I Did Not Leave South Side For This!

Chapter VI - Not The Best First Impression

Ugh sleep.

Ugh chocolate.

Ugh life.

You can probably tell by the ughs at how grumpy I was when I walked into school that day. I had stayed up until one in the morning finishing that god forsaken article because it was due in the next day. But then again this was happen why you went on a Pokemon binge to distract yourself from thinking you were going crazy. Richu shall always been my saviour. Always.

I stormed into school, determined to hand in this article. I received a few looks as I rushed by. For some reason people thought running in corridors was odd. Pfft, strange people. Whenever I run down corridors I like to imagine I'm the tenth doctor running from some freaky space alien. I strode right over to my locker, put in the code and pulled it open with so much force I swear it was going to break off. Carelessly, I threw in the books needed for the different lessons I had that day. I slammed the door shut and began to jog to the news room. Why am I jogging? I found myself asking. I must be really going crazy, I never jog anywhere.

I ran up an endless number of stairs before reaching the first floor. I will admit that I was practically dying by the time I clambered up the last few steps. I was pulling myself up the stairs by the bannister and making noises of a walrus in extreme pain, it was that bad. I'm an unfit bitch. I forced myself to get on my feet again and head to this news room. This stupid article wasn't going to magically deliver itself, although I wished it would.

I reached the news room and raised an arm in the air in triumphant. A grin broke out on my face. I had finally made it my destination. No more stress for little old me! I placed my hand on the door handle to open the door... Only to find it was locked. "What the fuck." I stated aloud, trying the door a few more times. The door refused to budge. I let out a groan of frustration and leaned against the door. Louis had said he would be here, he wasn't. Now I was forced to carry around this godforsaken article all day as well as trying to do all my other day to day tasks, i.e. avoiding the blonde bimbo, also known as Sharpay Evans.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

Life sucked balls sometimes.

A voice broke through the silence. "If you're looking for the newspaper then it's the next classroom." It sounded slightly foreign. But not at the same time from the way the person had pronounced their t's. Were they Jamaican?

Wow, you're an idiot, Tia.

I opened my eyes to see a man, a very tall man making me feel even smaller than my already short 5'3" frame. He had coco coloured skin and black hair. He had a button nose and chubby cheeks, indicating he still had some growing to do. Yeah this dude was Jamacian for sure.

He was in a white shirt. The shirt had multiple colours on it, forming some weird modern art. I don't really like art, to be honest. His denim jeans were well loved, as obvious from the light, sandy colour to the blue denim. He wore light blue toms on his feet, choosing to go sock less. I stared at his feet in horror, who didn't wear socks out in public? I mean I had heard countless stories about the sock less species but had never actually met one in person. "You're not wearing any socks. You monster." I thought aloud. My eyes widened. Oh God, this was why people didn't like me. I always spoke my mind.

I frowned in confusion when I heard laughter.

I looked at the boy quizzically, this was not the respond I had been anticipating. A smile broke out on his adorable little baby face. "That is such a great first impression." His eyes met mine and he grinned at me. "I'm Tico." He spoke in a warm tone, making me smile back. "I'm presuming you're Tia. Louis said you would be a little disorientated, considering you're new to the paper and everything." I just stared at him, trying to make heads and tails of the situation. He tipped his head to the side and studied my face. Intelligence lingered behind those eyes of amusement. "You're not really a talker are you?"

"Not really." I answered, finally finding my voice. "I'm more of a complainer to be perfectly honest."

Tico rolled his eyes. "Pessimist." He noted, grinning cheekily before heading to the next classroom on the right.

I raised an eyebrow. Well that was rude. "Hey!" I yelled, hurrying after him. "For the record, I'm a realist, not a pessimist."

Tico waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever!" He said in a singsong voice before pushing the door to the news room open.

I picked up the pace and rushed in after him. There were only guys in the room, Louis, Tico and Zach. Zach glared at me and shook his head disapprovingly. Just to infuriate him I winked and beamed back in reply. He just rolled his eyes, making me laugh. A corner of Zach's mouth edged up into a smile.

"Will you two stop flirting?" Louis interrupted, his voice contained a tired edge to it. My eyes widened and I opened my mouth in protest. He put up a hand. "Tia, please hand me the article. I'm too tired to argue."

Well excuse you.

I opened my satchel and drew out the precious parchment. Louis held out his hand expectantly and I obliged by handing him it. His eyes scanned over the article and a few moments later he smiled faintly. "This is excellent, Tia. Maybe I should consider swapping you and Tico around. He can become in charge of the weather instead."

Tico gasped dramatically and put a hand to his head. "Oh no! You mustn't do such a thing! It would kill me inside."

Louis shot him a look. "Quit being so melodramatic."

Tico crossed his arms and grinned. "But being dramatic is what I do best." He chuckled when Louis tutted. Tico turned his attention to me. "Thanks for covering the big game for me." He paused and then pouted. "Stupid flu. Mama Tico will never let her little cubs in when they get the sniffles." He wiped his eyes. This dude was a terrible actor, ain't going to lie. Tico quickly changed the subject, deciding he had lingered on the previous subject for too long. "So what have you got next Tia?"

"Double English!" Zach piped up. All eyes homed in on him. I raised an eyebrow and gave him a creeped out look. How the heck did he know my timetable? It wasn't like I exactly complained about English. Was he like Edward Cullen from those poorly written Twilight books? Oh God, was my sort of friend a vampire?! Did I need to break into my mother's 'apocalypse emergency pack' and find the garlic? Come to think of it why did my mother even have an apocalypse emergency pack?

Tico's voice cut through the awkward silence "Stalker..."

Zach looked like he was about to melt into a pool of embarrassment. He opened his mouth to speak but was promptly shut up again by the judging looks aimed at him. Tico suddenly looped his arm through mine and turned away. "Alright, hon, let's get you to Double English, coincidentally I'm in that class too."

AN: Ugh this to so long to write! I'm so sorry about that! This chapter isn't as entertaining as the others because I needed some character development and to introduce Tico! Tico is courtesy of my friend, Tiff. More will be on the way soon and there will be longer chapters, I promise.