Fan Fiction ❯ Ty in NY ❯ Welcome to the Big Apple ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Shinequa showed me to the front office to pick up my schedule as everyone else scattered off to their various lockers and classes. As we walked I got bumped into and knocked by passing people, though Shinequa seemed to pass through with ease. We finally stepped through large glass doors and the loud noises from the hall cut off. I smiled at the lady sitting at the big desk, who was on the phone, but threw me a fake smile nonetheless. Shinequa let go of my hand and walked in to another office. There was a man sitting at the desk, his shoes kicked off and his feet on the top of his desk while he leant back in the chair, reading a magazine. Shinequa waited quietly until she started to tap her foot in impatience and cleared her throat rudely.

“Hmm?” the man said, his face still in the direction of the magazine, but his eyes looking straight at the girl.

“I need a schedule for a new student.” She said, grabbing my hand and dragging me forward.

The man looked at me and I fixed my hair, making sure it was lying correctly on my head before clearing my throat and saying; “My name is Tynia Manchester. I transferred from Walla.”

“Ahhh….the Walla girl. I heard about you. I have your schedule here.” He replied, taking his feet from the desk and adjusting the thick rimmed glasses on his head.

I looked at him confusedly and watched him pull a manila folder from one of the desk drawers. He flipped through the various paperwork it contained, and pulled out a few of them.

Handing them to me he said, “Here is you schedule, you student contract, and a physical form that you will need to complete before you can include yourself in any extra curricular activities. I will find you a student guide who has similar classes and him or her will show you around. Please take a seat. Ms. Dada, you are excused, please get a late pass from the lady.” Shinequa nodded to the man and left the room as I took a seat in one of the chairs near the oak desk. The man, Mr. Wallace, as the desk read, got up from his chair and walked out of the office behind Shinequa and left me to my thoughts.

`I'm probably going to get a dumb student guide, like someone who is disagreeable or something. This sucks, it would be better if Shinequa could just take me around.'

I continued to wait about 10 more minutes until Mr. Wallace walked back in dragging a boy in my the collar of his shirt. I turned around to face them and saw that the boy had jet black hair, short and gelled, with eyes that were such a deep blue they looked violet. He had dark tan skin and wore a black wife beater underneath a green striped button down shirt which was completely open. He had on baggy khakis and black skater shoes. He had his eyes downcast in a scowl, but looked up when Mr. Wallace rapped him on the head sharply.

“Tynia, this is Ian. He actually has all the same classes as you and will be your student guide through the school. Ian, you have late passes for the whole month, so use them well, I know you will be taking advantage of them, but you can't miss the whole class. I expect you to show Tynia around and get her acquainted with the students. Have a nice day.” With that Mr. Wallace pulled me up from the seat by my shirt collar and pushed us both out of the door.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and looked at the boy. He was glaring at the floor until he noticed my gaze.

“What are you looking at?” he growled.

“Um…you? Aren't you supposed to show me around?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah, well, you better learn fast, because when you do, I'm ditching you.” He said gruffly, walking out of the office, leaving me to rush after him.

`So this is that new girl, of course with my luck I got stuck showing her around. The guys were right about her though…nice stuff…..' Ian thought as I followed him down the hall. (Not that I can read his mind….cause I can't)

“Ok, so what do we have first?” I asked.

“Look at your schedule, Sherlock.” He replied.

I looked at him angrily and pulled out my schedule form the papers Mr. Wallace had given me.

It read:

School Hours are from 8:00 A.M. until 4:30 P.M.

Each period is an hour long, while homeroom is 15 minutes.

PeriodClass Teacher Room
Homeroom: Commons Supervisors Common Room

Period 1:Science Carder 207

Period 2:Geometry Butch 305

Period 3:Art Basher 219

Period 4:Physical ED Kermit P.E.

Lunch:Cafeteria Supervisors Cafeteria

Period 5:Drama Neutrul 37

Period 6:Literature Siena 101

Period 7:Chorus Petra 294

Period 8:Study Hall Supervisors Study Hall

 

I looked back up form my schedule and said, “Ok, we have homeroom first.”

“No shit.” He said before heading down the hall. I blinked and realized I had just made myself look like a total retard. Everyone probably has homeroom first! I grumbled to myself and followed after him.

We walked into the large commons room and I become overwhelmed by the mob of students. Ian saw my confusion and grabbed my arm dragging me through the crowd to a small group of people. I actually recognized them when Ian pushed me into the middle of the group.

“Hey!” I yelled at him, but was greeted with the hugs from my new friends. Rachel, Shinequa, and Karen piled on top of me and nearly dragged me to the floor.

“Hi guys. So, what do we do for homeroom?” I said, pulling myself together.

