Instead of being happy to have someone to play with, she had cut me with words no six-year-old would ever know to say. I was trash. I didn’t belong there. I’d toughened up after that. At six years old, it had become clear to me that the world was not a nice place to live in, so I should be ready for whatever it threw at me.
I pulled myself back to the present as I followed Emma down the aisle to sit with her friends. I had purposely stopped to talk to her outside this morning, hoping that she would remember me. Of course, she hadn’t, but I had been shocked at how nice she was then and again in our first period. I had expected a stuck-up bitch, but instead, she had helped me, and she’d even been friendly to me. I wasn’t sure if I liked that. I had always portrayed her as a villain in my mind, and without it there to make me see reason, I couldn’t help but notice again just how beautiful she was.
She was obviously an athlete of some kind. Her body was toned, and she had been blessed with a figure most girls could only dream of. The skin-tight shirt and shorty shorts she was wearing today did nothing to hide it, and I found myself wanting to see what was underneath. I blamed my damn teenage hormones as I tried to get a grip on myself. This would lead to nowhere, so I needed to get my head back into the game. I was here to get good grades and hopefully a scholarship, not stare at Emma’s ass like I was doing right now.
“Hey, girls. This is Jesse. Jesse, this is Vanessa and Andrea. They’re both on the cheer squad with me,” Emma said as she sat down.
So, I was right about her being an athlete. It was obvious that cheerleading had done wonders for her.
I walked around her desk and took the one next to her. “Nice to meet you.”
They were both staring at me like they wanted to eat me alive, and it took everything I had not to roll my eyes at them. I wasn’t interested in their type, so they really didn’t need to bother undressing me with their eyes. However, it did seem I was interested in one girl like them even if I didn’t want to be.
I kept glancing at Emma as I pulled a notebook from my bag and set it on my desk. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up just in time to see a guy sitting down in the chair on her other side.
“Good to see you, Emma,” he said as he looked over at her and smiled.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or punch him in the face when Emma blushed as she told him good morning. It was obvious that she had a thing for this guy and that should be reason enough for me to leave her alone.
“Hey! This is Jesse. He’s a new student,” Emma said as she introduced me.
I nodded my head in greeting. That was all this guy was going to get.
“Nice to meet you, Jesse. I’m Todd.”
Again, I nodded but said nothing as I stared straight ahead at the chalkboard at the front of the class. I wasn’t interested in making friends here.
Any friends I had were back at my old school, and even there, I had very few. I wasn’t the most sociable person, and it took a lot for someone to gain my respect and trust. Besides the guys at the tattoo shop, I could count on one hand the number of people that fell into that group. Most of them were kids who lived in the park with me, including my best friend, Andy, and his sister, Ally.
I had to admit that I missed the guy. We’d grown up in the park together, and I thought of him more like a brother than a best friend. I usually tried to stay out of trouble, but he was always the first one to dive into it, and I was often found guilty by association. We and the other boys we hung around with were branded by most as the troublemakers in school and in the trailer park. It didn’t bother me though because it meant that most people left me alone.
“Don’t take offense. He’s just shy.” I heard Emma whisper to Todd.
He had obviously picked up on my unfriendly attitude and had taken it as a personal insult.
I wanted to laugh when I’d heard Emma say I was shy. I was the furthest thing from it, but I tended not to get wrapped up in bullshit things like being social, so I often came off as shy or an asshole. I hoped that the latter would apply around here, so everyone would take the hint to leave me alone.
They both turned their attention to the front of the classroom as the teacher entered. She was an older woman, and I could already tell that she was going to be strict. She just put off that dreaded no-nonsense vibe.
“Good morning, class. I’m Ms. Mason for those of you who don’t know me. For those of you who have had me before, you know what I expect out of my classes. Those of you who are just now getting the privilege of taking one of my classes, I want to be clear now. I won’t put up with any of your silly little games that so many students like to play. If I give you an assignment, I expect you to do it and have it turned in by the due date. No excuses. Yes, I am strict, but I’m also fair. Just don’t cross me.”
I rolled my eyes. Isn’t she just a breath of fresh air? It looked like this class was going to be one that I needed to focus a lot of my attention on.