Braiden decides to park as far away from the school as possible. This way people won't see us come in or go out.
I take a deep breath before swinging open my door and stepping foot in front of the school. It actually does look like some sort of prison. There are hardly any windows, which makes sense because it's a private school, so security reasons. The building is all a dark red brick that's two stories tall. This makes it even creepier because it towers over us giving a very dreary look to it.
Someone's hand slips into mine making me look over only to find that it's Braiden. The nervous feeling is now replaced by my stomach doing flip flops. Nervousness come back!
Together, we walk into the building to our doom. The end. Yeah, I'm just kidding. We actually head to the main office to pick up our schedules.
"Can I help you?" The lady at the desk asks coldly, not even looking up from her computer.
Well then. "Yeah, maybe you could start by not being such a bit-" A stomp to my foot cuts me off.
Braiden gives me a look and I remember my good girl act.
"Start by not being such a beautiful woman!" I exclaim, cringing at the words coming out of my mouth.
Luckily this catches her attention.
"Why thank you. I am using that new face cream." She mumbles, but I can't tell if it's to me or herself. "Oh, you're still here. What is it you two needed?"
I fight the urge to roll my eyes before responding sweetly, "Well, my friend and I are new here and came to pick up our schedules. Would you happen to have them with you?"
Braiden looks as though he's about to burst out laughing at any second, which makes things ten times harder for me.
"Hmm, lets see if I can find you in the system." She pauses, taking the time to scroll through all of the faces of new students on her computer. "Ah yes, you two must be Bailey Andrews and Aiden Brooks."
I look over to Braiden with a confused face, but he coughs into his hands.
"C-codes." My face stays blank and he mouths code names to me.
Ohhh.
"That's exactly right." Braiden pipes in, snatching our schedules from her hands.
"Have a wonderfully day Miss," I glance at her name tag, "Dartwell."
She's already back to typing on her computer so it's easy for us to slip away. When we enter the main hall of the school it's nothing but white. White walls and floors with extremely fluorescent lights.
Literally all eyes are on Braiden and I, or should I say Aiden and I. How come his name barely changes and I get Bailey? I mean, I like the name and all, but I'm a Ryan all the way. Anyway, it's like these kids have never seen people before in their life.
"Is it just me, or are they looking at us like we're zoo animals that escaped?" I ask Braiden, sending glares to all of the people who look at me wrong.
"Don't worry, I can see it too. Just ignore them and stop glaring. Good girl remember? Now, what classes do you have?" He questions, holding out his schedule.
I take out mine from my bag then hold it up to his.
"First I have AP literature then Phy Ed, Lunch, AP Chemistry, Calculus and lastly Choir."
"Darn, the only thing we have together is Calculus and AP Chemistry." He grumbles, crumpling the schedule in his hands.
"It's better than none. Plus we're going to meet up at lunch to discuss any suspicious activity." I assure him even though my heart just dropped.
Why couldn't Jackson give us more classes together? I swear he does it on purpose. I really don't like him. I let out a sigh just thinking about being alone in most of my classes.
It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't completely horrible about making friends. On top of that I have to become a totally different person!
I loud beep snaps me out of my thoughts, putting me on alert. All of the other kids are moving and I realize that it was only the warning bell before classes start.
"Okay, I'll see you in AP Chemistry after lunch in third block. Be careful, Ryan and remember your cover." Braiden tells me sternly then gives me a quick hug.
"Sounds like a plan and okay mother." I salute and roll my eyes.
"What, no hug?" He pouts and I quickly pull him in for a hug then wave goodbye.
We both part ways and I make my way to AP Literature. Well, that's what I'm trying to do, but considering the fact that I have no idea where it is, makes it quite challenging. The halls are pretty much vacant, as most kids are already in class learning about god knows what.
Most people would hate walking the halls by themselves, but I actually love it. There's no one to bother or pester me with annoying questions like; where are you from? Why did you move here? Blah blah blah. Now if I were in a group of people things would be a different story. With my social anxiety I tend to freak out which is why I usually just keep to myself.
As I'm scanning the area my eyes finally land on the the AP Lit classroom. Ugh. This is going to suck.
"C'mon Ryan, you can do this. Just picture it like ripping off a band-aid." After giving myself a well needed pep talk I open the door and step inside.
The door makes an agonizingly long squeak which draws the attention of literally everyone in the room to me.
"Well hello there," a warm voice greets me, "you must be our new student, Bailey."
Wow a nice person for once. Remember good girl, Ryan, good girl.
"That's right m'am. It's nice to meet you." I reply sweetly.
This almost makes me roll my eyes at myself.
"Oh, you are just so sweet! You can take a seat next to Alice over there." She points to a seat directly in the front next to a blonde girl.
