The Tale of a Blondie ( Still a work in progress!)

         Chapter 1

"Potato chips, coke, sandwich, and strawberries" i murmured to myself as a packed my lunch.  I popped a potato chip into my mouth before closing the bag.  That done, I ran upstairs to do a mirror check.  Mascara( no smudges?) check, eyeshadow( no random sparkles on my nose?) check, lips (non chapped?) check and double check!  I ran down the stairs, leaped over my little brother's skateboard and ended the whole performance slipping on my older bro's xbox controller.  THUMP.  Straight onto my butt.  Crap.  Chet was gonna kill me.  To him xbox was a religion, not just a game where you blow up Russians to smithereens.  I heaved my self to my feet and grabbed my backpack.  "Bye Mom!" I hollered, before running out the door into the warm, September morning.  I turned right out of our driveway and headed up the street towards the bus stop.  Just as I was starting to enjoy the sunny morning I heard a door slam and somebody scream " CAT! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS CONTROLLER!"  Oh my god... I broke into a run, not putting it past my insane brother to put me in a head lock in front of everyone at the bus stop.  I saw my best friend Juli standing at the bus stop corner with her mouth wide open.  Chet was gaining on me, so I put on the gas and sped up at bit.  I could see the bus pulling up to the curb. I slowed down knowing I was safe and confidently walked up the steps.  I could hear my brother grumbling to himself, but something else totally stole my attention... our bus driver.  Mrs. Kim had been our bus driver through elementary school and junior high.  She had the greatest smile and always seemed happy to drive all of us ( we were little brats) to school.  Mrs. Kim was not the one in the drivers seat.  A man with blood shot eyes and yellowing skin was sitting in the front seat.  His face was enveloped with a smokey cloud.  I could see two packs of cigarettes in the small, black trashcan next to the well worn seat.  " Take your seats. " wheezed a voice from somewhere in the cloud. I coughed as I passed by the seat.  The cloud followed us from the front of the bus to the back.  Everyone on the bus seemed to be coughing or their eyes were watering.  I plopped myself into a seat next to Juli.  Chet flicked the back of my head as he passed by.  He sat towards the back with all his junior buddies.  Juli had her nose crinkled up from the smell of the smoke. " Well looks like we got ourselves a smoker." I exclaimed.  Juli turned and looked at me. " If I die of lung cancer then I know exactly who to blame." she murmured.  We were the last stop,so the bus sped off towards Lenard Highschool.  Not only did this guy stink like a cigarette, but he drove like he was drunk.  We constantly rode up on the curb and I swear the bus was on two wheels when we passed a truck.  All of us freshman were hanging onto the seats as  if we were on a crazy roller coaster ride.  I saw Paulina Codford's pink finger nails digging into the seat in front of her and her whole face was a sheet of pure terror.  What a pansy.  Finally we arrived at Lenard High.  Paulina became detached from the seat in front of her. There were small dents in the back of the seat. There would probably be good sized holes by the end of this year.  We coughed and spluttered as we walked through The Cloud.  Fresh air had never smelled so good.  I could hear Paulina complaining about how the school hires crappy bus drivers, because they are too cheap to find a better candidate.  Her whining sounded like a annoying buzzing sound.  Her friends Lola and Courtney ran from their buses to meet her.   Shaking my head as they compared there exotic vacations, I ran over to join my friends.  Lenard Highschool had a large sprawling front yard with a couple large oaks here and there. I met my friends under a large oak and we all screeched with delight to see each other.  Juli, Amy and I had been best friends since seventh grade. I looked up just in time to see my friend Josh swoop me up in a big hug.  My god he was tall.  " Put me down! Put me down!" I yelped. Laughing he practically dumped me in the grass. "Josh you are in big trouble!" I grumbled from the ground.  He chuckled again and ran his hand through his short blond hair.  " Oh I am so scared of your fists of fury!"  He laughed again.  I jumped to my feet and brandished my " fists of fury".  Juli rolled her eyes and said " Oh my god grow up." I could see a small smile on her face.  Our other friends Adam and Eli joined our group.  " Well the gang's all here." said a grinning Eli. Eli and Josh were the clowns in our group.  Adam tended to be more serious and down to earth.  Juli and Amy are the best friends I have ever had.  Amy with her short curvy self and her auburn hair was a amazing gymnast, while Juli and I were volleyball players on our school's JV team.  Juli had chestnut colored hair and bright brown eyes.  Tall and billowing she attracted much attention, but unlike most of the gorgeous girls in our grade, she actually had a brain.  Finally there is me.  I am blond, green eyed and average height. With a slight dusting of freckles I am just me I suppose.  Well, at least I am not a brainless twit. " Ring, Ring, Ring!" The bell rang and everyone started to stream into the building.  I looked at my schedule that had been mailed to me two weeks ago. 