“Oh, your guide didn't tell you?” Rachel said.

“What?” I asked, rolling my eyes at the mention of Ian.

“You're supposed to check in with your first period teacher, than you have the period to go to your locker, talk, eat breakfast, and so on. Who is your guide?”

“Some guy named Ian.” I said, pulling out my schedule again to see who I was supposed to check in with.”

“Are you serious?! That really sucks!” she laughed.

“What?” I asked, now scanning the room for my missing guide.

“The only reason they would put you with him is if you have all the same classes! I mean, I dunno about Mr. Wallace, but every one else in the school knows he's the biggest jerk on the face of the planet.” She commented, twirling her hair.

“Well, you know, that is the definition of my luck.” I sighed.

“Well, I'll go find Ian for you so he can check you in.” she said as she ran off, dragging me with her through the giant population of the school. We finally found him getting scolded by a lardy lady, probably a teacher. Rachel pulled me back and sniggered.

“That's Mrs. Carder; she's the worst teacher anyone can have! Is she on your schedule?”

“Yeah…. first period.” I groaned.

We listened in on the conversation that Ian and the teacher were having.

“Where is she? You are supposed to show her around and get her checked in with me!” the plump teacher screeched.

“I know, I know, she got lost.” Ian grumbled, turning his head away form the fuming ball of fat. “Oh! Here she is!” he said, grabbing me by the sleeve of my shirt and pulling me next to him.

“Well, you're lucky you found her so easily.” She said before turning her eyes on me. “So, you're the new student? I trust Ian hasn't confused you too badly? Every morning you need to check in with me for attendance, clear?”

“Uh….sure.” I replied, not wanting to look into her skin enveloped eyes.

“Good, and see that you keep that tongue of yours in line.” She replied, turning away coolly.

I turned and glared at Ian. “See, you've already got me into trouble.”

“Oh, shut it, she's nothing to worry about.” He replied coldly.

Ian started to walk away and Rachel pushed me after him, walking back to her group of friends. Great, now I was stuck with him. I followed behind him, continuously getting caught up in the hectic traffic throughout the room until I yelled for him to stop.

“What?” he called back, pushing his way through a small clique of people.

“Slow down!” I said, before being pushed down by someone who collided into me.

“Oh! Sorry!” a low voice said. I pulled my self up and looked at my attacker, not needing anymore drama.

“What is your problem?!” I said, pulling my clothes into an orderly style.

“I'm sorry, I just didn't recognize you and thought I'd introduce myself.” The voice said as I took in his features. He had deep chocolate brown hair; long and straight, hanging in his face. He had the strangest looking hazel eyes, spurts of yellow from the pupils that faded into a light lavender. He had dark tan skin and wore a deep grey hoodie and blue jeans, with brown sneakers. I was still a little steamed up, but I convinced myself to calm down.

“So, you define introducing yourself as knocking me down?”

“Hehe…..no. That was an accident.” He said, flashing a very sexy smile.

“I see. Well, go ahead and introduce yourself.” I said smartly.

“Right to the point eh? My name is Scott, and I'm a sophomore.” He kept his smile going.

I smiled back, “Hey, I'm Tynia, I just transferred here.”

“So, I guess you need to get to know the school, so maybe I could show you around sometime…” he said, his eyes looking me up and down.

“She's already got a guide asshole.” A gruff voice cut in.

I turned around and found myself right up against Ian, realizing how close behind me he had been standing. I turned back to see Scott scowling.

“Well, some guide you are, she was already lost. Come on Tynia, I'll show you to your first class.” He said, reaching for my hand.

Ian just grabbed me by the waist and held tight, growling his reply; “She's got her guide, so get lost.”

Scott just glared and than plastered his smile back onto his face, “Well, see you later Tynia.” And then he walked away, joining up with some of his other friends.

I was just kinda confused about the whole ordeal.

“Um…..what was that about?” I asked, trying to pull his arm from around my waist.

“I just don't like that kid.” He said as he let go of my waist, but grabbed my arm and dragged me off.

“Ian!” I yelled as he pulled me away.

“Ian!” another voice yelled as, once again, a person collided with me, but Ian as well, knocking us both to the ground.

“What the hell?!” I grumbled, so full of the crap I was getting this early in the morning.

I heard Ian groan as he helped me up and saw him look at the girl who had knocked us down.

“Hey baby. I just wanted to say hi.” She stated, running her hand along the gruff figure.

“Hey babe. How are you?” Ian said as he pulled the girl from his neck.

I kinda just watched the scene as the girl continued to fondle Ian, openly showing her interest, as Ian just kinda pushed her away, but only slightly. I waited until Ian's eyes rested on me, my hands-on-hips look snapping him back to reality. He grabbed the girl by the shoulders, pushing her off him completely.

