TW - mentions eating disorders
I was at the gym playing basketball with a few guys that I met, they were pretty good but I was way better not to brag or anything. I do think I have a chance at being a starter for the next season when the school year starts though. We had finished our game and I was heading to the bench press to do a set, but when I turned a corner I ran into someone.
"Shit, I am so sorry!" I quickly apologized, that's when I realized it was Aubrey who I had ran into.
"Beckett, what are you doing here?" she asked, "umm working out, and I would assume you are to?" I said in a 'duh' kind of tone, "right, I must have hit my head pretty hard." she said, chuckling embarrassed. Just then a tall figure came around the same corner "hey, Bree what's taking so long?" the girl-Stacie-asked, before noticing me.
"Oh, what a nice surprise to see you here, Beckett." she said, "likewise." I said, "well we better be leaving if we don't wanna be late for dinner." Aubrey said, but the last time I checked the clock it was three in the afternoon. "At three in the afternoon?" I asked, "early dinner...?" Aubrey said in a more of a question tone.
"If you don't wanna hang with me you can just say that, because the one thing I hate more than being left out, is liars." I said, laughing a little.
"It's not that I don't wanna hang or that I don't like you, because I do. It's just..." Aubrey said, "just, what?" I asked. "nothing." she blushed.
"Aubrey just wants to get home early, because our dad is a total control freak and if we were late he would flip the fuck out." Stacie supplied, and Aubrey just nodded. Before they left I got a surge of courage and did the unthinkable, "umm, Stacie, I don't know if you have a boyfriend right now, but if you don't can I get your number?" I asked, fully expecting her to say she was in a relationship or just wasn't into me like that, but instead she said, "sure!" and we exchanged numbers.
When they were walking away I could hear Aubrey whisper-shout "what the fuck was that!?" and Stacie just laughed. I don't know what they were talking about but, Aubrey was pretty mad.
It was officially the last day of summer, and it was going by fast.
"You excited for the new school year?" my dad asked during dinner. "Super," I replied "how about you dad, are you ready?" I asked "well, being a teacher is different from being a student, there's more responsibility and a job at stake if I don't follow protocol." he said," yeah, but are you excited?" I asked again, when he didn't answer my question, "honestly Beck, I'm scared as hell, scared for you that someone will find out and harm you, and I'm not ashamed of you or anything, just worried, son or daughter my job as a parent, as a dad my job is to worry." he answered and I could sense his vulnerability.
"Well you don't need to worry dad, I've been trained in self-defense since I was a baby practically." I said trying to lighten up the mood, "yeah since you were five you could take down someone double your size." my dad said smiling, "now though, I'm a lot more muscle rather than bones." I said flexing my arm, that was in fact pretty big, I had taken my workout schedule pretty seriously when I started my transition like my doctors recommended, I'd even started growing some facial hair.
We spent the night talking and watching tv, before I showered and laid down in bed, turning on the tv in my room, before I got a text.
Stace(9:58 pm): hey, don't know if you're sleeping but, I was just checking in
Beck(10:00): oh nope, just got out the shower and was laying down in bed, hbu
Stace(10:01): nothing much, just got done arguing with my sister
Beck(10:03): jeez, about what, was it like a huge fight or minor petty arguments girls like to have
Stace(10:05): you are like the first boy who ever asked me a question like that before, and it was kinda big, the fight
Beck(10:06): what can I say I'm just a curious guy, what was the fight about anyways
Stace(10:09): basically, Bree was mad I got this boys number even though she told me he was cute, and we made it a rule never go after the same guys no matter how bad we want to if the other already calls dibs
Beck(10:11): must be one lucky boy for such pretty girls to want to go after him ;)
Stace(10:12): you have no idea ;)
Beck(10:13): it's getting late and as much as I hate it, I need sleep to function tomorrow, especially in a new school
Stace(10:15): right, well good night, see you tomorrow at school, and who knows maybe we'll be in the same classes :p
Beck(10:15): night Stace :)
After texting for a while I finally put my phone up and tried to get some sleep, but my mind kept coming back to this one thing, Aubrey and Stacie both like ME which is crazy because I've only been here for like less than three months and started my transition not long before that, but I guess I'm mostly happy that I get to have this. And tomorrow I'll be a sophomore in high school, at a new school, reinventing myself.
