Finding Jezebelle

Moving from Southern California actually didn't bother me that much. I know that most people think it's that great, but honestly the neighborhood I had come from was crowded and somewhere around the center of Hell and so leaving was pretty much like: alright, whatever, a new shot maybe with something nice. Stranger things had happened, like my dad getting dishonorably discharged.

That's another story though.

I looked at the school and had to admit that I had thought indoor schools only existed in movies. And what I mean by an indoor school is that literally everything was inside. The halls...the gym...all of it. It was kind of like I had stepped into the television or onto a movie set. Of course it helped that not everyone was excessively pretty, but I could tell that some of them were trying and that I was going to catch hell when they realized where I was from. Yeah, I wasn't really looking forward to that, but honestly, what was I supposed to do about it? It wasn't like I could lie about it or anything. It's kind of one of those things that's on my records and stuff.

I hitched my military issue bag up further over my shoulder as I walked down the hall staring down at the paper in my hand. On it was my locker number and combination. Below that were all of my classes that I had to look forward to for the next semester. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy all of them, but I definitely knew that I was going to have fun in Biology and Chemistry. Hopefully the advanced classes here would be as good as the ones they had back at Concord.

Someone shoved past me upsetting my apparently fragile balance because my bag and I flew to the floor and the paper I had been studying so diligently went flying off...somewhere. The ceiling was a weird kind of beige color a few shades lighter than the hall walls which I thought was a little ironic actually. Maybe it meant that the ceiling stayed cleaner than the walls which was honestly something I wasn't even close to used to.

"Dude, someone is going to walk all the fuck over your dumb ass if you don't stand up," a guy said leaning over me even as he pressed his tennis shoe into my stomach for a moment making me groan. He chuckled and held out his hand. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Name's Jake Horton."

I eyed him warily for a moment before I reached out and took his hand. "Yeah...Seth Morgan." I didn't even bother adding that I was the new guy because from the look of this school, everyone already knew that I was the new kid in town. They had all probably grown up with each other. "Thanks for the help up...though not really into the foot in the gut."

Jake shrugged. "Eh, don't worry, it probably won't be the last time I do it so just think of it as something to get used to." His grin was huge and I wasn't sure if I should be scared or what so I just shrugged it off. "Now let's see, this is yours right?" he said brandishing my little piece of paper guidance before examining it. "Well let's see, locker location is decent. And your first teacher...ouch, Bartle for English. You're fucked, but it's okay, because you won't be the only one stuck with the man-hating bitch. Lucky you have me to guide you," Jake said throwing his arm over my shoulder.

"So...that means what?" I asked. I understood that man-hating bitch part. I had met plenty of those feminazis back in Cali and so I wasn't too nervous on that part. It was everything else he had gone on about that I was trying to understand.

The other male laughed. "That means I'm being nice enough to be your friend, no questions asked," just take it like that," Jake said dragging me along with him down the hall in the opposite direction I had been going. I opened my mouth pointing back in the other direction but Jake wasn't even looking at me so I didn't even bother. He actually kind of reminded me of a friend I had had in third grade and since that kid had virtually been my best friend, it was oddly giving Jake bonus marks.

Jake pulled me into an open classroom door and threw his bag and mine onto a table somewhere in the middle of the small room that was decorated with bright posters from different plays and movies that were probably all pre-eighties. There was only one other person in the room and it wasn't the teacher. It took my mind a moment to realize what I was actually looking at and when I did I had run into the desk in front of me. I looked down and swore under my breath, my face turning a little red before I realized that only Jake had noticed giving me time to turn my attention back to mystery girl. She was sitting at one of the desks at the front of the classroom bent over something in her lap.

"She's gorgeous!" I said unable to look away from her.

I could hear Jake laughing. I tore my eyes away from the girl and gave my new friend a funny look. "What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"You're never gonna get her," he told me with absolute certainty. I looked back at her. Her long black hair was braided down her thin back. The frail plaid jacket she wore tried to cling to her even as it fell away and hid whatever she had in her lap. I wanted to go over and talk to her. Just maybe say hi. I mean I was the new guy. I could do that couldn't I? Would she even talk to me though. God, I was probably just being stupid. It was probably a silly crush that would go away in a few days.

Of course those few days would be a living hell....

"And you haven't heard a word I've said," Jake said burying his face in one of his blue pen tattooed hands.

I spun back to him and colored with embarrassment. "Huh? Sorry, what was that?" I asked half-muttering.

Jake looked at me between his electric-tape wrapped fingers. "Let's just say that she is the last girl in the world that you'll ever get," Jake promised me.

I looked back at the nameless girl. Yeah, at least a few days of pure hell. I shuffled forward and sat at the table that Jake had tossed my bag onto and looked over at the girl. "Can you at least tell me her name?" I begged Jake.

My friend sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward again. "Alright, alright," he said shaking his head. "Jessica Hayne."