“Krista, save it for later.” He said with a sexy wink and than dragged me off again, down a hallway full of lockers.

I looked at my schedule again and found my locker number and combination. I found my locker, one of the smaller ones and opened it quickly, piling my bag and books into it as Ian waited, eyeing me strangely.

I turned around to him and asked; “So, where is your locker?”

“Right there.” He said and pointed to the one about 3 or 4 lockers down.

I groaned inwardly, but apparently, loud enough for him to hear.

“You got a problem with that?” he said coldly.

“Yeah, actually, I do. But since you happen to be the one I'm complaining to, I can see it's not going to change anytime soon.” I fumed back at him.

“Yeah, whatever.” He said and walked down to his own locker, stuffing his bag in it. I waited for him at my locker, tapping my foot impatiently. He walked back, eyeing me with his violet eyes once again and suddenly smirked; making me wonder what was going through his head.

“So, how long have you been in New York?” he asked, leaning up against the wall, convincing me to follow suit.

“Only a week,” I said coolly.

“And where are you from?”

“Walla Walla.”

“Walla Whata?”

“It's in Washington….State.” I said tiredly.

“I see……So, how do you like it so far?” he asked, the smirk back on his lips.

“Its ok….we're still adjusting.” I said warily.

“So….why did you move?”

I didn't answer that question, hoping to leave the grief for my dad behind.

“I asked you a question.” He said rudely.

“So?” I said, my anger rising again.

“Whatever.” He said, rolling his eyes.

“Ian, I'm already sick of you. Bye.” I said and walked away.

“What the hell?” he said softly, watching me go down the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< /font>

First period came and I convinced Shinequa to show me where the Science room was since she had the same class.

We walked in and I picked the seat next to her, pulling out the things I had brought.

“Ok, class, take out your books.” I heard the shrill voice say as the blob walked into the room.

“Oh! I almost forgot we have a new student today. Class, this is Tynia Manchester, make her feel welcome.” She said in a sarcastic voice.

I stood shyly and waved hi to everyone, getting some his in return and one whistle. I turned to see who it was and recognized Kiwi. I smiled at him and rolled my eyes, causing him to laugh.

“Shut up.” The teacher said before introducing herself to me once again as Mrs. Carder, and I wondered how in all hells she could be married.

The teacher had just begun to write on the board when the door opened and Ian walked in the door, late. He showed a pass to the teacher, but she just shrilled at him.

“Ian, those passes only are good if you are actually showing her where to go, but she's already here. That's 4 tardies, one more and you get a detention.”

He kinda growled to himself before taking the seat behind me, which I had noticed was the only empty seat in the classroom. Lucky me.

Class continued on and I soon learned the only thing that I would ever learn in this class. This teacher could not teach.

I was reading my book, trying to see if I could learn that way, when a note flipped over my shoulder and onto my desk. I opened it, and read it.

 

Ty,

Meet me after class.

Ian

 

I scribbled a reply, and tossed it back to him.

 

Ian,

Um…how about not.

p.s. what's with the nickname?

 

He chuckled slightly behind me and I heard his pencil scratching on the paper before it was chucked at the back of my head. I turned to pick it up, glaring at him and seeing the smirk he had on his face.

 

Ty,

Um…yes, I want to talk to you…

p.s. I'll call you whatever I want

Ian

 

I glared at the paper. What could he possibly want to talk about? I wrote back a short reply and than paper foot-balled it at his forehead.

 

Ian,

Um…sorry, I don't like you, leave me alone

p.s. no you won't

 

He narrowed his eyes slightly but refused to get angry before his game was done. He scribbled back and tossed it on the floor by my chair, his eyes narrowing again when I refused to pick it up. Though, a smirk appeared when Shinequa picked up the folded paper and handed it to me, leaving me no choice but to read it.

 

Ty,

Ok, you need to chill, I just need to talk to you, nothing big

p.s. yes I will

 

I glared once again at the crease filled paper and tucked it into my folder, not wanting to deal with it anymore. Though, I was disappointed when the bell rang for passing almost immediately after that.

I grabbed my things and waited as Shinequa picked up her own supplies and we walked out of the room, into the student filled hallway. I tried my best to ignore whatever was going on behind me, because that's where I knew Ian was. I jumped when I saw him pass by me in the hall and then rolled my eyes at my stupidness. He was a big jerk that didn't deserve my time.

