Somewhere in Canada...
An Indian-Canadian woman left the dining room table and began to climb the stairs. She passed by the second floor on her way to the third. On either side of the narrow hallway was a bedroom. One had the photographs of four muscular boys hung on the door; the other followed suit, but here the people in the photographs were girls.
Finally, the woman reached the third floor, where the bedroom she shared with her husband stood right at the banister, and on the far end was the last bedroom. Instead of an impressive photo of an intimidating kid hanging on the door, a piece of paper with a crudely-drawn stick figure with "DOOFUS" written above it (though the "F" was backwards) drawn on was taped to the door.
"Noah!" the woman barked. "It's the first day of school, and breakfast is ready! Get your skinny behind down here!" Then she went back downstairs.
The door opened, and a lanky boy stepped out, dressed in a gray t-shirt, green cargo shorts, and dull green sneakers.
"Great," Noah said, clearly disinterested. "Eleventh grade. Whoever wrote 'The Good Eleven' obviously lived in a fantasy." He went back in, fetched his backpack and a copy of Wuthering Heights, and went downstairs to join his mother.
Some time later, Noah was waiting at his bus stop. The sun beat down, and Noah struggled to stay standing.
"I swear, these backpacks get heavier every year," Noah grumbled.
"Noah! Hey there, little buddy!" came a jolly voice, and soon Noah was in the vice-like grip of an overweight blonde boy.
"Good to – urk – see you too, Owen," Noah grunted. "Mind setting me down?"
"Oh, heh heh, sorry," Owen apologized, dropping him. "I don't really know my own strength."
"And I do," Noah replied, getting up and rubbing his sore butt. "Seriously dude, you need to be more gentle with people. Not all of us have seventy pounds of shock absorption."
"Izzy doesn't seem to mind it."
"Izzy is also practically immortal, though," Noah pointed out.
"You bet I am!" came a psychotic voice as a red-haired girl in a green dress burst from Noah's backpack. "The Izzy cannot be stopped! NEVAH!"
"So that's why my backpack was so heavy," Noah concluded. "But how did you fit in there?"
"Grit, spit, and a whooooooole lotta butter," Izzy replied cheerfully, showing him the grease on her arms. "Speaking of which, hey Owen, wanna lick the butter off me?" she added seductively.
"I really shouldn't...my doctor put me on a new eating and exercise program," Owen said, blushing a little.
"Yeah, and I DON'T want to explain to the police why you two were naked in public for the thirty-second time this year," Noah said, a bit grossed out. After fixing his backpack and retrieving his stuff, he waited for the bus with his friends.
"Ugh! I can't believe I'm still in the same dumb advisory as these losers!" a half-Chinese girl dressed in dull red groaned as she entered the classroom Noah, Owen, and Izzy were in.
"Hello to you too, Heather," Noah muttered to himself. While there were some in his homeroom he liked (Owen, Izzy, Eva, Cody), there were also those he didn't like (in other words, everyone else).
"No worries, señorita, I am in this boat with you," a tanned Spaniard, Heather's on-and-off boyfriend Alejandro, said. Heather scoffed and walked away from him to her seat.
"Hey Al!" Owen said happily.
Alejandro flinched involuntarily, but calmed down. "Hello Owen. Izzy. Noah," he said to the three, who were sitting in the back of the room.
Noah grimaced a little while the others waved at him. Alejandro took his seat in the front.
"Tyler's back! To the EXTREME!" a boy in a red tracksuit and matching bandana said as he entered.
Tyler was then roughly shoved out of the way by a punk with a green mohawk and too many piercings. "Move it, dorkus!" he snarled. "Some of us have places to be!"
"Ow," Tyler, who'd ended up with a desk wedged in his stomach, winced. Alejandro, the owner of said desk, rolled his eyes.
"Duncan! You can't just push people around! You have to be more patient!" a shrill-voiced Hispanic girl who was with the punk exclaimed.
"Princess, a word of advice," Duncan said. "Nice doesn't get the job done. You have to be tough or everyone will walk over you."
"For once," said a brawny girl with a unibrow as she entered the classroom, "I agree with Duncan."
