It was the third week of their stay in Paradise and the two teens were just about ready to pull their hair out from boredom. Under their new alias's John Smith and Anna Thompson, instead of Daniel Jacobs and Trisha Rhodes, they had remained under the radar very well only because they hadn't been into town except the rare grocery store run.
It was times like these they wished extra hard that they could just be normal teenagers. Instead of staying cooped up all day with serious Henri, they would be outside with their friends or at the mall, out to eat, anything. Henri seemed okay with staying home but they couldn't do it another day.
Making their way downstairs they entered the study and set their bags down on the wide beige table together and stared at Henri who has been intently staring at the computer. He turned around slowly and looked at them; he looked at their bags, then back at them, now suspicious.
"We just wanted to let you know we are going to school," Anna said trying to show authority but the look he was giving her made her tense and her statement ended up sounding more like a question.
"No way," Henri said crossing his arms, approaching them slowly.
John scoffed, "Come on Henri, as much fun as it is hanging out with you," he said with slight sarcasm. "We can't be in the house another day."
"Look, you can't just go waltzing into school and expect to just attend class," he said as if finding a hole in their plan. They both smiled which made him uneasy.
Reaching in their bags they pulled out transcripts and handed them to him, "You aren't the only one who can forge papers," John said.
He looked over them and smiled, impressed, "What's your name?" he said to them.
"Anna Thompson," "John Smith," they said.
He nodded, "Alright, where are you from?"
"Toronto," John said.
Henri's eyes narrowed but his smile remained, "You seem a little tan for Toronto."
John shrugged, "Santé Fe, New Mexico," he corrected.
"Your relation to each other," he asked.
"Childhood friends," Anna chimed in, "My parents died when I was nine and you are my Godfather so I've been staying with you since then," she smiled. "We've got it sorted out, Henri, we know the drill."
He smiled and handed them both the transcripts, "Keep your heads down," he said seriously.
They smiled and put the papers back in their bags and headed for the door, "Wait, wait, wait," he grabbed Anna by the arm and turned her around. "Where are your pants?"
Anna looked down at her outfit; she was wearing a loose fitted black and beige striped shirt with short loose sleeves that was a little shorter than mid-thigh. She had on black leggings that were shredded and knitted UGG boots that had large buttons on the side. One wrist was covered in neutral colored bracelets and the other had a black chunky bracelet and very few small ones. She tucked a strand of her long thick brown hair behind her ear showing her black earrings that spelled love.
"These are pants," she said stepping out of his grip.
Henri looked displeased but he didn't say anything to her, he just turned away and went back to his computer.
Anna quickly turned around shoving John out the door, "Hurry, before he makes me change," she whispered closing the door behind her.
As they moved down the stairs the door flew open, "Hey!" Henri called.
"Damnit," Anna muttered under her breath and they both turned to the front door. He had two slim black things in his hands and he handed them to the both of them, they were phones. "I'm going to call you both every hour and if you don't answer I'll know something is wrong."
"Every hour?" John protested disbelief etched across his features.
"It's either that or I home school you," he said.
John held the phone up as if that were his answer and Henri smirked before going back inside.
Anna stared at the door, "What an ass," she laughed.
Arriving at the school they made their way to the office to hand in their papers. It was a large high school for such a small amount of students. The town wasn't exactly hick small, it was still up to date for the most part but at the same time everyone automatically knew they were new.
"This already sucks," Anna said to John as he opened the door for her. She walked inside the office and handed the lady at the desk her papers, "Hi, we're new here and need to register for classes." She said with a smile.
The secretary smiled, "I'll get you signed right up," she said taking John's papers as well, "If you want to have a seat right there." She pointed to the chairs that were against the glass wall. They plopped down and waited patiently for their schedules.
"I hope we get at least one class together," Anna said examining her freshly painted nails, all a radiant baby blue color. With her luck, they wouldn't get any classes together accept something painful like gym or chemistry, yuck.