I kept walking, forgetting that I was going to be stuck with Ian all day, so I was surprised when I ran into him, causing me to loose my balance and fall backwards into someone else. This other person caught me and I looked up at the person in front of me, trying to catch up with the chaos around me. I saw an angry Ian glaring at something behind me, and behind me I found an angry Scott glaring at Ian. Ian gruffly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to a standing position as Scott continued to cling to my arm. In short, I was now the rope in a competitive game of tug-o-war. Good Grief.

“Back off jerk face”

“I'm helping her up ass hat”

“You were not cat shit”

“You pushed her ass wipe”

“Did not *&^% ”

(Sorry, Ian's creative language is too harsh for young ears.)

The argument went on in a way similar to that, my arms were now officially out of their sockets and I was now so red in the face from anger that people were walking by whispering: “Oh my god! Their fighting over a tomato! How stupid.”

“Both of you back off!!” I screamed, causing the crowd around us to jump.

Ian and Scott looked down at the subject of their argument, as if they hadn't known I was there. Ian regained his ego in seconds.

“Well, if you hadn't been blundering around like a fat chick-”

A very lardy girl ran away crying.

“I mean, if you had been watching where you were going, than you wouldn't have fallen. God, you girls always make things my fault.” Ian said, dropping my arm, causing me to fall back to the ground.

“You ass! I was going to my class! If you would stop messing around and show me where I'm supposed to go, than I wouldn't have to deal with all of your crap! And what do you mean; I always make things your fault? I just met you! Which, believe me, was a giant misfortune in my opinion. So, I suggest that you back the hell away from me, and go to your frickin class. I can find a new guide, thanks.” I yelled as I picked my self up and stared him down. Sadly, he wasn't scared, just kinda embarrassed cause there was a whole crowd in the hallway, watching the whole scene.

“Come on, Tynia.” Scott said, grabbing my hand. “I'll show you to your next class.”

I smirked at Ian and followed Scott, and pretended not to notice the identical smirk that Scott threw at Ian. When we got away from the crowd I let go of Scott's hand and told him to go away as well.

“Scott, I appreciate your help, but you're being as big of a loser as he is. So, maybe I'll see you later?” I tried not to yell at him, but I think it came out kinda rough.

“Yeah…” he said, before walking away as if nothing had happened.

I began to go into fuming stage, letting my anger for Ian take over. I was kinda pissed at Scott as well, but who cares? If I could help it, I probably never have to see him. I searched for my next classroom, scared that the bell was bound to ring any minute, when I felt someone grab me by the arm and turn me around. Once again, Ian was dragging me down through the school.

“What do you want?” I said gruffly.

“I'm just bringing you to class, cause your late.” He said, not meeting my eyes, but still smirking. As we continued to walk I wanted to smack that smirk off his face more and more. I continued to glare at his smug face until he stopped at a door marked; 305, Butch.

“What class is this?” I said, still angry.

“Geometry.” He said before opening the door and showing the teacher a pass.

“I was wondering when you would show up.” a man in the front of the class said. He smiled at us as Ian took his seat and the man waved for me to stand next to him. I shyly smiled back at him and he turned me to face the class.

“Class this is Tynia Manchester, she just transferred from Washington. Tynia, my name is Mr. Butch, and I teach Geometry. You are free to choose any seat you want.” He said before patting me on the back. I smiled at him again, craning my neck to see his grinning face and scanned the class room, hoping there was someone I could sit by who wasn't Ian. I found Kiwi, once again and smiled before taking the empty seat next to him. I turned to see Ian a few seats over and one back looking at me weirdly. I smirked at him and than turned to face the teacher who was giving me an odd look.

“What?” I said.

“Nothing,” he said before starting up a lesson.

I chatted lightly with Kiwi during the lesson, avoiding Ian's stares. In this class, I actually learned something!
The day continued on in that sort of manner. Get dragged around by Ian, avoiding as much contact and conversation with him as I could, and meeting a lot of my new friends in my various classes. Lunch was really fun though.

I had 4th period with Rosalia, who turned out to be a really nice girl. We were walking out of the room laughing when I pulled her along quickly, trying to avoid the inevitable meeting with Ian. She showed me to the lunch room and we sat down at the table in the middle, the one with all the chairs squished around it, already full of people. I recognized all of them; Kiwi, Mike, Jamal, Shinequa, Rachel, Janice, Lez, Karen, Sara, Keisha, Maria, and even Krista. Ian joined the table as well. Lunch was kinda of a wild crazy world. We just ate whatever, and sat wherever, doing and saying whatever. I have to say it was really fun.

“So, can you come to the party?” Shinequa asked me.

“Where is it at?” I asked, chomping on my fries.

“The party is at the club that Mike's parents are renovating. The whole school is invited.” Shinequa said, munching on her own fries.

“That sounds cool. I dunno if my mom will be fine with it though, I'll probably have to spend the night at someone's house. Is that ok?” I asked, slurping my soda.

