Smarter Than You Think

Chapter 1

I wake up to the screaming of Ms. Rose. Don't be fooled by her name. She's a rose with thorns and wilting petals as I like to call her.
"Steven, get up!" she yells.
"I'm up. And I told you to call me Stevie." I say irritably.
"Do you not know what time you are assigned to wake up, Miss Crossfire?" she asks.
"Whatever." I say.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Wake up on time. Respect me. Do as I tell you. Don't have an attitude with me." she lists off just a few of the things she doesn't like about me.
"Yes ma'am." I say sarcastically.
She leaves without another word. As soon as the door to my dorm is closed a burst of giggles comes through the bathroom.
"Oh shut up! That happens everyday. I don't know why you think it's so funny." I tell them.
"Sure Stevie. Poor, poor, innocent, little Stevie. You do nothing to deserve to be treated like this." my friend Kayla says coming out of the bathroom.
"Whatever." I say.
"Get ready." She says leaving the girls dorm.
I get up and find my drawer on the dresser I share with the girls here. It's labeled by initials. SC. I pick out a blue v-neck and black leggings. I get dressed and brush my hair. I then complete the rest of my morning routine in the bathroom. I put on my black shoes that would hurt if I ran in them, since they have a flat soul with no support. I proceed to the lunchroom to eat breakfast. I run into Ms. Rose on my way in.
"Are you ever going to cut that hair of yours?" she asks distastefully.
"I trim it. That's all, Ms. Rose." I say walking away.
My hair is long though. It's a dark brown and goes all the way to my waist. I get breakfast and sit down at my usual table with my friends and book bag.
"Looks like Miss Hibernation finally got up today." Kayla says.
My friends laugh. My list of decent human beings consists of: Kayla, Alexandra, Bailey, Anush, Cole, Joshua, and Matt.
"Did Ms. Rose have to wake you up again?" Cole asks.
"It wouldn't be a regular day in the life of Stevie if she didn't." Bailey says.
"Oh whatever. She can't do anything about it. We all know that." I say.
"Isn't that the truth." Kayla says.
"Shut up." I say.
"You just brought it up." Alexandra says.
"Yeah Stevie, we all know how many times Ms. Rose has begged her boss to get rid of you." Joshua says.
"Please! She's a monster! I don't know what to do anymore! What is my life?" Anush mocks Ms. Rose.
"Said every teacher ever." Bailey adds.
"Oh come on guys. We've all helped her pull off things on the teachers countless times. She just runs the scene of the crime and makes the plans." Alexandra says.
"On another note. I heard Ms. Rose talking to some other official dude and I think we're getting a new guy." Matt says.
"A guy!" Kayla says.
"He won't want to date you." Bailey says.
"Cause he'll want all this." Alexandra says gesturing to herself.
"Nice try. I'll have to tell him not to drool every five seconds." Anush says.
"Oh my god. Shut up." I tell them.
They all do that like its some kind of game.
"You mean you're not interested, Stevie?" Joshua asks.
"I'm not whacked up in the brain, thanks." I tell them all.
"You don't even know if he's nine or something." Cole says.
"Well you'll find out because we have class in five minutes. Also I don't think they'd put a little kid with a high school aged group of teenagers." Matt says.
We gather up our things and put away our dishes. Then we walk to math class.
Page Break
"Class, today we have a new kid." Mr. Hine says.
"I hope he's cute." Alexandra whispers to me.
"If they even let you date him. I have no idea about other schools for "misfits and troubled children" but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be too happy about it." I tell her quietly.
"Please welcome, Gannon." Mr. Hine says.
A boy walks into the room. He looks sixteen years old. He has dark brown hair, hazel eyes, tan skin, and muscular build.
Alexandra squeals and I hear the rest of the girls erupt in giggles, whispers, and squeals that sound like Alexandra's.
"He is so cute!" she whispers to me.
"Don't tell me you're gonna hit on him." I say.
Joshua leans over to me from behind.
"Of course she is. She can't resist a guy like him." he says.
"I don't know if he'll be interested in you." I tease her.
"I wonder where he'll sit." she says.
I check to room and see the only empty seat is the desk directly on my right.
"Oooooohhhhh. He'll be sitting next to Stevie." Joshua says.
"Shut up. It's not like I like him or something." I say.
"Awwww! You're blushing!" Alexandra squeals.
