Chap 3! Enjoy!
Thanks to XxRxX for my second review, XD
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Okay, so before I get into Black Tuesday, I need to explain the high school hierarchy, and where our girls stand in it. There's the usual high school groups – goths, nerds, pretty girls, wannabes, wannabe goths, the chubs, bullies, and the soon-to-dropouts. Oh yeah, and the nobodies. That's the club I currently belong to, but trust me, I'm used to it. Anyway – first and foremost – Cornelia is number one.
Literally – theres a popularity list posted on the school bulletin (the teachers try to take it down, but it shows up every week) and she is always numero uno. And she takes pride in that fact, and so does her cheer-leading cronies. They often walk all over anyone and any other clique – including, and particularly, the nerds. No problem, right? Its just the standard high school food chain.
Well, no. Hay Lin, and her membership to many of the clubs in which most nerds run, won't and does not allow that. She is a sweet girl, but a fighter, and for that reason she sticks up for the little guys – and that could only amount to a wicked rivalry between the nerds and the cheer team. Also, Hay Lin is a solid third on the list – right under Irma Lair.
Where does Irma come in this big mess? Well, shes the typical without a care in the world party girl. Although she usually avoids the other two teen queens, Irma is a like a walking trouble radar, and whoever comes into that circle is in immediate danger. Needless to say, Cornelia has passed that boundary(and later on she continued to do so, actually). I heard the result of the last time was Cornelia ending up face first in a trash can.
But, you can never believe rumors.. But that would explain the sour look Cornelia gives the brunette when they pass each other.
Hay Lin and Irma seldom came to conflict, they stuck to avoiding each other like the flu.
Overall, they all tried hard to avoid each other. And thats why Caleb's plan worked so well.
Now, to Black Tuesday. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I had been trying to scribble in the last answers to that stupid Biology test, when the intercom cranked to life.
"Due to a … accident with Ms. Summers, all girls PE classes will be integrated. Have a good day."
A collective roar of groans broke out in the classroom, complete with face smackings and 'what!'s.
A student's hand shot into the air, and the teacher was reluctant to call on him.
"What, Uriah?" He finally said.
"What happened to Ms. Summers?"
"She had an accident."
"Well, what kind of accident?" Someone else shouted. Another hooted in agreement. Soon, the whole class was ready to uproar over the simple facts.
"Alright, alright!" The teacher shouted over everyone. His face was slightly red and his pushed his glasses up. "Miss Summers, unfortunately slipped in Stairway C. Yeah, the long one. Shes fine, just out of commission."
"Forever?" A female voice.
"For a while." He reassured.
"Aww." Someone said.
"'Aww' is incorrect, Scott, that's detention."
Laughter, then silence again. I filled out the rest of the test and sat quietly, watching the class. Most of the students sat in desks, but some in the back shared a table by twos. Usually the only people sitting there was the back of the class crew and lovebirds, so no surprise that Irma and Caleb were back there, currently whispering sweet nothings in each others ear. I shouldn't say 'sweet', because knowing those two it was most likely 'naughty'. Next to me sat an interesting character, though. Her name was Taranee Cook, and she was my first friend at Sheffield High.
In class however, she was shy, I could tell. A fellow loner. She was dark-skinned, brown eyes, and had luscious purple (AN: I think that was her hair color in the show) hair. Glasses, but not to prominent to the fact that you wanted to call her a nerd, she looked perfectly capable of making friends.
"That's wrong," She whispered to me.
"Huh? What?" I said, a little to loudly, because she put her finger over her mouth and pointed towards my test.
"I can't tell you the answer, but its not mitosis," She went on, then glancing at the teacher and then to her own paper. "Good luck."
I erased the answer, and realized she was right, the answer was meiosis, I just had it mixed up.
After the teacher picked up the tests, I turned to her to say thanks.
"Its no problem," She said before I could even start. "You're the new girl, right? I'm Taranee, Taranee Cook."
"Cool, I'm Will." For the first time in a few weeks, I genuinely smiled because I was happy. I was no longer invisible, at least someone saw me.
"Listen up class!" The teacher boomed, stopping any and all conversations. "Caleb, hands above the table." He added as a last thought. Caleb held up his hands as if he was being robbed, earning laughs from the class. Irma blushed slightly and put her face in her palm.
