CHAPTER 4
Entering the high school building, Spencer's melancholy quickly subsided as she gazed around in awe. The entire school building was anything but normal, and she thought that this was what Beverly Heights was about: big and rich. I mean, she already knew that, but if you were in a high school that was as big and polished as her's was, then you would also understand.
"Move outta my way, loser!," a heavyset jock cried out as he pushed her out of the way.
Spencer was pushed so hard that she bumped into someone else.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to-!"
"And just who might YOU be?," the beady-eyed man asked, squinting his eyes into even thinner slits.
"Um...new?"
The man sighed and shook his head in disgust.
"I mean, your NAME."
Before Spencer could even speak, a group of students passing by yelled, "YOOOO, SPENCER WRIGHT HERE!," in unison, high fiving each other as they walked away laughing.
Adjusting his glasses, the man widened his eyes at the girl, who was clutching onto her backpack straps.
"You...you're Spencer Wright?! The girl who was on TV last night?!"
Spencer was about to reply, 'That's the one!,' but the man continued to ramble.
"Ugh, you're related to that BUFFOON Billy Joe Cobra. I mean, his music IS catchy-or was, I don't know which tense to use-but I have no respect for a boy who's music isn't even REAL music!," he declared, finger pointing upwards.
The same finger jabbed towards Spencer, who leaned backwards as the man leaned forwards.
"Now, just because you're related to the late Billy Joe Cobra, doesn't mean you can go walking around, bumping into whoever you please! For all I know, you're probably a ruffian like he was! I did hear you were from Orange! It's like a whole different world out there! Although I wasn't very fond of the singing sensation, he was on a much higher level than you are right now, Missy! You're not great like him, you're trash from a run-down neighborhood! Just so we're clear, you're kind DO NOT BELONG HERE!," the man spat in her face, Spencer cringing at every word.
Spencer edged away, biting her lip. Looking around, she saw a number of students just watching the man lash out at her, causing her face to get redder.
Before she could utter out a 'sorry'(which, frankly, he did not deserve), he huffed and turned on his heel, walking away from the very mess he caused. The students who were observing the incident went back to their former conversations and activities, ignoring Spencer Wright's presence.
Their heads turned back, however, when a yelp was heard from the surrounding area. Spencer was no longer sad and frightened, but she bit the inside of her cheek as she witnessed something quite hilarious.
While the man who screamed at her strode away, his pants fell down to his ankles and he tripped over nothing, falling flat onto his face.
Everyone nearby laughed at the man, who seemed to be seething with rage. He got up on his feet again, glaring at the kid next to him, only to trip and fall all over again.
Spencer covered her mouth, trying to conceal her laughter, but the comedy gold was too much for her to handle. She cracked up laughing, near tears. It was like the universe wanted to help her after all the bad things happened.
Finally managing to get up, the man, now beet red, struggled to pull up his pants. While buckling his belt, he turned to the snorting kid next to him.
"YOU THERE!," he yelled, causing the kid to acknowledge him.
"Yes?"
"How DARE you trip your VICE! PRINCIPAL!," the man who Spencer now knew was the vice principal spit out, causing the kid to stare at him in shock.
"But Vice Principal Ponzi, I didn't DO anything!," the nasally kid defended, but the principal only got closer to his face, slightly intimidating the innocent bystander.
"My office. NOW."
Mr. Ponzi shuffled away, even though kids were still laughing at him. The boy sighed dramatically, shaking his head at the girl beside him, and walked after the vice principal.
Spencer, now in a better mood, walked after the two, needing to go in the same direction.
"What are you doing?," a girl asked, causing Spencer to give a look of confusion as her answer.
"I MEAN, why are you following my brother?," the girl implied.
"Wait, what? I'm only going to the office so I could go see the secretary."
"Why?"
"'Cause I'm new, and I have NO idea where to go."
The girl now smiled.
"Well, you're in luck, Spencer Wright! I'm Shanilla, and I'm your guide for the day!," the girl beamed, extending her hand for Spencer to shake.
Spencer shook the girl's hand, giving her a small smile. She wasn't used to someone who radiated with such warmth to approach her, so this was all sorts of new.
"Good thing I also have your schedule, locker combination, school guidebook, cafeteria card, and school ID right here for you!," Shanilla shoved a heavy stack of papers into Spencer's arms, making Spencer wobble to her locker, Shanilla beside her.
"Gee, thanks..."