"Alexandra! Be quiet!" I say quickly.
"Class. Class! Be quiet!" Mr. Hine says.
Everyone settles down more.
"Better. Gannon, you can take a seat next to Miss Crossfire right over there." he says pointing to me.
I raise my hand. Mr. Hine sighs. He knows I'll be saying something annoying.
"Mr. Hine, I told you to call me Stevie. Why don't you call me that?" I ask.
"I'm sorry, Steven. I didn't listen to you." he says.
My face turns red. I hate that name.
"Stevie. Stevie, Stevie, Stevie. Get that through your stupid head." I spit at him.
"Miss Crossfire, I'm going to ask you to step out of the room to the hall with me for a moment. Class, be quiet and turn to page fifty-five in your textbook. Oh, and Gannon. Don't get any ideas from this one. She's a real troublemaker." he says.
I roll my eyes and get up. I walk across the room and go out the door. Mr. Hine comes out shortly.
"Miss Crossfire, you need to learn discipline. I don't know why you can't seem to grasp that." he says.
"I can grasp quite a lot, thank you." I say.
"Respect. That is what you need. Respect your teachers." he says.
"I have respect and I use it quite a lot. I just only give it to people in my life that deserve it. You people just happen to be excluded from that category." I say.
"Do not use that tone with me, young lady. I don't want you messing up that boy. You've messed up every person you become friends with. I would like this one time to be different." he says.
"Well I'm ever so sorry for having friends. And also I happen to not like being locked up in a place where the people here treat me like I'm a dog." I say.
"We wouldn't treat you like that if you'd obey!" he says getting frustrated.
"I don't respond to commands like obey. That's dog language and I have no master. I don't bow down to you. I don't respect you or any other teachers here." I say.
"Go back into the classroom and if I hear another word out of you today you'll be eating lunch with me." he says.
"Great." I mutter and go into the classroom.
Everyone looks at me when I walk in. Including Gannon.
"Detention?" Alexandra asks me.
"If I disrupt class again." I say.
Gannon looks at me with a strange look.
"Can I help you?" I ask him.
He looks startled that I talked to him.
"Why did you do that?" he asks.
"Do what?" I say.
"Call him stupid knowing you would get in trouble. These people are just trying to help us be better people." he says.
"You actually believe that? They treat us like animals. We're the dogs, they're the masters." I tell him.
"What did you do to get in here?" he asks.
"I had to steal for my family and I've annoyed a few police officers. But not because I'm annoying. Because they were insulting my family and I don't take that lightly. You don't put down the people I care about." I say.
"Interesting. I like you." he says thoughtfully.
"Not interested." I say.
"Not like that. Like your personality." he says.
"I guess you're okay." I say.
"Where's Mr. Hine?" he asks.
"Dunno. He told me to go into the classroom and do my best not to mess you up. Oops." I say.
"Mess me up?" he asks.
"He says I mess up everyone I become friends with." I say.
"He's stupid." Gannon says.
"I really do like you." I say.
"Stevie, stop flirting with the new kid! He's for me!" Alexandra says from my other side.
I laugh then look at her.
"I'm not flirting I'm talking. There's a difference. Take it away." I tell her. I turn to Gannon. "Pretend you're not interested and she'll back off." I say.
Alexandra gets up and starts talking to Gannon. I laugh at his discomfort. Joshua taps me from behind again.
"You like him." he says.
"No I don't. He's cool, but not like that." I say.
"Sure." he says.
"Would everybody stop saying that!" I say.
Joshua turns to his textbook again. I don't know why people are saying that. I've barely even met the guy and this happens.
I start reading my textbook.
Page Break
When math is finally over I walk out with all of my friends. You could say it's a large group walking through the hall- 10 people me included.
"Gannon isn't interested in me." Alexandra says disappointedly.
"Yeah, he likes Stevie." Cole says.
"Oh my god! Shut up! I've had one little conversation with him and now everybody thinks I'm in love with the guy." I say.
"Sheesh. No need to get worked up about it." Matt says.
"He kept talking about you when I was trying to get him interested in me." Alexandra says.
"Whatever." I say.
"Say what you want but it's true." Joshua says.
"You be quiet. Everyone knows you like Charlotte." I tell him.
"All right everybody! That was a long time ago!" he says.
"Mmmhhmmm." I say.
"It's true!" he protests.
