The Crimson Scarf

(3) School? Yuck.

Joseph was waiting downstairs for me.

"Sorry you had to hear that," I explained to Joseph as we arrived at school. It had been a very silent car ride, and I wondered what he thought of me. I was fiddling with the tie on my uniform; for an elite school, it could have been out-of-uniform like most American schools. Joseph gave me an odd look as we pulled up in the car park.

"You and your mother don't get along, do you?" he said finally. "My sister was like that with my mom... then Sarah died in a car accident when she was seventeen, after fighting with mom. She never got to make up with her. I'm a little bit sensitive about that." I sat thoughtfully for a moment. I grabbed my scarf from my bag and wrapped it around my neck; the snow looked freezing.

"I don't want to fight with her," I said quietly. "But I do want her to take responsibility of Kayden. She spends less time with him than I do. And last night... I found my dad in bed with another woman..." I realised this upset me more than I thought when tears fell from my eyes. I wiped them away quickly.

"Oh, that's hard," Joseph said, wrapping an arm around me.

This guy barely knew me and he was so caring. Our eyes met, and I could feel he was going to kiss me. I got a little nervous; too nervous... I flinched away unwillingly.

"Er, sorry," I whispered. "Umm... maybe we should go to class?" I felt like a tease. I hadn't been close to a guy in a while; the last boyfriend I had was an Aussie surfer who dumped me for another guy! Yes, a guy!

"I... didn't mean to offend you, Em," Joseph whispered. "Sorry. Er... class?" I smiled, nodded, and we both headed off to class.

Homeroom. It was too fancy of a classroom to call homeroom. This school was making me nervous already. I first went to the school office to get my class schedule, and a map of the school. The woman behind the desk was unfriendly, rude and pretty butch for a fancy school. I sarcastically thanked her before walking off, rolling my eyes. Now, after finally finding my homeroom, I realised I would struggle to fit in here. I looked around; two girls who over-accessorised sat in the back corner, chatting loudly about something that happened days before. Pointless. A group of five girls sat at the front; they were all tall, blonde and thin... cheerleaders, of course. A few footballers stood around occasionally attempting wrestling moves on each other... I wished that Joseph was in my year.

I noticed them all looking at me. The cheerleaders in particular... it was intimidating. When the bell rang, the five cheerleaders stood up and walked directly toward me. I froze, nervous. They were all beautiful. The tallest one stepped forward; her blonde curls extended halfway down her back.

"Hey, I'm Sienna Kramer," she smiled, holding out her hand. "This is Elise, Taylor, Brea and Kasi," she continued, pointing to each girl as she spoke their name.

"Hi, I'm Emily Harper," I replied, taking Sienna's hand.

"We were wondering... are you a cheerleader at all?" Sienna questioned, looking me up and down.

"Umm... no, sorry," I replied. "I am a gymnast, though," I added. Sienna's face had fallen slightly, but at my last statement she smiled gleefully.

"We have tryouts today," Taylor said excitedly. "We need four new girls to replace the seniors that left from last year. Would you come along. Please?"

I thought about it for a moment.

"Umm, sure," I replied.

"Sienna's our new captain," Kasi smiled. "She's tough... but fair."

"Just out of curiosity... why did you ask me?" I questioned. Sienna smiled.

"Not all cheerleading captains give new students a chance to be on the squad," Sienna explained.