"Ha, ha. You all won't be laughing when I announced these groups for our project." The class went dead silent.
"First up, Tiffany, John, and Darrell."
"What! I can't work with those two buffoons!"
"Takes one to know one! Uhm, two."
"Shut up! Er, I mean quiet down. Next, Caleb, Blunk, and Cory."
"Sweet!"
"Irma, Wilma, and -"
I felt my face flush, why me? Why couldn't I be paired with another nobody? This wasn't going to end well.
"Taranee."
Well, okay, thats a lot better. In my peripheral vision, I could see Irma tilt her head. "Wait – Taranee and who?" She repeated.
The teacher cleared his throat with a stern look and pointed straight at my face."Wilma Vandom."
"Just call me Will," I said, to no-one in particular, but I hate the name Wilma. Almost as much as I hate Mondays. The teacher just shrugged and continued listing names, and I saw that Irma had dropped the topic completely and was proceeding to play around with Caleb, punching him in the arm when he whispered something in her ear. I shuddered at the display and faced the board. The rest of the class went smoothly and quickly, and soon I was out on my own in the hallway again.
"Like him, huh?" Taranees cool voice almost made me jump out of my skin. I was used to walking the hallways alone, and was willing to do so.
"Who?" I breathed, still a bit out of breath.
"Caleb Tucker." She nudged my arm, and then pointed to the stud as we passed him in the hallway. He was currently canoodling with Cornelia. To the untrained eye, they looked like two friends talking to each other, but I knew better. They were flirting heavily, every now and then Cornelia would touch his chest softly, or he'd brush by her butt – he's such a operator, how can she not see that?
"Are you kidding? He's a player – the guys a douche. No way." I answered firmly. Cornelia pulled away from him at the moment, blowing him a secretive kiss, before going to class.
"Tell me about it. He has those girls fooled though – the class schedules just work his way." Taranee agreed.
Caleb turned his attention to the Art Club sign up, where Hay Lin was greeting people and giving out cupcakes to the ones who signed up before class.
"Got something sweet for me?" He cooed, with a stupid eyebrow wiggle.
Taranee and I both rolled our eyes simultaneously.
"Of course," She beamed, taking the icing off of one and sticking it in his mouth.
"Some of those girls don't deserve it though," Taranee added, shaking her head. I grunted in agreement and we traveled in comfortable silence.
We arrived to the gymnasium before we could see anything else, and I silently thanked the big man for that. I followed Taranee, who seemed to know where to go.
The PE teacher, Coach Walters, herded the kids to the bleachers too. She read names off of a roster, marking people absent and present. There was a high net and a bin of balls, so I figured we were playing volleyball. Hay Lin bounded in behind us, but the teacher marked her as late.
"Ooooh, crap." She huffed, crossing her arms as she surveyed the bleachers full of girls. "I forgot about this PE integrating thing."
Coach Walters only frowned and ushered the girl to the bleachers. "Yeah yeah I know, we aaaaaall hate each other." She announced irritatedly.
"No, we hate you!" A girl shouted from the back.
The bleachers erupted in laughter, even Taranee held back a giggle. I cracked a smile myself, at least this school has a sense of humor.
"Ms. Lair!" Walters scolded. "Since you want to be outgoing and yell out today, you can be team captain of the blue team."
Irma muttered something, I could only imagine it was an impressive collection of obscenities as she slunk down to the basketball court, arms crossed with a gouty expression. A few girls rooted mockingly for her, to which she glared back and they laughed.
"Oh, oh!" Hay Lin's hand shot up.
"What?" Coach Walters groaned.
"Can I be team captain of the Red team?"
"Sure, whatever. Come on down."
Hay Lin just wore the biggest smile ever, and raced down to the court.
"Okay, I want you, you, you and you!" She pointed girls off rapidly, quickly making a team of random girls that were unlucky enough to be noticed by the friendly Asian. Taranee was picked, too.
"No fair, she skipped me like twelve times." Irma protested, to which Walters shrugged. "Fine then, I want you – yeah you with the face, get down here. Mmm, you two, and you over there with the messed up hair. Uh... that chick.. no, the one that looks like Big Bird-"
"Lair!"
