him, hoping he would by my act.

"Very good young lady, I hope that your time here will make a difference. But now onto more important matters. I already informed your parents about this over the phone but due to some overcrowding issues in the girls dorm for the time being you will be placed in the boy's dorm until further notice. Don't worry, you won't have a roommate to worry about." He chuckled, "Now Mrs. Danvers, will you escort Kristina to her room?"

" Of course Dr. Crabblesnitch. Come along now." She seemed to pop her head into the office out of nowhere. It seemed like she answered to his every whim.

Not wanting to spend any more time in that office than I had to, I quickly got up from my seat, grabbed my luggage and followed Mrs. Danvers all the way to the Boy's dorm, or my new home, "Your uniform should be waiting for you in your closet. It must be worn at all times, no exceptions." I just nodded at her and she quickly disappeared.

I walked up the steps and took a deep breath before I opened the door. When I exhaled I swung open the door to complete chaos. My eyes darted to someone in a trashcan, then again to someone begging for a fight, and then they finally landed on someone who also appeared to be new. He wasn't wearing a uniform either, so I felt pretty good about my assumption. Suddenly, the chaos was replaced with silence and hushed whispers from all the boys around me.

All of their eyes seemed to be on me, which made my skin crawl. Then, I noticed a boy with a scar over his right eye. To try and distract myself from being stared at once again I started to look in his direction, which it didn't take long until he noticed. His dark brown eyes met mine almost immediately. After what felt like an eternity I went to go find my room. Once inside, I put my luggage to the side and found the uniform Mrs. Danvers was talking about earlier. It was a white button up with the school logo and a dark blue skirt. I changed quickly and left the room about as fast as I had entered.

The chaos had calmed down from a few moments ago and I noticed the boy with the scar again, only this time he was standing next to what I guessed was another new kid, and a boy with a pink shirt. I was making my way towards the door when the boy with the pink shirt stopped me.

"Hi there, my name's Pete." He smiled and waved a little, he seemed nice enough. I stuck out my hand and we shook hands. He was a tad bit shorter than me, and that was saying something.

"My name's Krista." I gave him a half-assed smile, Pete's eyes lit up a little. He seems nice…enough. While I was making my second attempt to leave I heard someone laughing, it was a sort of laugh that stuck with you. I turned around once again to see who was behind the laughter and it was none other than the boy with the scar.

"What the hell is so damn funny?" My tone was still somewhat calm, I'm not going to let him get under my skin. He stopped his laughing fit long enough to look at me with a raised eyebrow, what I said or didn't say next would be important to this freak I'm sure. The other new kid and scarface were standing together next to a couch that was in the lounge area of the dorm. I quickly glanced over at Pete, who had a worried look on his face. Slowly, I made my way over to the pair and I got about as close as I could to the boy in teals face.

"I think I asked you a question? How about you fucking answer it."

"Listen here friend," His hand latched onto my shoulder like talons, "consider this your one and only warning. Eye for an eye. Now get lost." He scowled at me and released his death grip.

Immediately I turned to exit when the stocky new kid piped up, "Gary, what the hell is your problem?"

Not wanting to stick around I finally exited the dorm after what felt like years, barely noticing Pete trailing behind me.

"Krista, I'm sorry about Gary. He can be a little much sometimes." Pete looked sad, and in turn that made me feel bad for him. Even though we had just met I could tell he was too nice for his own good.

"I don't really think you should be the one apologizing. Does he normally act like a complete asshole?" As Pete and I were nearing the school I noticed that the campus grounds were pretty bare compared to what they looked like earlier. Shit I'm going to be late. What the hell is my first class?

"That's definitely a trick question." Pete chuckled, "Gary just has his own way of going about things. You'll see sometimes he isn't all bad."

"Pete, I gotta be honest with you, I don't believe you. I guess I'll have to find out though. Hey, do you know if they give out class schedules here? I have no idea where or what my first class is." We walked up the steps together and stopped walking right before we went into the school.

"Yeah, I think Mrs. Danvers can give you one in the office. Do you need me to go with you?"

"I think I'm alright, you should probably just go on ahead." I gave Pete a little wave and he went through the doors.

In that moment, the campus was fully silent except for the few prefects making their rounds. More than anything I wanted to scream as loud as I could and cry until I puked. It was really setting in that I was dropped off here until further notice and no one around gave a shit. There will be time to cry and scream later, go to class dumb bitch. Going through the doors I made my way towards the office where a child in a green vest was sitting, no one else was around.

I fixated my eyes on the carpet, and I gotta say this is some of the ugliest carpet I've ever seen. At this rate I don't even think I'm going to make it to class, which I didn't really care about but I had to put up some sort of front, at least for a while. Mrs. Danvers finally decided to grace us with her presence and what little smile she had on her face instantly vanished when she saw that there were actual students she had to wait on.

"Mrs. Webb, what could you possibly want?" She walked up to the front of the desk and gave me a long glare. It's like she was upset for actually having to do her job. I refrained from rolling my eyes at her and just gave her a smile back in exchange.

