I don't know whether I like this new school or not. I'm not sure I hate it either. The teachers seem fair enough; my favorite has to be Mr. Venderan. He's my math teacher. The students aren't as bad as I they could be. They don't think I'm pregnant. I guess it could all be summed up in two words: blur.
"I like your hair," I could hear a guy murmur as he passed me in the hall.
I didn't even look up. I just kept walking. All I had to do was make it to the cafeteria. Then I could buy my food and find the nearest girls restroom to eat in. I like bathroom stalls…a lot.
"Did you hear that John hooked up with Sara?" I heard a girl from a huge clique scream as I entered the large room.
"Sara from lab?!" another bellowed.
"No, Sara from math."
This made all the girls yelp for no apparent reason. I just subtlety rolled my eyes as I focused my eyes on the cafeteria line. I could see meatloaf and salad in the distance. I was deciding whether or not I wanted to risk lettuce getting stuck in my teeth when I heard my name being called. My heart almost seemed to stop.
"Hey Mary, Mary!" the voice called again, "Over here!"
Oh how I wished there was some other Mary that would stand up and go to her callers. But there wasn't. And when I looked up and saw Leon, my school guide, I knew it was for me.
"Hey guys, this little gal is Mary. She comes from Lansing, Michigan but…that's not where she last was."
I think my cheeks were currently the color of a ripe tomato. I was trying to back away and act like I hadn't seen Leon at all but he was already walking towards me. Soon, his huge smile was right in front of my face, not giving me any space to look but at him.
"How was your first class…or second period?" he asked rather loudly.
"Fine," I replied simply.
Leon smiled. "And the students?" he continued.
"Good," I said with a small smile.
Leon nodded as he scratched the back of his head. It was at this time I noticed he had tiny freckles right under his eyes. They were a dark brown and were very small. I liked them.
"So," he said as I continued to stare at the minor blemishes on his face, "Would you like to sit with me…and my friends?"
"Um…no," I said slowly, looking beyond his shoulder at the few teenagers I presumed were his buddies, "I'm just going to ugh…just eat alone. Look over my homework…you know?"
Leon glanced back at his friends and a few of them giggled. I raised an eyebrow to this but I decided not to inquire of him. He then decided to lean in close to my ear and speak softly just so I could hear.
"You can't eat in the bathroom your first day…do that tomorrow."
Leon then chuckled, pinched my elbow, and then motioned towards his table. I tried to make the sensation where his hand had touched my arm go away. Yet as I moved closer to Leon's table, the feeling only became stronger.
"Sit down, new girl," a strawberry blonde girl with bubbly eyes said.
So I did. I sat next to Leon, thankfully, and four others surrounded us. I learned that the blonde girl was Melody, an art freak who likes cats in sweaters. There was another girl named Vida who looked like a book worm but also looked very warm. Maybe it was her round glasses.
The other two were guys. One was a rather short, shrimpy however outspoken looking boy who I discovered likes to skateboard and eat sour gummy worms. He goes by the name of Harry. The other boy I don't think likes me very much. We're too much alike. We have the same hair, same skin, and the same weird hand movements. His name is Ryan. Although he doesn't like me, I find him intriguing.
"So, where did you live last, virgin Mary?" Harry said as he stuffed two, greasy fries in his mouth.
"Harry, don't be obnoxious," Vida murmured, looking up from the Grapes of Wrath, "She's new…"
"I don't mind…" I replied lowly. I most surely did but I wasn't going to let obnoxious Harry know that.
"I just ignore Harry…somehow I've survive," Leon said, glancing my way.
I grinned. "I used to live in Connecticut."
"Isn't that where a lot of nuns live?" Melody questioned in her sugary voice, staring at me with her golden eyes.
"I don't think so…" I answered.
"I think you mean Mormons," Harry concluded.
"No, that's Utah," Leon stated.
"You all are being idiots…." Ryan finished, "She lived in Connecticut…end of story."