When John didn't reply she turned to him and saw he was peering inside of an office. She cranked her head around to see two men talking to a young girl, who she assumed John was staring at, of course. One man walked out storming about some picture and violation of people's privacy. The Principal sat the girl down and began speaking to her though she seemed hesitant to listen.
"Sarah, you have to stop this," he said rubbing the back of his neck clearly stressed out, "I'll give you your camera back, but no more photos without people's permission." He said handing her a rather intense camera. She glanced through the glass and John quickly turned around, as did Anna.
"I promise," she said taking her camera from him.
"Alright you two," the secretary said moving back to the counter sliding the papers forward, "Here are your transcripts back and your schedules." They stood from their seats and grabbed the packets with their names on it. There was a soft click behind them but they didn't turn to see what it was, "Oh, Sarah, can you show them to their homeroom and lockers?" The woman asked cheerily.
Sarah sighed and stopped walking to turn to them, "Sure," she said with a smile, though she really didn't seem happy about it at all. Anna wanted to laugh but she behaved herself and just smiled politely at her.
Exiting the office with their belongings John walked next to Sarah where Anna stayed a few steps behind as they spoke up something she didn't really care about. Something about a fish tank, nothing interesting enough for her to be nosey and tune in on. The school was pretty plain, the walls were white, lockers where a soft blue color, there were glass cases that showed off prestigious trophies and metals. It was just like most high schools, the only difference was that it smelt a little nicer, like pine trees.
"Homeroom is down the hall, third door to the left and here are your lockers," she said handing him his schedule paper back after taking it to find where they were headed. "Here's this back…" she paused and looked up at him, waiting.
Getting the hint John spoke up, "John," he answered, "John Smith," he smiled nervously.
A small smile grew on her face and she laughed, "Mkay," she said with a small nod and took a step away from him, "You don't want to tell me your name, that's fine," she said with a small wave and she walked away.
John took a step forward, his arm outreached, "But…that is my name," he growled under his breath. At that moment his phone rang, he snatched it out of his pocket and answered, "John Smith," he growled into it, then hung up. Why such an 'original' name?
Anna walked to the next set of lockers laughing lightly to herself, he could have changed it while they were still at the house those few boring weeks but now it was too late.
"Hey there," an unfamiliar male voice greeted, "New here?" John turned around and Anna turned as well.
John nodded, "Yeah, I'm John, that's my sister, Anna."
The guy nodded, "I'm Mark James, this is Kyle, Max, and Jackson," he said gesturing to the guys to his side. "So where are you from, John?"
Anna was already annoyed by him, he was being rude. He didn't really care about them; he was just making a spectacle of the 'new kids' in a passive-aggressive way.
"Santé Fe," he answered, trying to be short with him.
Mark made a surprised face, "Oh alright, New Me-hi-co," he joked. "You play any ball?"
John shrugged, "Football?" Mark nodded and John shook his head, "No."
"Play anything?" Mark asked, "Soccer, basketball, tennis, Ping-Pong?" His friends were laughing by the end of his sentence.
John just shook his head, "No," but his body was tense as irritation rose inside of him. He did not want to deal with this guy. He was being an ass just to be an ass and he didn't have the patience for that.
"Okay, that's cool," he said in that tone again, making his friends laugh, "Well since you're new, if you need anything, at all, just let me know and I'll help you out." He said as if mocking him. "See you 'round John." He said walking away laughing.
Passing Anna a guy rounded the corner and Mark rammed his shoulder into his causing him to slam against the lockers. Another guy stole his skateboard from under his arm and tossed it down the hall.
"Oh, sorry Sam," Mark said touching the spot over his heart, "Didn't see you there."
Anna clenched her fist as the guy walked around her to claim his skateboard, "Hey!" She called to Mark and his buddies. They stopped and turned to her. "Why are you being such an ass? You saw him coming, what the fuck is wrong with you?" She hissed. Her five foot seven inches compared to his six foot three was hilarious to look at but she knew she could be as intimidating as any man.
