Disclaimer: I do not own Les Miserables in any way, shape, or form. Please don't sue! Cassidy and the other OC's , however, are mine
Cassidy gazed up at her new school, Weston Public, with her map in her hands. She was wearing a supremely heavy backpack, and a nervous expression.
She had moved quite a few times in the last few years, and she knew that the absolute worst time to start was anytime after September. It was November first now, and though she knew it would be easier than some of the other times she had moved, she was still bracing herself for it.
As she moved inside the hallway, she could see a knot of students in the middle of the hallway, blocking her way to her next class, and she could hear quite a ruckus.
"It was a joke! Just a joke! I didn't mean it-ow! That was not nice! Ow! AAHH!"
Cassidy eventually found her way to the center of the knot. She saw a larger, tough-looking boy beating the snot out of a smaller girl. The girl's brown eyes were circled in bruises.
"Isn't anyone going to stop them?" Cassidy asked the nearest person.
"I seriously don't think anyone knows how, unless they wanted to take her place." the other person said, eyes still on the fight.
Cassidy decided she had to do something.
"Like, excuse me?"
The boy stopped what he was doing, which was at the moment pinning the girl against the lockers. The girl fell to the floor in a heap of limbs.
"What, punk? I've got some pounding to do!" He glared at the heap of limbs, which froze.
"Why are you, like, pounding her?"
"She dropped her books on my foot!"
The heap stirred, feebly. "It was just a joke-gasp! He's so thick I didn't-gasp-think he'd feel it-gasp!
"Well, I did, punk. What do you say to that?" He looked like he was about to go back to beating her up.
"WAIT! Listen…" Cassidy again caught the bully's attention. "You thought her dropping her books on your foot was, like, insubordination, right?"
"…"
"You thought she was, like, showing you up."
"Yeah!"
"And you," she said, turning to the heap, "thought that it was just a joke, and that it was funny."
"Yup."
"Well, were you trying to show him up?"
"NO!"
"See? It was just a joke, though not a funny one." She glared at the girl, then turned back to the bully. "If she promises not to pull any pranks on you again, can you promise not to beat her up?"
"Uhh…uhh…she won't promise that!"
"Won't she?" Cassidy turned to the heap. "If he promises not to beat you up, will you promise not to pull pranks on him again?" The heap grumbled and groaned, until the boy brought his fist to her face.
"YES!" she squealed, in a voice that sounded way higher than normal.
"Fine, but watch it, punk. Both of you. If you break our truce…" The bully clenched his fist, and the heap whimpered.
After the bully left, Cassidy helped the heap straighten back up into a girl. The girl wasn't exactly what one would call short, but she was a good two inches shorter than Cassidy.
"Are you, like, okay?"
The other girl sighed in relief. "My God…I really thought I was going to get it that time. Thank you!" She then grinned.
Cassidy grinned back. "What's your name?"
The other girl made a face. "Coriander Reynolds. I'd really prefer it if you called me Corrie, or Cora if you really must call me something more dignified. What's your name?"
"Cassidy Anderson."
Corrie grinned. "Well, Cass, I s'pose I'll be seeing you at lunch. Thanks again!"
Corrie then darted away.
Cassie gazed around at the now dispersing knot. The person who had talked to her earlier was gaping.
"Holy…crud…"
"You're going to catch flies, you know."
The other person shook herself and shut her mouth. "Honestly…I've never, like, met anyone who could tear Michael away from his like, prey…erm…other students, and Corrie has the scars to prove it. Wow! So, you're like, Cassie?
"Yes."
"I'm Leigh Ann. So, would you like to sit at our table today? I'm sure you'd, like, get along great with everyone!"
Cassie smiled. "Sure!" It seemed she had a new friend.
"Omigod, really? Great! See you at lunch!"
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Cassie slid next to Leigh Ann with her tray of Mystery Meat. Leigh Ann was already talking a mile a minute.
"…and this is Shellie. She is soooo sweet," she lowered her voice to a whisper, " but she really doesn't have much going for her in the brains department."
Leigh Ann then spotted a green-eyed redhead entering the lunchroom, and let out a high squeal.
"EEEEEEEE! KASEY!"
The other girl squealed back in an equally high manner.
"EEEEEEEE! LEIGH-LEIGH!
Kasey and Leigh Ann then hugged each other and squealed for about a minute before Cassie interrupted them.
"Umm…"
Leigh Ann looked at her apologetically. "Ohh…sorry. Kasey, Cassie. Cassie, Kasey.
Kasey scrutinized Cassie closely. "New girl?"
Leigh Ann nodded. "Yes."
Kasey turned toward Cassie. "Hmm…I like her."
"She called Michael off of Corrie."