I turned off the god awful sound that woke me when I realized it was the first day of school or my 11th first day of school, but whatever. Luckily I wasn't new to this part so I set my alarm for 6:00 am, school started at 9 and the doors opened at 8:30 so that gave me two and a half hours to get ready. First I figured I'd go for a run around the neighborhood because I figured I need to keep in shape, as I left the house I saw Chloe across the street in workout clothes.
"Hey!" I shouted as I moved down the driveway, "oh, hey, what are you doing up so early?" she asked as she made her way over to me, "I could ask you the same thing." I said, "well I was going on a morning run, and one could only guess you were doing the same." she said gesturing to my workout clothes, "yep!" I confirmed, "crazy idea, but do you wanna be my running partner, my siblings say it's too early and don't want to run with me?" Chloe suggested, "sure, why not." I said and we started.
We ran around the whole neighborhood twice before we decided we should go home, Chloe who shared a bathroom with her sister figured if she didn't shower now she would never be able to because her sister would be getting ready. I, on the other hand, did some exercise-in the garage that me and my dad turned into a gym I did, push-ups, sit-ups, lifted some weights and other traditional things. After that I took a shower and put my clothes on, I settled for a white t-shirt, a short-sleeved red and black flannel, some ripped black skinny jeans, and a pair of Chicago ones, with a hooded black leather jacket, which I finished the look with a black vans backpack, and a silver chain(it was a gift from Luke, he said it was lucky so I wear it everyday).
My dad was already gone when I finished getting ready so I made myself some breakfast, ok truth is I ate two poptarts that I put in the toaster and watched tv for a bit.
I looked at my phone to check the time- 8:18 am I had to leave now if I wanted to be on time, luckily for me, for my 16th birthday my dad got me a motorcycle, a red and black Suzuki Hayabusa sports motorcycle, to be exact. Ever since I was a kid I wanted one, and my dad promised he'd get me one when I turned 16. I set the directions of the school, into my phone and took off, NOT before I put on my helmet, safety first kids.
As I pulled up to the school I parked in a parking spot far from the school, I learned that the further you are from the doors the less people will crowd your vehicle. As I took off my helmet I could feel people staring at me, I hate being the new kid because of this reason, but this year I'm gonna try and be popular you know, test the waters a little.
I was walking up to the doors when someone jumped in front of me, "hey, you're new and I'm Quinn!" this tall blonde girl said, but seriously what is up with Georgia girls and appearing from thin air, "uhh, nice to meet you I guess." I said trying to walk away before she pulled my arm, "you're supposed to say your name now." she said, letting go of my arm, "um, Beckett, but my friends call me Beck." I told her "well, Beck, I bet you don't know where you are going so I'll show you around." Quinn said, "Quinn, let go of the poor boy, he's coming with us." I heard a familiar voice say, and I turned around.
"Well if it isn't sticks, barfy, and lesbeale." Quinn said as we seen Stacie, Aubrey and Chloe, "hey, Stacie, Aubrey and Chloe." I said, "wait you know them!?" Quinn asked, "yeah, Chloe is my neighbor and Stacie and Aubrey live in our neighborhood down the street." I explained, "like I stated before, Beckett is coming with us." Stacie said again and grabbed my arm, "no, if he knows what's best for him, he'll come with me!" Quinn said grabbing my other arm, they both pulled, "wow you have big arms." Stacie said, "thanks?" I was just confused as to what was going on, as they still pulled. "GUYS, stop he isn't another one of your boy toys you can throw around, he is a new student that just moved here!" Aubrey finally stopped them, "now, come with us, your real friends, Beckett." Aubrey said "uh, ok." I said, "see you around Beck." Quinn said winking as she walked off.
