FicWad

I walked through the courtyard in early October clutching my map of the school. The principal’s secretary had printed me one right after my registration appointment. I think she felt bad for me after I showed up alone. My mom was supposed to meet me, but she never showed up. Not that I had expected her to. I gave the principal some lame excuse about her coming down with the flu.

“Well we can’t let you in until she signs some things.” Mrs. Robbins said in a stern voice.
“And I understand completely, ma’am. It’s just that I want to start as soon as possible. School is very important to me.” I wasn’t lying either. School was important, but it wasn’t the reason I wanted to enroll ASAP. I needed to get out of that damn house. I needed a fresh start.
“Yes, that certainly reflects in your transcripts. I am very impressed.” I had been in all honors classes since they had been offered to me and my art had been included in a lot of local shows back home. I also sung in the school choir. I figured college was the only way out for me and I wasn’t going to fuck it up…
“Is there anyway I could take the papers home to my mother and bring them back to you?” I knew those things weren’t usually allowed but I hoped if I put on my good girl face Mrs. Robbins would buy into my faux innocence.
She gave a soft smile. “I don’t see why not. And Belleville High could certainly use a scholarly good apple like you. I’ll go print the paper work.”
As soon as she left I chuckled to myself. Good apple my ass. If only she knew the things I had gotten into back home, on the other side of the country. But none of those things mattered now. This was my fresh start. I just wished the rest of my family saw it that way.
On my way out of the office, the secretary waved frantically at me. She had a headset on and was ferociously scribbling words down on a pad of paper.
“Slow down Mr. Kent. I can only write so fast!” Her desk was covered in papers. Sticky notes hung on all edges of her desk, each one starting with “don’t forget!” or “To do:” A shiny, silver nameplate told me the secretary’s name was Ms. Dorthy.
Ms. Dorthy rubbed at her temples. “Mr. Kent, we can only give Steph and Steven so many detentions. It’s the consequences you give them at home that really matter.” There was a pause. “Okay. I’ll have Ms. Robbins call you back.” She sighed. “Some parents just don’t get it.”
“Tell me about it.” I mumbled. I really didn’t mean for Ms. Dorothy to hear that but she laughed and gave me a goofy smile.
“You’re very independent, huh?” I wasn’t sure what she meant by that so I just offered a small smile. “Well, I’m Wendy the school counselor and temporary secretary.” My eyes darted down to her name plate. Wendy Dorthy. It sounded like a porn star.
Wendy let out a loud laugh. I could tell she had been studying my face. “I know. My name is a bit weird. I could be a porn star.”
I tried not to show the surprise on my face. “I like it. It’s pretty. My name is Jack.”
“Nice to meet you Jack. I’ve got something for you.” Wendy Dorthy reached into the printer and pulled out a piece of paper. “You’ll need this on your first day. The school’s layout can be a bit tricky at first. And I’m guessing since you’re from Los Angeles you’ve never been in an indoor school before.” She must’ve seen the surprise on my face because she quickly added, “I took a quick peek at your transcript.”
I didn't say anything but gave her a little smile, still unsure.
“Good luck on your first day, okay?” I simply nodded and left.