“Yeah, you can stay at mine.” Rosalia said, “In fact, how bout a bunch of you guys stay the night after wards?”

“The party is all night.” Mike said, grinning.

“Really? Then Tynia, you can just come over when we leave.” Rosalia said, “Anyone else can come over too.” She said, but only looked at Shinequa, Rachel, and Karen.

“I can probably do that then.” I said, smiling at the table. So, we all agreed that we would be the rulers of the party, just because we can.

After lunch I was stuck with the same little routine, get dragged around by Ian; ignore him all through class, than get pulled around to my next class so I can enjoy the little fanfare all over again.

I finally escaped after 7th period and went to study hall with Kiwi, who once again was in my last class. I was sooooo lucky that he was in quite a few of my classes so I could avoid Ian. I only actually have to sit by Ian in one class; Literature. Anyway, I walked down to study hall with Kiwi and sat next to him as a bunch of other students piled in. I looked through my homework, deciding which subject to work on first and noticed that Kiwi was just doodling.

“Don't you have homework?” I asked.

“Yup, I just do it in class.” He said, now drumming his pens on the desk.

“Are you a drummer?” I asked, I had seen him drumming all day on random surfaces with random utensils.

“Is it that obvious?” he grinned; now tapping his foot to the beat he had set.

“Just a little bit. I actually used to drum myself, but I'm more into singing now.” I said, pulling out my own pencils and matching his rhythm.

“You're pretty good. How about his?”, he said as he picked up the pace and changed the pattern of his beat.

I studied them real fast and began to copy him, slow at first but soon I was matching his tempo. I grinned at him. He just laughed at me.

“What?” I asked, putting down my pencils and examining my agenda, where I had sparingly wrote my assignments.

“How long did you say you drummed?” he asked, doodling again.

“Um, just one year, like in 6th grade, but we were too poor to pay for the drums and all that so I started singing.”

“How well can you sing?” he asked.

“I dunno, I'm ok, I guess.” Just then the teachers walked in and we had to stop talking, but we were also joined by a big group of people so we just whispered and passed notes the whole period. I saw every one of my new friends in study hall, so I'm guessing it's like a whole class thing, like every sophomore had study hall in the same period.

After the final bell rang, Shinequa, Rosalia, Rachel, Karen and I trooped out of the school and down the street as they showed me around the neighbor hood.

“There's Macy's, excellent place, if you're rich. That's Bella, a nice Italian restaurant. And then we have the coolest place on the planet, and our official after school hangout: Dada Palace. Shinequa's Parents own it, so we are always here.” Rachel commented as we passed the various shops and such.

We pushed open the glass doors of Dada Palace and I smiled at the sight in front of me. The walls were all painted a royal blue and than sponge painted with a forest green. The doors and windows were painted a white trim and the lights were Chinese lanterns and retro chandeliers. There was a dark green kitchen nook type bar and tons of tables scattered around the room. There was also a small karaoke stage and a empty space for dancing, where a lot of people already were. The karaoke stage was not being used at the time, but there was a small DJ table where a guy in his early 20's was spinning a CD. The whole place smelled of cinnamon and fruity soap. I loved it already.

Shinequa smiled at my smile and led me over to the bar where she called out; “Mom! Come meet my new friend!”

“Another one?” a voice called form behind some doors behind the bar before the burst open and a large black woman appeared, fixing her hair into the unique hairstyle she had it placed. She saw me and smiled.

“Hello, I'm Shinequa's mother. Who are you?”

“Um….My name is Tynia Manchester. I just moved here from Washington.” I smiled at her.

“Nice to meet you, Tynia, make yourself at home.” She said before turning to Shinequa.

“Shinequa, don't dally too long, we have a little extra work to do later.”

“Yes mom.” Shinequa nodded and then turned to me rolling her eyes and smiling. She grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the table the other girls already had picked out.

“Ok, so how was everyone's day?” Shinequa asked in a mocking tone as we sat down.

“It was just splendid darling, how about you, my dear Rachel?” Rosalia said keeping a straight face as we pretended to be elegant ladies. I know, stupid, but fun.

“Why, my blessed Rosa, I had the most exciting day! I went to my classes and received homework!” Rachel replied with sarcasm.

I tried my best to keep a straight face, but ended up smiling as I kept in my laughter.

“And Tynia, how ever was your first day in the dreaded pit of doom?” Karen asked as she fiddled with her necklace.

“Um….it was ok, I guess.” I said, giggling slightly.

“Ha! You lose! Now you have to….oh, I don't know. What sort of horrible punishment should the fair Tynia be faced with for breaking the chain of elegant speaking?” Rosalia said, stroking her chin.