At her locker, which Shanilla opened having memorized the new student's locker combination("Just in case you forget!," the girl beamed, even though Spencer thought that was rather nozy of her to do), Spencer shoved the large stack of papers into her(thankfully) top locker, coughing at the dust that flew at her face.
"I also memorized your schedule, so you can just follow me..."
"Um, shouldn't you get to your own class?"
Shanilla laughed her mouse-like laugh, which caused Spencer's mouth to twitch.
"Oh, Spencer, the reason I'm your guide today is because I have all of the same classes you do!," Shanilla giggled as if Spencer was the stupidest person in the world.
"Oh, okay," Spencer said rather too sharply, causing Shanilla to stay silent on the way to class. Spencer didn't mean to possibly hurt the feelings of the sweet girl, it's just that:
1) Spencer never really talked to anyone. Ever.
2) No one ever really talked to Spencer, least of all kindly.
3) Although the girl was sweet, her nosy attitude annoyed Spencer to no end.
Arriving at their first class, which was history, Spencer sat down at an empty desk in the front, while Shanilla took a seat beside her. Because it was a seat in the front, everyone could see the new girl at a number of different angles. The loud chatter turned into whispers, all conversation directed to the new girl from last night's E! news broadcast.
Spencer rolled her eyes. Did they think she didn't know they were talking about her? It was high school shenanigans like this that made Spencer ashamed of being a student.
As soon as the bell rang, the teacher walked in, bringing the class to a peaceful silence.
"Class, I would like to introduce to you today a new student," she chirped, bringing her eyes closer to the clipboard in front of her face. 'Eyesight problems much?,' Spencer thought silently to herself as she looked anywhere but at the woman's face. "Can Spencer Wright come up to the front of the classroom, please?," the teacher asked, her poor eyesight leading her to look anywhere but at the girl two feet in front of her.
"Can she not?," a voice called out, causing the whole class to snicker.
"Spencer Wright? Spencer WRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT?," the woman asked, dramatically looking at each and every face for her new history class student. Spencer thanked the universe for having such a visually impaired teacher, as going in front of people and saying things was not one of Spencer's favorite activities in the whole world. She hid behind her arms, thinking this tactic would actually be effective. But right when she hid did the nearly blind teacher actually spot her.
"You must be Spencer Wright! Can you please come up here and tell us about yourself?," the teacher asked eagerly.
Spencer sighed, and as she walked up to the front of the class and faced everyone in there, she mentally cussed at whoever was in charge of the universe and whoever let these current circumstances take place.
Right as Spencer opened her mouth, a voice called out, "YOOOO, SPENCER WRIGHT HERE!," causing the entire class to cackle and mimic whoever said that. Spencer narrowed her eyes at the source of the voice and widened them at the realization that it was a jock. THE jock. The same jock who mocked her on the bus, the same jock who pushed her in the hall, and now this jock was here, in her history class, ready to ruin her life.
"Class, settle down, and let SPENCER speak! He's new here and he needs to know how friendly our Beverly Heights community is!," the teacher screeched.
She managed to get the entire class quiet for a moment before everyone started laughing all over again.
"What? What's so funny?," the woman asked, confusion plastered on her face.
Spencer didn't even have the energy anymore to correct the woman. She pretty much gave up on getting any kind of respect from this place to begin with.
"Ms. Lane, Spencer's a girl!," someone called out. Not long before the jock said, "Heh, she doesn't seem like a girl to me!," causing his teammates to chuckle as if he was King of the Jokes.
"WHAT?!," the teacher shouted in surprise, turning to the girl beside her. "But Spencer's a boy's name! How can a girl have such a name as SPENCER?," she asked with a face of disgust.
"Maybe Spencer's not a girl after all!," a voice shrieked. Spencer didn't have to look up to know who's voice THAT was.
"Who knows, maybe Spencer IS a dude!," the jock cut in.
While the class was making fun of Spencer, Spencer shot angry looks at her two least favorite people, and wondered how they could possibly be in the same class. Lolo was here, and the jock who kept firing puns directed towards Spencer, whom she later found out from Shanilla was named Cleat. Speaking of Shanilla, she was the only person in the class who hasn't laughed once. This made Shanilla the only person Spencer liked at the moment.
Right before the second bell rang, a boy entered the class swiftly.
"You came right before I took attendance, Rajeev!," the teacher tsked at the boy. Spencer recognized this was the boy who got falsely accused for pulling down the vice principal's pants earlier.