WTF was that.
"Guys what was that, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked when we were left alone, and were walking through the halls, "that was, Quinn Powell, a monster sent from hell, and every time she meets a new boy, she seduces them and plays them and rips their heart out, she is one of the most popular girls in this school, because she is head cheerleader, we on the other hand are the other most popular girls here, because we are on the dance team, and lets just say dance plus cheer does not equal peace." Stacie explained.
"What's up with the nicknames?" I asked, and they just looked at one another, as if to ask if they should share, and the settled with a nod.
"In seventh grade I had an eating disorder, anorexia, forced myself to lose weight, and I got really skinny and people started calling me sticks, lucky for me I got help before I completely damaged my body and myself." Stacie said, which surprised me but Aubrey then continued before I said anything, "in sixth grade, during a play I 'choked' during my solo and puked everywhere, it's funny now but back then everyone started calling me barfy and I hated it." and next Chloe, "well my nickname is pretty obvious, I'm a lesbian and the 'clever' people we call our classmates decided on lesbeale which is lesbian Beale mushed together, and honestly I think it's pretty funny." she shrugged.
"Oh." I said, then I realized I had no idea where to go for class or where my locker was, "hate to ruin a such a shareful moment, but I don't know where my locker is or any of my classes." I said, "well let's see your schedule." Chloe said, and I gave it to her, the list read,
Student: Mitchell, Beckett, Rory DOB: July, 21, 2006 Locker #: 145 Locker combination: 30, 05, 17
HR: Mrs. Beale - 9:00 am
1st period: Math - Mrs. Beale - 9:30 am
2nd period: Chemistry - Mr. McDonahue -10:30
3rd period: free period - 12:00 pm
4th period: Literature Arts - Mrs. Finagain - 1:00 pm
5th period: Gym - Mr. coach Smith - 1:30
6th period: Dance - Mrs. Abernathy-Mckadden - 2:30
7th period: AA\dismissal - 2:30-4:30
"So it looks like your locker is on the west wing, right by my moms classroom which is your homeroom and 1st period." Chloe said, as she showed me, "what's AA, at the bottom?" I asked, "oh, that's after-school activities, like cheer, dance, football practice, basketball practice. Ya know that kind of stuff and if you don't have a club or team then you go home at 2:30." Chloe said.
"You signing up for anything?" Stacie asked me, "um, hopefully the basketball team, I always wanted to I just...didn't meet the requirements at my last school, I wasn't the right fit." I said, only halfway lying, "well if you make the team we'll be the ones 'cheering' for you, the dancers do the halftime shows, so it's required we go to all the games." Stacie said, "well, when are tryouts?" I asked, "you'll have to ask coach Smith, he runs the basketball team." Stacie said, "lucky enough you have him for gym at 1:30." Aubrey said looking at my schedule.
"We have to get to class now if we wanna be on time." Aubrey said, when the five minute bell rang, "well I have Russian lit first which is on the East wing, so I can't show you to your HR, bye!" Chloe said walking off, "I have choir first which is back the way we came." Stacie said walking off, "don't worry, we have the same HR." Aubrey said, thankfully, "great, lead the way!" I said following her.
"Do you think I'm mean?" Aubrey asked as we walked to class, "not mean but-" "intimidating?" she finished for me, "yeah, how'd you know?" I asked, "the whole, crackdown thing when we first meet, I figured you think I was mean or intimidating, and I don't want that to be how you think of me." she said, "oh, well ok, I wanna get to know the real Aubrey then and not the bad cop, version." I said and we laughed a bit, "this is us!" Aubrey said stopping in front of a door with a sign on it that read, "everyone is welcome" with an lgbtq flag on it, "coming?" Aubrey asked as she opened the door.
