BJTOWC -- The Vamps Tradley/Jonnor

The First Meeting--Mal

I pulled up at school with plenty of time to spare. I checked all four boys' lockers for their notebooks and pulled them out, replacing them with a sticky note saying that they need to meet me in the abandoned music room at the end bell.

I walked slowly to my lessons. I always did. No one ever understood why, and I was going to keep it that way.

I walked into maths five minutes late, but I was fine. These teachers would never get on to me for something. He just nodded at me and gave me a small smile, turning back to the board. "James can get you caught up on what you've missed."

I nodded and turned to my left to see James with his mouth wide open, gaping at me. "Can I help you? Because you're supposed to be helping me," I teased.

"Sorry. It's just that I got here not too long before you did and I got snapped lunch detentions for a week. Why aren't you in trouble?" I looked away, fiddling with my pencil bag, straightening it so that my desk was completely symmetrical, though it was already perfectly straight. "Oh. Sorry. Don't worry about it."

I gave him a grateful smile and asked for his notes. "Well, I only use markers so I don't know that you'll be able to-"

"I remember. It's fine. My sister has the worst handwriting ever, remember?" I smiled at him and took his notes, quickly beginning to jot them down in my own notebook.

"Yeah. I do remember." He looked down. He looked up. He looked at Tristan sitting in front of me. He looked at me. "Is he making her happy?" he asked, pointing to Tristan.

"Yeah. Yeah, he is." I gave him a sympathetic smile. "But she still misses you sometimes." I could see both James and Tristan's ears perk up a bit.

"Really?" James asks, intrigued.

"Well, obviously not as much as she did over the summer. That was the worst. She'd cry herself to sleep most nights. And the times she didn't, she'd wake up at 3:00 am from a nightmare. It was usually just you crying, sitting on the steps of the school, not letting her say anything. Not letting her try to make excuses and explain herself. She hated how she treated you."

I could feel Tristan tense up, but I didn't care. It didn't matter. She had Tristan now, and she missed him when he was gone. Not enough to be clingy, but enough to where she would get a little sad and there was a noticeable change in her mood.

I handed James his notes back and finished the worksheet before the rest of the class, who had been working on it since I got here. I walked to the front of the class, my combat boots making a nice shuffling sound against the linoleum floors, making the entire class look up at me as I turned in the worksheet after only working on it for seven minutes. Did I mention this was AP Algebra II?

I felt all eyes on me as I shuffled back to my seat, my skull tank and Jack Skellington skinnies making me stand out like a sore thumb in this room full of girls in pretty skirts and heels, and boys in their Nike and Adidas apparel, especially with my blue hair and maroon beanie.

I got away with a lot of stuff in this school. My hair was an unnatural colour. That's a no-no. I was wearing a hat. That's a major no-no. I was wearing a tank top. Another no-no. I had a nose piercing. Epic no-no. I was late to my first class today. Being late is a no-no. I ran in the halls and didn't participate in class discussions. I just did the work.

I didn't like it.

"Sir?" I asked timidly. Every eye in the room was on me.

"Yes, Miss Laine?" he asked in a sort of exasperated voice.