Riley dumped her bag by the back row desk and slumped into her seat. Everyone was looking at her with either interest or judgement. Whispers could be heard around the room.
"Look at her hair! It's so cool!" said a few nerdy looking kids at the front. Riley thought about it. Choppy brown hair just above her shoulders with red tips and black streaks. Yea, maybe it was kinda cool.
"What's with her clothes? She looks like she lives in a thrift store," snarked some preppy girls. Riley scowled internally. Sorry she wasn't as rich and spoilt as them. Baggy black hoodie with an AC/DC band shirt hanging on a lean figure, black straight jeans and black Converse. She thought it looked pretty badass not to mention she got it all on good bargains. Stuff them and their prissy pink skirts and ballet flats.
"Damn her piercings are sexy," observed some obviously athletic brickheads. Riley smirked. As she did this her black lip ring moved on the right side of her full mouth while her silver nose stud glinted on the left of her button nose. A pair of normal stud earrings except her upper right ear had two gold rings. She was pretty stoked with her piercings. Acts of defiance just like the tattoos of the ravens and Maori designs that were on various parts of her body.
"Look at all her makeup like what was she thinking?" drawled a stereotypical 'Valley' girl. This was almost too much. What makeup??!! She had nothing on. Maybe her smooth olive skin and dark eyelashes around large hazel eyes was too much for these jealous girls to handle. Riley could clearly see the acne bumps under the heavy foundation. The girls were quite gorgeous but the enormous smoky eyes and candy pink lips were masking them with another face.
The average students (ones that didn't look stereotypical) were all whispering of less materialistic subjects like where she was from or why was she here.
The teacher cleared his throat.
"Seniors, I'd like you to welcome Riley Fawkes to the school. She's come here from New Zealand. If you ask her she might tell you why but other than that is there anything you would like to tell the class?"
"I'm not much of a people person."
The teacher still smiled at her. After getting an eyebrow raised at him he realized that was all she was gonna say.
"Well anyway can you all open your books to..."
Riley just opened her notebook and started drawing. She soon got bored and started looking at what each of the students were doing while the teacher wasn't looking. This is what she liked about being her. She could be invisible to everyone and yet see everything that they were doing. Made for some juicy blackmail ammunition.
A couple were sucking faces in the corner. Everyone must have been used to it because they were left alone. Except this dude that was sitting behind them staring and doing..ew ew ew moving on. A couple of note passers most likely talking about a party in the second row. How did Riley know from three rows back? Well she had seen the word party written in large black letters on the paper so she had a pretty good guess. The 'nerds' were hanging on to every word the teacher was saying. The preppy girls from earlier were making OMG faces as they made what looked suspiciously like a burn book. The 'Valley' girls were applying more makeup. Typical. Some other note passers. A dude that probably had no more then a few brain cells left as he smelt stoned was snoring on his desk. He was getting chewed up gum being stuck in his hood by the brickheads who acted like they had no more then a few brain cells at all.
There was this one dude that caught Riley's eye. In the back corner was a darkly clad guy who was flicking a lighter in his hand under the table while having his head tucked into his arm on the desk. He wasn't sleeping obviously and seemed to be thinking deeply about something. This tweaked her curiosity.
The bell rang and Riley swung her black bag onto her shoulder and eased out into the corridor. Making her way through two more classes who seemed to have the same kind of students as the first class, she made it to the cafeteria. Grabbing some fruit she went outside and headed to this large oak on the edge of the field. Others seemed to leave the tree alone for some reason as they sat under less shadier ones. Riley kept pulling herself up until she was hidden amongst the leaves. Finding a perch, she leant against the trunk and swung her legs on either side of the branch she was sitting on. Her music in and happily munching on her apple while nodding to some Iron Maiden, she didn't notice a darkly clad boy climb up the tree just as he didn't notice her. Both teenager's eyes widened as they jolted from the fright. Yanking her earphones out she scowled at the dude from her first class.
"What was that for? Are you following me or something?" she asked.
"I didn't mean to scare you, calm your pants! I was actually getting to my spot in which you have made yourself comfortable in," replied the boy in a deep voice.
"Don't mind sharing? I just wanna get away from everyone but I guess I can make an exception for you," proposed Riley.
"Only if you dont mind me smoking and asking questions," said the boy. "I'm Jay by the way. Jay Ricks."
"Riley. I brought my own smokes but I'll decide whether to answer or not," she said as she showed him her own pack.
Jay looked at her in curiosity and vice versa. He had black jeans on but not the kinda that made him look like he was wearing leggings. A plain black t-shirt and a dark blue open over shirt with the long sleeves rolled to his elbows. Black and white Converse at the bottom and a dark grey slouch beanie at the top. As Jay lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke Riley had an excuse to look at his face. Straight shortish light brown hair peaked out from his beanie and swept across his forehead as a breeze danced through the tree. The smoke curled around his face that had inherited like every good looking gene in the pool. Dark blue eyes with dark lashes, a straight nose, full mouth and tanned skin. Tan enough to guess that he made a little use of the beach down the road which would also explain his swimmers build. Riley looked away casually.
"Any reason why you like this tree so much?" she asked him.
"Well it does hide the smoking..." grinned Jay while raising an eyebrow.
"Shut up you know that's not what I meant," blushed Riley ever so slightly. "I don't think you care where you smoke so there must be a reason behind the tree."
"I think we have the same reason. Getting away from people, all the drama, the responsibilities. No more 'she started it' or 'they broke up again' or 'I failed my English exam'. Just the rustling of the leaves and good avocado sandwich," replied Jay, his eyes closed in content.
Riley laughed.
"Ladies and gentlemen, a modern style poet!" she cheered as she clapped her hands sarcastically.
"Whatever chika, your turn. Why did you come to California? I know where New Zealand is and it's a hella a long way from here," he asked.
Riley sobered up. Should she tell him? Wouldn't be fair to hold this back seeing as she was sorta making friends with him. She was Riley. She didn't usually give two flying potatos about stuff so she might as well tell him. What did she have to lose? 'A new friend' whispered the little vulnerable voice in her head.
Jay noticed the internal debate Riley was having.
"You don't have to answer the question if it's personal," he reassured her.
"No it's fine. I mean it wouldn't be fair to leave you in the dark seeing as neither one of us is gonna find another tree," Riley smiled slightly.
"Ok then chika. If you say so."
"It happened near the end of last year. A fight. I was in school when this girl that used to hang out with our group started an argument with one of my close friends. Things escalated when suddenly they were throwing punches and scratching. I tried to break it up and shoved the girl away. She tripped and hit her head on a concrete bench. She died of bleeding in the brain. She was 17. They said it was an accident but still manslaughter. Since it was my first offense they let me off if I went to go live with my cousin over here. So I did while on my school suspension and here I am. Look out dude coz I'm a killer!" Riley halfheartedly joked.
Jay could see that she really regretted what she did.
"Well it was an accident I mean, I could push you outta this tree right now and you would probably die."
Riley looked at him with alarm.
"I won't actually do it I'm just saying," said Jay hurriedly. "It was just an example."
"Pretty psychotic example if you ask me..." she mumbled under her breath.
Telling someone really made her feel better but she still felt stressed. Taking out her cigarettes she lit one up and inhaled deeply.
Silence. Smoke.
"You know that smoking is bad for you right?" informed Jay.
"You know you're a hypocrite right?" backfired Riley.
"Yea well I probably need to stop too."
More silence. More smoke.
"I guess I'm just a misfit," smiled Jay.
Riley smiled back.
"That makes two of us."