Nowhere Man -By Yo-yo
Disclaimer: C chappie #1.
Girl:
There's something about five a.m.
There's always been something about five a.m.
Ever since I was little, my body couldn't seem to sleep past the start of a new day. It has something to do with the environment. Five a.m. is when everything wakes up. The sky is alive with color. Everything looks new, innocent ... without blemishes. Five a.m. looks like what my life is supposed to be. Five a.m. is my perfect life.
I am always awake before the alarm begins to sound, and I always follow the same routine. I stretch first, releasing all the tension from my limbs, contorting almost painfully. Then I shed my pajama bottoms and pull on a pair of Speedos. Before I head for the back staircase, I take a towel and a CD.
I am not fully awake until my body slices through the chlorine laced pool and awareness is finally knocked into me. Its then when I can FEEL five a.m. Yesterday washes from my skin. I cantouch the newness. The color dances over me. And I am five a.m.
Forty laps and I am physically tired. After a warm down, I pull myself out of the pool, grab the towel and pull the tray of breakfast towards me.
By seven fifteen I am in the shower, and by eight o'clock I am on my way to school.
"Hey, how'd you do on Medina's reading quiz?" I asked, settling at the table where Jason was already sitting.
He pulled on one of his fuzzy dreads, a nervous habit of his.
"Bad. I didn't finish the last thirty pages. So I'm going to go to and hopefully finish typing the rough draft early and get some extra credit."
"That's good." I nodded, "So, what are you doing tonight?"
He rolled his eyes and let out a groan.
"I'll be committing suicide."
"Dinner with the Newton's?"
"Worse. It's day one of the Cheerleading Olympics. After practice I have to go and watch Jordan and her peppy friends. And I can't get out of it because Mom and Dad have decided they're too busy, so I have to take her home. God, I have a feeling I'll be doing homework tonight."
"What's wrong?" Madeline asked taking a seat beside Jason.
"Jase gets to hang with pre-teen cheerleaders."
"Maddie, will you please come with me?" he pleaded with her. "I'll get you dinner, a desert, and I'll give you a ride home."
"Sure?" she shrugged, pushing her pudding towards him and taking a fry from my plate. She savored the one fry, letting it sit in her mouth for a long time, and after swallowing, she whispered, "Ok, no fried foods for the rest of the week."
"You're still dieting? I thought it was just a seasonal thing?" I asked.
"Shut up Tristan," she frowned at me. "Not everyone can eat whatever they want and still look like an Olympic swimmer. Some of us have to work at it, especially with my body type."
"So, have you guys heard the rumor?" Louise purred as she and the rest of the group took their seats.
"What rumor?" Maddie asked, munching on a few lettuce leaves.
"New student."
"Is it a Gilmore?" I asked.
"Yeah," Louise raised a brow.
"Emily told me. She's excited. Was bursting to tell me; she giggled like a teenager."
"That lady's creepy." Jason frowned.
"You would think that."
"That's not the important part." Louise groaned as if exasperated.
"What's the important part?" Lane asked before taking a bite of her cheeseburger and winking at a pissed Madeline.
"It's Lorelei's daughter. The famous Lorelei! She's like the Chili of Chilton-"
"Chili?" Daniel asked.
"The C in TLC. You remember. She got pregnant by her producer ... huge scandal?" she rolled her eyes.
"Sure."
"Well anyways, Lorelei was like every girl's dream. She was popular, pretty, not poor, the three Ps. And then she got pregnant and three months after having the baby, she ran away. I don't know about you guys, but I want to see what she did with this offspring."
"That's disgusting," Paris frowned. "This isn't some reality show, Louise. She isn't something to be gawked at."
"I'm sorry, but it's interesting. She was our age when she got pregnant. She completely left Hartford society to raise her kid. She even left Christopher who was on the verge of marrying her. She had everything made for her, a lifetime of luxury, a hot husband, an heiress daughter and she gives it all up. And I'm sorry, but I'd like to see what a teenage mom can do. Did the girl turn out trashy as hell, or was she chained in a convent?"
"You sound as if you'd make a perfect news anchor." Austin grinned.
"You're having way too much fun with this," Lane frowned. "Please don't frighten her and pull a Louise. I swear I will not let you do something bitchy. If you try, I will retaliate in the best way I know how."
"And what's that?" Louise raised a brow.
"Dish."
"Hey guys, what's up?" Henry took a seat at our table, disrupting the obvious tension.
"Hi," Lane received a kiss from him. "So, there's a party at Janet's house Saturday, are we game?"
"Are you sure you can get out of the house with your mother?" his concerned look was making everyone at the table want to wretch.
Lane and Henry had been going out for four months now, and she had yet to tell her mother about their relationship. The funny thing was she knew her mother would love Henry. He was everything that they wanted, but she also knew if they enjoyed what she enjoyed, she'd lose interest, and would rather keep everything a secret.
"Actually," she grinned. "She's going on a retreat all weekend. So all I have to worry about is Papa, who works on Saturday. So, I can stay out all of Friday and Saturday. And I was hoping-?"
"Yes you can sleep over," Paris groaned.
"So, everybody up for a party?" Madeline asked.
Everyone nodded.
I was hiding.
Instead of my regular seat beside Louise in the library, I opted for one of the lesser populated corners of Chilton and grabbed a seat in the sitting room, just after the main entrance.
Students usually stayed clear of this place. Either teachers lurk around the corners, inquiring their presence in the room. Or, someone unfavorable would enter and they'd have nowhere to run.
But I needed an escape. And so far, the notion of hiding in plain sight seems to be working.
Sadie is getting annoying.
After the New Years Party she became like the chick with the purple hair from the Anna Nicole Smith show. She's never far behind with that creepy ... hungry look in those clear as mud eyes.
At school, everyone keeps snickering and she keeps giggling. So I guess the rumors that we're officially dating and mating were started by her.
We share no classes together, hers are on the other side of campus, and yet she's outside the door just before the dismissal bell, begging me to escort her to the next class. I can't say no without it getting to the PTB (Powers That Be: Them), so I go along with it. She gets a kick out of it, and I am late for class.
And every night He calls Alina to make sure Sadie's been in the house ... preferably in my bedroom ... yeah ... right. He hadn't finished the deal yet.
Isn't it illegal to whore out your son?
It's weird. The hottest topic at Conspiracy Academy was something that incited my attention. It was a topic at lunch and a conversation as I twirled Emily around the dance floor, and I couldn't help falling under its spell.
What was she like ... this girl?
The funny thing is, as soon as I thought those words, the front doors opened, and in walked Emily and a girl.
I was sort of shocked when I saw her trailing behind Emily. From her descriptions and everyone's mental pictures of Lorelei, I expected a future Heidi Klum with red hair. Instead, she seemed ... normal. Her jeans were frayed at the cuffs where they'd been dragged along the ground and her Harvard sweater had little holes in the ribbed sleeves where she put her thumbs. Her brown hair spilled over her face and her sneakers had words written on them.
If I hadn't been in this room and I had bumped into her in the halls ... I wouldn't have even noticed this girl.
TBC ...
A/N: I hoped uz liked this chappie. I know it's taken me forever to write, but this story is seriously the hardest thing I've ever written, and I'm sort of glad I'm doing it. R&R please! And hey Frack aka Michelle, you don't like my Rory from "Strawberry Fields?" Because it's the same Rory, only from Tristan's perspective and she is a little different from the real one. But I like her faults and hesitations a little better.