"Alright, geez! And what's-her-face. You, with the red hair." I almost jumped when Irma's finger landed on me, and I even looked back to see if I was in the way of someone else.
"Will," I corrected "My name is Will."
Irma only looked at me, raising a slender brown eyebrow. She opened her mouth to say something, but the gym doors busted open, grabbing both our attentions before anything was said. To this day, I never did know what she was going to say to me. (But knowing her, I kinda don't want to know.)
"Cornelia Hale, you're late." Coach Walters said bemusedly, checking her roster.
"I have an excuse, I couldn't find my iPod and I -"
"Save it, I don't care -"
"But -"
"You know what? Just for your diarrhea of the mouth, you'll play first as well. Blue team."
Cornelia muffled a frustrated scream and stomped over to the court, having no need to change since she was already in PE clothes. Irma smiled slightly, and slipped away to get a ball and start the game.
"Alright ladies, lets play ball!" The coach declared.
The cheer captain was posted in front of me, and Irma was in the way back. It was then that I briefly thought there was a good chance that this class wouldn't end well. But I ignored it and tried to focus on the game, which would have been easy if Cornelia hadn't been talking.
"Where were you last night? You missed the party." A chick asked, who I guessed was the blonde's friend.
"Well, it's totally on the DL. I mean, not fit to print. I'm dating..."
At this, at least half of the volleyball court perked up. Including me, but that's not the point! (And come on, who doesn't like good old fashioned gossip?) Even Irma stopped mid-serve to drop in.
"Caleb Tucker." She put emphasis on his last name, and curled his porcelain lips into a sly smile.
Irma's mouth opened into a silent 'o'.
I glanced quickly at Taranee who held her hands over her mouth in either shock or fear. Then, all hell broke loose.
Irma then shut her mouth, launched the ball in the air and slapped it. Time froze momentarily as I realized the ball was not headed over the net, but towards the perfect face of Cornelia Hale.
Boink.
The ball knocked any present conversation out of Cornelia's mouth, and caused everyone to gasp sharply. She twisted around automatically.
"Hey!" She warned, still flustered.
"Sorry." Irma apologized sweetly. "Slipped." She shrugged innocently, even I believed her for a second.
Cornelia rolled her eyes, and with a flip of her golden hair shrugged to her partner and clapped her hands. "Okay, alright, fine, okay everybody, let's play!" She turned reflexively to watch Irma serve.
Wrong move, Cornelia.
Call me crazy, but I swear I heard the sonic boom as the volleyball sailed past me, most likely over a hundred miles per hour, headed right smack-dab at our poor blonde's face.
BOINK!
This time the hit was so critical that it propelled Cornelia backwards, literally knocking her off her feet. There was a quick moment where she was just floored, and everyone was dead silent. Irma had a cocky smile on her face – her blue eyes had that mischievous sparkle.
Cornelia's partner helped her up, and I could swear I saw Cornelia's eyes flash as she stalked over to Irma.
"You know what," She growled. "That was no ACCIDENT." She poked Irma square in the chest, so hard that the brunette stumbled backwards.
Irma responded with a hard push. "He's mine, stay away from him!"
"Oh, you wish!" She spat, slapping Irma's forehead considerably hard with an angry palm. That sent Irma over the edge into a insatiable man-fueled rage and she went for Cornelia's neck.
In a flash, Hay Lin intercepted the two before any real damage was done.
"Come on, girls, peace and love!" Irma still fought over Hay Lin to continue her attempted murder of the cheerleader, while Cornelia spat insults and also fought against the peacekeeper. "No man is worth fighting about!" Hay Lin tried again.
"You stupid -" Cornelia gasped.
"There's nothing worth fighting about, Caleb Tucker is mine!" Irma growled.
"What?" Hay Lin said, now she and Cornelia were beginning to stare daggers into Irma. "That's not true!" She snapped, throwing the ball at Irma.
Irma easily caught it (Hay Lin wasn't the best at sports) and cocked her head with a disbelieving face. "And what the hell is your problem?" She asked.
"I am dating Caleb Tucker." She hissed, pointing to herself for emphasis.