"Miss Posen-Conrad, you're late the bell rung three minutes ago." Mrs. Beale said, "we were closer to the East wing so we had to walk all the way down here." Aubrey said moving to the side so I could come in view, and kids started whispering, "ohhh fresh meat!" a brunette boy said, sitting on top of his desk. "Chicago, would you stop, and sit in your chair the right way, like we talked about last year." Mrs. Beale said, "and you Aubrey go sit down your tardiness is excused, you!" she pointed to me, "come here and tell the class your name and something about you." she finished.
I made my way over to her and did as she asked, "sup, my name is Beckett, but you can call me Beck, I love basketball, dancing, and music, and when I graduate I wanna go to LA and be a music producer." I shared, "nice to meet you Beckett, I'm Mrs. Beale, but I know you who I am because Chloe told me all about her new friend from across the street named Beckett, and I was beyond excited to know you were in my class!" Mrs. Beale said, she told me to pick a seat and I sat in the back in a corner, that just so happened to be by this Chicago kid.
"Sup, I'm Chicago and this is the rundown, I seen Quinn talking to you earlier, make no mistake she is mine also I am really popular but no one is talking about me because they are talking about the 'new kid' and I don't like that, so you are gonna stay outta my fucking way, or we are gonna have problems, ya hear me bud." he whispered to me. "First of all, your breath stinks so backup a few inches or ten, second of all, I don't want Quinn I'm with the right crowd and third of all, so what if you aren't the talk of the century it's not the end of the fucking world so you can take your narcissistic ass somewhere else." I said and I could see his jaw lock with anger.
Mrs. Beale had the class go around and state their names and what their goal was for the year before the bell rang. As I was leaving the classroom Chicago pushed me against a wall of lockers, "listen here punk, I don't know where you get off talking to me like how you did but you better check yourself!" he said and I pushed him off me and into a set of lockers on the other side of the hall, I could see people start to crowd around us.
"Now you listen here, bud, I have 8 years of self defense training and lift weights when I get bored so don't fucking cross me again, alright?" I said, and he tried to push me away but I held him down to the lockers tighter, "alright!?" I asked again, "fine!" he backed down, and I heard a camera snap and turned my head to see a tall brunette girl with a camera and also seen Aubrey behind her shaking her head.
I let Chicago go and stood up straight, "sorry, just wanted to get a picture for the school paper." the girl said, "oh ok, well see ya around?" I said to the camera girl before walking over towards Aubrey. "What the heck was that!?" she slapped my arm, "owwwwww!" I said dramatically, "what was that for?" I asked, "oh please that barely hurt." she said, "yeah, but still." I said, "on your first day you pick a fight with none other than Chicago Walp, the most problematic kid in this school, who happens to always get his way." she said, hitting my arm again, "woman if you don't stop hitting me, also I need to get to Chemistry." I said, "right, well Stace has that class and I have Biochem which is right by the Chem lab." Aubrey said walking off, "ok, guess we're going now." I said following her.
We got to our classes before the bell and went our own ways, when I walked into the lab I immediately seen Stacie and went to her table which was thankfully empty.
"What the fuck!?" she said hitting my arm, "oww, what is with women and hitting people?" I rubbed my arm, "you and Chicago are trending on the school page!" she showed me a website on her phone titled 'Barden News' I went to it on my phone and on the home page was that same girl from before and apparently her name is Emily Junk.
"Wow, bad news travels fast." I said scrolling through the pictures and watching a video of me when I gave him a taste of his own medicine, "yeah, no shit, this is Barden, there isn't a day when drama is non-existent from the first day to the last day of school." Stacie said as if I should know this already, "thanks for the tip." I said sarcastically. Class started a few minutes later and we did the routine 'lab safety' kind of thing, before the bell rung. Lucky enough all the sophomores have the same free period so all four of us got to hang.