The rest of the table all grinned evilly as they exchanged glances until they all just got up form the table and huddled around each other, devising some secret plan. I just sat there laughing the whole time. The all smiled as they turned to look at me before sitting back down.

“Just so we can prove how evil we really are,” Rachel said, “We are going to give you a new kid dare, which you must perform or else……you can't be Tynia for a whole week. You will have to be….Joe, deal?”

“Um…okay?” I asked, still laughing.

“Alright, here's your dare. At the party on Friday, you must…” Rachel leaned in to whisper it in my ear. I could not believe my ears.

“Are you serious?” I asked, hoping I wasn't too red.

“Yup.” She grinned as the rest of the table chuckled.

“Okay….” I said.

Just then the door opened and a group of people walked in, joining our table. It was: Lez, Janice, Kiwi, Mike, Jamal, and Ian. Just what I needed.

“Speak of the devil.” Karen giggled, causing me to blush slightly

The new-comers joined out little group and we started to talk about the party again.

“Okay, so it's at 7 at the new club?” Shinequa asked.

“Well, it's only going to be our school there, but after the party, I'm not sure what we are going to do with it though.” Mike said.

“And your parents bought this place and renovated it?” asked, incredulously.

“Ya, Mike's family is crazy rich. That's why it pays to be friends with him.” Jamal laughed, hugging Rosalia to him.

“And how long has this been going on?” asked, waggling my finger at the couple.

“Um….only a few months, but it will last for a billion years.” Jamal laughed as he kissed Rosalia on the forehead. We all made “awwws”.

“So, how far have you two gone?” Kiwi asked them, waggling his eyebrows.

We all laughed as Rosalia blushed and Jamal smiled impishly.

“Ok, forget that, does anyone have a date to this gig?” Mike asked.

“I got mine.” Janice said, pulling Lez towards her as he just kinda sat there.

“I do too.” Rosalia said.

“Ok, thanks for stating the obvious, how about anyone else?” Mike said, rolling his eyes.

“Nope.” All the rest of us said.

“Haha. I do. I'm going with Sara.” Mike grinned. Janice smirked.

I cocked my head slightly in confusion, just barely noticeable, and then asked the group;

“So, this party, we just hang out and dance?”

“Yeah, what else are you expecting?” Kiwi asked, waggling his eyebrows once again. I saw Ian cock his eyebrow as well.

“Oh…nothing, I was just asking.” I said as I slipped a glance at Ian. He was looking at me strangely. I shook it off and pulled my cell phone out of my bag. I looked at the clock and saw that it read 4:03.

“Shit!” I whispered and got up, stuffing the crap phone back into my bag. “Hey, all, I have to go, I was supposed to be home at 4, and it's gonna take a while to get home in the first place, so I'll see you all tomorrow.”

“Ok, tomorrow night is the party, so be ready to come over before it starts!” Rosalia called after me.

I pushed my way through the door and onto the street. The sun was hanging just above one of the lower skyscrapers to my left as I turned and walked down a street called `Sandrine'.

I walked along it until I reached a bus-stop and sat down, waiting for a bus to show its ugly behind.

As I waited, I watched the hubble-bubble of the street. There were various hotdog stands and different vendors scattered around the sidewalks, selling their products to passers by. I smiled at how well people got along, despite New York's reputation for crime. I sighed and pulled out some cash from my pocket as I rose to by a tabloid from the stand next to the bench.

The old man running the stand was old and grisly; his gray hair sticking in various directions, but showed obvious signs that he had tried to tame it. I laughed to my self at his appearance as I handed him my money and he handed me today's copy of a magazine style paper called `The Tri-Star'. On the cover was a picture of a couple, making out on a park bench. I shook my head at the headline. “How good is your sex life?” I flipped through the pages as I sat back down on the bench, only to find that someone else was sitting there as well. I ignored the person, and just sat down and waited, feigning interest in the dumb tabloid.

“So, you hate me that much?” a sarcastically dejected voice said from next to me.

I turned to see who it was and then rolled my eyes at Ian.

“I don't hate you; I just didn't get the best first impression.” I said coolly.

“I see.” He replied, looking at the dirty concrete below us.

The loud rumbling of the bus approached as our heads turned in the direction of the sound. The lightly rusted blue bus squeaked to a stop as I picked up my bag and climbed aboard, inwardly groaning when Ian followed behind me and plopped himself down next to me. I pulled out my i-pod and turned it up full blast, hoping to avoid him as much as possible. One of my favorite songs, Only Hope by Mandy Moore, (I know, it's an old song, but it's so pretty!) was just starting when he pulled the headphones from my ears.

“What?” I asked as I made sure I could still hear the music as it flowed through the headphones that were now on my neck.

