Becoming Better

Chapter 9 - New "New" Girl

By the end of that day, Charlie was exhausted. She saw her friends standing and chatting in a group, so she walked over. They were all talking about someone.

"Have you seen her yet?" John asked.

"She was in my English class," Taylor said. "She didn't talk that much."

"I heard she transferred here from Bridgeport High because some girl smashed her face in," Michael, Rachel's boyfriend, said.

"Her face looked fine to me," Taylor shrugged.

"It would have had all summer to heal, so it should," Michael retorted.

"What are we talking about?" Charlie chimed in, joining the conversation.

"This new girl," John explained. "Senior transfer from public school."

That was rare, to say the least. Charlie herself had transferred to Saint Peters during her Sophomore year. Transferring this late in high school seemed sort of strange.

"Well has anyone tried to talk to her yet?" Charlie asked, remembering what it was like to be new.

"No, she seems weird," Taylor said. When Charlie looked at her disapprovingly, she shrugged. "What?! She does."

"Ok well I'm going to go find her," Charlie said. "What does she look like?"

Taylor gave her the basics. "Short, brown hair, big blue eyes."

Charlie set off walking around the quad trying to find this girl. She wanted to make her feel welcome, even if her friends weren't going to. No one deserved to feel like an outcast on their first day at a new school.

Charlie finally spotted a short girl she didn't recognize exiting the East Wing. She jogged over to her so she could catch her before she left.

"Hey," she said, "I'm Charlie. What's your name?"

The girl looked surprised. "I'm Mara. Nice to meet you."

"Hi Mara, welcome to Saint Peters." Charlie held up her hands, motioning to the school. "I just wanted to introduce myself, and see if you needed any help with anything? Or even if you just want someone to talk to about all the weird quirks of private school. I'm here."

Mara smiled. "That would be really nice actually, are you free right now?"

Charlie smiled back. "Yeah! Do you like coffee?"

Mara nodded. "Who doesn't?"

"I like you already." 

She took Mara to the coffee house down the street called Mug Shot. They ordered vanilla lattes and sat by the window, chatting. Charlie gave her some useful information about school, like how to avoid detention, what certain teachers were like, and how to get the attendance office to excuse a tardy. The trick was to say you couldn't find a parking spot because the lot was too crowded.

Mara told Charlie the reason why she ended up at Saint Peters. It turned out that the rumors were true. She had gotten into a major fight at Bridgeport High. Another girl had punched her so badly she nearly lost some teeth. When Charlie asked what caused the fight, Mara sort of glossed over it, chalking it up to bullying. Charlie shuddered at the thought of what it must have been like to go to Bridgeport High if that was the kind of bullying that happened there.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Mara asked.

Charlie stomach dropped. "Uh, not really, no. We broke up over the summer. We're still trying to work things out," she lied. "Do you?"

"Yeah, he goes to Beachside High," Mara said, referring to another other public school in town. "His name is Shawn."

"That's great," Charlie smiled, but inside her stomach was still knotted. She hoped what she said about working things out with Cassius would come true.

"I hope you work things out with your guy," Mara said.

"Me too."

***What do you guys think of Mara? Why is Taylor so unsure about her? Is she jealous or is there a different reason?