"Now who's in denial." I say.
"Okay everybody. Stevie's not gonna admit it to everybody at once. Let's give her some time to talk to Gannon a little more, and then us girls will talk with her tonight in our dorm." Bailey says.
"If that's as good as it's getting then fine." I say.
"Great idea. Let's invite him to have lunch with us." Anush says.
"Yeah then they can talk to each other." Kayla says.
"I'll talk to her first though tonight. Then you guys can come in." Alexandra says.
They all murmur in agreement.
"When did I become your project?" I ask.
"Come on, Stevie. You've never had a boyfriend or liked anyone. Do you want to be alone forever?" Anush says.
"Ugh. I'd prefer to find the right person, not be shoved into it." I say.
"You're not. You know you like him. We just need you to realize it, and admit it." Kayla says.
Page Break
The guys decide to sit at another table at lunch. Alexandra invites Gannon over.
"Hey Stevie." he says.
"Hey Gannon." I say.
"So what's next?" he asks.
"Break. You can hang out, do whatever. It's pretty nice. Then we have gym." I say.
"Cool. What do you do doing break usually?" he asks.
"Walk Around, sit outside, hang out with friends. Ya know." I say.
"Mind if I stick around with you for that?" he asks.
"Sure." I say.
"How's the gym teacher?"
"Tells us to run laps till gym's over."
"Sweet. I love to run."
"Me too."
We finish lunch and walk around talking for a little bit. The we sit on a brick wall by the garden outside.
"So what's wrong with your friends?" Gannon asks.
"They think I'm in love with you for some reason." I say deciding to be honest.
"Weird." he says.
"Yeah they're kind of messed up in their brains." I say.
He laughs. I like his laugh.
"I can tell, but they're cool too." he says.
"When you get to know em." I say.
"So you've got some guy friends too right?" he asks.
"Yeah but we're just friends. They're cool too you'd like them. There's Cole, Joshua, Matt, and Kyle." I say.
"Nice." he says.
"So why'd they bring you here?" I ask.
"I've gotten in several fights at school, but only because they started it- it was self defense and the guys who started it didn't even get in trouble. I damaged a chemistry lab pretty badly because the chemist told me to come up and create a substance using the formula on the board- he wrote the wrong formula which caused fumes to come out of it, and the whole school had to evacuate. Later I learned I had created a fume that damaged the walls and floor, stuff like that pretty badly. And last but not least I got framed for hacking the schools website and sending an email to every student's parents that they were suspended for bringing drugs to school." he explains.
"Wow. So not your fault at all right?" I say.
"Pretty much." he says.
"Don't beat yourself up about it. I know the feeling." I say.
"Thanks." he says.
I smile.
"Anytime." I say.
"Well breaks almost over now." he says.
I check my watch.
"Yep five minutes. Better start to walk to gym." I say.
"Sure." he says.
We hop off the brick wall and walk to the gym. I go to the girls locker room to change out. Alexandra sees me since her locker is right next to mine.
"I saw you two outside talking. That was absolutely adorable!" she says excitedly.
"I'm just trying to get to know him better. He's nice, that's all. Can you just stop thinking of us that way?" I ask her.
"Sure. Just real think about how you feel. I've never seen you look at someone that way. It's kind of cool to see you act like that." she says.
"Act like what?" I say.
"You didn't act that way towards any of us when you were becoming friends with us. You talked to him only at lunch and during break. You didn't ever do that to anyone else. And don't tell me it's because he's new or you feel bad for him. If that was the case you'd have done that to the rest of us." she explains.
I'm about to say something else, but she finishes changing and leaves without another word. I shake my head and change into our black gym shorts and green t-shirt. I leave the locker room and go line up with my 'squad'.
Page Break
After gym is over its four o' clock and we're supposed to go to our dorms until dinner time. Alexandra decides to ask me questions then and after dinner.
"So do you like him?" she cuts right to the chase.
"I like him as a friend. That's it." I say.
"Don't lie to me, Elli. I've seen how you look at him." she says.
"What if I do like him? Why would I tell you?" I ask her.
"Because I'm your friend and I want you to be happy." she says.
"I'm happy already. I don't know why it's a big deal anyways." I say.
"Did you just admit it?" she asks.
"No. If I have anything to admit I will tonight. I promise." I tell her.
"I'll trust you on this." she says.
