Ooomph. I had the wind knocked out of me as a small child with wild blonde hair slammed into me. The kid looked up and grinned, revealing an empty space where one of his front teeth was supposed to be. "Fox!" Came the stern call. He turned back to look at a middle aged woman before looking back at me.
"Sorry!" He beamed, running off towards her.
He looked like a mini lawyer with his black pants, white shirt and black tie. Who the heck would dress a little kid like that anyway?
Either way, his mother's choice of attire for him was the least of my concerns, considering how damn lost I was. The school only had 6 floors of classrooms, and given they had such an efficient numbering system, it should've been easy to find my class.
5A. That would suggest it was the first room on the fifth floor, but I'd been circling the floor for about fifteen minutes, and I was sure that the empty room labelled 'A' on the front was not my class.
The second bell sounded, and I was officially late for my first day.
"Are you the new student?" A girl asked, hurrying towards me.
"Yes?" I replied. Was I the only new student or something? Or was it the fact that I was wondering around in the hallways way after the bell that gave it away.
She nudged her black thick framed glasses up a little and pulled her wavy fringe back behind her ear before unfolding a piece of paper.
"I'm Bonnie by the way," she said as her eyes darted up and down the page.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Daisy," I replied, trying to seem as friendly as possible.
"I have some classes with you, so I'm going to help you find your way around the school."
"Ok cool."
"Can I see your timetable?" She asked, tilting her piece of paper towards me so I could see hers.
As it turned out, we had every single class together.
"So I know our class is 5A, aren't we on the fifth level? And isn't this room A?" I asked, gesturing towards the empty room.
"Yeah. That's the trick," she laughed. "I can't believe Principal Spooner didn't tell you. Basically, the main classroom block – this thing we're in – has six floors. It's numbered G, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So you've been searching on the fourth floor."
"Right."
"Yeah, that's how we find most new students who go AWOL."
Seeing as how we were already ten minutes late for our first class, she obviously didn't have any intention of hurrying because we maintained a casual pace towards the end of the hallway where the stairs were situated.
"What school did you go to before?" She asked, leading the way up the stairs.
"Um Carlson High," I replied.
"Isn't that like on the other side of the state?"
"Yup." Not that I needed reminder that I'd left all of my best friends thousands of kilometres away.
"Anyway, right here," she said, pointing to the door that was labelled 'A'.
She gave two knocks and waited patiently as we saw a shadow inside move towards the door.
"Sorry we're late," Bonnie apologised as we were let in.
"Not at all," the teacher smiled. "I'm Miss Delgardo," she said, turning to me.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Daisy," I replied.
"Well you two can just get settled down wherever there's space. You haven't missed much. We're just going through the syllabus for this year."
I mentally thanked the heavens that she hadn't made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself like I'd so feared (based on the countless movies I've watched about kids moving schools).
Bonnie and I had to part ways because the only two spaces were on opposite sides of the room, but she told me she'd wait for me after class.
"Excuse me, excuse me," I said frantically, weaving past the two occupied seats to get to the third.
I put my books down on the desk and sat down. "Hey," the girl next to me whispered. She had a neat blonde French braid that ran all the way down her back, crystal blue eyes and light freckles that dotted her cheeks.
"Hi," I replied.
"I'm Crystal," she said. How fitting, I thought to myself. "And this is Rebecca," she added, gesturing the brown-haired girl beside her.
"I'm Daisy," I smiled back.
"Today's the first day back for everyone so things shouldn't be too hectic, but if you need anything, just let us know."
"Ok, thanks," I replied.
As it turned out, for literature, we'd start off by studying ghosts by Henrik Ibsen. It was a lucky break because I'd already studied it at my old school during year eleven, and by far, it wasn't the worst thing I'd had to sit through thus far. Cough, Moby-Dick, cough.
Sure enough, at the end of class Bonnie waited for me just outside the door. Crystal and Rebecca gave me quick waves before heading to their next class. "So, physics next. Are you ready for some good ol' fun?" She grinned.
"So ready," I replied sarcastically, hoping to come across as at least mildly funny. She gave me a weird look before smiling and continuing to lead the way. So much for creating a new image at a new school. What went wrong? Was it perhaps the delivery? An error in tone? I was missing the way my friends would laugh at my lame jokes, and already, I had the feeling this was going to be a long year.
By lunch time, I was absolutely famished, and if there was one thing to look forward to at this school, it was the cafeteria. Each of the tables were sparkly clean, and there weren't any interesting stains or residues on the floors. I grabbed a tray and joined Bonnie in line.
"Since today's Monday, the special is fish and chips, otherwise there's the usual pizza, spaghetti, toasted sandwiches and stuff like that," Bonnie said. "Everything is written up on those boards, but they're a little hard to see."
"What do you recommend?" I asked.
"Not gonna lie, basically everything here is extremely edible. Best cafeteria food I've ever had. I'm going to get the fish and chips today though," she replied. "Oh, and you can swap out the chips for a salad if you want."
Swapping out chips for salad? I couldn't fathom why anyone would want to do that. Health considerations? Oh well. I could worry about those problems later.
When it was my turn to order, I decided to go with fish and chips too. I watched as the lady behind the counter pulled out a plate and put a piece of fish and some chips on top.
As I was paying for my food I could feel the entire cafeteria fall into a sort of hushed whisper. I turned to look at the girl and two guys walking through. People parted like the red sea as they walked towards the cafeteria line. I'd definitely seen the girl somewhere before, but I just couldn't pinpoint it.
"Sorry hun, you'll have to move over a little because I have to keep the line moving," the cafeteria lady – named 'Linda' according to her badge – said, breaking my semi daze. I could feel my face flushing red as I quickly shovelled the coins back into my wallet and walked over to the stand where Bonnie was picking up some cutlery and serviettes.