"I love Connecticutians," Melody finished with a smile.
Vida just sighed as Harry burst into laughter. I don't know what Ryan was doing but I'm sure it was an unpleasant expression. Leon just chuckled and looked over at me. I kind of liked the way it felt…being with these people. They felt kinda real.
Leon was currently placing his yogurt cup in my hand when I noticed that a hush had fallen over the entire cafeteria. Melody and Harry's eyes were no longer on our table. They were glancing behind their shoulders, at the cafeteria entrance. I couldn't help but be caught up in the moment and also look that way.
My chest began to feel spasms and the sensitivity in my hands began to disappear as three students entered the room. The lights where they walked seemed brighter; the sounds of their shoes were louder. And yet, everything was silent.
"It's him…" I whispered, almost wanting to walk over and get a better look.
It was the same teenager who had saved me but three hours early. Well, it wasn't really saving although it surely felt like it. He looked even more beautiful now. His hair was perfect, his eyes sparkled, and everything else that would take hours to describe looked beautiful. The other two students talking next to him were two, also quite lovely girls. They had chests I could only wish for and hips that swayed from side to side. I looked down at my own formless body, sighing.
"I'm sorry?" Vida said, still gazing at the three students who were entering the room.
"Who is that?" I asked. I regret asking that question. I will truly regret asking that question. But at that very moment in time,
"Them?" Leon said, even though he knew who everyone was looking at, "Those are the Welles."
"Who's he…I mean?" I asked. I couldn't sound more obvious.
"Oh, the hot one…that's Bastion," Melody said with a giggle, "The other two are his sisters, Reena and Nadia. Nice names, huh?"
"Yeah…" I said, watching as the three sat at the table in the center of the room. I wanted to sit next to them.
"Every girl in this school thinks he's hot just because he runs without his shirt on. If you ask me, he's gay…"
Melody punched Harry after chuckles followed his statement. Everyone laughed except Ryan. He just rolled his eyes and continued to pick around his peanut-butter and jelly sandwich.
"He's not gay," Leon said, answering my confused face, "He just…he just doesn't date a lot."
"He doesn't date at all!" Melody exclaimed in the thankfully loud room, "Any girl who even tries to tell him she likes him gets turned down…horribly. He's not even mean about it…I think that's what makes it so horrible."
"He's a bastard," Vida mumbled. Ryan nodded in agreement. Harry just shrilly giggled.
I tried to smile and agree with all of them but I just couldn't. Every time I glanced over at Bastion Welles, all I wanted to do was stare at him forever. I just liked the way he waved whenever someone walked passed him. Or the way he laughed with his sisters. I liked it.
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Leon nudged my elbow. I gasped and jumped up and from him. He didn't do anything but move closer, coming within inches of my ear.
"Bastion is really a secret CIA agent," Leon started lowly, "who's been sent by the government to analyze high school behavior and use it against the onslaught of adolescent armies over the world. He just pretends to be a teenager so he can fit in…that's why he's so hot."
I put my spoon down into my yogurt cup and looked up at Leon. I then did the weirdest thing. I laughed. I laughed really hard. I laughed like I had known this boy for years and we had been best friends forever. I know compared to others laughs it would be considered quite small but for me, it was like a swelling song rising up within me.
"Leon, how are you able to make the new cute girl laugh?" Harry said in a whining voice, "I wanted to do that."
"Hey, I met her first," Leon murmured, "I get dibs…"
This made me flush.
I continued to listen to these five individuals for about another half an hour. It was a good time.
"Class…class please settle down."
I looked at Ms. Mandingo as she continued to beg the students in her classroom to calm down. I glanced at her and then at the class. Then I did it again. Nothing was happening.
"Class, it's time to be quiet. Children, children please."
I might not be a straight A student but I know teenagers of all kinds do not respond to being called "children". Most students glared at her and then returned to their own conversations. Some students didn't even glare.
"Silence!" yelled Mrs. Mandingo at last.
