I Did Not Sign Up For This

Chapter II - The Pit of Despair

Home economics flewby as did the rest of the day. I had no more run-ins with Sharpay, thankfully. I saw her brother around the school once or twice. He waved at me a few times. He seemed friendly enough. The bell for lunch rang after I finished my Chemistry class. I exited the room as swiftly as possible, wanting to avoid all species of life. I really don't do people. I headed down the corridor leading to my locker. On the outside my locker was as plain as you could get a locker. It wasn't decorated with much inside it either, just a few pictures of my dog and my friends from Oregon. I input the code and opened my locker, trading out my bag for my books. My bag was a tan brown shoulder bag. It looked small but was bigger on the inside with all its hidden pockets. Like the Tardis really.

I slung my bag over my shoulder before shutting my locker and reattaching the padlock. I let out a breathy sigh and ran a hand through my brown hair, the rings on my fingers not getting caught in my head this time, thankfully. I began to walk down the down the numerous halls of East High. I was about to turn a corner to get the canteen but my singing senses were a tingling. My ears pricked up the moment they heard the sound of pure happiness coming from the direction I wanted to go. I dived next to the wall and poked my head around the corner to see a group of freshman singing and dancing away like they didn't have a care in the world. Was everyone in this school on drugs or something? That could provide so many answers if that was true...

One of the freshmen spotted me and beckoned for me to join them. My eyes widened in shock. I had to get the fuck out of there. "Hahaha, no." I replied, unamused. I was not getting infected with the musical virus as well! I flipped the birdie at him before legging it in the opposite direction of the singing and dancing teens.

Looks like no lunch for me then. I would have to just wait until I got home.

Food, then you shall be slayed by Tia's pit of despair.

In case you didn't know, the pit of despair is what I call my stomach. It's always hungry, never happy. It's so demanding,

A few more hours, my dear, and you shall be fed.

I shushed my stomach as I crept away from the singing. Ugh, musicals. Have I ever emphasised how much I hate them? Like I want to stab the guy who first came up with musicals and make sure they never existed. Life would be so much better without them.

I continued to walk straight down the hall, fully confident that I could find another way into the canteen to feed the pit of despair. I was striding forward, fully in my element. Nothing could stop me. Nothing could stand in my way. I was going get some food. I was going to... My thoughts trail off and I stopped dead in my tracks, earning some looks from passing students. A horrified look was on my face. Just up ahead were two bright pink lockers and outside those lockers stood two pink clothed people. The twins.

My eyes widened and I looked back over my shoulder. The happy clappy freshmen were behind me and the dreaded pink parade was up ahead. I felt beads of sweat beginning to form on my forehead, my eyes frantically looking for somewhere to go. There was nowhere. But there was a notice board. My eyes homed in on it. If I could just pretend I was highly engaged with the notices for a few minutes then maybe the twins would pass me, allowing me to make my escape. This was the most crappiest five minute plan I had ever come up with but it had to work. My sanity depended on it.

My eyes scanned over the notices, at first I spotted nothing of interest. Some stuff about clubs. I squinted, reading the notice about sport. Exercise, yuk. My form of exercise was turning a page in my book or walking to the kitchen to get a bag of chips. Definitely not signing up for any sport clubs. I stiffened when I heard the twins drawing nearer to me. Keep looking, stay interest. I thought to myself, gritting my teeth. My eyes began to look for other notices to read. I saw a notice tucked away behind all the others. Curiosity got the better of me and I peeled away the other messages to look at this particular one. I had to stand on my tiptoes to do so. My eyes turned into saucers when I got to look at the hidden notice. It was an ad for the school paper. I studied it, go to classroom 1A on Thursday 20th September, Lunchtime, to sign up for the school paper. I gasped in realisation and took a step back. It was September the twentieth today!

What a coincidence. I thought to myself. It was like someone was giving me one coincidence after another. I decided not to dwell on that thought for too long before tearing the poster from the notice board and sprinting down the hall. Lunchtime would be over soon. Sharpay and Ryan gave me odd looks as I practically shoved them out of the way to get passed.

I hopped around the corner before running up the nearest flight of stairs leading up to the first floor.

