Black shirt, black shirt, black t-shirt, black camisole, black tank top, Oh! Look! White! White shirt, white shirt, white t-shirt, white camisole, white tank top, and, oh! What a surprise! Another white tank top! Wait- Could it be? Colour? Faded blue boy cut jeans, worn out, and thereby faded, blue boy cut jeans. Hey could these be? Shredded- oh darn, you guessed it- faded blue boy cut jeans, and oh! Oh! Wait for it... faded BLACK boy cut jeans!
Ari turned to her sister in annoyance, "Cherish, don't you have anything else in here? What happened to all those cool things you had back at Mom's?"
Closing her eyes to the pain she was sure would show, she clicked her tongue, "Ari! For the love of all things living, will you please stop trying to dress me up?"
"But, Rish! It's your first day, you cannot go to a new school in these clothes!" she motioned exasperated at Cherish's car mechanic uniform.
"Why the hell not?"
"Well- because!" she squealed. "At least wear one of the outfits you wore last year when I went to visit you!"
Cherish rolled off her bed and left her room shaking her head; living with a sibling was harder than she expected. It had been two weeks, and though spending the summers with Ari had been fun, moving in with her was not!
They looked alike; the same thick dark hair, light eyes and medium olive skin tone borrowed in equal parts from each parent. But aside from appearance, the two of them were worlds apart having grown up in different cities and with different parents. Ari with their father in Toronto and Cherish with their mother in Montreal.
Cherish was completely out of place in this city, feeling like a fish out of water even in her own- albeit new- home. Her mother was miles away and though she loved her father and her sister, neither of them ever understood her. Ari poked her head out the door, "Rish, don't you have any make-up or jewellery? You used to have tons back home- you and that girl, what's her name again?"
As if she didn't know her name.
"I don't have any of that shit here!" she called angrily up the stairs, furiously wiping away the tears that sprung to her eyes. And good riddance to it all, she thought bitterly. Ari's footsteps thundered out of the room and across the hallway, her head appearing over the railing. "What?" she near screeched in shock, "Why would you leave it there? You live here now!"
Rolling her eyes, Cherish wandered into the kitchen and smiled at her father when he looked up from the paper. "Hey, honey, is your sister ready?"
She shook her head as she grabbed a pastry from the tray on the counter and dug her teeth into it, "She's busy trying to find something to make me pretty with."
Shannon McKinley chuckled, his deep fatherly voice amused, "You look fine, honey, have fun today."
Nodding a halfhearted acceptance of his words, she slipped out the front door. Of course he would say that, she thought as she tossed her bag into the back seat of Ari's car. She remembered, less than fondly, her father's reaction to the way she had looked the last few times he'd seen her. He had nothing to worry about now, she had gotten rid of that. He had a sweet little tomboy daughter now; something he could deal with. Ari came bounding out the door a minute later, her makeup bag clutched in her hands, "Here! I found some-"
"Ari, if you put that near my face-"
"Fine!" she pouted, but put the car into gear and pulled out of the driveway.
No sooner than the car had stopped, did Cherish shoot out, determined to leave her sister far behind. Ari had already managed to tame Cherish's thick black locks into perfectly braided pigtails, and confiscated her hat, all in the time it took to sit at two stoplights. Safe driving? Who had time for that when there was a fashion crisis?
The parking lot of James Chelten Meyers High School was crowded and buzzing with activity, and she walked fast, unwilling to be introduced to any of Ari's overly perky and somewhat shallow friends. She had met a few already and was not very impressed by their blatant dislike for anyone unlike themselves.
Of course, there was always Harper, the guy who lived down the street and harboured a secret crush on Ari, and Delia the skateboarding chick who used to be Ari's best friend forever in grade school. For years, whenever Cherish came to visit her father and sister, she would spend any time free of Ari with Delia and Harper- to whom she was extremely close.
Catching sight of Ari following her, she picked up her pace and tried to remember where the office was. Pushing the door in as she leaned on it, she locked eyes with the secretary for a second and then flopped into the chair by the door. Mere seconds later the booming voice startled her from her seat, "Ah! Miss McKinley!"
"Hello, Mr. Stallman." She tried to match his warm smile as he half led, half shoved her into his office and seated her in front of his desk.
"Here is your schedule- you'll be needing it," he laughed as if he'd said something funny as he set the paper on the desk. "And since you do not know where anything is, I have arranged a guide for you."
"Oh no! I don't- really- I'll be fine finding things on my own."
"Nonsense! I will not have you being late for classes or even missing them on your first day!"
"No really, I'll remember things better if I find them on my own," she insisted rather weakly.
"Well, sir, if I'm not needed, then I'll be returning to m-"
Cherish twisted in her seat to stare at the boy who had spoken.