“Nothing, I'm just bored, so….what's up?” he said.

“Wow, you're quite the charmer.” I said sarcastically.

“So where do you live?” he asked, ignoring my comment.

“In my house.” I said curtly.

“I would hope so.” He laughed, but stopped when he saw that I wasn't laughing. “Come on, what did I ever do to you?”

“I just don't think I like you that much; is all.” I said with a smile in his direction.

“Right.” He said, plastering his ego.

We rode along in silence, except for the faint sound of my i-pod, which had already changed to the song: Roc Ya Body from MVP and Stagga Lee. The bus pulled to the stop at the park, where I had been picked up from this morning and I got off, restraining myself from yelling at Ian as he followed me off.

The bus screeched off down the road and I rounded on him.

“What do you want?” I said, glaring him down.

“Nothing, I'm going home.” He said and walked off in the very direction that I should be headed.

I groaned, not happy with the fact that he lives somewhere near me. I trudged behind him, putting my headphones over my ears again as I hummed along lightly, closing my eyes with a smile. The world faded away as all I could hear was the soft tune of No One from Aly and A.J. I continued to walk on my imaginary cloud. I was in a daze, my mind drifting back and forth from the music and my first day at school. I wasn't looking where I was going. I wasn't concentrating on going anywhere. I looked in front of me and realized that there was a navy blue hummer coming my way as I was crossing the street. I didn't have any time to react. My body wouldn't move and the only thing that worked was my mind as I stared at the on coming doom, the driver was bent over to pick something up from the floor and couldn't see me.
"Watch out!"
I yelled out as I was forcefully pushed onto the sidewalk. My arm ached a little bit, but other than that I was fine.

"I'm not dead!"

"Yeah, but when I get through with you, you're going to be."
I realized that there was someone on top of me, turning up to look at who it was. Deep purple eyes stared back into my own, sunlight fogging my vision.

"What?" he said a little annoyed "Are you ok?”

I put my hand on my head to shade out the light and saw Ian smirking at me, proud almost.

He slowly made his way off of me and I stood to my feet.

"Thank you" I said meekly. He struggled to stand, and when he did, he almost fell.

"I think I twisted something." He smiled at me, quite different from the arrogant smirk that usually lives on his face.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, now adjusting my hair and looking myself over for damage.

“What? You think I'm just gonna let someone die? I'm not that horrible.” He smirked, “But; are you the kind of girl who needs saving all the time, or did you just want to get my attention?" His smile brightened.

I laughed slightly.

"Well, I uh…I guess I should be going home right about now, shouldn't I?" He turned away from me and tried to walk, and but hissed and began limping.

"Wait!" I yelled. I ran to him, even though he wasn't more than four steps in front of me. "Let me help you home."

"I don't need your help" he said a little annoyed.

"It's the least I can do, and you obviously did something to yourself, so just put your arm over my shoulder and we can hobble to my house."

He grinned and grunted; "Hey, I know its tempting to get me to come home with you, but come on, we just met!"

"Oh, shut it." I said as I took his arm and placed it around my neck. "Just let me help you out, and then you can go home to whatever lame life you have.”

He just held onto that egotistical look and followed as I started to walk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

"So," replied the young man stepping into my house "this is where you live?"

"Yeah, it's nice and new; so keep your messy to yourself." I said with a playful smile.
"Well, I'll just have to make sure I don't eat anything then.”

I laughed, and then realized it was a dumb joke that wasn't funny at all.

In my room, I took Ian's arm off from around me. "Okay, sit down, I'll be back."

He sat down as I walked out of the room, looking for my mom's “Mandatory First Aid Kit” that she just bought. She thought that since we were in New York that we needed to be extra careful, with the crime rate and all; I just laughed at her. I also grabbed the phone and two sodas.

“So, what exactly is wrong with you?” I said with a cocked brow as I walked back through my bedroom door.

He was sitting on my bed looking through my old yearbooks that he had pulled out of my bedside table. He looked up at my entry and smiled.

“I don't even know.” He said with a grin, “I just have a limp.”

“Okay, well, what leg is it?” I said as I knelt down on the plush carpet in front of him.

He waggled his eyes brows as I stared at him for his reply. I realized the kind of position I had put my self in (i.e. pretty much my face in his crotch) and closed his legs as I scooted back a couple inches. I blushed, gave him a glare and stood back up, feeling stupid for letting his perverted thoughts get to me.

“Don't be retarded.” I said gruffly.

“You're the one who was kneeling.” He said laughing.

“Seriously, what leg is it?” I said returning a small smile.

“Left.” He said, hiking up his left pant leg.