Her name tag says that she's Mrs. Chaplin.
Hesitantly, I walk to the front of the room and sit down. The girl next to me who I now know as Alice, greets me with a small smile then goes back to her computer. I look over only to find she's watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager. A small chuckle leaves my lips. This girl and I just might end up being friends.
"I'm glad you're sitting in front of me." A voice whispers in my ear.
I turn around to come face to face with a blonde hair and blue eyed football player. How do I know this? He's wearing his jersey and is probably one of the biggest players of the school. I decide not to judge a book by its cover and talk to the kid.
"And why would that be?" I ask bluntly.
"So I get to see that pretty, little ass every day." He smirks cockily.
I told you that was coming, turns out my predictions were correct.
"Well you won't be seeing this "pretty, little ass" anymore when I shove that pretty ugly face up yours." I sneer back while gesturing to his face.
Forget the good girl crap, there's no way in hell anybody's going to talk to me like that. There's an "ohhh" that comes from the guy next to him and I just shoot him a glare.
"Jeez girl, no need for the death glare." He raises his hands in surrender causing me to shoot him a smile.
I turn back around and face the board, taking a few notes, but mainly trying to watch Alice's computer. She glances over at me making my face turn red. Instead of turning the screen away she centers it then hits pause.
"You want one?" She gestures to an earbud.
"And stop talking to the idiots behind me? Yes please!" I gladly accept it.
"Don't worry, they're always like this. It's best if you just steer clear. The blond one is Riley, and his friend is Steven. Oh, and by the way, if you want to sit by me at lunch you're welcome to." She suggests and I nod my head with a smile.
Maybe everyone here isn't so bad after all.
The bell rings and I head to Phy Ed, which Alice also has, and after that, lunch. I spot Braiden right away and give him a small wave. He returns it, walking over to us.
"Omg! Who is that?!" Alice is clutching onto my arm practically drooling over Braiden.
"That's Aiden, he's, ah, m-my cousin?" It comes out as more of a question but she doesn't seem to notice.
"He's totally hot!" She exclaims and something inside of me stirs.
I do not want him dating someone. "Um, he has a girlfriend." I spit out.
"Aww, the good-looking ones always do." She pouts but then goes back to her peppy self. "Anyways, our tables over there."
I follow her finger to a table in the corner, thank goodness, and see five other people sitting there. She pulls my arm towards them and I shoot Braiden a "save me" look. He grins in response, but still follows us.
"Okay guys, I want to introduce you to Bailey and Aiden, they're cousins." Alice explains, filling everybody in on the recent news.
I give a small wave and smile which everyone returns. There's two guys sitting there, a girl, and identical twins with curly hair.
"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. I'm Jonah." A red haired kid with blue eyes and glasses steps forward and kisses my hand. He's not super skinny, but not muscular either.
"Don't mind him, he's a total nerd." The kid says slapping the back of his head, "I'm Caleb by the way."
He brushes his black bangs out of his eyes, which are almost grey. There's an artsy vibe that I get from him as he shakes my hand.
"This is Laney." He points to the girl next to him wearing headphones, bobbing her head to the music.
She has jet black hair like Caleb and is dressed in all dark colors. When her eyes meet mine all I see is their piercing blue color. It looks like she has secrets or some sort of dark past that she hides behind.
"Are you two dat-" I point between Caleb and Laney and he stares at me with wide eyes.
"Ew, no! She's my sister." He explains, my mouth forming an "ohhh".
The twins break out in laughter at this, causing me to turn to them.
"They get that all the time, but each time it's still hilarious to see his face." One of the twins tells me.
"You're probably wondering why you're seeing double right now, but don't worry, we're twins." She jokingly says with a wink causing Braiden and I to chuckle. "I'm Stella, and wear purple glasses-"
She's cut off by the other twin. "And I'm Claire, you can tell by the pink glasses. The guy behind you is..."
"In a relationship." Alice finishes her sentence looking disappointed.
The twins faces fall too, but Braiden just looks confused. His eyes meet mine and then a smug look crosses his face once he realizes I made it up.
"Yeah, but she can be a real bit-" I stomp on his foot to cut him off causing him to wince in pain. "Never mind." He mumbles as we sit down.
It's surprisingly easy to talk with everyone here and I feel myself not even having to act like a good girl. I'm just genuinely nice around them. As lunch goes by I learn that Alice has a dog named Lacy, and two sisters, Stella and Claire also have two dogs and two siblings, Caleb is into art (called it), Laney doesn't talk much, but according to Alice you don't want to get on her bad side and is really into music, and Jonah is a computer programmer. Figures.
Overall, everyone at this table is pretty cool. Other kids not so much. I just hope that it won't be as hellish as I thought.