"Ah, you don't know about The Top Four yet?" Bonnie asked.
"The Top Four?"
"Well that's only three of them, but they're sort of like celebrities here. You know Carter and Co. law firm?"
"The one that has a gazillion different branches globally?"
"That's the one," she grinned. "Stephanie's family owns it."
My gaping probably gave away my sheer fascination and shock. Bonnie gestured to the blonde-haired guy in the middle that was now talking to the cafeteria lady. "That's Holden Vermont. His family owns the Vermont hotel chain. And the other guy is Logan Green."
"Green Recycling Solutions?" I finished. Green Recycling Solutions had grown exponentially in the last few years alone after developing a formula that would help degrade plastics. Not to mention, they also had subsidiaries in a dozen other industries.
"Yeah," she replied. "And the last member of the top four, who's not here, is Parker Lennox."
There probably wasn't a single soul who didn't recognise the name . The family had founded and run Lennox Industries for generations, involved in things from mining to production of medical supplies.
"Basically their families are huge contributors to the school's events and funds a whole load of scholarships as well. That's why Pemberton Academy has to have heightened security, just on the off chance that someone tries to kidnap them."
"Has anyone tried to kidnap them?"
"I think there was a hostage situation a while back, but no one really knows all the details."
Pemberton Academy was a whole different world to Carlson high, and I had only dipped my toes into what was a much larger pool.
"Anyway, I'll take you to the table where me and my friends usually sit," Bonnie grinned. We beelined for a table towards the left where three others were already sitting. "Hey guys, this is Daisy," Bonnie introduced.
"Hi," I said, with a weak wave.
"Hey, I'm Josh," the guy said.
"Ashley," the girl with hazel brown hair introduced.
"Oliver," the guy on the left of Ashley said.
Bonnie and I sat down. "So, what classes do you have?" Ashley asked.
"I'm taking human bio, literature, chemistry, physics, maths and maths specialist. What about you?"
"Wow. Now Bonnie finally has a buddy! I could never do those. Physics just makes my brain hurt," she laughed. "I'm taking psychology, politics and law, English, maths, theology and art."
"So, any reason for moving to Pemberton only in senior year?" Oliver enquired.
"Well, my mum got a job promotion, so we figured it'd just be easier to move."
"Ah, I see."
Throughout lunch, I ended up just answering questions when they were asked and joining in with the laughter when appropriate. I'd had my best friends for so long, I'd forgotten how awkward it was to make new friends at the beginning. Every friendship group had inside jokes and it was so hard to join in conversation with a group. I preferred one on one interactions to start with.
I wasn't anti social by any means, just a little – okay, extremely – socially awkward. Unless there was a specific topic I could tune into, I could never find the right time to pipe up in a conversation with a group of strangers, especially when they were all friends. Randomly saying something or adding something in felt so jarring.
After our final classes finished, Bonnie walked me back to the lockers, making sure that I knew my way back out to the carpark before leaving.
Knowing my mum was probably going to be late, I sat on the bench and waited. I watched as three quarters of the top four made their way out to the carpark.
I spotted Crystal on her way as well. "Bye guys," she said, waving to them.
"See you," they replied.
The three parted ways. Stephanie got into her white Audi, Logan onto his motorbike, and Holden into a black Mercedes Benz. It was so interesting watching how they seemed so different from everyone else. Sure, they wore the same regulation uniform, but the air around them was just...different.
My mum finally arrived at four and I got into the car.
"How was it?" She asked, pulling out of the carpark.
"It was alright. The school is huge. I was twenty minutes late for my first class."
"I told you to double check the classroom locations yesterday night," she reminded me.
When we got home, my mum unloaded her briefcase onto the table, spreading the countless files before switching on her laptop. "I've ordered chinese because I have some paperwork I have to finish off," she explained.
"Sounds good," I replied.
It was no secret that my mum was one hell of a workaholic, and it was no surprise considering how much it would cost to put me through school, especially Pemberton. Some nights when I stayed up till two to study, she'd still be up, and we'd make hot chocolate and sit in silence next to each other, working.
The doorbell rang and I went outside to pay for the chinese. She closed her laptop and we sat on the floor in the living room to eat. "Don't you love the new house?" She asked.
"Yeah. I really like the bathroom!" I exclaimed. "It's got way better water pressure than our old house." It wasn't a complete lie. The new house was amazing, there was no doubt about it, but there was a part of me that missed the old house that I'd spent my entire life in.
"Are you excited for your second day at Pemberton tomorrow?"
"It's going to be a repeat of year seven all over again," I whined. "I spent lunch times hoping class would start so I would have an excuse to sit alone in silence."
"You'll get used to it. You, Amy, Lisa and Tara used to be strangers once upon a time," she said, reminding me of how I used to complain until I met my best friends. "Besides, the first day is always the worst. It'll be a lot better tomorrow."
"Maybe. Hopefully."
If anything, I hoped to find a group of friends I could stick with until graduation. I didn't need any fuss, or any drama, but somehow at Pemberton, I felt like that was not going to happen.
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Hehe :) Thanks for sticking with me through the first chapter of Playing With the Rich Boys. This was obviously an intro chapter, so pls stick around for the d r a m a
If anyone has been around for a super long time, you'll remember that I had written this earlier already, so this is sort of a huge rewrite with the same title but different characters. Hopefully a much better rewrite!!
Also, since I'm a part of the Wattpad Futures program, every now and then while you're reading, ads might pop up. It would be super helpful if you could watch those as it could possibly help me (and other writers on Wattpad as well, if you're reading their books) earn some money because I'm a poor unemployed university student D': cry cry
Anyway, thank you so much!! As usual, if you enjoyed this chapter, please vote and comment (I love reading your comments)!!