Once I reached the top of the stairs I wandered down the hallway, trying to find 1A. I found it eventually. It was one of the tiny English classrooms, tucked away in a small alcove. My hand slipped on the handle and I looked through the window to check anyone was in there. There was about a group of six or seven students watching a guy about my age talk about something. I presumed this guy was the editor of the newspaper. I knocked on the door and pocked my head around it. I was met with mixed expressions, some annoyance, some delight. The editor raised an eyebrow as I grinned, waving a flyer. "I saw your advertisement a few moments ago, I was wondering if it wasn't too late to apply?" Shyness creeped into my voice and I recoiled a little. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

The editor's face lit up and he beckoned me in. "Of course you can apply!" He said in a singsong way. He gesticulated wildly. I bit my lip and a relived smile graced my face as I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

"It's Tia, right?" A new voice piped up. My attention automatically snapped over to the voice. The speaker was a Asian girl. She was very pretty and had a friendly beam plastered on her face. "We have Chemistry and Advanced English Lit together." I gave the girl the once over and vaguely recognised her from the classes we shared. "I'm Jess! Hi!"

I gave her a salute, "Tia, though you already know me it seems." Both of us shared a look of glee before the editor interrupted us.

The editor wasn't actually half bad looking, with dirty blonde hair and a adorable line of freckles decorating his nose. Puberty hadn't quite finished with him yet but when it did it would turn him into a lady magnet. He handed me a form and smiled brightly. "Tell me Tia, what's your experience with writing?"

I opened up my mouth to speak but Jess ended up singing my praises.

"Oh she's great! Comes top of the class in English Literature. Some of the pieces she churns out are amazing! You should seriously consider becoming an author, Tia." I blushed from embarrassment. Jess wasn't exactly very modest was she?

The editor beamed and clasped his hands together. "Well it's settled then. Welcome to the school paper, Tia." He patted me on the back in triumph. I looked around at the six other people. All were smiling but one. "You're just going to invite her in like that?! We had to do a formal letter and a example piece. It's unfair, Louis, and you know that!"

Wow.

Rude.

"Zach." Louis started, glaring at him. "We are extremely low on members, we can't keep the school paper going if there is no one to run it. Peter quit last week and if you haven't noticed about five of our members are sick with the flu. We need the people. So I suggest you shut up." Zach mumbled an insult under his breath, which resulted in a glare from the guy next to him.

"Don't speak about females in that way!" The guy with the dreadlocks scolded, swiping Zach lightly around the head. Yeah! You go fellow feminist! We need more men like you in the world.

Louis rubbed his temples and snapped at the two boys. "Shut up both of you, you're giving me another migraine again." Instantly the room shut up. Louis rolled his eyes and looked at me. "Tia, I'm Louis, the editor. We have Alana."

He gestured to a ginger. She looked up briefly from her phone and gave me a head nod. "Hi..."

Louis' forced smile faltered a little. "Then we have Mike and Eliza." Mike bumped chest with his hand twice before point his finger at me. Aww yeah, we were tight. Eliza leaned forward and sighed dreamily. She seemed to have her head stuck in the clouds. She looked to be a sophomore while Mike looked to be a junior. Louis quickly moved on. "Then we have Doug."

"People just call me DD. It's short for Dreadlocks Doug. Just call me that." The dreadlock dude gave me the peace sign and I gave a thumbs up back.

"Okie-Dokie DD."

Doug looked to be a little older than me, 19 - suggesting he had been held back.

Louis then adverted my attention to the guy sitting in the desk next to him, Zach. "You've met Zach." There was bitter tone to Louis' voice, not that I don't blame him. Zach seemed like a hard person to work with. He just grunted a me, acknowledging my presence. Finally Louis moved onto Jess. "And you've met Jess." Jess gave me a peace sign and stuck her tongue out playfully, I couldn't help but beam back. "Wassup!" Jess seemed like a pretty chill girl. I wouldn't of minded if I chilled with her.

Louis gave me another weary smile, rings were under his eyes and a cup of coffee was on the desk. Did this guy ever sleep? Was he a vampire or something? OH GOD IF HE STARTED SPARKLING IN THE SUN, I SWEAR TO GOD. He rubbed the back of his neck. "So yeah, that's everyone."

The bell for class rang. Everyone packed up their bags and began to leave. "See you all this time in two days! I want some good stories, people." I made to leave after Jess but Louis held me back. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I really hope you enjoy your time here, Tia. You'll meet the other members when they are back in school. Anyway! See you in a few days time!" After that I was allowed to go. I walked straight out of that door, a idiotic smile plastered on my face. I fist punched the air in victory.

Join the school paper, check.

AN: Do you ever sit back and wonder what you are doing with your life besides roleplaying and writing fanfiction all day? I sure do! Thank you for your reviews my lovelies!

QotD: How would you react if your life suddenly became a musical overnight?