A few people continued to speak but the room, for the most part, was still.
"Alright everyone…I'd like you to meet a new transfer student…Maria Brighton."
"It's Mary…" I muttered as I fiddled with my useless fingers.
"Oh right, Mary," Ms. Mandingo said in an annoyed voice, "Well, Mary, this is English…you can sit anywhere and…I hope you have a fun time."
I wasn't even hoping for a fun time. I just wanted to survive, live, not die.
For awhile, I stood at the front of the room and stared at the class. They gazed back at me with uninterested expressions. I didn't know whether to run to the nearest desk or hide behind Ms. Mandingo. But when she motioned towards an empty table in the back, I knew I had to go.
I could feel the classes bearing gazes on me as I quickly made my way to the back row. I clutched tight onto my black messenger bag, hoping somehow it would give me some tranquility.
"What a hag…" I heard a girl mutter as I passed her desk.
It wasn't.
Ms. Mandingo was in the process of ordering a jock to his seat when I finally pulled out all the binders and pencils necessary for this class. I also pulled out my tape recorder. I tape record my instructors. Someone always feels the need to laugh at me after this realization is made.
"Okay…" Ms. Mandingo said in her small voice as she sat at her desk, "I know you all have been planning for your Persuasive Speeches and we're going to start them today as planned. Mary, you're fine skipping this assignment."
I received a couple of glares before Ms. Mandingo began speaking again.
"Alright, first up is…Bastion Welles."
He was in the premises. The wonderful creature was actually in my presence. How had I not noticed him? I looked around quickly, trying to find his desk. That's when I figured out he was sitting right next to me.
"I knew we'd meet again."
Was he talking to me? I didn't dare glance and find out. I just closed my eyes and pursed my tiny lips.
"Wish me luck," I could feel him whisper as he tip-tapped his way to the front of the room.
When another fifteen seconds had passed, I decided to take a peek.
I wanted to pee my pants. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to jump in front of a car, stand up, and then jump in front of another just to make sure I was dead. For there he was, Bastion Welles, sitting on my desk.
I knew I had heard him walk to the front of the class. But there was no denying it. He was on my desk. His right hand was playing with my recorder while the other was flipping through my notebook.
"Why…" he said, his voice trailing off.
"Bastion, you're doing a Persuasive Speech," Ms. Mandingo murmured, "It would be most beneficial if you took the stand at the front of the classroom."
I stared up at the lovely soul who just smiled back. This time he hid his teeth behind his rosy, curvy lips. They curled into a devious smirk as he glimpsed at Ms. Mandingo.
"Why?" he repeated.
"Why what?" she inquired, almost sounding angered.
"Why should I do what you tell me to do?" he answered, now clicking buttons on my recorder. I really wish he hadn't. I was hoping to capture more of the lecture…and his voice.
"Well…because I'm your teacher, Bastion."
"So…"
"So, that means you need to get up here and do your speech."
Bastion took this time to slowly drop his head and then slowly lift it back up. I raised an eyebrow.
"What authority do you have?" he questioned indignantly, "Just because you're little degree you got in whatever lame-ass school you went to says "Ms. Mandingo graduated". Is that what gives you the right to plan my future? Because your degree said you could."
I had to admit, I was feeling pretty bad for Ms. Mandingo. She looked like she was on the verge of hitting something, or crying. I couldn't really tell which. Maybe she was just passing gas.
"Bastion," she said, "This isn't about me. This is about you and your speech…and even more, your grade."
"Oh, does your degree let you do that to? You can just assign a grade to whatever I do. I'm not a grade. If anything, you are. You sit in here and judge us all day…you're the one ruining whatever potential we have. We should be critiquing you."
Ms. Mandingo rubbed her already wrinkling forehead as Bastion beamed back at me. I just hovered underneath him.
"Please…please just take your seat," she whispered.
"Excuse me?" Bastion replied.
"Take your seat, we will talk about this later," she said in a tone I had never heard or wanted to hear again.
