The Tech Girl

Chapter 3

I looked around, shocked at the sheer size of the foyer I was standing in. And this is a public high school. pfft. Right. If I didn’t know better I’d say it was something entirely different. There were already a bunch of students here, most of which were whispering behind their hands and pointing at me in, what they thought, were discreet ways. Ignoring the looks I was getting, I walked up to some random guy and tapped him on the shoulder.

“What?!” he growled as he spun around to face me.

I cocked an eyebrow at him “well, Mr.Snippy, I was hoping you’d point me to the office?”

I glanced around the room to see if there was an obvious route that would get me out of talking to this jerk. Of course there wasn’t, but what I did see were all the students in the room starting at me with their mouths open. I rolled my eyes at them (I’ve done that a lot today) and said,

“What are you people looking at?”

The people staring all stopped suddenly and hurriedly got back to whatever they were doing. I turned back to the guy, sparing a second to take in his slick black hair, startling blue eyes and frumpled clothing. huh. Classic player look. I raised my eyebrows at him and crossed my arms.

“Well?”

It took all I had to suppress a chuckle. As a look of pure rage crossed his features. I’ll admit that he was cute. Maybe I could use that against him. There was a good minute of silence with him standing there glaring at me before I got fed up and decided to play my cards. Frowning, I reached up (I took note of him being taller than me) and patted his cheek mockingly and wiping away pretend tears from his face while saying “aw, have I pissed off the big bad player?”. That’ll teach him to treat people like that.

However, all I succeeded in doing was pissing him off further. Grabbing my hand, he twisted my arm up around my back, twisting ‘till it hurt. I laughed at him.

“Really? That’s the best you can do?”

I spun towards the opposite side from the arm he had twisted and shouldered him in the chest, causing him to let me go. Quickly, I threw a punch to his stomach, causing him to double over in pain. To finish him off, I lifted my elbow up and brought it down on the back of his neck, sending him into a faceplant on the floor. Crouching next to his head, I said,

“Sweetie, if you think you’re gonna scare me you’ve got another thing coming”

This prompted a growl from the guy, who was trying to get up, but was a bit too dazed from the hit to his head to stand, and he kept falling down again. Dusting myself off, I straightened up to meet a dozen pairs of eyes, all staring at me. I glanced around at everyone.

“So! Who’s gonna point me to the office?”

A dozen silent hands all pointed to the hallway to my left. I grinned and turned to leave, blowing a kiss over my shoulder at the crowd on my way.

It was ridiculous how much fun that was! I couldn’t help but hope that little show was enough to get people to leave me alone for the rest of the year...

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After a couple seconds of walking, I came to another set of double doors with a sign labeled “Office” hanging above them. Shoving them open, I quietly walked into the spacious room and stood at the secretary’s desk.

The secretary was a middle aged woman who showed signs of faded beauty. She had kind, dainty features set in a heart shaped face, and framed by pretty reddish brown ringlets. I had a feeling she and I would get along great. I waited until she was done with the paperwork in front of her before calling attention to myself.

“Excuse me miss?”

She jumped a little and looked up at me.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry to have startled you but my name’s Samantha Greyson and I’m here to pick up my class schedule” Internally, I winced at my full name. I hated being called Samantha... it was so long and so... girly. I much preferred Sam.

She muttered under her breath while she shuffled some papers around, trying to find my schedule. “Samantha Greyson.... Greyson.... Greyson.... ah! Here it is!” She waved a yellow piece of paper happily in her hand hand handed it to me. I smiled at her,

“Thanks!”

She grinned back at me “No problem dear! You can head off to class now, and try not to lose that paper, it’s a horrible chore to get another one for you.”

I nodded, laughing  “Right. I won’t lose it then!”

She shook her head at me and made shooing motions with her hands, signalling that my time in the office was over.

Once back out in the hallway, I looked down at the paper, reading my classes quietly to myself to memorize them...

“First Period, 8:00-9:00, Science.

Second Period, 9:05-10:05, Computer Studies

Third Period, 10:10-11:10, Language Arts

Fourth Period, 11:15-12:15, Calculus

Lunch, 12:15-1:15

Fifth Period, 1:20-2:20, History

Sixth Period, 2:25-3:30, Student’s Choice.... “

Student’s Choice? What the hell was that? I was mulling this over when a loud clanging bell rang, making me jump half out of my skin. Glancing at my watch, I realized I had three minutes to find my science class. Checking that my bag was fully closed, I took off running down the hall.

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I found the science room a full ten minutes later, making me seven minutes late to class. A bit meekly, I opened the door and poked my head into the room, causing the teacher to stop talking almost immediately and look at me expectantly. “Yes?” he asked.

Stepping into the room, I let the door swing shut behind me. “Um, hi? I’m Sam Greyson my schedule says this is my first class?” I handed the teacher my schedule for him to look over. He scanned it real quick and handed it back to me.

“Alright!” he said, clapping his hands together. “It looks like you have the same classes as Eric over there...” he pointed at a student in the back of the room. Looking up, my heart nearly stopped when I realized it was the boy I beat up earlier that morning. “...so you can go sit next to him and he’ll show you the school. Oh, and we’re starting a fairly large project today, and since Eric has no partner you can be his.”

I swore under my breath. The day was going just fine, and this bloody science teacher had to ruin it. Grudgingly, I crossed the room and plopped myself into the empty seat next to Eric. Before I did anything else, I raised my hand, calling the teacher’s attention.

He smiled warmly at me “Yes Miss Greyson?”

“Sir, are computers allowed in this class?”

He seemed surprised by this question. “Of course Miss Greyson! As long as I don’t catch you being off task they’re fine”

I could live with that. No one ever caught me being off task anyway. Smiling to myself, I pulled my computer out of my bag, it’s sleek black and neon green body glinting in the classroom light. I head a couple of geekier kids gasp appreciatively. Man, I loved this computer.

Eric sneered from next to me. “What’s that? Some kid’s toy?”

I scoffed at him “You wish. I built this computer by myself. It’s the best machine you’ll ever come across.”

Eric huffed “Right, ‘cause a girl’s gonna know how machines work. Especially if you’re that girl. I doubt you could tell a computer mouse from a field mouse”

I raised my eyebrows in shock “That was one of the stupidest comebacks I’ve ever heard”

He rolled his eyes “Whatever. Just don’t stand between me and an A on this project”

I blinked at him. What was his problem? Seriously?