Kasey's eyes widened. "That would totally explain it! So…we should probably give you the tour, huh?"
Cassie blinked. "That's, like, really nice of you, thanks, but I do have a map."
Leigh Ann giggled. "Not that kind of tour, silly!"
"What kind of tour, then?"
"The table tour! You really, like, need to know the social ropes around here!"
"Wow, thanks! Let's start!"
"Okay! Where we are right now…" Kasey motioned at her own table. "…is cheerleader territory. You do cheerleading?
"I did, at my old school."
"Sweet! Now, that table belongs to…"
Kasey and Leigh Ann proceeded to show Cassie every social group in Weston Public Middle School, from the jocks ("Like, don't you DARE touch Mitch. He's totally mine!") to the nerds ("Don't you think that they need to, like, get a life?")
Or at least, they showed her almost every social group.
"Wait a minute…who are they?" Cassie spoke, pointing to a small, square table full of girls in the far corner of the lunchroom. She could recognize Corrie Reynolds there, but the others' identities were unknown to her.
Leigh narrowed her eyes. "I was hoping you wouldn't, like, notice them, but I guess we'd have to tell you eventually."
"What's so bad about them?"
Kasey sneered. " Oh, you'll see. They're a little group we like to call the Ick-ular Eight." She paused for a moment. "Actually, it's more like the Ick-ular Six-we like Corrie and Les- but that's beside the point. I suppose you'd like to know who they are?"
"O-okay…" Cassie quivered, stunned by the girls' sudden change in demeanor.
"That one—you see her, the one with the silver-blonde braid?" Leigh pointed out the girl in question. " That's Angela. She's their leader. She wears nasty clothes, has a huge temper, and has absolutely no interest in popularity or boys. We think she's a dyke."
"Really? Omigod!"
"That one," Kasey continued, "is Gretchen. Everyone knows that she drinks, but she won't admit it. We think she's also a dyke, because she follows Angela around like a little puppy-dog."
"Those ones are Corrie and Leslie. Corrie's soooo funny, and Leslie's soooo sweet; poor thing, she certainly didn't ask for cancer. We've been begging them to ditch the others and sit with us since last year."
"That's Florence. She's Goth and antisocial. Get anywhere near her and she lashes out. The only people she tolerates are the others in the group."
"That's Janice. She's emo because she writes poetry and cries a lot.
"That's Elizabeth. She's verrry punk and gets in detention almost every day for picking fights. She has a temper only slightly better than Angela's."
"That's Julie. She's nerdy and paranoid. She always hangs around in the nurse's office for one reason or another. She's as nutty as a fruitcake.
"I can see, like, why you don't like them. They're all nasty or dorky. "
Kasey paused. "Heck yeah. But that's not all."
Leigh picked up for her. "There's something really, like, strange about them, even Corrie and Les. It's like they're all hiding something waayy important."
Cassie looked over at the Ick-ular Eight. She decided there was something undeniably odd about them, like an odd vibe they threw off. They spoke in furtive whispers, and seemed to live in their own world.
Suddenly, the leader—was it Angel? Angie?—stared directly at Cassie. The gaze in question was rather intense. After a few seconds, she turned away in disgust.
"Uh…what just happened?"
Kasey sighed. "We told you they were weird."
Meanwhile, at the other table…
"So," said Janine. "You think she could be one of us?"
Angela scowled. "Not—a—flipping—chance!"
Julie started shaking. "Angie, calm down…"
Gretchen made her voice go up half an octave, mocking Cassidy. "Like, look at me, I'm a bimbo cheerleader. La-la-la! EEEEE!" She then regained her normal voice. "No, she isn't one of us, ESPECIALLY given this is Combeferre we're talking about. Now, if it was Courfeyrac…"
Corrie huffed. "That was so nice. You know, I think that's the most wonderful thing I've ever been told, Winecask."
Everyone could tell Corrie had hit a nerve.
"You know, I don't have to tell you that I actually don't drink, just as I don't have to let you live right now, you little…" Gretchen then uttered an unprintable word.
"Well," Corrie grinned smugly "looks like someone needs some soap in the kisser. Here, give me a second and I'll go get it."
"I'd like to see you try! I'm double your weight!!"
"Cora, Gretchen, if you don't stop this right now…CORIANDER! GRETCHEN! IF YOU DON'T STOP THAT THIS MINUTE…"
Corrie flinched, and Gretchen clamped her mouth shut.
Janine was focused on something other than the skirmish.
"Guys…I do believe Angie's about to explode… and I mean it literally."
Everyone froze, and then zoomed into action. Corrie and Gretchen scooted away from Angela, while Leslie, Julie, Janine, and Florie escorted Angela out of the lunchroom and, though no one else knew it, outside.