Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > The Wonder Years
Chapter Two: Turn Turn Turn
It was a couple of months into the school year and everybody stared as I walked through the halls, searching for the rooms listed on my paper. Sighing as I pushed into the room I cringed at the sight of Calculus A/B as my first period class. The teacher smiled at me and handed me a text book and some other materials, already expecting me I assumed, and pointed me to the back of the room. I plopped down into the chair, keeping my head down and eyes on my blue Bruce Springsteen tee shirt and black skinny jeans as I reached for a pencil from my bag. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and smiled at those who were obviously staring at me. I opened my book to the page the teacher was on and looked around the room.
Not to my surprise, it was a small class. Even in public high schools where numbers were overflowing the Calculus class was tiny. I loved it. Despite hating school, I loved learning, especially math. It was something I was really good at. It wasn’t until twenty minutes into class I realized that Ryan, the guy from Spence’s band, was sitting in the row next to me, up a couple of chairs. He was lazily taking notes, doodling in the corners of his papers in between example questions. Caught off guard, the class was over and I found myself hunting down my second class – English 3 Honors.
Though my old school – despite being kicked out – recommended me for skipping to senior level classes or at least Advanced Placement, I decided to coast with honors for everything but Math. I came into my English class and was happy to see Spence sitting in the back, a wide grin on his face as he and Brendon threw paper balls back and forth at each other while the teacher took attendance. I snuck a seat next to Spence meeting the guys with a grin as I dropped my stuff onto the floor. The teacher signed my slip and tossed a couple of books to me – Jane Eyre among them. Inwardly I grinned, coasting through was going to be amazing since I had already read most of the books on the list the teacher gave me. After second period I found myself being escorted to Psychology Honors in which Jon was my only friend in the class. Fourth period I had Gym with all four of the guys and lunch with them after. Fifth period I had chemistry with Brendon and Ryan (Brendon volunteered to be my partner) and sixth period (my last class) I had government (a senior class) with Jon.
After class Jon and I walked around the campus a bit, he was showing me the best ways to get to and from class and such as we caught up on all of our missed time. I knew it was a trap because we ended up at the athletic directors office. “No,” I quickly said walking away. Jon grabbed my arm and opened the door, “Jon!” I yelled.
“Welcome to school,” the athletic director said extending a hand for me to shake. I did so respectfully and took my hand back. “I’m very excited to have you join the track team here,” he said slowly and handed me a uniform.
I coughed a little, “Hey look,” I stammered, “I’m glad you heard of me and such and I’m sure my mom called my old coach to call you but I don’t think I wanna do sports much anymore.”
“Come on,” Jon said, “We really need the wins,” he urged me to grab the uniform and he knew I couldn’t say no to his pleading eyes.
I snatched the uniform, “alright. Fine.” I muttered defeated. Track team was something else I was good at. Running was always therapeutic for me and I was one of the best back in DC. I knew I would have to confront the director sooner or later, I just didn’t expect it to be on my first day. I had planned to come up with a speech to get out of it – why get involved in school when you’ll just get drowned in drama? – but Jon had caught me off guard. I made a mental note to kill him later.
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Finally making it home I found Spence and Brendon and Ryan laying sprawled out in the living room playing video games. I walked past them with no words or looks and threw my stuff into my bedroom. Quickly I changed out of my school clothes and into a black tank top and shorts. Walking out of my room Spence commented on my change of wardrobe, “You change fast,” he said not tearing his eyes form the screen.
“Well I don’t dig this dry heat shit you have going here,” I called back and put my hair into a ponytail. I slid onto the couch next to him, “Whatcha doin?” I asked trying to mess him up.
“Killing Ryan,” Spence muttered and flung his controller almost out of his hands.
“Fun,” I said. Bored I stood and made my way to the kitchen and heard screams of victory from Brendon and Spence, which made me assume they succeeded in killing their friend. –Boys and their toys- I thought to myself as I filled a glass up with tap water.
“Enjoying the city so far?” I heard a voice say behind me from the other side of the kitchen. Turning I saw Ryan who stood with his hands in his jeans and his hair laying messily on his head.
“Mostly. Kinda over the whole new kid thing already though,” I said sipping at my water.
“We don’t get a lot of new kids at the school. You’ll be news for a while. Fades out soon enough though – always plenty of drama to distract them,” he commented matter-of-factly.
It looked like Ryan was going to say something else when Spence and Brendon burst into the kitchen doing what only could be construed as a victory dance…or a seizure. I grinned at their stupidity and Brendon looked over at Spencer, “Hey you coming tonight?” he asked his friend.
“Nah man,” Spence said clearing his throat, “I was gonna go see a movie with Cindy tonight.”
“Aww,” Brendon said rolling his eyes, “Ryan?” he asked to which Ryan only nodded as if it was ever a question. Slowly Brendon looked over at me and smiled, “Whatcha doing tonight Regan?” he asked cynically.
“Nothing,” I muttered. Like I had plans? Please. “Why?”
“Well there’s a party tonight and I was thinking it would help you to get to know everyone…” Brendon said with a grin as he put an arm around her, “Tons of fun, I promise!”
“You didn’t have to tell me twice, I was in at the word Party” I said with a smile.
