Just off the Key of Reason

At school, there was a surprise waiting for me.

My locker was totally trashed - there was nothing in there except an old notebook that I was doodling in, which was a relief. Paint was splattered, and obscenities such as 'ho' and 'freak' scribbled in sharpie on the door, and the janitor was already scrubbing in it, grumbling. Looking up at me, he shook his head. "Somebody's out for you, good." He told me, handing me the notebook as I stared, stunned.

Kenzie and the other guys walked over to me, all eyes drawn to the locker. "Dude, what happened?" Pete was the first to ask, surveying me first, then the locker. "Nice sweater, by the way." He commented, as I self-consciously looked down at my old black sweater.

Kenzie stared. "The same thing happened to my locker." She growled, her teeth gritted. "And I know who did it."

"Somebody who has a water bra?" Joe snickered, suddenly whipping out his cellphone. "Dude, I can't believe I didn't show this to you guys." Clicking through his phone, Kenzie sighed, impatient already, and snatched it out of his fingers. Suddenly going wide-eyed and gasping, Kenzie burst out laughing. "Oh my god, Joe. You crack-head. Why didn't you show this to me before?"

"Cause my phone died after I took the picture." He replied, shrugging as Kenzie rolled her eyes. Clicking a few buttons, she cackled. "Sent to twelve people - hope you don't mind." She looked over to Joe, who shrugged.

"I don't care. It's your war to fight, not mine."

--

Gym class. One of the only ones I didn't have with my friends, and unfortunately, the only one I was practically failing.

"C'mon, kid! Use your arm muscles!" The burly gym teacher yelled at me from about six feet below, as I gulped. Using all my strength, I attempted to pull myself up using my arms, but my feet lost my holding as I slipped downwards, again. The Queen B(itch) herself and her little groupies started laughing at me, taunting, as I gritted my teeth. After this class, I knew, she'd be in the bathroom, sobbing her eyes out at that pathetic little cellphone picture.

Attempting to pull myself up, I inched slowly back up to where I was, still very far away from the top. Thankfully, the bell rang just then - I had literally been saved by the bell. Sighing, I raced to the change room, whipped off my fairly clean and dry gym clothes and threw my hair up in a ponytail, putting on my clothes before exiting the change room, where the hallways were already exploding with murmurs.

"Look at her..."

"... Totally knew it was fake..."

"... Loser!"

There was a tomato flying in the general direction of myself, so I leaped out of the way.

However, what I wasn't expecting was that the tomato hit Susie's white skirt, instead of me.

The hallway exploded, and the hall monitors were panicking. Who to blame?

I found Kenzie doubled over laughing, carrying a paper bag. Snatching it from her, I peeked open and saw about half a dozen tomatoes. Gasping, I looked up at her, and burst into giggles. Before long, we were doubled over together, and the rest of the guys found us sitting on the floor, laughing.

"Come on. We can discuss more of this." I managed, getting up on my feet with the help of Pete's hand.

He wouldn't let go of my hand.

--

By the end of the day, the school was buzzing with the news of somebody's punctured water bra, and I'd heard that the subject in matter was in the bathroom, sobbing her eyes out.

And Kenzie and I were standing in front of the door, frowning. It was locked.

"Do you have a card?" Kenzie asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I have my library card from my old school." I replied, raising my eyebrow.

Kenzie scoffed. "You nerd. Hand it over." She said, putting out her palm.

Frowning, I fished around in my backpack until I found the old plastic card. Giving it to Kenzie, she grinned manically then shoved it in the tiny crack between the door and the frame of the door. Pushing up and down, finally they heard a 'click', and the door creaked open, revealing a terrified girl with a red-stained skirt.

"Wh-wh-what do you want?!" She shrieked, and as I winced at the high-pitched voice, Kenzie grinned triumphantly.

"Two options, bitch." She said, suddenly pulling out an emery board out of nowhere and filing her nails. "One, you drop out. Two, you invite us to every party you hold until we graduate."

She sniffled. "Even the Sweet Sixteen?" She mumbled, looking down at the ground.

"Especially the Sweet Sixteen. And while you're at it, throw in a shopping spree for us and we're good." Kenzie added quickly. "Or we'll send another picture out." She warned. Did we even have another picture?

According to Kenzie's facial expression, yes. Yes, we did.

She looked up, her shoulders shaking like she was either scared or mad. Probably both, I decided, as she muttered, "Fine." Digging through her purse, she pulled out a credit card. "I want it back by next week, at my party."

It looked like we'd be online shopping.

--

After that incident, it was health class with the freshmen, which was a relief. No more questioning stares. In this class, I was normal.

Unfortunately, I was sitting next to a cute boy which made it seriously embarassing.

He was sitting next to me - long shaggy brown hair, piercing eyes, lanky arms, curvy hips and all. From what I gathered, his name was William and he kept looking over at me with a little grin, like he knew something. Blushing slightly, I looked over to the window and pretended to be fascinated with a bird chirping.

Somebody tapped me on the shoulder, and I sighed to look over. "Got gum?"

Thank the lord I wasn't chewing on any at the moment - it was that boy. Coughing slightly, I shook my head. "Sorry." I whispered, pretending to turn back to the teacher and 'pay attention' as the teacher explained why sex could kill us.

"If you give somebody what you kids call a blow job, you will get gonnorhea. And die." He said, staring at us.

This was too Mean-Girls for my liking.

"So." He started again, staring up at the blackboard like I was. "Why are you in Senior's classes?"

I choked on my own spit. "Wh-what?!" I whisper-shrieked, still looking at the 'blackboard'. "Who told you that?" I asked, blushing now.

"Oh, nobody. I just pieced it together on my own. Plus, my friend's a senior, and he was talking about some Asian Freshman who was in his gym class." He grinned at me now, and I groaned, putting my head in my hands.

Great. Just great. Not only was I a freak to the senior kids, I was a weird genius girl in the freshman group, too.

"Fantabulous."