"But Teach, I have a hall pass! See, it's even signed by Mr. Ponzi!," the boy waved the pass in the teacher's face, before Ms. Lane snatched it from him.
"Just sit down, Rajeev!," the teacher gave him a sour look before the boy sat down beside his sister.
The second bell rang, leaving Spencer to sit down at her seat. She didn't even introduce herself! Spencer sat at her desk, barely paying attention to the lecture. She was a combination of bored and pissed off, and just couldn't see how her day could possibly get ANY worse.
Five minutes later, a crumpled ball of paper landed on her desk. Spencer's eyebrow shot up, wondering who would possibly want to pass notes with her right now. Opening the note, she read it, quickly letting it fall from her hands on the desk. She looked at the boy who gave it to her, who only smirked and raised his eyebrows. She shot him a disgusted look, which he took for as a step forward in their "relationship."
The note read:
SPENCER
YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A GUY TO ME
YOU LOOK LIKE A CURVY LADY DOG WHO COULD SURE RUFFLE MY FEATHERS ANYTIME
IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN 3
Spencer turned away from the boy, completely grossed out. A small part of her was kind of frightened, to tell the truth.
Suddenly, the piece of paper on her desk crumbled into a ball and got thrown behind her, causing the sender to yell, "OW!"
"Rajeev, you're disrupting the class for the LAST time! Go to the vice principal's office at once!," Ms. Lane screeched.
The boy took his backpack and left the classroom, cursing to himself. On the way out, he blew a kissy face to Spencer behind the teacher's back, causing a few kids to snicker and Spencer to feel very, very anxious.
Not only was she disturbed by Rajeev's borderline sexual harassment, but she wasn't the one who threw the ball of paper at his face.
Was she?
Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the lecture, distracting herself from her tidal wave of thoughts. Not a second later, she was distracted by a few other things. Like Ms. Lane's hair not being her ACTUAL hair, but a wig that was floating above her head when she moved around to talk to the class. Or, how after that, the lights went out, and when they came back on, a giant private part was drawn on the dry erase board, the teacher not understanding what it was or how it got there. Or how the globe would spin at random times throughout the class, even though the windows weren't open.
Spencer noticed each and every one of these things happening, and she seriously didn't know what to think. All she did was smirk when these things happened, and entertained the fact that there was some master prankster in class.
It wasn't just history class. Pranks were pulled in every class she had that day. Even at lunch, when a food fight was started, and no one knew who to blame for throwing the first glop of mystery meat.
Spencer wondered if there was some connection to any of these occurrences. Everywhere she went, a prank was pulled, and she never once saw anyone make any mysterious movements. 'Maybe it's Shanilla...,' Spencer thought, as her and the quiet girl had identical schedules, but the idea was quickly removed from her thoughts as the words 'Shanilla' and 'prank' didn't even belong in the same sentence.
At the end of the day, Spencer stuffed her backpack with every paper she had in her locker along with every homework assignment, and huffed at the fact that none of it could fit.
Once again, one of those supernatural things happened to Spencer. Everything that was in her backpack floated out, sorting itself out before going back in, her bag zipping itself up.
"Huh," she just said.
She placed it over her shoulders and walked out of the school, thankful that her first day was over.
"SPENCER! WAIT, SPENCER!"
Spencer quickened her pace, wanting to step on the bus as soon as possible. After taking a few steps, her feet, for some reason, stayed glued to the ground. She couldn't move her legs no matter how hard she tried.
"Whew, glad I could catch up to you!," the small girl said out of breath. "I just wanted to say that I'm glad I could show you around today! I had fun!"
Spencer gave the girl a tiny smile. "Yeah, thanks Shanilla. Hey, did you know your brother's a creep?"
The small girl shot daggers at her taller friend.
"What did you say about my brother?"
"He sent me a really perverted note in history class, and I just thought you should know that I would like to keep at least ten feet away from him at all times," Spencer shuddered at the memory of the peverted note.
Shanilla began to look sheepish. "I'm sorry Spencer. He's like that with everyone, so just know that he's not trying to scare you. And, hey, don't worry. I'll talk to him about it, okay? I'll make sure he won't bother you like that EVER again," Shanilla promised, patting Spencer's shoulder before walking away.
Spencer still hated the boy, but, without knowing it, she began to grow a soft spot for the girl.