"Hmm…" Bastion mumbled, looking up at the ceiling, "Did your degree give you the right to tell me to sit in my chair?"
"Bastion, chair…now."
"Oh, I guess it just allowed you to talk like a caveman too."
"Bastion Welles, you have but one more warning before I send you to the principles office. Now go to your desk…"
Bastion paused. Then he turned to me, hit the record button on my tape recorder, and then gradually lurched off my desks and towards the front of the classroom. The whole class was silent, waiting for the conclusion of the riveting performances.
"Hell…to the no," he whispered.
"I cannot believe you!" she cried.
"I can't believe Professor Burton actually dated you for awhile. What…did your degree make that possible too?"
Bastion smiled. Ms. Mandingo didn't.
"You…you…" her deep, now manly voice started in a rumbling tenor, "You little, slimy, son of a…-!"
"And that class," Bastion interrupted quickly as he whipped around to face the classroom, "Is how you persuade your teacher into becoming a mad, evil, fire breathing monster. Thank you very much for listening to my Persuasive Speech."
First, there was confusion. Then there was a silence. And then there was an applause I wouldn't soon forget. Some girls were crying. Some boys were beating their desks. And Ms. Mandingo, she was somewhere between dead and deader. And yet, I'm pretty certain Bastion received an A.
The rest of the speeches were not very note worthy but then, how could they be?
When the period finally ended, I turned off my recorder and began to stuff my belongings into my bag. And then he started talking.
"Did you like my speech?"
I nodded quickly. I glimpsed at him for a moment after this. He was smiling.
"What part was your favorite?" he further inquired.
I didn't answer. I just slung my bag around my head and pretended not to hear him. It was when I was waving goodbye to Ms. Mandingo when I learned more about this Bastion Welles.
"Hey Mary Brighton, what was your favorite part about my speech?!" he screamed.
He doesn't give up.
There were still several students in the class room. They were looking at me, giggling and whispering all of a sudden. I just blankly stared at Bastion while my hands fervently shook.
"The end," I replied, hearing the loud shouts and taunts other students voiced at Bastion as I fled the scene.
"Mom…"
My mom was rolled up on the couch. It was possibly the only thing she hadn't broken in the move. Everything else, besides my room, was in shambles. But my mother always accomplishes her best work in complete hell. She has a pact with the devil.
"Yeah hun…" she said, half asleep.
"Can I…can I sleep down here?" I whispered, "My room is kind of freaky…the wind is making eerie resonances on the crevices of my casements."
With her bun sticking straight up on her head, my mom bolted up from her sleeping position.
"What?!" her voice screeched.
"My window…it's making weird noises," I rephrased.
"Okay, that makes sense. Gosh…everything you say has to be straight out of a freakin thesaurus."
"I think you mean dictionary…I'm not looking for synonyms."
My mom slapped me playfully as I cuddled next to her on the couch. She wrapped her boy arm around my even bonier one and covered the heavy comforter over my feet.
"You know you're too smart for me…" she mumbled. I could hear in her voice that she was falling back asleep.
"No I'm not…I just talk different. Different isn't smarter, it's just different."
"Whatever dear…now shut up," she said playfully.
And I did for awhile. But something was bothering. It had bothered me at school. It had bothered me the drive home. And well darn it, it was bothering me right now. I guess I didn't really care if my mother was tired or not. I wanted to talk.
"Mom?" I said.
"Yep," she replied in an exasperated tone.
"Why…why do you do this to me?"
"Why did I do what?"
"Why did you make me move again?"
I paused
"It wasn't like I was doing good at my last school but…I'm just so sick of having to meet new people, impress new teachers, pretending to be mean so I can be alone. I don't want to be alone. I don't know what I want…but I know it's not here. I just want someone to listen to me…and do what I want. I just want to be…"
This next part was interrupted by one of my mother's loud snores. I sighed.
Sleep was probably all I needed.
It was definitely all I was going to get.