The air in the courtyard was chillier than I was used to. It was usually warm in L.A. I didn't even own any long sleeve shirts. I shivered and pulled my light cardigan around me. I made a mental note to buy some heavier clothing before the snow hit.
Inside the school was still pretty empty. I got to school early so I would be able to find my first class on time, which proved to be easier than expected since the English wing was just off the main hallway. I peeked my head into the nearly empty room 120.
A man with big curly brown hair sat behind the desk. Drawings of Bulls adorned the wall behind him. He sipped coffee from a mug that said “mess with the bull, get the horns.”
“Don't be shy! Come on in!” He waved at me. I slowly walked up the desk. “I'm Mr. Toro! You must be Jacklyn” he said excitedly extending his hand towards me.
“Just Jack.” I corrected as I went in for the handshake.
“Well, Just Jack, it's awesome to meet you. We're not too far into the semester so you're not really behind. We just started The Great Gatsby on Monday. Have you read it?”
I nodded.
“Great!” I hoped Mr. Toro wasn’t always this excited. I wasn't sure I could take that much enthusiasm at 7:30 in the morning.
“You'll do fine this week.” He handed me a copy of The Great Gatsby. “You'll just need the basic school supplies in this class. Why don't you go introduce yourself to Frank and Mikey over there?” He motioned towards the two boys in the back of the classroom. They both looked up. One had a faux hawk that was dyed a reddish-pink on the sides and was wearing a misfits shirt and eyeliner. The other had mousy brown hair and glasses. He gave me a shy smile and a wave. “I'm Mikey.” he said once I walked over to them. He nudged the other guy who was distracted by a video on his cell phone.
“Sorry.” he looked up at me. “I'm Frank.”
“Jack.” We sat there in awkward silence.
I watched my new English teacher as he happily hummed to himself writing today’s lesson on the whiteboard.
“Is he always so…?”
“Stupidly-happy?” Frank finished for me.
“Yeah that…”
“It's his first year teaching.” Mikey explained. “My brother helped him get this job. He teaches art.”
“Oh, I'm taking art.” I jumped at the chance of any conversation.
“That's cool. What period?” Mikey asked.
“3rd.”
Frank’s head popped up. “Advanced art.” They both said together. “We're taking that.” Frank sounded a little suspicious.
“Gerard doesn't usually let anyone take advanced. He likes to have them in at least intermediate first… he's kind of weird about it.” Mikey explained.
“Yeah, Mrs. Robbins explained that to me so I gave her my portfolio to take to him. He must've thought I was good enough.” I shrugged.
“You must be. Gerard takes his art very seriously.”
The bell rang soon after that and students started pouring in. Ray had me introduce myself and told me to sit next to Frank. The blonde in front of me kept turning around and glaring. I would occasionally catch Frank staring at me, too. It sucks being the new kid.
Second period, advanced Chemistry, wasn’t really anything special. The teacher had me sit in her office and fill out an assessment packet to see where I was in relation to the class. Big whoop. It was in art that things started to get interesting.
I walked into room 503. Class hadn't started yet so their were only a few students. I spotted Frank and Mikey, again in the back.
“Hey guys!” They both greeted me with friendly smiles. “Where's the teacher at?”
Mikey rolled his eyes. “Gerard has to be fashionably late for everything. He's a drama queen.”
“I heard that!” A voice bellowed from the teacher's office. I turned around to see a man standing in the doorway. Only, he didn't look like a teacher. He looked like a rockstar. He was wearing dark jeans and a black button up and his raven black hair was almost shoulder length. His eyes were a beautiful kind of hazel that I could happily drown in.
“Hello, Jacklyn. I see you've already met my useless brother Mikey.” he wore a sly smile on his pale face.
It took me a couple seconds to find my voice. “Uh, yeah… and It’s Jack.”
He smiled again. “Well, Jack, you're a very good artist. Welcome to advanced art. I’m Mr. Way.” I offered Mr. Way my best smile as he walked to the front of the classroom.
This was crazy. I had never been the type of girl to swoon over a guy. At least not since… No. I told myself I wouldn't think about him. I shook all of those thoughts out of my head. This was my fresh start.
“Your brother doesn't seem very… teacher-ish”
Mikey and Frank both laughed. “Both him and Ray, uh Mr. Toro, used to be in a band. They got signed but that's when everything fell apart and their band broke up. Now they're both teachers.” Mikey explained
“Well that sucks.”
Frank shrugged. “Life moves on and destiny changes, man.”
I giggled. “Very profound, Master Frank.” I joked in an Asian accent.
“Oh, master. I like the sound of that.” Frank winked at me.
“Frank! Stop being a perv. We just met her. She won't get your gross sense of humor yet!” Mikey elbowed Frank in his side.
I laughed even harder. “I think I got it was a joke Mikey.”
Frank giggled. It was a cute little pot-laugh. I noticed Mikey was blushing so I offered him a smile.
Art was easy. The class was only a couple days into a new assignment. “Find your demons.” Gerard told me. “Just dig down deep, find those scary moments that define you as a person, and manifest them on canvas.” I gave him a small smile and went to work right away.
Demons. That was a subject I knew all too well.

