Chapter One
"Can you remind us while we're in school on a SATURDAY again, please?" Henrietta Parker groaned as she walked into the third floor classroom. She had pulled back her long blonde hair and peppered it with butterfly clips. She had the same near-flawless look she normally did, but also a trademark scowl that kept her face from looking as attractive as it may have been otherwise.
"School, ya know? Tests? That thing we have to do if we want to get to college?" her friend Mariana Poloski sarcastically responded. Mariana was possibly the only person who could get away with giving Henrietta sarcastic remarks – Henrietta was near the top of the ladder at Sterling Park Senior High School, but Mariana was AT the top. She was a striking girl, with long dark hair and blue eyes, a clear head-turner in Sterling Park's walls.
Henrietta rolled her eyes back at Mariana and plopped ungracefully down in her seat, crossing her arms.
"That teacher had better be here soon," she griped. "I still can't believe my parents talked me into taking this stupid AP course. Where we have to take practice tests on Saturdays!"
The twenty-six member class of AP World History was set to begin taking their first round of practice tests on that Saturday – a dazzling April morning on which all twenty-six would have much rather been outside.
Mariana smirked and sat down next to Henrietta, bringing a finger to her mouth to boredly suck on a nail.
"Soon, school will be over. Then; success!" she announced, smirking again.
"Why are we the first people here?" Henrietta complained. "Remind us to NOT get anywhere early again. I hate waiting for people to show. It's quarter-of already, where IS everyone?"
"Oh, get a hold of yourself, they'll be here soon," Mariana replied.
As if on a sort of ironic cue, the door opened and a group of students walked in. However, it was one of the groups of students Mariana and Henrietta would have rather not seen: a few of "the nerds", a group of kids who flocked to honors courses like flies to honey. There was Xavier Hart in front with his short black hair and matching black-rimmed glasses (it was fitting that he was in front, as it would have been hard to see him otherwise – he was only about five-foot-three); Nathan Steinberg, who was a huge Science buff and was also touting a pair of glasses but sported a blonde crew cut; and Ginger al-Sakin, a shy girl who wore a Muslim headscarf and who always sat in the back of any classroom. The three looked over at Mariana and Henrietta and then exchanged glances before sitting down in the back of the room.
A few minutes later, girls who were more in Mariana and Henrietta's social sphere arrived. Kenya Breene, a pretty African-American girl with her hair in one long braid, was being trailed by her best friend, Zakiya Moren.
"Hey, Mari! Henri!" Kenya called out, walking up to them and sitting quickly. "When are we getting' this show on the road?"
"I don't know," Henrietta replied with a sigh. "No one's here yet, except for us and the nerds."
"Where's Alaina?" wondered Zakiya, turning to Mariana. "Didn't she ride with you?"
"Nah," Mariana replied, "Her stepdad's driving her in, she was running late with something." She shrugged and then shrugged again, as if to give off a "I REALLY don't know what's going on" message.
The door burst open and the three class members of Sterling Park's football team burst in.
"Hey baby!" Brandon Briggs exclaimed to Henrietta, whom he had dated off and on in the past. "How are you?" He quickly made his way over to sit with the group, along with his friends Tyrell Thomas and Langdon Fikes.
A few steps behind the group was Tyrell's twin brother, Jarrell, who was lagging behind with his friends Edward Ross and Wendy Sanchez. Although the three were taking this AP course, they had a reputation around school as stoners and slackers, who spent a good deal of time sneaking behind the school to get high.
"So, I'm gonna rock this test! Huh – huh!" Brandon exclaimed. Mariana laughed.
"Don't get too eager. Remember, it's only a practice test, Brandon," she told him.
"Yeah, but I'm still gonna rock it," he replied, turning and playfully slapping Tyrell on the shoulder. "That's right, man, right?"
The door creaked open yet again to reveal Ikurrina "Rina" Escobar and Samuel Pench, two other members of the "nerd" clique. They slunk in to sit next to their group. They were followed in quick succession by the close-knit drama kids, though they had a tendency to argue endlessly around casting time for the school plays – Victor Price, Uri Yang and his girlfriend Rei Khan, Queenie Martin and Yael Monroe. They took their seats to the front of the classroom.
Slinking in behind the nerds and drama kids was Alaina Barski, who was looking rather frazzled – her blonde hair was sticking up slightly and she still had a brush in her hand. She quickly rushed over and sat down next to Langdon, giving him a nervous/apologetic look. He opened his mouth to ask what had happened with her, but was cut off by the sound of the door being kicked in.
"What the…" Langdon began, but then broke into a snicker. It was a group of students dressed in black trenchcoats – Cortman "Cort" Kensington, Pacey Mitchell, Dark Myzee, Friday Black and Opal Day. None of the other kids really took that group seriously. "Look who just burst in," he hissed at his friends. No one was particularly easy around the group either, however – they tried to avoid face-to-face confrontations.
Behind their back they had dubbed them the "Trenchcoat Mafia", after the famous Columbine group. It was just something about them…
