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𝐓𝐖𝐎 : 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋

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After only a little difficulty, I found the office.

The halls had been so crowded and loud, it was like I had gotten turned around completely when searching. I considered asking someone for help but that sparked a bead of panic in my chest, I didn't want to paint myself as the new kid. I just wanted to slip in as if I'd been here all along.

The woman behind the front desk smiled warmly at me as I approached, giving her my name. She searched through her papers before pulling out a sheet and handing it to me with her warm smile still plastered to her face as if it were a mask she was forced to wear.

But weren't we all wearing masks here? Hiding our true selves in order to fit in? To preserve our images?

The woman pointed to the principal's office and said, "He'll be just a moment."

I nodded, taking a seat in one of the old chairs by the wall. The material was peeling and scratched at my palms as I sat and waited. I took the time to read over my schedule, which wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. I had French, which my mom was going to be happy about, and I had my standard English course, biology, contemporary math, and a few others to get me enough credits for graduation.

It wasn't long until the door to the principal's office opened, a boy walking out with a scowl.

Dear god, I thought to myself. The people here really are disgustingly pretty.

He had a fluffy head of black hair and he met my eyes as he left, startling blue searing through me. I felt my blood run hot, a blush creeping up my neck. His brows furrowed, like he might've recognized me, and then he whipped his head forward and left the office with an aggressive push of the door.

I watched it slam shut and it was hard to pull my head from his direction but the principal's voice jolted me from my seat. I stood, gathering my things and following the older man into his office where he rounded his large desk and sat down with a content sigh, as if he hadn't had to deal with the scowling blue eyed boy moments before.

"You must be miss Lake," the principal said, motioning for me to take one of the two seats before him. I dropped down, noticing the cushion of the seat was slippery against my jeans. The red leather stood out against his rather dull room, the only true pop of color besides the forest green rug under my feet.

His desk was scattered with files and loose sheets of paper. Behind him, on the shelves, were little plaques and awards he must've gotten when he was in school, along with a few teaching awards. There were large leather bound books, probably just for decoration, and then a few photographs of his family.

Happy wife, happy children, moderately happy husband.

The name plaque on his desk read, Principal Doug Brown, and when I looked up and met his eyes, he was still smiling. Doug Brown was bald, his head clean of any hair save for his bushy black eyebrows. He had a round belly that pushed against the desk as he leaned forward on his elbows as if to study me, trying to determine what type of student I was going to be.

"I just wanted to remind you of our school policies before you begin your day," Brown said, reaching for a paper on his desk. "You know we don't allow any smoking or alcohol on campus, and especially no fighting. We have a strict policy against cheating and if you're caught plagiarizing, you'll have to repeat the entire assignment and you'll be suspended for three days. You understand that, don't you?"

I forced a nod.

"Good, good," he mumbled, eyes searching his list. "Besides those, make sure you're on time for class, have the correct reading materials which I assume you've already gotten, correct?" I nodded. "Splendid! Make sure your phone is turned off during class but you won't get penalized if it's out or you're using it, just not during classes." He smiled, setting the paper down and folding his hands. "Any questions?"

My brows furrowed and I sat up on the edge of my seat, looking down at my schedule. "Yes, I was wondering where room one fifteen is?"

"Ah, yes, Ms. Port's senior English course," Brown said, fondly. "She's to the right of the office, fifth door on the left." He held up a finger, reading from a post it note near his phone as he said, "Please do remind your mother that she should be expecting a call from us today to discuss some of her financials regarding payment for the year."

I nodded for a third time as I gathered my things to stand. Brown held out a hand, stopping me short as I stood. "It was such a shame to hear about your father, I just wanted to pass on my condolences. He did such wonderful things for the community."

My lips parted, my breath stolen from me. I should've expected to have comments about him thrown in my face, I should've prepared myself for it. No matter how long ago it had been, even once it reached ten years, twenty, it still stung.

"Thank you," I murmured back, offering him a small smile as I opened the door, with him saying to my back, "Have a great first day here at Wooden High!"

I was glad to be back in the busy hall, going off to find my locker. I had been lucky to be able to come in last week and stash my books inside to save myself from the embarrassment of lugging them all in today. I did my combination and searched the books until I found the reading books I'd need for the first period.

I had more than a few minutes to spare before classes started, so I took a few moments to listen in on the other students. I needed to get a feel for the school and what better way to do that than eavesdrop?

"You think the boys will really be able to beat the Lions this Friday?"

"Of course I didn't do the homework, who do you think I am?"

"Jenna has it, she's in the bathroom!"

"You can buy a new stash, okay? You just need to hide your shit better from your dad."

Public school differed entirely from the dangerously annoying private school full of rich kids I'd gone to before this. It was never loud like this, never this many students bustling in the halls as if they owned the place, colorful heads of hair moving like swarms of bees. It was always quiet, with strict rules like no phones at all, no food or drinks in class and god forbid if you ate on the carpets like it was a sin, no chewing gum, and a horrifying dress code that would've just been better if we adopted uniforms instead. But, like most high schools, that didn't stop the girls from smoking in the bathrooms or the couples from heading to the library to hook up.

Here at Wooden, everything was much more open. It didn't matter if you were smoking in the bathrooms, so long as a teacher didn't see you. Of course, it seemed you had to be extra careful around Brown, but no one seemed to be holding back about selling and buying drugs, talking about the next party, or even who and where they were going to hook up with someone. The students wore what they wanted, did what they wanted, and had their phones out and flashing. Even from where I stood, with my head practically in my locker, I could hear someone blasting music as they walked down the hall. There were even a few boys, all in varsity jackets like the one John and his buddy, Winker, was wearing, passing a lacrosse ball over people's heads.