After school, Frank and Mikey found me by the front entrance. “Wanna come over?” Mikey asked enthusiastically. “Some of our other friends are coming to hang too.”
I would've done anything at that moment to not have to go home. “Yeah, that sounds fun.”
Both Frank and Mikey’s faces lit up. “Awesome!” Frank exclaimed. “We're just waiting on everyone else.”
We just stood there chatting about music for a bit. I decided Frank and Mikey were definitely my kind of people. We all seemed to be into the same movies, music, comics. It was amazing that I'd found them. Soon, a bigger group merged with ours.
“Who is this pretty girl?” A boy whose eyes were a adorned with eyeliner rose an eyebrow at me.
“This is Jack.” Mikey answered. “Jack, this creepy emo is Pete.” He pointed to two tall blondes in the back. “These are the twins: Steph and Steel.”
The blondes both waved and the boy added “My real name is Steve just in case you're wondering ‘who the fuck names their kid Steel?’” I laughed.
“And this last person is Rebecca.” Mikey pulled a short brunette with rather big… boobs up to the front of the group. “She's the shy one.” Mikey added.
“I am NOT shy, Michael! I just don't have much to say.” She crossed her arms around her big chest. “Can we get to stepping?”

We all chatted as we walked along the street; sometimes having one big conversation and sometimes breaking into our own groups. It felt nice having people to talk to and hang out with. Before I left L.A. I had been so isolated.
We made a turn down a familiar street. “Hey! This is my street.” I said. Everyone turned to look at me.
“This is my street too.” Mikey smiled. “Which house are you in?”
“The brown one at the end.” I pointed. Everyone turned to me with stunned faces.
“You live in Creepy Wade’s house?” Pete finally asked.
“Creepy Wade?” I laughed. “Is that what you called my uncle before he died?”
Mikey’s face went red. He sure blushed a lot. “Yeah, he was scary and creepy and his name was Wade.”
“Actually his name was Jacob and Wade is our last name but I guess he didn't make a big impression on the neighborhood.” I laughed again. “Well, I'm happy to be your neighbor, Mikey.”
Again with the blushing. “ Uh, thanks. Same here.”
“Y’know, I just live on the next street down.” Frank added in before we all piled into Mikey’s house.

“No one's gonna be home for the next three hours so you guys are good.” Mikey announced as he searched to find a decent TV station.
“Awesome.” Frank exclaimed. “I've been majorly stressed because of Physics.”
He was met with exclamations of “same!” As he reached into his backpack and pulled out a pipe.
“Are you okay with weed, Jack?” Frank asked and everyone looked back at me.
To be honest I was quite the pothead back home before the shit hit the fan. “Yeah, I'm down.” I smiled. After everything that happened, it's okay to let myself have some fun, I decided.

After a good twenty minutes we were all thoroughly high. I lay on the floor with my head on a couch pillow. Everyone was watching the movie on the screen, but I was gazing at the ceiling.
It was amazing how well today went. I started to think about how my luck was finally starting to turn around and a smile broke out on my face.
“What are you thinking about?” Mikey asked me.
“I'm just surprised I had such a nice day” I giggled.
“Why?” Mikey turned onto his side to face me.
“I’m just not usually this lucky, I guess.”
Suddenly the front door opened and we all jumped up, surprised.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Mikey!” It was Gerard, Ray following behind.Frank quickly shoved the pipe into his backpack and everyone but Mikey stood up to leave.
“Everyone hold it!” Gerard yelled at us.