It was a couple of months into the school year and everybody stared as I walked through the halls, searching for the rooms listed on my paper. Sighing as I pushed into the room I cringed at the sight of Calculus A/B as my first period class. The teacher smiled at me and handed me a text book and some other materials, already expecting me I assumed, and pointed me to the back of the room. I plopped down into the chair, keeping my head down and eyes on my blue Bruce Springsteen tee shirt and black skinny jeans as I reached for a pencil from my bag. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and smiled at those who were obviously staring at me. I opened my book to the page the teacher was on and looked around the room.
Not to my surprise, it was a small class. Even in public high schools where numbers were overflowing the Calculus class was tiny. I loved it. Despite hating school, I loved learning, especially math. It was something I was really good at. It wasn’t until twenty minutes into class I realized that Ryan, the guy from Spence’s band, was sitting in the row next to me, up a couple of chairs. He was lazily taking notes, doodling in the corners of his papers in between example questions. Caught off guard, the class was over and I found myself hunting down my second class – English 3 Honors.
Though my old school – despite being kicked out – recommended me for skipping to senior level classes or at least Advanced Placement, I decided to coast with honors for everything but Math. I came into my English class and was happy to see Spence sitting in the back, a wide grin on his face as he and Brendon threw paper balls back and forth at each other while the teacher took attendance. I snuck a seat next to Spence meeting the guys with a grin as I dropped my stuff onto the floor. The teacher signed my slip and tossed a couple of books to me – Jane Eyre among them. Inwardly I grinned, coasting through was going to be amazing since I had already read most of the books on the list the teacher gave me. After second period I found myself being escorted to Psychology Honors in which Jon was my only friend in the class. Fourth period I had Gym with all four of the guys and lunch with them after. Fifth period I had chemistry with Brendon and Ryan (Brendon volunteered to be my partner) and sixth period (my last class) I had government (a senior class) with Jon.
After class Jon and I walked around the campus a bit, he was showing me the best ways to get to and from class and such as we caught up on all of our missed time. I knew it was a trap because we ended up at the athletic directors office. “No,” I quickly said walking away. Jon grabbed my arm and opened the door, “Jon!” I yelled.
“Welcome to school,” the athletic director said extending a hand for me to shake. I did so respectfully and took my hand back. “I’m very excited to have you join the track team here,” he said slowly and handed me a uniform.
I coughed a little, “Hey look,” I stammered, “I’m glad you heard of me and such and I’m sure my mom called my old coach to call you but I don’t think I wanna do sports much anymore.”
“Come on,” Jon said, “We really need the wins,” he urged me to grab the uniform and he knew I couldn’t say no to his pleading eyes.
I snatched the uniform, “alright. Fine.” I muttered defeated. Track team was something else I was good at. Running was always therapeutic for me and I was one of the best back in DC. I knew I would have to confront the director sooner or later, I just didn’t expect it to be on my first day. I had planned to come up with a speech to get out of it – why get involved in school when you’ll just get drowned in drama? – but Jon had caught me off guard. I made a mental note to kill him later.
~!~!~!~!~!~~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
Finally making it home I found Spence and Brendon and Ryan laying sprawled out in the living room playing video games. I walked past them with no words or looks and threw my stuff into my bedroom. Quickly I changed out of my school clothes and into a black tank top and shorts. Walking out of my room Spence commented on my change of wardrobe, “You change fast,” he said not tearing his eyes form the screen.
“Well I don’t dig this dry heat shit you have going here,” I called back and put my hair into a ponytail. I slid onto the couch next to him, “Whatcha doin?” I asked trying to mess him up.
“Killing Ryan,” Spence muttered and flung his controller almost out of his hands.
“Fun,” I said. Bored I stood and made my way to the kitchen and heard screams of victory from Brendon and Spence, which made me assume they succeeded in killing their friend. –Boys and their toys- I thought to myself as I filled a glass up with tap water.
“Enjoying the city so far?” I heard a voice say behind me from the other side of the kitchen. Turning I saw Ryan who stood with his hands in his jeans and his hair laying messily on his head.
“Mostly. Kinda over the whole new kid thing already though,” I said sipping at my water.
“We don’t get a lot of new kids at the school. You’ll be news for a while. Fades out soon enough though – always plenty of drama to distract them,” he commented matter-of-factly.
It looked like Ryan was going to say something else when Spence and Brendon burst into the kitchen doing what only could be construed as a victory dance…or a seizure. I grinned at their stupidity and Brendon looked over at Spencer, “Hey you coming tonight?” he asked his friend.
“Nah man,” Spence said clearing his throat, “I was gonna go see a movie with Cindy tonight.”
“Aww,” Brendon said rolling his eyes, “Ryan?” he asked to which Ryan only nodded as if it was ever a question. Slowly Brendon looked over at me and smiled, “Whatcha doing tonight Regan?” he asked cynically.
“Nothing,” I muttered. Like I had plans? Please. “Why?”
“Well there’s a party tonight and I was thinking it would help you to get to know everyone…” Brendon said with a grin as he put an arm around her, “Tons of fun, I promise!”
“You didn’t have to tell me twice, I was in at the word Party” I said with a smile.
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