Chapter 2 - Confront
As I sat in the car with my sister Koma, who kept giving me odd looks at my choice of clothing, I got even more angry at the thought of Richard Grayson.
Telling the head master the truth after the incident, had been tricky when I was a mess of nerves. However, in the end it didn't make a difference, as he didn't believe my word over his assumptions. It had landed me with a warning, and if I performed any more disrupting behaviour I would get punished. I knew that wasn't the reason I was blamed instead of Richard, I figured that was something more complex.
After all Richard couldn't be blamed, because he was the ward to Wayne enterprises. If he did anything wrong, I was sure Bruce had help to cover it up in fear of giving a bad image to the press. I gritted my teeth together in annoyance. Just because he was the son of a millionaire shouldn't mean that he had power over the teachers. Letting him to whatever he wanted wasn't going to help I was sure. Perhaps if I got him back for his actions towards me it would make him think twice about tricking someone?
Although maybe its best not to try and make enemies, I'm only new.
I know, I'll just confront him calmly and not try not to yell at his smug little face. Yeah, that'll work.
Okay lets face it, I was raging like mad that he had deceived me in such a way. So getting out of the car, and adjusting my purple jumper, I looked up at the sky and tried to clear all negative thoughts from my head. I then decided to try and find E1 by myself. A day hadn't given me much time to find a map, much less a new T-shirt, and I wasn't entirely sure about the ones at home, so for now I was hiding my clothing with jumpers until I bought new ones. I was sweating as a side affect of this, and walking down the hallway I heard the bell ring.
"Late again? Not this time!" Saying sternly to myself, I rushed on through the many corridors.
This is hopeless, why did I think I could do this alone again after what happened yesterday? I'll find someone nicer this time, anyone is better than that...clorbag from before! I'll ask them where it is!
Following my conscience's orders, I hastily followed a violet haired girl down a corridor. She was hooded, had a slightly pale face, and seemed to favor dark and dismal colours in her attire.
"Um excuse me" I cleared my throat and spoke up a bit. "Do you know where E1 is?"
The girl stopped and turned, though I found it difficult to see her face from under the shadows of her hood.
"Your the new girl aren't you? The one who got blamed for that prank yesterday?" Her voice was cold and flat, but for some reason it felt calming to me.
"Yes I suppose I am" I sighed, my shoulders slumping. Great already everyone already knows about it.
"Follow me, I'm in E1 for my first lesson as well." The girl started to walk away, not waiting for my reply. Sighing again, I quickly ran to catch up with her. For such a quiet and calm girl, she sure walked fast. We rounded a few corners, before stopping at a brown door with a small sign that read "E1. Mr M Mod."
Going in, I noticed no one else was inside. The girl sat down at the table second from back row, and started reading a book immediately afterwards. From the light in the room coming in from the windows next to her, I could see keen indigo eyes scanning the pages before her.
"Um... is there a spare place?"
The girl looked up from her book, and I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way. It seemed to be all the girl needed, as she patted the seat next to her. I gratefully sat down, a feeling of relief washing over me. At least I had found my lesson, and the girl seemed nice enough.
"I'm Rachel, but you can call me Raven. And dont worry, everyone knows it was Richard who pulled the prank yesterday, not you." She said bluntly. I blinked, taking a moment to digest her words. Everyone knew? Did that mean he did that kind of thing often? I couldn't say it surprised me really.
"Oh, okay." I smiled hesitantly, trying not to feel nervous. It was no fault of Ravens, its just that I was shy meeting new people like this, though usually I was allot more outgoing.
"I'm Kori and I don't have a nickname, but thank you for letting me sit with you." I spoke quite fast and giggled nervously, I suppose I never had been good at first impressions. Most would think I was an airhead, not that I could blame them. Raven seemed to have similar thoughts about me as well, judging from the look she gave me.
"Um sure. Anyway my friends Karen and Jenny will be sitting next to you." She said this with a bluntness that I was fast becoming used to. Nodding silently, I turned my head to see the clock. 8.30 it read, and as soon as I turned away, everyone finally started to come through the doors for class.
Two others who walked in seemed to stand out from the crowd. They were two girls, one was a African American dressed in a black and yellow striped top with black leggings. And the other had her pink hair tied up, with rosy cheeks on her pale face, and dressed in a blue long sleeved top and black jeans.