Tyler recovered and stood up, just in time to see a blonde girl with very big you-know-whats appear behind Eva. "Linds! Oh, am I glad to see you," Tyler said happily.
"Hey Taylor!" Lindsay chirped. "Or is it Tyson? I don't remember."
"Not important," Tyler said, beginning to walk over to her. "What is is–"
"Hey!" Heather snapped, stepping in front of him. "You know the rules. Misfits go in the back of the room."
"But–"
"The back."
"Come on, Tyler," Eva said. "Let's not waste our time on these morons." Tyler gave in and joined Noah, Owen, and Izzy in the back.
"How was your summer?" Noah said, not even bothering to look up from his book.
"I won two marathons," Eva said.
"Good for you."
"Is that genuine, or not?"
"No, no, it is."
Eva allowed a small smile to appear on her face. "Thank you."
"Wow, great job, Eva," Tyler said. "I wanted to do a marathon too. Then I faceplanted onto the treadmill, and that was the end of that."
"Don't worry, Tyler," Owen said. "I believe in you."
"I don't think Tyler's worried if you believe in him," Noah remarked, looking up briefly to see Lindsay call the Hispanic girl "Clara", to which she was rebuked with a loud "MY NAME IS [f-ing word] COURTNEY!" "Yeah, good luck telling Princess Airbrain you like her," Noah finished, going back to his book.
"Princess Airbrain? That's a new one," a teal-haired goth said, taking her seat in front of Noah, along with an African-Canadian girl and a blonde girl with yellowish eyes. Unbeknownst to them, Duncan briefly eyed the goth while Courtney wasn't looking.
"Well, Gwen, if you want to insult someone's intelligence, it's best if you do so while promoting your own."
"I don't think you should call anyone dumb, though," the blonde said cautiously.
"Bridgette, I appreciate your concern, but you're talking about overriding human nature here. It can't be done."
"Now that's the kinda 'tude I like," Leshawna chuckled, while Bridgette sighed.
"You stoked for this year, Deej?" asked a boy wearing a pink shirt (unbuttoned to show off his bare chest) and a cowboy hat asked.
"You bet I am," a big Jamaican replied happily. "This year's gonna be great, Geoff. I can feel it. This year I'll finally find someone who loves animals as much as me!"
"How have he and Dawn not met yet?" Leshawna whispered while Geoff reunited with Bridgette.
"Honestly, I'm just surprised as you," Gwen laughed. "They'd be perfect for each other. I wonder what's kept them apart."
Noah cleared his throat. Gwen turned around and saw Owen eating an omelette bigger than his head, Izzy chasing after a random piece of dust, Eva easily beating Tyler in an arm-wrestling contest, and a short girl who'd just walked in, Beth, starting next month's homework.
"Oh yeah, she hangs with you guys," Gwen remembered.
"No one else wanted her," Noah snarked.
"Drama Brothers in the house!" came the voice of a suave Hawaiian, flanked by three much scrawnier boys. Behind them, two girls in matching outfits but different physiques sighed dreamily at his voice.
"Justin, no one gives a rat's," Heather growled. Justin shrugged and sat down, then flashed a smile at the twinning Katie and Sadie, who squealed excitedly.
"We did get an actual rat at a concert once," one of the other members of the band, who had a gap in his teeth, laughed. "But that's not the weirdest thing we've gotten from loony fans. The weirdest–"
"CODY!"
Cody sighed, while Harold and Trent took cover behind Owen. "Came from her."
A tall girl with surprisingly purple hair jumped into the room, bowled over Heather and Courtney, and aggressively hugged Cody. "OMG Cody, we're together again!"
"Woopee," Cody groaned.
"And you stay away from him, homewrecker!" Sierra hissed at Gwen, whose eyes widened in fear.
"Sierra, calm down. Cody may have had a crush on Gwen during middle school, but I'm sure he's moved on," Trent said as he sat next to Gwen. "You HAVE moved on, right?" he asked Cody.
"Yeah, I got over Gwen a while ago," Cody muttered. "No one lets me forget it, though, but who cares about what I think?"
Harold sat near Duncan. "One peep out of you and you're history," Duncan snarled.