"They fucked where?"

"We have that exam in calc today, right?"

Laughter, laughter, and even more laughter.

"He's just trying to get a good grade, drop him."

I closed my locker, heading down the hall as it neared time for class. I followed Brown's instructions and found the room and took a slow deep breath before walking in where I was instantly greeted by a tall, lanky woman with frizzy, curly orange hair. She reminded me, strangely, of Trelawney from Harry Potter, even adorning a pair of large rounded glasses.

"Oh! You must be Elizabeth, our transfer student!" Ms. Port said, leaping up from where she perched on her desk.

I nodded, giving her a small smile. "I actually go by my middle name, Blaire."

"Blaire," she corrected herself, her large smile not leaving her face. She was wearing a long dress, one that stopped short at her ankles, revealing little booties. "It's such a pleasure to have you joining us this year, please, take a seat anywhere you like."

I turned, my smile dying from my lips. Another little thing I dreaded. Everyone had their own specific seat, everyone knew this, so choosing a seat when you're new? A hidden hell. I let my eyes run over their faces, the annoyance in their eyes, before I shockingly found him again.

Blue eyes staring straight at me from his spot in the back corner. He wore a large leather jacket, and as I made my way down the skinny aisle between desks, I noticed the patches on his elbows and the dark look he watched me with as his eyes followed me to the only open seat.

The class went smoothly, even though from time to time, I'd catch him staring at me. He didn't try to hide it, his eyes bored me and I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. And I should've realized it wasn't when class ended and I headed to biology, which had a block of two hours filled.

I really should've realized he was bad news when he clapped hands with John as we walked to class. The two boys pulled each other into a hug, and blue eyes even leaned down to speak with Blondie, who sat near the front of the class next to John.

Of course they're all friends, I thought to myself as I scanned the long tables for the empty seat. It seemed everyone here had lab partners and I was perfectly happy working alone, until I felt a hand press to the small of my back.

"You can sit with me, I don't have a partner," the boy said and I looked up, startled. Blue eyes met mine and I cursed myself and cursed the way he smirked.

"Oh, thanks," I murmured as I followed him to a table by the window. I placed my books down by the aisle seat, sitting and hoping we didn't have to fall into awkward small talk and was saved by the bell and the teacher, Mr. Parker, jogging in with a mug of coffee in his outstretched hand.

"Good morning, good morning," he rambled, dropping the stack of papers in his hands on the desk and looking up to address us further. "Last week we discussed our end of the year projects, anyone care to give our new student, miss--" He looked at a paper on his desk. "--Blaire Lake a run down of what you've been assigned?"

Blondie raised her hand and her long nails reflected in the fluorescent lights. Red, like claws. "Choose a topic from the list provided and from that, we're asked to write a fifteen page lab report and present a slide show to the class at the end of the course."

"Oh, good," Mr. Parker said, waving in my direction. "Thank you Mr. Dolion for giving up your solo project in favor of actually working with a partner this time."

"I do it all for you, Mr. Parker," Dolion said with a smile, the curves of his lips turning up into something feral.

"I'm going to give you the first half to work on your designated projects, you'll need to turn in your topic proposal by tomorrow. The second half of class, we'll be going over some topics on epidemiology."

Dolion turned to me, lowering his head as he whispered, "I've already picked out the topic, synthetic biology, is that okay with you?"

I nodded, not like I had a real choice.

"I thought we could focus on how scientists produce medical-grade insulin and things like bioremediation efforts in polluted areas."

"Sounds great," I murmured, searching my mind for what in the hell I was going to do. Science classes were never my strong suit and no matter how simple or easy the project, report, or lab was, I didn't understand anything. Every word Dolion said went in one ear and out the other. Gritting my teeth, I made note of what I needed to go over once I got home. I was going to need a major review session of all things bio.

"Listen, do you think you could take me to the nurse?" Dolion asked suddenly, giving me a strange look that read, go along with it or else.

"Uh, I don't even know where the nurses office is," I hissed under my breath as he stood and ignored me. "Hey-"

He was already at the front of the room, his long legs moving him swiftly as I stood to follow. "Mr. Parker, I'm not feeling too great, do you think Blaire could take me to the nurse?"

Mr. Parker looked up from his laptop and nodded with a sigh. "Just make sure you're back for notes, okay?"

Dolion nodded and looked back at me and he motioned with his head for me to follow him. I reluctantly followed him out into the hall, completely alone with him once the door to the classroom shut behind us.

"Listen, I don't know what you're trying to do but I'm new so I don't-"

He interrupted me with a scowl and snapped, "We need to talk."

"Can't we do it back at our desks? The project-"

"We need to talk," he repeated himself, looking down the hall and towards the exit. "Somewhere private."

"Somewhere private?" I scoffed, shaking my head. "Nope, nope, okay? I don't even know you and I'd much rather just focus on this stupid project. So, let's go back to class so I don't get even more behind than I already am."

"Come on." He rolled his eyes, grabbing my arm. "We'll talk outside, I gotta grab something from my car."

"Hey-!" I tried to pull my arm from his grasp but he was already moving, taking me along with him and straight towards the exit.

ok so i'm editing some of these first chapters bc they r painful for me to read

question: what were/are your high schools like??

i hated high school...like sm. the only thing that got me through it were sports (yes yes i was practically a jock im sobbing), my english classes, and my ceramics class lol

comment/vote or blue eyes will force u to skip class