"Oh, I'm actually just here for my class schedule? I don't really know where anything is and I can't be present in class if I don't even know my schedule." Trying to sound as sweet as possible she just huffed and walked off again.

Mrs. Danvers made her second appearance much quicker this time as she held what I could only assume was my schedule, "Here, now run along before you miss another class." She shoved the paper in my hands and I quickly looked it over before I exited without saying another word.

Aimlessly wandering the halls I took another look at my schedule, Art. Nice, I had always had an interest in art and it seemed to be the only class I could ever make a passing grade in because I just simply enjoyed what we were doing. Luckily, I was still on the second floor of the school so I was able to find the classroom fairly easily. The room was instantly welcoming and I felt at home for a slight moment before remembering where I was. Pottery and art pieces were scattered everywhere, this was going to be my favorite class by far. I was one of the first students in the class besides Pete. Feeling grateful to see a familiar face I went and sat next to him.

"Hey Pete, nice to have someone I know in a class." I slightly chuckled and Pete looked relieved to see me. As more students started to trickle in I noticed the very obvious divide in other students, cliques were fairly common but these? "So uhhh what's with all of this?" I vaguely gestured to everyone around me.

"Oh you mean the cliques? It's pretty much run on a hierarchy basis around here. Each clique has a "leader" and they believe that they have some sort of power." Pete looked around the room and there seemed to be at least one of every clique in the class. The bell had finally rang and Mrs. Phillips was talking about the assignment, which was a free draw.

"So what about you?" Pete didn't seem to look like he belonged to anything, like he didn't really have a sense of who he was. The only standout thing about him was his pink undershirt which I just now noticed myself.

"Me? I don't really fit in with any of those guys so I just don't label myself as anything. There are a few kids like that around here who just don't belong anywhere." He sighed and looked down at his blank piece of paper.

By the tone of his voice I could tell that he didn't really want to continue the conversation, which was fine by me. Absentmindedly sketching something out I thought more about Pete's words, I had always considered myself as someone who didn't really "fit in" either but I still had my own weirdo group of friends. Even though they were complete shitheads we all just sort of worked together despite our differences. That was the only thing that really hurt leaving behind. All of the late nights drinking cheap blueberry vodka on the beach and screaming the lyrics to "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" were just a distant memory and something that couldn't be replicated with the kids of Bullworth. I sighed hard enough to make Pete glance over at me but not say anything.

The bell had rung and the first day was over, just like that. I ended up turning in a beach scene with a radio in the sand. Wanting to be alone with my thoughts for the rest of the day I quickly exited the classroom and the school in general. Once outside a cool breeze hit me and I could smell a hint of salt in the air, which reminded me of home. I got to the boy's dorm in a flash and swung open the door like I had earlier when I first arrived. Only when I walked in this time the dorm seemed to be completely empty. My room was calling my name but I overheard some whispers in the distance. Then the main doors shut from behind me, I turned and noticed that it was just Pete. He gave a slight nod and walked on into the lounge area.

"Well, well, well look who we have here. Nice of you to join us Petey, I thought you would be too busy spending time with your new girlfriend." Gary's voice wreaked of sarcasm, good to know that he already can't keep me out of his mind. They didn't seem to notice me even though I was only slightly out of view. I decided to stay and listen in on whatever bullshit they were about to spew.

"What? She's not my girlfriend Gary, anyway why do you care?" Pete groaned then sighed.

"I'm just trying to look out for you Petey. She does look like a pretty big slut, I just wouldn't want you to be involved with someone like that. Excuse me for trying to look out for you, I'll remember that for next time." Gary laughed and looked over at the other new kid. "Now Jimmy-boy here, he looks like he would be into some whore like that."

Alright, that's it I'm stopping this shit right here. Pete and Jimmy looked over as soon as they saw me enter the lounge, Gary of course was the last one to meet my gaze.

"Wow, you already can't keep me out of your mouth huh Gary?" I scoffed and walked up to him, not making the mistake of getting up in his face immediately.

"What did I tell you earlier, friend? I'm not repeating myself." He didn't get any closer to me, but I bet I could push him to that point. I've had my fair share of run ins with knock off Gary's before, they were real easy to set off.

"What Gary do you wanna hit me? I'm begging you, come on Gary hit me. Put your hands around my throat, I dare you. That would really get you off huh you psycho?" I was yelling and I'm sure that if anyone had walked in they would be able to hear. I was good at making scenes.

Gary's eye's slightly widened but he didn't get any closer. He was trying to keep his composure, but I bet on the inside he was burning.

"Krista, hey why don't you uhhh calm down for a bit? Do you wanna show me your room or something?" Pete was weakly getting out the request in an attempt to prevent a disaster.

"You know what Pete, I'm going to have to decline on that one. I will however be showing myself out." Before making my exit I got right up in Gary's face and we were only inches apart, "Guess you're all talk and no bite huh? I figured. See you around Gary." Smiling as big as I could. Pete looked stunned and Jimmy looked slightly amused.

I walked down the hallway and went into my room, slamming the door as loud as I could behind me. I think I'm going to like it here after all.