The Reborn (The Reborn trilogy book 1)

Chapter 3

Ninja girl

It's been a week of school now and I was quickly picking up the routine. In history Lola and I sat together, we went to lunch and met up with Matty. Geometry was with Matty and then finally the three of us had art together. I'd had other kids try talking to me in classes that Lola and Matty weren't in but I couldn't deal with them. The immaturity and pettiness grated on my nerves.

To add to this misery, the rumour mill was in full force, flowing like only a high school can manage. The news of the new kid being in foster care had spread through the school yet my new friends refrained from asking until today.

"So, the rumour mill is buzzing but we, being your new bestest friends, want to talk to you first." Matty says, at lunch. Lola rolls her eyes at his theatrics while I smile waiting for the question. "Are you in foster care?"

"Yeah, I live with a foster mother."

"What happened to your parent?"

"Matty." Lola scolds, slapping him on the arm. "You can't just ask like that."

"Why not? Don't tell me you don't want to know."

She starts to say something then pauses with her mouth hanging open. Her hand hovers in the air before crashing down on the table. "Well, it's out there now. What brought you to us?"

I'm caught between laughing and running. "I'm an orphan." I say poking at my food. "Got put with Sandra, my foster mom, a few months back."

I look up to find the two of them unusually quiet. They're looking at each other like a deer caught in headlights. Their reaction actually makes me want to laugh. I smile and sit back to watch them better. "Can I ask what you both were expecting me to say?"

Lola rubs the back of her neck as she awkwardly answers. "We thought, err, maybe a druggie parent or something like that. Sorry, we didn't consider your parents might have passed."

"Yeah, sorry. You know I have a big mouth and need to be stopped before I speak."

"It's fine guys, it is what it is. Sandra is nice, more like a roommate most of the time." That's the way I've chosen to look at it. Thankfully Sandra follows that plan most of the time. She makes sure I eat and goes to school. She's given me a roof and bed which is something I haven't had in a long time. For those reasons alone I figure I should play nice but she's been a genuine good-hearted person since I've met her. I suppose I could have runaway once I was released from the hospital. Part of me had planned to. Then I spent some time with Sandra and got sucked into this life. Just like I have with these two knuckle heads. Everything has been temporary for decades now, yet here I am putting roots down.

What is humanity doing to me?

"Did you do the Geometry homework?" I ask Matty. He jumps at the change of topic and the awkward moment passes.

-_-_-

I met up with Matty on the way to Art last period. We'd barely got ten yards before our path was intercepted.

"Hey, mystery girl, you don't want to hang around with him. Why don't you spend the night with me and I'll give you something to remember?" A sandy haired boy, with a letterman jacket and a rugged smile loom's over me.

I give him a quick look up and down before answering. "Thanks, but I don't want to remember you as the guy that gave me an STD." I say deadpan. What is with these youngsters? Was that meant to be a pick-up line? This kid needs to work on his game.

Matty chokes back a laugh. Suddenly the atmosphere changes and Matty is being shoved against the lockers.

Before I can take a step, Lola appears. "Not this again Larry." She says like a disappointed mother. "Let go of him and just go on your way. Don't embarrass yourself, again."

I stare in disbelief as the guys that minutes ago were snickering and offering back-up to Larry, now started to back away. Wait, were they afraid of Lola? These guys are easily six foot with broad shoulders and arms, yet they back away from Lola. She stands at five-eight and while she is in great shape, she still looks a lot less threatening than them. Larry releases Matty with an attempted glare at Lola.

"You're lucky I don't hit girls." Larry says with as much venom as he could muster, which for a big guy facing off against an average build teenage girl was not a lot. She just stands there looking bored.

As the guys disappear around the corner, I spend a moment just standing there. "Umm, was it me or were those guys scared of Lola?" I ask. "No offense." I direct to Lola.

She raises one eyebrow with a smirk. Matty responds, throwing an arm over Lola. "Oh, they are. Our girl Lola here is a ninja. They know she could take down all three of them, all before one punch could be sent her way."

I look back and forth between the two of them trying to detect the joke. Lola just rolls her eyes, "I'm not a ninja." She says leading the way to class.

"But they are afraid of you?" I ask, rushing to catch up with her.

With a shrug and a nervous fiddle with her bracelet, Lola mumbles. "My parents own a dojo, so I grew up learning different martial arts."

"Major understatement." Matty groans as we find our seats in Art class.

The teacher starts the lesson before Matty can continue. With the work set I start thinking about the project when Matty nudges me. 'Watch this.' He mouths.

He scrunches up a piece of paper into a ball then throws it at Lola's head. Just as it's about to make contact with her head, there is a quick flash of movement and then the paper ball is nowhere to be seen.

"I think I blinked, what just happened?" I whisper.

"Lola, if you would be so kind." Matty asks. Without turning away from her work Lola opens her hand to reveal the paper ball. My jaw drops. "See, ninja."

"Drop it Matty. Get your work done." Lola hisses through her teeth.

"But I don't know what to do." He moans.

She sighs, "The topic is to draw or model an animal that best represents you. There are pencils, paper, pipe cleaners and clay to choose from."

"What are you doing?" Matty asks.

Personally, I've just sat back to watch the show of the two of them going back and forth. It's become my favourite form of entertainment. Every day they have a banter, sometimes I'll join in but mostly I'm watching and learning. I've tried to learn over my years as a nomad. Spent time in libraries all over, reading educational books as well as fantasy. Learnt to use the computers and internet that way. While hunting for a meal I had time to observe how people were interacting but I don't have practical experience. Every day is a struggle to say the right thing and not give myself away.

"I'm drawing a fox."

"What about you Connie?"

Huh? What was I going to do before Matty interrupted me? "I'm probably going to draw a ... bat?" Internal groan. A bat? Put on the spot and I choose the animal most associated with a vampire.

"Well I think I'm going to go with the clay. I always liked playing with playdoh as a kid, it's practically the same thing."

"Playdoh?" is that stuff still going? "You know that stuff was originally made as a wallpaper cleaner, right?" I ask.

"Seriously?" Matty asks. "And my mom used to yell at me when I smeared it on the walls. Now I can say I was helping her clean." He says proudly.

"Please let me be there when you try to tell your mom that?" Lola asks, a smile increasing on her face.

I can see Matty is about to respond so I cut in. "So what animal are you modelling?" I ask Matty. The distraction works and he's off, actually doing the work. Did I really just use a random fact from the fifties? What person their age would know something like that? What a lame thing to say?

How did I get here? It's only the second week and these two have sucked me in. I care about what they think of me. How did it happen so fast? I should be above this, yet I find myself craving acceptance from them. Damn teenage hormones being unfrozen. I can take aging again, it's the emotion train I could do without.

"How are we doing over here?" The art teacher asks. Damn I haven't done anything yet.