'Huh, I'm glad I stayed behind to talk to her, she seems pretty alright,' Spencer thought to herself. Of course, being deep into her thoughts while walking, she was BOUND to bump into somebody, right?
Climbing up the steps of the bus, she accidently bumped into a hefty guy in front of her in the line.
Cleat.
"Hey, watch it-well, would you look who it is!," Cleat looked her up and down, jeering at her.
Spencer stayed silent, avoiding all possible eye contact.
"Yo everybody, it's Spencer Wright!," he shouted to everyone on the bus. They all responded, "YOOOO!"
Sitting down in the first empty seat she could find, she sat by the window, rolling her eyes at everyone's stupidity.
Unfortunately, Cleat sat in the seat behind her, which was taken, but he practically swung the impish boy out of the seat. His arms hung over the seat she was sitting in, causing her to tense up.
"So, YOU'RE Spencer Wright," he said matter-of-factly.
'You were making fun of me the entire day, of course you know who I am,' she thought, wondering how stupid could this boy possibly be. She didn't respond to him. She decided to ignore his existence, as he really wasn't worth it.
"Heh, I can't believe YOU'RE related to BJC. You guys don't even LOOK alike."
Spencer still gave him no response.
"HEY, LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING B-!," he yelled in her ear, causing her to stiffen.
"Leave me alone."
"YOU UGLY LITTLE-!," Cleat began to shout obscene names at Spencer, insulting her so much that some of the names he called the victim were new to her.
This went on the entire ride home. He would pause sometimes to catch his breath, but then he would continue to verbally abuse the girl.
A few minutes before the bus arrived at the mansion, all was quiet. Spencer thought the harassment would end. She leaned her head against the window, spotting familiar paths to her new home, wishing she was there already. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.
Suddenly, ice cold liquid ran from her hair down to her face and clothes.
She shrieked, causing Cleat and a few other boys to laugh. The dumb jock took a can of coke from one of his friends, shook it, and poured it all on Spencer's head.
The bus stopped in front of the mansion. Spencer ran out, blinking back tears. This was the last straw.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR IGNORING ME, B-!," she heard the jock cry out as she ran into the home.
She took a house key from her pocket and opened the door. Her mother came out of the kitchen with a hot plate of Spencer's favorite, chocolate chip cookies. At that moment, not even chocolate chip could make Spencer happy.
"Hi Honey, how was your day?," her mother asked beaming, before her smile turned into a frown.
"Oh my! Honey, why are you soaking wet?! What happened?," her mother asked.
"Everything is PEACHY, mom," Spencer managed, as she trudged into the elevator and grumbled to herself.
Arriving in her room, she threw her backpack on the floor and sniffled. She knew that if she cried, someone was BOUND to hear, so she decided she needed some fresh air after a day as exhausting as hers. Walking to the ledge, she stood there, looking out at all of the world. Down below was her new pool, big and shiny with crystal-blue water. Looking out at the vast area, you had the best view of Beverly Heights. Spencer's breath was momentarily taken away as she looked at the extensive beauty. Then she started to cry, leaning against the ledge for support. She never usually cried, but ever since her distant cousin died, the unexpected kept happening. She really began to hate change.
Wiping away some tears, she took a few deep breaths and focused on the view. Sniffling, she decided that she was NEVER taking the bus again. Even if she had to walk all the way to school, she would rather get blisters than have to sit in the same bus with an abusive boy and a girl who wanted her dead.
She felt a tickling on her face, and touched her cheek, angry that tears were still rolling down her face.
"UGH, why can't I just stop crying!," she yelled out to the world. The world didn't respond.
Suddenly, she felt something tug on her neck.
"Ow-," she yelped, as she felt her collarbone. Her eyebrows furrowed as she held a guitar pick necklace laced around her neck.
The thing was, she didn't own a necklace like this.
Just then, a deep, gravelly voice spoke behind her.
"BOO."
Spencer whipped her head around, only to face a boy.
A see-through, glowing boy who floated mid-air, leaning on his arms, legs crossed, a smolder on his face.
Spencer and this new visitor merely stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Spencer let out an ear piercing scream, her back on the ledge of the outdoor-second floor patio.
"Yeah, I know. It's ME."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"HA, I've still got it!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Okay, I get that I'm hot, but you can stop screaming now," he said, looking irritated.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Um-"
The mystery dude didn't have time to finish as the girl fell over the ledge, screaming.