"Hey Rae, who's the new girl?" Said the pink haired girl as she approached us.
"This is Kori. From what I've gathered thus far about her, she's not cut out to be a Kitten wannabe. She's nice, so be nice." replied Raven, not looking up from her book as she turned a page. I questioned for a moment what she had meant by a 'kitten wannabe' after all, it seemed strange to want to act like a cat, why would I want to be one if I were human?
The pink haired girl rolled her eyes at Raven, and turned to me.
"Hi I'm Jenny" she seemed nice as well, so I couldn't help but beam back in response. I never had met a girl with pink hair, I wondered if she was born with it first of all, since I had never even heard of hair dye. Jenny sat down next to me.
"And I'm Karen." Said the other, taking a seat next to Jenny and leaning forward over the table so that she could see me. Her hazel eyes glittered with curiosity, and I waited for the inevitable questions.
"Hey girl whats your story? Why'd you move here?"
Yep. There they are. I wondered before hand what they might think of me as a foreigner, and I took a breath before answering quietly.
"Oh I moved here from an island called Tamaran with my sister." Looking up, no ones expression seemed to change, I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived.
Karen nodded and tilted her head to the side slightly in question.
"How come you didn't move with your parents?"
I couldn't help it when my hands clenched into fists. It was a natural reflex if someone asked, and I fought away the swell of emotion that instantly overtook me every time. It wasn't so bad this time, because I suppose it was expected for someone to do so.
The truth was that my parents had died in an accident when I was but 14 years old. I rarely told anyone before about it, that was usually Koma's job, and I didn't intend to do so now. That part of myself was locked away deep down inside, though when the time came I wasn't ashamed to cry for them. It had been a long time ago, but the scars were still there.
"Um forget I said anything."
Karen cut into my thoughts as I looked up in surprise, catching the glares Karen had received from Raven and Jenny. They seemed to understand without me saying anything that I didn't want to talk about it, and that made me relax some more. The bell rang and the last of the students sat down at their chosen tables. One of them however, caught my eye. He had ebony black hair, blue eyes and an arrogent sort of way with him.
Richard! My eyes widened in surprise.
He sat right in front of me with some other friends. He hadn't even noticed I was there, the very girl he had tricked just yesterday.
"Ignore him. He may be popular, but he is an idiotic jerk at the end of the day." Raven, who had set down her book, apparently took an interest in the situation. I met her eyes and nodded slowly, pushing down my feelings of anger towards him.
With no teacher, everyone seemed to just chat amongst themselves. I grew more comfortable, as I learned more about Jenny/Jinx and Karen/Bumble bee along with Rachel/Raven, each of them seeming to take pride in their little group. I could tell they were close, and I leaned on my palm as I listened. Apparently, they all lived near my street, and liked to walk to school together. I couldn't help but accept when I was invited to walk with them.
45 minutes later into the lesson, the teacher Mr. Mod finally made an appearance. And my, what an appearance he had. Red shiny hair, terrible yellow teeth that stuck out in odd angles, and he spoke in a fake British accent, with a dose of spit every now and then.
"Right my duckies, get out ya books an go to page 47 and copy the text. I've got business to attend to, so no slakin off." With that said, Mr Mod left the classroom again.
That was strange. I frowned to myself. Weren't teachers supposed to help students?
"Don't worry. We never do anything in his lessons, its great! We just sit and talk" explained Jenny, whose eyes had lit up.
"And we don't get homework or -"
Karen was cut off by the sound of laughter in front of her. I noticed her eyes narrow, as she suddenly frowned and turned to face the boys in front. She tapped one of them on the shoulder.
"Oi you lot, keep it down!" I was surprised to say the least. Karen was certainly one not to hold back if she had something to say!
"Make us." I recognised that arrogant voice instantly, and felt anger bubble inside myself. Without knowing fully what I was doing, my head rose, and I fixed my eyes on the boy in front of me. Richard rose an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses as he noticed me, smirking slightly.
"Oh its you." He responded as though looking at something disgusting on the bottom of his shoe, which made me even madder. Already I could feel heat rushing to my face.
"Yes its me! And how dare you speak to me like that after yesterday! You should apologise this instance!"