"Good." I say. "So have you seen anybody you'll be going after soon?" I ask.
"Well I kind of like Michael Davis." she says.
I laugh.
"I'd love to see you pursue him." I say.
"I'll show you! He'll love me!" she she says defensively.
"Sure. Anyway you did great in gym today." I say sarcastically.
"Oh whatever! I only tripped five times today! That's my record." she says.
I grin.
"Hey Bailey, Anush, Kayla! Come here!" I say.
They walk over.
"What?" Bailey asks.
"Alexandra here only tripped FIVE times today! I think that beats your record!" I tell them all.
All of them start arguing at once. A half hour later we walk to the cafeteria. Gannon joins us at the table and so do the guys this time.
"So your Gannon right?" Cole asks.
"Yeah. And you?" Gannon asks.
"I'm Cole and this is Matt, and Joshua." he says gesturing to the rest.
"Cool. And that's Bailey, Alexandra, Anush, and Kayla right?" he asks me.
"Yep. They're the insane ones." I say.
"I am not! I'm perfectly normal." Kayla says.
"Just keep telling yourself that." I say.
"Be prepared for a lot of that. Them, most annoying girls on earth. I'm not sure why we tolerate them." Matt says.
"Matt, stop confusing us for yourself and your little girlfriends." I say.
"Yep, because I so resemble a girl." he says.
"Sorry Gannon. I'm not sure why we're all friends. It's kind of weird." I say.
"Ok then." Gannon says.
"It's okay. She makes everyone feel awkward." Joshua says.
"What can I say? It's fun." I tell him.
"So what prank have you been thinking of lately?" Cole asks me.
"Today I thought of Mr. Hine since he was a real idiot earlier, and I think I might pull the classic bucket-of-water-on-door thing." I say.
"Nice. So the day after tomorrow we'll leave breakfast early and do it?" Joshua asks.
"That's the plan. And Gannon needs to come along too. He should learn to mess with the teachers." I say.
"I'm down. Mr. Hine seems pretty moronic so I'd love to see a bucket of water dumped on his head." Gannon says.
"Great. The look on his face is priceless when Stevie says he can't prove she did anything." Cole says.
We finish dinner and head back to our dorms.
Alexandra sits on my bed with me.
"So?" she asks.
I sigh.
"Alexandra, I just don't know. You know I'm not the girly type to discuss secrets like this." I say.
"I know and I'm sorry. I won't make you do anything else. I'm just curious. Please." she says.
"Oh alright. I don't know if I like Gannon or not. He's nice, funny, smart......" I trail off.
"Cute?" she try's.
"Maybe. I'm uncomfortable thinking about it much less talking about it." I say.
"Just give me a simple yes or no and then I'll call Kayla, Bailey, and Anush over, and we can talk about things to pull on various teachers okay?" she says.
"Yes." I mutter.
"I won't push it any further, but do you want to talk about it later?" she asks.
"No. I'm fine thanks." I say.
"I'm proud of you. Now, KAYLA, BAILEY, ANUSH!" she shouts.
Everyone covers their ears.
"Be quieter." I say.
"Sorry, just wasted to make sure they heard." she says.
"Well?" they all ask after coming over.
"Yes. That's all we're gonna say in the topic." Alexandra says.
"Okay. So what was the point of coming over?" Kayla asks.
"Stevie is kind of upset that I brought it up and she's off the scales uncomfortable, so I thought talking about pranks she'd want to pull on teachers might help her." Alexandra explains.
"Sure. Let's talk." Anush says.
I let out a sigh of relief that they didn't push it. I don't like that they made me do that.
"So I was thinking we could sneak into the woman's teachers dorm and fill their shoes with dead bugs from outside one night. Any thoughts?" I ask.
"Oh! That sounds like fun! Ms. Rose is terrified of bugs." Alexandra says.
"Oh yeah. And I also thought we could soak the men's teachers she is in toilet water during the night so they smell and are wet the next morning." I mention.
"Yeah, then they'd have to walk around with wet, smelly feet all day or not wear any shoes at all." Bailey says.
We talk like this for about an hour, then I sit by myself and think for a while. After that I decide to go to bed.

A/N Hey Guys! Thanks for reading, I appreciate it so much! Sorry if there are any typos because I'm obviously not a professional editor, but I try my best. If you like make sure to comment, vote, and follow! Thanks!