There were a few gasps, but other then that, the three girls exploded in a all-out war. This is where I should have ran – I was standing way to close to the battle site to be safe. Irma wound up another deadly throw, but Hay Lin was nimble and dodged it by ducking quickly. Me, however? Yeah, I took it right in the kisser. The blow was so hard that it disabled my center of gravity and I flew to the floor, totally unnoticed by the fighting vixens. (Seriously, Irma should consider taking up volleyball)
I looked up in time to see Hay Lin recover from her duck only to be slapped by Cornelia, and that's when Coach Walters moved to stop the violence.
"ENOUGH!"
They stopped, each still seething. Coach Walters should have known better then to just walk away, but she did anyway, telling them to get back in the game.
She didn't even get a foot away before Hay Lin pushed Cornelia.
Irma, in turn, pushed Hay Lin, who flew right into – you guessed it – me.
Walters had made her way back into the arena. I pushed Hay Lin off of me (only because at this point I thought I was going to die, who cared what happened to anyone else) and turned just to see Cornelia bean Coach Walters in the face with a volleyball, most likely aiming for Irma. That exit was a no-go, so I turned again to see if I could flee the other way. Unfortunately, Irma had found a bag of volleyballs and decided it to be her new weapon. She swung it around with no real direction, but still managed to pummel Hay Lin and knock the stuffing out of me.
"Put the balls down!" Coach Walters hollered above the struggle, but it was no use.
Back to Irma. She gave Hay Lin no reprieve, as soon as the young Asian got up again, she swung the bag of volley-death upon her again. When I finally came out of my mini-coma, I was surprised and mortified to see that Hay Lin made it to the bin of balls – and she threw them like a baseball machine spat out baseballs. She managed to throw two and nail both Cornelia and Irma at the same time. I thought she was done, but turns out she wanted to use the whole bin.
The next ball knocked my lights out, and I was on the floor again. From there, I saw that Irma's bag of balls had emptied, and she was just grabbing balls on the floor and chucking them. The whole situation was so outrageous, I think I rolled my eyes, but that could have just been from the concussion. Anyway, it was the second time I had to pull my sorry butt up from the gym floor, and frankly, I was tired of it.
Then, to put icing on the cake, Hay Lin grabbed the bin and rolled it towards us at a frightening speed, intent on some sort of high school Hit-and-Run. Needless to say, I was floored again, but this time it was with Cornelia, Coach Walters, Irma, and Hay Lin (who somehow ended up on the floor too – I think she flew over the bin) and they were all slapping at each other rapidly with no remorse.
I was officially through at this moment, maybe because Coach Walter's butt was in my face, or that Cornelia and Hay Lin were trying to steam press me, or even because Irma was swearing like a drunken angry sailor in right in my ear. Either way, I snapped. I found Walter's whistle and blew it, effectively grabbing the girls attention.
"This guy is cheating on all of you and instead of taking it out on him, you're beating the shit out of each other?" I almost screeched.
Before anyone could respond, Coach Walter had something to shout out herself. "LANGUAGE!"
Uh oh. I've done it now, I've never seen Coach Walters so red! Actually, I've never seen anyone that red before. She was maaad.
"Detention," She seethed dangerously, eyes bugging out as she pointed at the culprits. "You, you, YOU, (she pointed at Irma then, who had hit her a few times with that bag of volleyballs) and you!" Her finger landed on me, and my mouth fell open. What the hell did I do?
Who knew getting the crap beat out of you was against the rules, anyway?
Coach Walters grabbed the bin, set it upright and rolled it away (angrily) as we all sat on the gym floor, bewildered. I glared quickly at all of them before getting up and heading out of class. I couldn't stay a minute longer, or they might have started a wrestling match and I'd be that referee that always ended up thrown into the sidelines.
As I stalked away from the more popular people of Sheffield (again), I heard Cornelia's distressed voice.
"Who is that?"
"I don't know, Wallace or something." Irma answered. And again, I felt the need to turn around and set things straight. I wanted to scream "Will! My name is WILL!" But when I looked behind, they were also shuffling to the nearest exit. Next time, I guess.
And so, that's how it all started. The detention after that was destiny – its where I met Matt Tucker and started the plan of how to take down the big man, aka Caleb Tucker.
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The next chapter is the good one :D its my 2nd favorite scene in the movie :"D REVIEW, even if you don't want to, I'm beggin D: lol