The Child Who Holds the Power

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The three of us collected our luggage and headed towards the airport exit. Outside the air was cool because it was part way through fall. It was a bit over three weeks out from Halloween. My parents had preorganised someone to pick us up at the airport and take us to our new house. We spent the whole ride in silence. The male driver never spoke and the only noise that filled the silence was the soft music of the radio. 

When we finally pulled up outside of house I was surprised to find that it was large but not overly audacious. I was expecting massive and something that basically spelled rich. Since most of our belongings had already beenshipped to LA the house was mostly furnished. The only things that were yet to be moved in was whatever that was in our suitcases.

We arrived in America on a Friday so we spent the weekend unpacking and settling in. Not to mention getting used to the time zone change. I was starting school on Monday and wasn't really looking forward to it. I was already feeling home sick, except for the fact that Australia wasn't exactly my home anymore. I spent a lot of the weekend on my laptop trying to speak to my friends but the time difference was difficult to get around. It was either stay up late to talk or get up insanely early.

By the end of the weekend I was just so out of it. The move had really taken a toll on me and I avoided my parents as much as I could. I also spent a little bit of time on my weekend day dreaming. Wishing that I could go back and live by myself. Hoping that everything would alright. Pleading with no one in particular that starting a new school would not be as bad as I was imagining.

I sat in a chair in the adiminstration office waiting for the lady to print off my class timetable. I was staring at my favourite purple Vans as I waited patiently. The rest of my outfit consisted of dark skinny jeans and a flowing purple tank top that was shorter at the front and longer at the back. It felt strange to be wearing normal clothes to school. I was so used to wearing my school uniform. My nerves were obvious as I fidgeted with my hair, which I wore down in its natural soft, brown curls. 

I just couldn't stop thinking that people were going to make fun of me for having an accent. I just couldn't shake the fear that kids were going to stare at me or I was somehow going to attract unwanted attention on my first day at an American high school. I was well known at my old school for being the 'cute smart chick', but I was never in the cool crowd.

I had my best friends who I'd known for years and they always had my back. But as I sat there in the office, I'd never felt like more of an outsider. I was just about to lose my nerve and have a minor panic attack when the office lady caught my attention. Her name slipped my mind which I felt bad about, but I put it down to first day nerves.

She held out a piece of paper, "Here you go sweetie."

I took it from her and smiled, "Thank you."

She opened her mouth to reply but something caught her eye and instead yelled out the door, "Chase! Chase can you come here please?"

A guy around my age stuck his head through the open office door. He looked like the kind of person that someone would describe as the "boy next door". Tousled, blonde hair and blue eyes. Tall, strong and tanned. He looked at me briefly and passed his attention back to the office lady.

"What can I do for you Miss Berry?" he asked cheekily, but in a nice way.

"Could you show our new student to her locker and then to her first class?" she instructed him.

He walked further into the office, "Sure can. Where is your first class and what is you locker number?"

My eyebrows shot up, "Uhh, good question."

I scanned my piece of paper which was extremely confusing to look at.

I looked up at him and said slowly, "How about you tell me."

"Sure," he smiled and took the paper from my out stretched hand.

"Ok, your name is Jezebel Spencer and you're a Sophomore, like me. Your locker number is 635 and you have Chemistry up first on Monday's," he said easily.

I gaped at him, "How did you get that off of all that gibberish on that paper."

He laughed, "Takes years of practise and skill."

The office lady, whose name I had forgotten again, cut in, "Chase stop trying to show off and get a move on before you're both late for class."

We walked out of the office side by side. Along the way to my locker he pointed things out to me and showed me the best way to get to my locker. He stopped abruptly and I almost kept walking.

"So where are you from? Your accents strong," he inquired.

I grimaced and averted my gaze, "Australia."

"Wow, that's a long way from LA. The accents cool though," he replied impressed.

He got stuck into explaining how to work the combination lock on my locker. I had always been terrible at locks. I couldn't get the damn thing to open even after five tries. It got to the point where we were going to be late and Chase had to open for me. And of course he got it open on the first try. I gave him a 'how did you do that?' look and he just laughed.

"You do know now that whenever I need my locker opened I'm going to have to find you?" I joked.

He winked at me, "Well that wouldn't be that bad, would it?"

Then Chase put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face a door right opposite my locker.

"And this is your Chemistry classroom. Conveniently close, you are so lucky," he exaggerated.

"Also convenient is that I'm in your Chemistry class," Chase grinned.

"Oh lucky me," I faked horror.

He laughed and then headed for the door. I followed him inside the classroom where kids were just waiting for the bell to ring to say that class had started. When I walked in people stared but not too much. Chase spoke to the teacher and I showed him my timetable. The teacher, Mr Bellamy, smiled and welcomed me to his class and told me to sit with Chase for the moment because he was going to have to shuffle Lab partners around.

I thanked him and followed Chase to his bench. Class started and the teacher introduced me to the class. Thankfully he told everybody I was from Australia so I didn't get asked that a million times. I ended up being partnered with Chase which was not bad at all. Class passed uneventfully and was a little boring since I'd already learnt all of what Mr Bellamy was teaching.

Finally lunch came. In the brief conversation I'd had with my parents before school they told me lunch was provided so I hadn't packed anything. I knew that this school was very expensive and was a private school but when I walked into the cafeteria I did not expect what I saw. High ceilings, three tier patios overlooking the beach, wait staff taking orders off a menu for lunch at a school.

 Chase laughed and pushed me forward. I was too stunned to think.

"It's pretty awesome don't you reckon," he asked.

"Yes. This is actually really incredible," I replied amazed.

I was too busy looking around and I didn't notice the people that Chase had steered me to.

"Yo, Chase what's up? Who's your friend?" a guy called to Chase.

I looked at him and my face went blank. There was something about him that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He was dressed fashionably for a teenage guy with hair stylishly messy. Chase replied to him and I caught his name. Carter. I shivered slightly and made myself look away. My eyes were caught by a person turning around to listen to what Chase was saying. Chase was telling everybody my name, that I was new to the school and from Australia.

I wasn't listening though because I recognised a person in the large group of people.  My face lit up in a smile as I realised who it was. My first American friend.