Homeroom: Chandler, Elizabeth: A12

I cruised down the hall way and finally after back tracking three times, witnessing Aseb Ali been shoved into a locker, I found my homeroom.  I scanned the room looking for a familiar face.  None of my friends were to be seen. Shoot.  Then I heard somebody whisper " Cat over hear!"  I turned and saw Tatiana from my volleyball team.  I rushed over to my seat and sat down next to her.  We only had time to exchange a smile and a nod, before the bell rang and our first day of high school began.

Chapter 2

I looked around at my peers, some familar, some not and some foreign.  I saw this one kid with a  bowl under his desk.  He was eating cornflakes.  I turned back to Tatiana and saw she had seen the kid too.  " Thats Eddy," she whispered, " he went to my school.  If you smelled bacon in science class.." Tatiana trailed off, but I got the gist.  Tatiana was african american with long black hair she kept back in pretty braids.  She was tall and played middle on our volleyball team. I didn't know much about her yet, but I could see her as a friend prospect.

Suddenly a sharp CRACK made everyone jump.  I looked up and saw a bony woman, with a long nose, gray hair in a tight bun and ruler she was turning over and over in her hands. " ATTENTION!" Her voice shot  through the room like a bullet.  One guy was so startled he fell out of his chair.  Mrs. Chandler glared at him until he picked himself off the ground and plopped back down in his seat.

The women began to ramble on and on about our new responsibilities as ninth graders and all this crazy talk.  I was slowly retreating from the world and falling into a fitfull slumber when the bell rang. BUUZZZZZZZZ.  "Thank god"  Tatiana said as we rushed from the room.  Immeadiatly a onslaught of people were pushing and shoving us into lockers, walls and other people.  If you want my opinon of it , it is kinda gross being pushed into all these weirdos. Not to mention awkward, because then they look at you like you are some kind of creep. Suddenly someone gave me a particularly rough shove and I crashed into a locker.  As I turned around, I found myself trapped with two large arms on either side of me.  "Whats going on babe?" Babe? what the heck was wrong with these people. "Back off" glaring as fiercly as I could, although I have been told by Eli that it was about as scary as a kitten.  " Oh come on, you looked kinda lonley in that crowd." he said with a look on his face that I think was an attemp at being seductive.  I would of laughed except it didnt seem like a good time. I started pushing at his arm, but that thing didn't budge. "Listen bucko, you can get your meat hands away from me and get out of my space." I spoke with as much venom as I could muster.  I could see Tatiana looking at me desperatly  and I could see her trying to figuire out what to do. Suddenly I heard her gasp "Eli what are you?!....." Before meat head knew what was happening, two hands had grabbed him by the shoulders and whipped him away from me.  He was promply slammed into a locker.  Gratful not having to breathe in the smell of axe I looked at my savior.  Eli had Meat head pressed up against a locker and if looks could kill his was it.  I could see him muttering something and Meathead was not taking it well.  After what seemed like an eternity Eli released him.  As soon as Eli's back was turned though Meat had made his move.  "Eli!' I shrieked.  I can't believe  I heard it,but the air was knocked out of him as Meat tackled him.  He continued to punch Eli, all the while people chanting "fight, fight , fight , fight!" I don't know if hysteria was just setting in, but I started to scream at Meat to stop it and what the heck was he thinking?!?!  Two people pushed the crowd apart followed by a third and began pulling Meat off of Eli. I immeadiatly ran to Eli to check if  he was coughing up his guts or something like that.  He remained curled in a little ball as I dropped to his side. "Eli?" I asked softly and Tatiana sat down beside me.  I saw his eyes open a little and he lifted his head slightly.  "If I ever see that coward again..." he croaked and then with a groan his head fell back onto the floor.  "Oh my god!" screamed Tatiana.  She was pointing at his side which looked disfiguired.  I was closed to passing out at this point. " Out of the way! out of the way!" yelled a medic. They lifted Eli onto the stretcher.  One of the medics examined his side. " looks like a broken rib." he said. He turned and looked at Meathead. " you punched him that hard?" Meat nodded with an ashamed expression on his face. The man shook his head. " lets get you to the hospitol and get some x rays."