Mark shrugged, "I really didn't see him, I'll be more careful next time," he said talking down to her. He turned back around to continue his walk down the hall and she stuck her foot out in front of his, causing him to stumble to the ground. She turned quickly and walked back towards her locker but stopped seeing John and the guy talking. She approached him carefully.
"Hey, are you alright? That guy is a serious ass," she looked up to him, sympathy on her features. He was good four or five inches taller than her and had dark hair that was styled up and to the side with bright green eyes and olive skin.
He looked down at her and blinked a few times, "I'm fine," he said after a moment of regaining himself. Was she really talking to him? He could feel his palms sweating already, everything about her was enticing and she had only said one thing to him. Feeling his cheeks get hot he quickly turned from her not wanting to embarrass himself any further.
He turned back to his locker, "Gotta love the classics," he said glancing over to John, "Quarter back versus science nerd," he scoffed.
John sighed, "Look, that Mark gu—"
"Is soon to be irrelevant, he's in the fourth year of the best four of his life," He closed his locker and walked over to John helping him with his, seeing he was struggling. It popped open and he simply walked away.
Anna pouted, "I wanted to introduce myself," she whined putting her things in her locker.
John shook his head, "I feel bad for him," he said putting some books in his locker. Anna walked over to him and nodded, "He really should stand up for himself or it will never stop," she looked down the hall watching him walk with his head down, "But at this point it's probably too late."
John closed his locker, "It's never too late."
Anna smiled up at him, "Ready for class?"
"No," he laughed.
After the first four periods Anna questioned why they had decided to go back to school. It was same old stuff they had already learned the previous year. Anna was seventeen and John was eighteen so they were just young enough to pass off as seniors in high school but she was regretting it deeply. Same old annoying people to sit around and same old material, every class was going to be a breeze.
Walking out onto the grassy hill she saw John sitting down with his lunch and she approached him. She had totally forgotten to pack a lunch for herself but she wasn't starving, if John packed something yummy in his she would just snatch it. As she crossed over the cement that separated the two grass hills she saw, the guy from earlier walking up, books and drink in hand. She was about to approach him when something flew past her and towards him, smacking him in the head causing him to trip of the curb and fall to the ground, his drink spilling and books falling from his grip.
John was up in a second rushing over to him as did Anna. They knelt down helping him collect his things, "Are you alright?" John asked.
Sam glanced up at Mark and his two friends laughing, "Assholes," he grumbled trying control his shaking voice.
Anna could see John's jaw tighten when they asked him to throw the ball back, but he grabbed it anyway. Anna stood with him, Sam's books in one arm, she grabbed his with the other, "Don't you dare hand that to them," she threatened. Turning to face them she glowered at them, "Come get it yourself you stupid dick, instead of wasting your time acting like an idiot why don't you go fuck yourself and release some of your teenage angst!" She felt John's hand on her arm and she took a deep breath to calm herself, she turned her back to them to face Sam as John threw the ball to Mark's friend.
"Here are your books," she said still irritated, "You don't deserve to be treated like that; it really ticks me off to see them do that to you." She said looking into his eyes.
"I'm used to it," he mumbled, he grabbed his books, "Thanks for helping, I'm Sam," he said extending his free arm. "Whoa…" his attention went past her and she looked at Mark's friend laying flat on his back, holding the football close to him. "That's quite an arm you got there," Sam said obviously impressed and a little pleased the jerk got put on his ass.
"I'm Anna," she said getting his attention again, she didn't want him to walk away without knowing who she was. He looked back to her apology in his eye, "It's nice to meet you, Anna," he said shaking her hand. When his skin touched hers she felt an immediate tingle that nearly made her shiver.
John turned to them, "So, hey, what's with the UFO thing? I saw one on your locker and they just…"
Sam's face dropped, "I know it's your first day and everything but you'll figure it out soon enough," he said the distant look returning to his eyes.
John shook his head, "Figure what out?"
"That I'm definitely not the guy you want to be hanging with," he said moving around them and walking away.