Hey, Red.

Gwen’s first class looked almost the same as the Counselors office. The same grimy walls with the yellow hue. The only difference was the motivational posters that were scattered across the walls. Saying ‘Stay in school!’ and ‘Don’t do drugs!’ The teacher looked almost the same as the old counselor, except Gwen was sure that she would have been scandalized if she mentioned the word sex or put it into any type of sentence.

Looking down at her class schedule she skimmed the page and looked for the woman’s name.

Mrs. Draper – Algebra 2

Gwen almost felt bad for the woman if by some miracle she had her younger sister in her class. Jez would rock the modest old woman’s world. Looking around the room the red head looked for the best place to take a seat, finally settling on sitting next to the blonde that she had met in the hallway when she has first stepped foot in the building. Smiling down at the girl, Gwen slid into the seat next to her. It was the back row in the class, and she could tell it was only because Rosa didn’t want anyone else to pay any attention to her. And since it was Gwen’s first day she didn’t really want anyone paying any attention to her either.

Both girls kept quiet as the second bell rang and students fled into the classroom. Some shoving, some laughing and the other were just quietly hugging their bags to their bodies. Gwen pulled out a book that she had borrowed from the library at her last school, after getting expelled she never bothered to return it. Only just tossing it into the collection that she had started to accumulate from all the schools that she had been kicked out of, after about the third time she just quit caring about returning them. Opening the book, she turned to the page that she had bookmarked only looking up when a rather large group of rowdy teenagers walked into the room. Peering up from her book she watched as they looked around the room laughing, a couple girls dressed in their colorful cheerleading uniform and the boys dressed in their jerseys. A couple guys stopped laughing when they looked toward the back of the room where she and Rosa were sitting. Narrowing her eyes, Gwen folded the corner of her book and sat it down on her desk. Folding her hands together she watched the two guys nod at her new friend and then make their way toward where the two girls were sitting. The rest of the group shaking their heads at their two friend’s antics and walked toward the empty desks that was on the opposite side of the room.

“What’s up Rosie?” A blonde asked as he plopped himself on her desk, moving her notebook that had been sitting there to the floor.

Rosa didn’t look up nor did she try to reach for the notebook that had fallen, she just sat there as stiff as could be. It didn’t take long for Gwen to realize that her new friend was frightened of the beefy jocks. Narrowing her eyes Gwen bent down and picked up the notebook. Standing up from her desk, she shoved at the blonde jock knocking him off the desk. Almost falling, the jock caught himself on another desk, twisting his head around to yell at the person who had just put their hands on him.

His mouth was open, ready to shout, but he closed it the moment he realized that it had been a small red head that had pushed him. Staring down at the smaller girl he cracked his neck. Gwen stared back up at him, her face void of any emotion. The jock just smirked and turned to his friend, patting him on his back and walking across the room to the rest of his friends. The class had gone silent and everyone had turned their attention to Gwen and the blonde the moment she had shoved his body off the desk. The girls that had walked in with him across the room had their mouth open from shock, the guys only looking at each other in amusement.

The red head stood her ground as the other jock watched his friend walk away. He turned back toward the two girls opening his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the senile old woman that taught the class.

Sitting back down Gwen pulled out her notebook from her bag. Throwing one last glace to the guys across the room before paying attention to the teacher; the blonde had already sat down next to one of the girls in a cheerleader uniform, throwing his arm around her shoulders.

*~*

The moment the bell rang signaling the end of fourth period and the beginning of lunch, all the students shoved their way out of their classes and down the hallways leading toward the cafeteria. Gwen stayed behind, letting everyone go in front of her. She had no intention of eating the school food. Typically Gwen never ate lunch, she always ate a hot pocket for breakfast and waited until the final bell to rush home and scarf down as much junk food as she could possibly stomach. On rare days she would pull out her dad’s emergency credit card and go out and buy groceries and cook. But from the way that her first day was going she had no urge to go home and cook, especially in the house that they now lived in.

“Gwen!” Called a soft voice from down the hall.

Turning around she watched as Rosa jogged down the hallway toward her, a giant smile playing at her lips.

“Wanna eat lunch with me?” The petite blonde asked; the smile still glued to her face. Gwen nodded and walked the rest of the way toward the cafeteria with her shy friend.

Once they got there, Rosa pointed toward an empty table and motioned for her friend to wait for her there as she went through the lunch line. Doing as she was told, Gwen sat down at the round table, watching as people shuffled into the massive room and sat down at their respective spots. Giant windows showed the area to eat at outside of the building. Trees littered the yard along with picnic tables. A few students had already opted to eat outside so that they wouldn’t have to deal with the loudness of the cafeteria.

The blonde jock that Gwen had shoved earlier in the day walked past her table with a group of his friends. Him smirking at the red head as he threw his arm around who Gwen thought was his girlfriend, as he motioned for another one of his friends to come over and sit by him at a table that just happened to be right next to hers. Narrowing her eyes she watched as a few other guys walked over to the table, letterman jackets wrapped around them. Taking a drink of her soda that she had already retrieved from her locker she kept watching gazing at the popular kids. She was waiting for her younger sister to suddenly appear out of nowhere and weasel her way into the clique.

By the time Rosa sat down next to the red head, Jezbelle finally made her appearance. Smiling flirtatiously she already had her arm wrapped around her first unsuspecting victim. Gwen choked on her drink as she recognized the guy that her sister had set her eyes on. It was the guy that she had run into that morning, the one with the gorgeous shy smile who was shocked to hear her say she was sorry.

“Im sorry about this morning.” Rosa spoke up, knocking Gwen out of her thoughts and making her quit staring at the group.

“Huh?” She asked her eyebrow cocked high up on her forehead.

“Well,” Rosa began warily, “That was Brody, and he’s one of Ryan’s buddies. He likes to bother me a lot; he is also one of the more violent guys in the school. I’m so happy he didn’t hit you when you pushed him.”

Gwen only smiled in response. She was happy the guy didn’t hit her also, if he would have then most likely the guy would have been sent to the hospital. She didn’t like to deal with shit like that. She had no patience for bullies or for guys who thought they were better than the rest.

“Be careful of him okay.” Rosa said, getting her new friends attention once again. “That guy with that new girl on his arm, that just walked up to the table. That’s Neji. Brody is his brother; he’s quiet but worse than Brody. If you mess with Brody you mess with Neji, and everyone around here knows not to mess with him. He will destroy anyone who gets in his way. I would recommend not even talking to him. That girl hanging off him is stupid.”

Gwen smirked at her friend,

“That’s my sister.” She replied, her smirk slowly turning into a grin as she wiggled her fingers at her younger sister. Her sister stared back at her trying to hide her nervousness unintentionally tightening her grasp on her new found beau.

This could end up being very fun.