I pulled off his shoe and his sock, happy that his feet weren't all gross and smelly. They were clean, and thank god, smelt ok, not that I was sniffing his foot or anything. His ankle was all red and swollen, and he jerked when I touched it. I looked up to see him with a small grimace on his face.

“Sorry. I'll go get some ice, until then, just hold this to it.” I handed him his can of pop.

“Can't I just use yours?” he said, wincing as he held the cola to his ankle.

“Ewww, no.” I said as I left the room, going down the stairs once again to grab an ice pack out of the freezer.

I sighed as I headed for the stairs once again. How many people go through this kind of stuff on their first day?! I get a jerk of a guide; I almost die, and get saved by that same jerk, which is now in my room, full of his own creative thoughts. How do I get myself into these situations?

I reached my room and peered in through the crack of the door; he was once again looking at the yearbooks. Why was he so interested?

“So, what exactly are you looking for?” I said pushing the door open.

“I don't know, I just saw the drawer open, and I'm looking for your picture. Grade school pictures are great blackmail you know.” He said with a grin as he returned the book to its living space and closed it.

“I'm not in there.” I said, tossing the ice pack to him and pushing the on button for my CD player.

“Why not?” he asked as he replaced the cola for the ice pack, and then cocked his eyebrow at my music, the Japanese song.

“Well, I think that's my first grade year book, and we had just moved to Washington after the yearbooks were printed.”

“How often have you moved?” he said with a shocked look on his face.

“Only two or three times, why?” I said as I went through the stuff in the first aid kit.

“Well, you're always talking about moving. So I just kinda wondered. Why did you move anyway?”

My heart clenched.

“When?” I said, blood pounding in my ears.

“When you were little. Why did you move to Washington, and where from?” he said, stretching his arms behind his head as I wrapped his ankle in some kind of bandage that I found in the kit. I slowly let my breath out from between my lips.

“Well, my dad was in the military and he retired shortly after we moved to Walla. They had positioned him there and we liked it so…that was one of the reasons that he retired. We had been living in Montana before then, and California before Montana,”

His ankle was bandaged nicely, the ice pack resting on it once more and he laid back on my bed, stretching his arms and back out before sitting back up and grinning at me. Um…..awkward.

“So, do you wanna call your mom?” I said, packing up all the crap I had thrown out of the kit.

“Not really.” He said, snapping his coke open.

I grimaced at the coke, “Ewww.” He just laughed at me.

“I'm a very clean person.”

“I hope so.” I said, snapping mine open as well, turning the song on my player to track number 23: Lose Control.

“Love this song…” he muttered before sipping his coke once again as I walked to my desk, opening my bag and pulling out my homework.

“You nerd.” He commented.

“What?” I said, turning around in my desk chair.

“Homework?”

“Um…..that's how most people pass school.” I said.

“But at home?”

“F.Y.I.: homework.”

“Well, I haven't ever done homework at home in my whole entire life.” He said with a proud smile.

“That's probably why you're in the sophomore year for the third time or something.” I said, flipping through my notebook.

“I'm 15, an eligible sophomore.”

“You're still older than me, I'm 14.”

“Really? How are you a sophomore?”

“I think I started school early or something, I'm not really sure, but I've always been the young one of my grade.”

“But, back on subject, why do you do homework at home? That's what class periods and study hall is for.”

“Well, Kiwi and I were messing around all study hall period, so I got nothing done.” I laughed, remembering the mild acts of mayhem we had caused to the surrounding students.

“Well, I still never do homework at home.” He grumbled.

“What do you do after school then?” I asked with feigned enthusiasm, rolling my eyes.

“I hang with my crew, or mess around ant home, just whatever I feel like.”

“Well, when I don't have homework, I dance, or mess on the computer, but that was before I moved.”

“What did you dance for?”

“I was on the dance team at my old school for assemblies and stuff.”

“So, you're like the singing and dancing type?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Kiwi said you sing, and you said you dance, so what else do you do?”

Dang, this was like 20 questions or something.

“Well, I sing, draw, and I act, so pretty much the arts, `cause I write too.”

“Dang, you would be the one to go to and arts college.” He laughed.

“What's so funny about that?”

“Oh, nothing, just I'm kinda into the same stuff.”

Of course I have something in common with him. Next thing I know he's going to live right next door, and we will skip merrily to school together, hand in hand and be best of friends forever. God help me.

“Are you?” I asked, dripping sarcasm.

“Well, I sing once and a while, I am on the step team, along with my whole crew of buds, and yours in fact, so don't be surprised when they make you join, I am quite the potter, and can write a decent story.” He said proudly.

I was now really frightened that my worst nightmares were true, so I ventured to ask the next question.

“So, how close do you live?”
”Right next door.” He grinned.