"Sit down, Mr. Raymond!"
She averted her eyes as she tried not to laugh at the peculiar boy standing behind her. She examined his appearance through the mirrored backing of the trophy case to the left of Mr. Stallman's desk.
The boy's plaid shirt was open and covering a well worn white tank top, his knee length shorts tattered and shredding at the hem because they used to be pants. She assumed he didn't have much hair because there was none sticking out under his hat. He wore socks to cover the parts of his legs that would have been showing between his shorts and big black boots.
He caught her looking and smirked but she looked away slowly hoping that it came of aloof like she meant it to be. If she had to suffer his presence, she would for the day while he showed her everything and then he would be gone.
"Mr. Raymond will show you to all your classes, some of which he shares with you. You both have the same lunch so I expect you to show her the cafeteria and all that."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Mr. Raymond muttered, "It does say cafeteria over the door."
She shot him a sardonic glance and then rolled her eyes at the principal's typical reaction as he shoved the both of them out of his office while reprimanding her guide. They stumbled out of the main office and into the hallway. "I find it hard to believe he hand picked you to show me around, so seeing as how you're being forced, you can go back to whatever you were planning on going back to," she began to walk away hurriedly.
"Um. Yeah, hi!" running to her side and tapping her shoulder, the boy waved her schedule in her face. "Forgetting something?"
Clicking her tongue in irritation, she swiped for the paper but he pulled it away from her and walked ahead of her. "Since you clearly don't know where you're going, I'll gladly show you."
"Gladly? Really? I was under the impression you were told to show me around."
"Well, yeah, but that's just a technicality," he informed her with an irritating matter of fact tone.
"Right. So, Mr. Raymond, where do I go?"
"Right this way, Miss McKinley."
For his appearance, which came off a little tough guy from the wrong side of the tracks, he was anything but. He talked an awful lot; Cherish was beginning to get annoyed by his random comments and friendly gestures. "So, Miss McKinley, what brings you here to JCM?"
"Will you stop calling me that?"
"That doesn't quite answer my question, Miss McKinley."
"Cherish. My name is Cherish."
"Ian."
"Can you just show me where my class is?"
"Oh- we passed it a while ago."
She glared at him and grabbed her schedule from his hands, turning around and reading numbers on doors as she stomped off. He grinned as he followed her, "You know, if you just told me that's where you wanted to go, I would have taken you there!"
"ergh!"
"What?"
"I said, ERGH!" She threw her hands up as she passed the two rooms that her class should have been between, but instead she was staring at an expanse of wall, room number 119 nowhere to be found. He made a noise that sounded like a giggle and Cherish eyed him with disdain, of all people to guide her around, it had to be a freakish little elf.
"Come on, Cherry, relax. I'll show you where it is."
She paused at his use of the nickname and muttered under her breath, "You could've done it in the first place."
"All you had to do was ask!" he sing-songed.
-.-
Basic survival in a high school that you're a newcomer to was a trip to hell that Cherish wouldn't wish on anyone. Not even the messed up elfin boy, Ian! It was only two weeks into the school year and already she was faced with class after class of clique-y little high school drones. Even the few kids she saw sitting by themselves regarded her snobbishly as she followed Ian into the cafeteria. Granted, they had all most probably started their high school careers at JCM together.
Elfy, as she had secretly dubbed him, babbled incessantly, jumping from one subject to the next as he pointed out random things and explained who was friends with whom and who despised whom.
"Honestly, Elfy! I don't care! Can you please just stop talking, only for a little while?"
The hurt look on his face was fleeting, and he blinked unfazed, "You just called me Elfy."
She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but she shrugged it off, shaking her head as he continued his jabbering as if she hadn't said a thing. Absentmindedly, she pulled her sandwich from her bag and munched on it, lazily taking in all the people who watched her.
The cafeteria was a loud uncomfortable mess and Cherish was pleased to see that Ian wasn't planning on staying long in its vicinity. Rather, he was grinning madly as he led her to the glass double doors that opened out onto the quad. She expected though, that it wasn't the crowded feeling of the room, or the loudness that factored into his decision, as much as it was the obvious dislike directed at him.
"Hey Fag!" someone yelled, throwing a pop can at him, "I didn't think you knew what a girl was!"
from some random people, and though several people looked uncomfortable, no one said a thing. Cherish's anger was quickly quashed however, and she smiled when Ian tossed the can in the trash, clearly unfazed, and turned to wave at the yeller. Then once again, before passing through the doors, something flew past her and bounced against Ian's head, landing quietly on the floor at his feet. Looking around quizzically as he bent to pick it up, he grinned when he saw its source. "Well, Cherry, looks like you've got some friends!"
She looked over somewhat surprised, only to grimace at seeing Ari and some of her air headed friends waving at her and calling her over.