"O-okay..." Harold said meekly. "...gosh..."
The room hushed when their teacher came in. He was a middle-aged man, with slowly-graying light brown hair. The plaque on his desk read DON MAIMON, TEACHER.
"Hey everyone," Don said. "Welcome back to Pahkitew High. First off, attendance. Cody Anderson?"
"Here."
"Alejandro Burromuerto?"
Once the snickers subsided, "Here."
"Eva Carloff?"
"Here."
"Izzy Daviau?"
"Boo!" Izzy said, appearing behind him. Don shrieked while the class laughed.
Don regained his composure and continued. "Trent Gagnon?"
"Here."
"Heather Green?"
"Here."
"Tyler Harrington?"
"Here."
"Bridgette Henderson?"
"Here."
"Beth Jackson?"
"Here."
"DJ?"
"Here."
"Sierra Laubach?"
"Present, Mr. Maimon!" Sierra chirped, still clinging to Cody's face.
"Justin Maheloma?"
"Here."
"Owen Martins?"
"Here."
"Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V?"
"Here."
"Katie Mendel?"
"Here."
"Lindsay Northern?"
Silence.
"Psst, Lindsay, that's you," Bridgette reminded her.
"Oh! I'm here. I think..."
Don sighed. "Leshawna Peters?"
"Here."
"Duncan Rothschild?"
"Here."
"Sadie Ruest?"
"Here."
"Gwen Sevillle?"
"Here."
"Courtney Silveria?"
"Here."
"Geoff van Lawson?"
"Here, brah!"
"Noah Wodeyar?"
"Here," Noah finished, still reading his book.
"I do have some announcements," Don continued. "So pay attention. Geoff, button your shirt, that's not school-appropriate. Duncan, stop leering at Harold like you're going to maim him, you don't want to go back to juvie. Lindsay, I'm over here, there you go. Izzy, whatever you're thinking about doing, please stop thinking it. Owen, you're getting crumbs on the floor, you're going to have to clean those up. Sierra, get off of Cody, that's sexual harassment."
"Aww," Sierra pouted, going back to her seat.
"Thank you," Cody breathed.
"Think nothing of it," Don reassured him. "First off, we have a new student. His name is Ezekiel Calhoun, and he's been homeschooled for all his life, so be nice."
"Check it!" a skinny, pale boy dressed in farm clothing said as he came into the room. "The Zeke is here, eh! Ready to rock this school like there's no tomorrow!"
"Sit in the back with the Misfits," Heather replied quickly. "You belong with them."
Zeke was confused. "Don't argue with Heather, just do what she says," Eva explained. Zeke, noticing Heather's angry glare burning into him, quickly complied and scrambled to the back of the room and sat next to Beth.
"Heather...just no," Don said sternly. "Anyway, next order of business. Winter formal is in a few months, so start preparing now. The environmental club starts meeting this Thursday, so Bridgette, DJ, and anyone else interested, write it down. Also, the results of the vote for Class President came in, and the winner is...Courtney."
"YES!" Courtney screamed. "Finally, the school realizes my leadership potential!"
"You rigged the votes, didn't you?" Alejandro whispered to Heather.
"It was either that or listen to her [b word] the whole year," Heather whispered back, smiling.
"I like the way you think."
Don secretly heard them, but figured it was best to leave Courtney happy. "Last but not least, we've got a football game against Heron High this Saturday, so be ready."
"I'm playing in that!" Tyler called from the back.
"Great! I hope I get to see you!" Don said.
"Mess up," Duncan added under his breath.
"Anyway, that's all I've got. The bell's going to ring soon, so get ready for your next class."
After a few minutes, the bell dinged. "And you're off!" Don said as the kids scrambled out to their first period classes.
As Noah tried to avoid getting crushed by the other, bigger kids in the hallway, he happened to notice someone emerge from the classroom next to his. A Chinese girl, wearing a blue dress and wedge heels. She had a sullen expression on her face that brought out her big black eyes.
"Huh," Noah said to himself. "I don't remember seeing her before. Must be new." His mind quickly moved to other things, and he left.
Little did he know he'd just seen the love of his life.