"What the hell, Beckett!?" Chloe said hitting my arm, yes the same arm the other two hit, "ow, lady jeez why you gotta be so violent, why do all of you have to be, so, violent?" I asked rubbing my arm for the millionth time that day.
"Why would you start trouble with Chicago?" Chloe asked shaking her head, "can you three let me explain my side before you hit me again?" I asked as we sat at a table, me on one side, Stacie facing me, Aubrey to her left. Chloe on Stacie's right, "the court will now hear you statement." Aubrey said, and I shook my head.
"First it started in HR\Math when he was all like "I'm popular and you are nothing and Quinn is my girl" and I was all like "I don't want your girl you narcissist" and then when we left that class he pushed me against the lockers and was like "who you talking to punk" and I pushed him against the other row of lockers and was like "don't cross me bud I know self defense and lift weights" and that's what happened." I took a deep breath, because I said all that in one breath, I watched the girls turn in their seats to face the other way and heard them start whispering and one would occasionally look back at me.
"The court has come to a verdict, we will protect you from the wrath that is Chicago and his white privilege that seems to get him anything." Aubrey said in a serious tone, "thanks I guess?" I said in more of a question.
We were sitting and talking for a while before Quinn came over. "hey, Beck, I heard about the fight and saw the video. You were super hot putting Chicago in his place." she said squeezing my arm "it wasn't really a fight, it was more of a disagreement." I said, "so humble of you to downplay a situation." Quinn said, still squeezing my arm.
"I'm not downplaying anything, but ok." I could feel Aubrey and Stacie's eyes burning holes in the side of my head so I turned to look at them, and smiled my most charming smile, "what do you want anyways, Powell?" Stacie asked, "oh ya know, just seeing how Beck was doing on his first day." Quinn said, still holding my arm, "really, cause it seems like you care more about his arm and muscles." Aubrey said, "whatever you're just jealous he doesn't let you touch his muscles." "as if!" Aubrey said, "yeah, because he isn't just some thing with big arms he is a person with feelings and we get to talk and laugh and be friends with him." Stacie said. Me and Chloe just sat there looking at each other with a look that said, "they all totally wanna jump my bones." I figured out what that meant.
After a while I finally intervened, "ladies, ladies, please calm down there is enough of me to go around, you just have to wait your turn, Quinn you can have my arm for now then you Aubrey and then Stacie that way everyone is happy." I settled laughing, and I could see Aubrey blushing a little, "works for me." Quinn said, "how considerate." Stacie said rolling her eyes, and Chloe laughed. The rest of lunch the girls-being Quinn, Aubrey and Stacie just argued random things while Chloe and I talked about random stuff and whatever.
4th period went by quickly, I got a few glances from girls and whenever I caught them they'd look away quickly, but they weren't the average teenage girl judgmental looks, they were more like, 'he is so cute' kind of looks. Anyways I was walking to the gym for PE, luckily I knew where it was, having pasted it when I was going to lunch. When I got to the gym I seen a man in a tracksuit and I could only guess he was coach Smith, he was also talking to a girl, it was the same girl who took my picture this morning, her name was Elizabeth, no Emily, yeah that was her name.
I walked up to the coach as Emily walked away, "hi, I'm Beckett and I was wondering if you were the guy I talk to about the basketball team?" I asked, "I heard about you, you're the new kid everyone's talking about, I'm coach Smith and yes I run the basketball team." he said shaking my hand, "what questions do you have about the team?" he asked, "um I was wondering when are tryouts?" I asked, "this Friday and we are posting who made the team on the same day, practice is Mondays-Thursdays, Fridays are rest days, games are on Saturdays, are you interested in joining?" he asked, "yes sir, I am." I said, before the bell rang, "well come talk to me after class." he said walking away onto the court in front of the rows of students "ok.".
A/N: I'm gonna put the rest of the day on the very next chapter, because this chapter has already pasted 4,100 words and I don't want this to be more than 5,000.