"I'll meet you right here after lunch," he made his way out into the yard, "Enjoy!"
Grunting, as she tended to do when bothered, she picked her way to Ari's table, reluctance written on her face.
"Guys, this is Cherish," Ari announced happily, "Cherish, this is Megan, Dan, Wilfred -but we call him Wil, Brooklyn, Darla and Stan." She smiled sweetly, purposely ignoring the look on Cherish's face, as the chorus of hellos echoed her reintroduction. "Oh, yeah," her hand waved nonchalantly to someone behind Cherish, "and those two are Harper and Delia!" Ari grinned gleefully at Cherish's expression when she saw her two friends sitting behind her; she squeezed herself onto the bench beside Harper, giving him a quick hug.
"Awww!" Brooklyn, Megan and Darla cooed at Harper, their tone the slightest bit patronizing. Harper flushed red momentarily and then made a mocking face at them.
"Why were you talking to him?" Megan nodded her head to where Cherish had parted ways with Ian.
"He's my guide- absolutely insane!"
"I bet!" someone agreed sympathetically.
"He's not bad, though." Cherish added, feeling a little like she had to defend him.
"Seriously, Megs, I've been telling you forever, he's not bad- none of them are." Harper piped up through a mouthful of his brown bag lunch.
Delia nodded her agreement vigorously, "Ian's in a couple of my classes, he's really a nice guy- but, I guess he can be a little strange sometimes."
"Exactly," Dan put in, "strange is strange and I want nothing to do with it!"
"So true!" one of the girls exclaimed, "They're such weird little people."
Not really caring to listen to the rest of the conversation, Cherish instead pulled her earphones out of her pocket and jabbed them into her ears. Harper caught her eye, offering an understanding look as he stuffed his mouth and quietly did the homework that lay in front of him on the table.
-.-
Wishing she had had the foresight to leave along with Harper, Cherish waited in frustration for her guide, Mr. Ian Raymond, to return. People passing her as they rushed to class, gave her strange looks because she continued to sit there; the bell had rung long enough ago that the cafeteria had already cleaned out. When Ian finally did saunter in, he was accompanied by a gaggle of similar looking idiots, who all but ignored her as they passed.
"Oh, yeeeah!" Ian drawled on seeing her, as if he had forgotten; he beamed a wide crazy smile, and motioned for her to follow him. Quiet as he ambled down the hallway, his eyes were glazed over and Cherish didn't even bother saying a word to her high as hell tour guide. At least now he was subdued!
But it was all too much to ask- his dazed state lasted a full ten minutes into the English class they sat in. There was a loud scraping noise as he scooted his chair closer to her, "So, Cherry, what's up? ... How was lunch? ... They're pretty cool, aren't they? Harper and Delia, anyways. Delia's so pretty- WAIT! Don't ever tell her I said that- she'd kill me! But, um, she's kinda cute in this kick ass kinda way, ya know?... Um, Cherry?"
Cherish glared at him after trying hard to ignore his random spastic bursts of speech, "Ian, don't talk to me."
"Mr. Dalaqua doesn't care if we-"
"I'm here to learn, not to make friends." Her words were cold and abrupt, but she really did mean it, feeling it was a necessity to voice it.
Ian's smile dropped and he slid away from her, his eyes focused on his notebook, "Okay, whatever."
When the bell rang, he was the first one out of the room, but when Cherish managed to squeeze past the other students, she found him waiting. He didn't say anything, or even acknowledge her, but turned stiffly and walked away. She trailed him at a distance and when they reached the art room, a messy room scattered with stools and couches, she sat in the corner. She noticed a few of the guys he was with earlier, sprawled out lazily on a couch on the far end of the room, a big picture window propped open behind them.
"Oh, my! We have a new student!" a tiny lady with extremely long hair gasped as she caught sight of Cherish. Cherish looked up at her, bothered by the woman's chipper attitude and handed over her schedule, as she'd had to do in her other classes.
"So," she examined the schedule. "Cherish! Tell us about yourself!"
She shrugged as she held the lady's gaze blankly, and so the tiny woman took it upon herself to play twenty questions. "How come you're joining us now?"
"I moved here to live with my dad," she said flatly, examining a painting on the wall.
"Oh! And who did you live with before?"
"With my mother in Montreal."
"Oh, my! That's wonderful! So why did you move here?"
She stared at nothing, contemplating not answering at all, but it seemed the woman wasn't going to let it go as her other teachers had. The tiny woman withered a little uncomfortably when Cherish's hard gaze caught hers and she said blandly, "Death."
* Chapter title is a song by Chuck Berry
Cover model is Nargis Fakhri. She is kind of what I picture Cherish to look like, only a little darker skinned.
edited 19.02.19