White Teeth Teens

4. Oh Em Gee There's Three?

That Friday after school, I practically sprint to the front hall where two students hold a PAWS sign covered in paws. When I walk up to them, the boy holding the sign lets go and the girl curses as she fumbles to hold it upright on her own. I recognize the girl from the Club Fair, but not the boy who now has the clipboard and is standing there with his hip popped.

"Name?"

"Rory Myers."

He scans the list and finds me with his pen. His eyebrows go up. "Wait, you're a junior? I totally thought you were a freshman. I've never seen you before."

"My family just moved here."

He turns to the girl, "Oh my god, a new kid! She can be my new project." He winks at me.

"What, are you gonna train me to sabotage the popular girls?"

They give me confused looks.

"You know, like 'Mean Girls'?"

The girl laughs and her belly jiggles. "God no! Garrett doesn't have the patience or the skill to pull something like that off." She says sarcastically. "Who wants to be Lindsay Lohan, anyway?"

"Shut up, Liz. Everyone wants to be Lindsay Lohan," Garret says, adding, "minus the rehab," under his breath.

About five younger girls, probably freshmen, have assembled behind me. Garrett checks off my name and I move aside. When everyone is there, we split into groups, each with a driver. I'm in Liz's car with three freshmen, Garrett takes a few sophomores, and Paige, another senior, takes the rest. Liz lets me sit in front while the freshmen squeeze into the back and murmur to each other, probably checking their Instagrams for likes.

"Have you made any friends yet?" Liz asks as we pull out of the parking lot.

I shrug, "Yeah. Well, I sit with people at lunch."

"Who?"

"They're juniors..."

Liz snorts. "It's a small school, I'll know them."

"Um, Marie Katz, Dani S-something, Kayla Eison..."

Liz presses hard on the break at the stop sign and gives me a look. "Seriously?"

"What?"

"They fucking suck! I'm surprised they let you sit with them."

"Why do they suck?" I ask, feeling the freshmen behind me listening intently.

"Because they think they're hot shit. Basically, they think this school is like 'Mean Girls' and that everyone else is beneath them. They're so wrapped up in their own universe. Eison is hooking up with the sleaziest guy in my grade, too."

I can't say I'm surprised by this. "Well, they've been nice to me so far. But I guess that's probably because they like my brother."

"Dean Myers?" asks one of the freshmen.

I turn to face her and she blushes. "Yeah, how do you know him?"

The girl to the right of her shrugs. "He's hot."

Liz laughs loudly again, "So they're just using you to get to your brother."

"Well he's got a girlfriend." I protest.

Liz looks at me out of the corner of her eye, as if to say, "Not for long."

We pull into the parking lot of the animal shelter next to Garrett's car. It is a grey, one story building with a white sign that reads "Duncan Valley Animal Shelter – Helping Our Best Friends Become Your Best Friends". There's a chain-link fence that starts at the sides of the building and disappears into the back. I can hear barking.