Phoenix Lift

1. Friendships and Reputations

The first two months of school were filled with the usual bustle of teenage drama and the subsequent gossip. High schoolers seemed to value their reputations above all else, and the beginning of each school year heralded new people with blank slates and the return of all the 'higher reps' who needed to reaffirm their places. That meant various freshmen, and a handful of lower tier sophomores, began many school days with slushie facials, dumpster tosses, and stained clothes.

Kendra Hale kept spare clothes in her locker for such an occasion. However, she had changed the outfit out three times already without a need for them. Apparently, there had been just enough time at the end of last school year for rumors to fly through the school centered around her and Jackson Reed. She had received glares and numerous scathing comments from many jocks, but no one had escalated the bullying just yet. If she were honest with herself, she was quite surprised by the sense the jocks had exhibited in refraining from immediately making an enemy of her.

There was no mistaking that Kendra was far from the popular crowd. She did not have the body or attitude of a cheerleader, and she barely had a sporty bone in her body. It was clear from the books crowding her locker and the attention she paid in classes that she landed quite firmly in the nerd category. A large portion of her freshman year had been spent getting slushied, coupled with a few trips into the McKinley High dumpster. Her appointment as a tutor for a couple subjects had not helped in that respect. What had was the stance she was forced to take against a certain sexist, bullying soccer player. At the time, she wasn't aware of the effect her actions would have on her place at school. Hence when the school year began, and she wasn't immediately cornered and dumped on top of rotten cafeteria food, she was cautiously, pleasantly surprised.

Despite not being a popular kid, Kendra was friendly with a couple of the quieter jocks she tutored. As she dropped off her fourth 'just-in-case' backup outfit into her locker, she contemplated her secret friendship with a member of the football team. Matt had been a quiet guy when she first met him. After a month of bi-weekly tutoring sessions, he had relaxed around her enough to crack jokes that had her in tears, slumped completely over the table and sometimes gasping in hysterical laughter. The librarian had wound up forbidding them to be in the library together due to their disruptive noise level.

Catching the eye of her closest friend, she snapped her locker closed and flashed him a quick smile. "Tutoring session today, right?" she asked, keeping the chat to a minimum since he was in the presence of two other football players. He may be her friend, but he was still a bit wary of his reputation being ruined. She wasn't the worst person to hang out with, but she wasn't exactly the best either. At least the football and soccer teams weren't very close, thus there was less animosity between the football jocks and Kendra than the so-called lower tier jocks (AKA the soccer and hockey teams).

Brian Langenthaal, one of the more annoying football jocks, glared and scoffed quietly from his position leaning on a random locker. The other jock, who she remembered was a close friend of Matt's, chose instead to cast her a fleeting glance and half-hearted smile. She chose to ignore the former and return a tiny smile to the latter, internally struggling to recall the lean jock's name.

Matt took a moment to think and wound up shaking his head. Surely to give off the reluctant, I-don't-want-to-hang-with-her-but-my-grades! impression to Langenthaal, maybe to his quiet friend too. "Nah, there's an extended football practice today, so tomorrow?" Likely in an attempt to apologize silently while still giving off the expected jock-jerk vibes, he jokingly looked her up and down and winked salaciously. 

Satisfied with the seemingly jerky flirting, Langenthaal laughed shortly and wandered away. Kendra subtly rolled her eyes before playfully returning the wink with a smirk, causing both Matt and his friend to chuckle.