I circled the small parking lot another time, cursing myself for waking up late again, making me lose my usual spot. I finally found a spot in the way back. Grabbing my backpack, I hopped out of the car and locked my small silver Honda Civic. I could already feel the heat of the humid California air as I jogged past BMW’s and Mercedes toward the looming white building before me, which was filled with people I hated and information I wouldn’t need to know in the real world. When I finally opened the large double doors, I heard the late bell ring. I sighed.
The only thing I had to look forward to was the fact that it was Friday, which meant I could be set free from my parents for a bit and escape to the dance studio for a few hours. Dancing allowed me to escape from the tedious parts of life that I couldn’t wait to leave once I graduated high school. Tedious parts, meaning my overbearing parents who expected me to be the good girl who followed every single ridiculous rule that gave me no freedom to express who I really was. They wanted me to wear expensive uncomfortable dresses and talk to their boring rich friends. I didn’t want to be a part of a life where everything was handed to me. I wanted to be an individual and not a copy of my parents who acted snooty and important. When I danced with my crew and choreographed new routines, I let all of that go and I found myself. My body moved with the music as the beat showed me the next move. I didn’t have to think; I just knew what to do and that was probably the best part of it all.
I hated going to school. Most subjects came easy to me, though, so I usually did well on my report cards, but I always felt like it didn’t matter. I felt like there was so much more of the world to explore and I was just wasting my time sitting in a desk learning about it through a history book. Hip-hop showed me a different part of the world while staying in my small, close-minded town. I was exposed to a whole other culture that my parents didn’t respect or understand, which is why I had to keep my passion a secret and deal with the regular life of school and pleasing them so they didn’t pester me too often.
I finally reached my locker and spun the lock to my combination. When I tried to pull the lock, it wouldn’t budge. I groaned, spinning the combination again. Today was going to be a long day.
***
I plopped down to my usual table at lunch, nodding to Chad who was already devouring his second slice of pizza. I pulled out my bagged sandwich from my backpack. At least I remembered to bring lunch today instead of getting stuck with the salted cardboard they called lunch here are Newbridge Academy.
"Where were you this morning?" Avery glared at me accusingly as she sat down across from me. Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows raised expectantly, waiting for me to answer.
"I woke up late again. I feel so disoriented today." I answered then took a bite of my peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, the only good part of my day so far. “Why does it matter, anyway?” My voice was muffled by the bite I just took. My mom would probably comment on how ladylike I was behaving. How dare me.
"Were you up all night choreographing again?" she ignored my question.
I finally swallowed and coughed. “No.” I hung my head sheepishly to avoid meeting her eyes.
"Olivia!" she started to scold, but was interrupted by Kevin as he got closer to the table.
"What’s going on today, ladies?" His girlfriend, Pepper, followed behind shortly, her cheeks flushed.
"Someone's in a good mood today," Avery noted.
"Of course I am, I'm so pumped for tonight. That routine is sick, Liv. We totally have to film it tonight!" His voice started to get louder.
"Shhh! How are we supposed to keep it a secret if you shout all about it?" I whisper-shouted.
Avery put her hand on my shoulder, "You'll have to excuse our precious Olivia here. She's a little sleep deprived, and we all know how cranky she gets when she doesn't get enough sleep." She looked at me pointedly.
I swatted her hand away and took a sip of my Arizona iced tea. "Shut up" I grumbled.
Chad seemed to have finally finished eating his pile of food that could probably feed a small third-world country and came up for a breath of fresh air.
"Promise me you'll take a nap before rehearsal tonight," he begged me with puppy dog eyes.
Before I could answer, the lunchroom started buzzing as people moved around and whispered to each other. Our school is small, so everyone gets really excited with little pieces of new gossip. I turned around in my seat to see what was going on. I saw Lindsay, who’s the popular girl in our school, standing by the lunchroom doors, surrounded by her usual group. She had her arm wrapped around some unfamiliar dark haired guy. Every week, Lindsay had herself wrapped around a different guy, so this wasn’t anything new.
I turned back around to face the table. “Why is everyone freaking out?” I asked, crumpling my paper bag in my hand.
Avery finally faced me. “Well, that’s what I was going to tell you about! Since you were late, you didn’t hear that there’s a new kid and he is unbelievably attractive. Thank God, ‘cause this school needed some more attractive guys.”
“Hey, what about me?!” Chad chimed in.
Avery winked at him. “You know I’m just kidding. Obviously, you’re the most attractive guy this world has ever seen. We worship you.” She crawled down onto the floor and made a movement like she was bowing down to him.
“And this here is the weird table. Avery is doing what she does best and cleaning up the floors.” Lindsay was standing at our table, now, with at least half of the school surrounding her. “It’s the only way her family can afford this school.” She pretended to whisper to the new kid. Her usual group snickered behind her.
“Go away, Lindsay,” Kevin sighed, finally pulling away from Pepper who had been doing weird couple-y things at their end of the table.
Avery stood up off the floor and brushed herself off, her face bright red as she sat back down. She never liked to talk about the fact that she was one of the few scholarship kids at our school. Most students had fancy cars and expensive clothes because their parents bought everything they wanted. Avery didn’t have those unnecessary luxuries, but she was really a genius and deserved to be at the school much more than most of my other classmates.
“What? I was just introducing Erik to everyone. He’s new here, and I thought he should know who he shouldn’t be talking to.” She gave Kevin an innocent look.
“Give it a rest. I’m really not in the mood for your bullshit today, so just leave us alone and finish parading around the cafeteria like you actually mean something.” I gestured around the small cafeteria where most people had lost interest in Lindsay and went back to their normal conversations.
She glared at me, but didn’t say anything. We used to be friends because we knew each other since kindergarten, but we both changed in middle school and found our own friends, which was just as well since she turned into a stereotypical mean girl. Our paths rarely crossed, which I was thankful for, but when they did, she didn’t really fight with me.
“Come on, Erik, let’s go sit down. I’ll introduce to our table,” she pulled the new kid along. He gave us a little wave and a small smirk as he was whisked away. Before his cool green eyes met mine and he winked.
“I feel bad for that guy,” I said, taking a swig of my iced tea, finishing it. The bell sounded, signaling the end of lunch. The screeching of the metal chairs against the wood floors filled the room as everyone starting leaving the lunchroom. “Off to English we go!” I threw my bottle in the recycling bin and grabbed Avery’s arm. “See ya later, guys!” I waved to the rest of the table.
“Forget about her. You know none of that’s true and Lindsay’s just trying to show off because there’s someone new to corrupt around here,” I tried to reassure her as we followed the sea of students exciting the lunchroom.
“I know, I know,” she sighed. “Let’s just get the rest of this day over with. I need it to be the weekend.”
Avery and I were on the same page when it came to dance and we always looked forward to the solace of the dance studio where all of this disappeared. We only had a few more hours before this dreadful week was over and we could focus on something we actually loved with the company of people we actually enjoyed.
Author’s Note:
I’m sorry for all of the mistakes. Some of this stuff is subject to change because I’m not sure how I feel about everything at this point. There is a large possibility that I will change the title. I’ll need to go back and revise this, obviously, but I’ll probably do that once the story is complete. Please, let me know what you think! I’ll add pictures of the characters soon, so let me know who you think each character should look like!