Cal knew from the moment she set her eyes upon Grace Jordan that she wouldn't get along with her.
"Hey, what's the deal here?"
The pretty brunette and her groupies had a homely girl backed into a corner. And frankly, she was blocking the way into the women's bathroom.
"Excuse me?" one of the lackeys, a redhead with too much foundation on, exclaimed.
Cal's eyes flickered across the scene, and she laughed lightly. "Ah, I get it. You guys are like the school's bullies. What, are you all cheerleaders as well?"
The brunette, whose eyes were a frighteningly bright blue, turned towards the girl, obviously pissed. "And who the fuck are you? Some kind of twice held-back delinquent?"
"No, I'm just new here, sweetheart," Cal responded with a sarcastic smile.
The second lackey, a short girl, spoke up. "Oh yeah, I heard about this bitch. She like, got expelled from some private prep school. Christina was telling me she was this tall blond girl."
"That's me," Cal agreed, putting a hand on her chest. She looked over at the homely girl who was still shivering in her place against the wall. "You should probably split. The bell's gonna ring soon."
The homely girl just nodded and scuttled past Cal out into the hallway. The main bitch, the brunette with the scary eyes, stepping forward and jabbed a finger at Cal's chest.
"You better watch yourself new girl," she warned. "Don't come around here thinking you know everything that's going on. And I can get pretty nasty, so don't get on my bad side."
Cal looked her straight in the eyes, unwavering, and flashed her a big smile. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine."
The brunette had a twinkle of uncertainty in her eyes that lasted less than a millisecond, but their little moment was interrupted by the ringing of the late bell. Without another word to Cal, she shoved past the taller girl.
"Let's go, girls. We're late."
Cal watched them leave and figured she might as well skip class since she was late anyway. She had a feeling it was going to be a very fun year.
--
"You said that to Grace Jordan?!"
Cal covered her ears to protect herself from Kenzie's screeches. People hanging out or playing sports in the field flashed them weird looks at their lunch spot under the tree on a little hill.
"So what?" she inquired.
"But she's like super rich and popular! You can't just start beef with her like that in your first week at a new school!"
In spite of just transferring a few weeks into a new school year, Cal had already made friends with Kenzie from her study hall. Still, she had yet to work out all the complicated cliques and the drama associated with this high school. Therefore, a name like "Grace Jordan" didn't exactly strike a chord in Cal the same way it seemed to in Kenzie.
"Who cares." Cal leaned back in her seat and took a swig of her soda. "I've seen her type at my last school too. Nothing scary about a little prissy bully."
"You say that, but Grace isn't some dumb blond cheerleader that hides behind her groupies and her quarterback boyfriend," Kenzie insisted. "She's like the top of the class in grades!"
Cal scoffed. "Why would being a nerd make her more scary?"
"Because, she's got, like, all of the school administration on her side. She could do literally anything to you and if you ever retaliate, she'll cry to her daddy and get you suspended!"
Cal sighed in exasperation. "Look Kenzie, girls like that are some of the most insecure people imagineable. You just prey on their weaknesses a little bit and they'll run off to an easier target. I've dealt with this kind of thing since middle school."
"Yeah, not Grace Jordan. She always gets her way."
Cal rolled her eyes, unconvinced.
A tall lanky guy approached their lunch spot with a vending-machine ice cream in both hands. He handed one to Cal and one to Kenzie.
"Thanks, Mark," Cal said, and Kenzie echoed the sentiment.
Mark was one of Kenzie's close friends – he was nice to enough to easily accept Cal into their little friend group.
"What'd I miss?" Mark questioned, and Kenzie told him about the whole incident with Grace. "Damn new girl, you've got some balls."
"That I do," Cal agreed. As she unwrapped her ice cream and prepared to take the first bite, something roughly bumped into her back, forcing the ice cream out of her hand and onto the grass in front of her.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"
Cal looked up at the source of the faux-apologetic voice to see no other than the queen bitch herself. Naturally, she was with her two groupies, all of them smirking down at Cal like some elementary school students torturing a fly.
"Wow, I can't believe I didn't even notice an amazon dyke sitting right here," Grace mocked.
Cal smiled up at the brunette, not allowing Grace the pleasure of seeing her annoyance. "Ah, I see the 'bullying's' already begun, huh?"
Grace frowned at Cal's lack of a reaction. What did she expect with such a schoolyard bully tactic? "Oh, it hasn't even begun, fresh meat."
The troupe continued down the hill, Grace's lackeys cackling like witches.
"Oh my god, what a huge bitch," Mark grumbled. "I can go get you another one, Cal."
"Nah, that's alright," Cal replied, looking down at her spoiled icey treat. "I guess the ice queen's already heard about me being a lesbian." Cal referred to Grace's very mature and intelligent use of the word "dyke".
"Word travels fast in this school," Kenzie stated.
"Well, that's fine." Cal grabbed the melting ice cream and stood up to go through it in the trash.
"Two can play at little princess's kindergarten games."