I paused to see if there was any reaction from him, but there was none. I suppose when I'm angry I hardly notice my surroundings, if I had I would have seen everyone in the class turn to stare at me in surprise. Meanwhile in my rant of war, I continued on insulting as though it was going out of fashion.
"Got nothing to say now? Well good, in future keep that trap shut Grayson, or I will personally shove that cheap hair gel bottle you use down your throat for yesterdays events!"
I blinked, and couldn't believe what was coming out of my mouth. Being honest, I was usually a nice tempered girl, but something about Richard made my blood boil.
"Whats your name princess?" Richard sat back, arms folded against his chest. I couldn't believe that none of my words had affected him at all.
"I don't know what it is about that term you find so offensive, but I never meant to insult you wearing such a garment yesterday! And anyway I am not one! Oh and I'm Kori Anders, if you even care." I sat back glaring at him.
He rose an eyebrow "well the T-shirt wasnt offensive if thats what your on about...you sure are tempermental, even for a girl."
I grit my teeth and hissed "and you are the most spoiled and arrogant boy I have ever laid eyes on! I'm surprised your head could even fit through that door with an ego as big as yours!"
"Outch, that's gotta hurt" said a bold muscular African American who sat next to Richard.
"Shut up Vic" Richard snapped.
"Kori this is Victor Stone. Just remember that he's the only nice boy in this group of jerks, you can ignore the rest of them." said Karen cutting in and sending a soft smile Vic's way which he returned.
"Hey I'm nice!" A boy with green eyes, and green hair spoke up. He was scrawny looking, and had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Oh yeah, this is Garfield the grass stain" said Jenny, smirking slightly. Gar pulled a face, and from the corner of her eye, Kori could see Raven smile from behind her book
Does Rachel like grass stain?
"Look princess, I did say yesterday, to go or you may be caught. Remember?" said Richard dryly. I scanned my mind but at that moment, I couldn't remember those words being said. My frustration and anger had blinded me to rational thought.
"No you didn't!" I yelled impatiently.
"Look I'm sorry, okay princess?" Richard smirked at my annoyed face, which only grew fiercer. Why did he insist on calling me that?
"Well I wont stop until I get a proper, meaningful apology, because that wasn't one. You expect me to be satisfied with that, and then this will all go away?" Of course I knew I wasn't going to get one, he was like a spoiled brat.
That's it I've decided - he is my enemy!
"Whatever, its not like your not gonna get one, do you honestly think I care?." Richard leaned further back in his chair like a king, smiling at my fuming expression. I had to take a deep breath. Coming from a long line of Tamaraneans, I should probably explain that they were known for their warrior instinct, and I suppose a little of their side affected me, I certainly felt like I was fighting a war with this guy.
"Its only right that you apologise properly after what you did. I got into trouble because of you! Not that it would matter to someone like you, but I actually need to attend this high school, and pulling a stunt like that could have gotten me expelled." All right so that was stretching the truth a little. But my sister had said that to me last night, and I had believed her. Everyone remained silent, waiting for what Richard would say.
He looked up at me calmly and shrugged.
"Your right, it doesn't matter to me." I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling my energy fizzle down. Whatever confidence I had gained while yelling at him instantly left me.
"Fine, but this isn't over." I said lamely, feeling like a helpless mother with a wayward child. Thankfully the bell went signalling the end of English.
Thank X'hal that's over.
Everyone left the room after gathering their things. I heard the occasional mutter about what a strange girl I was for talking to Richard in such a way, or other nonsense, I ignored it. Richard however, instead of leaving like I thought he would, bent down to where I was gathering books into my bag. He whispered in my ear, making my hands freeze in place.
"Alright Anders you want a fight, you've got one" he smiled. I laughed shakily, if only to try and seem confident.
"okay gel boy, bring it" I know I shouldn't have made an enemy on my first day, but I think this guy needs to be put down a peg.
After everyone left, only myself and Rachel were left there alone. It made me feel better that she had waited for me.
"Would you like to sit with us at lunch? Anyone who can stand up to Richard Grayson like that deserves respect in my eyes." Rachel gave a small smile, and held her book awkwardly at her side, I gathered that she wasn't good at paying compliments.
"Yeah okay, if I can find the dining hall!" I met her small smile with one of my own.
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That was long..phew! anyway! next chapter will be short but fun..the clues in the title! review!