Ninth Grade

1. Back To Hell

"Oh god, I can think of a million places I'd rather be right now," I muttered staring up at the looming school building. It seemed like yesterday eight grade had been dismissed, and we all ran out dog-whooping like hooligans. Pulling my cap over more of my hair, I took a shaky breath.

Positive attitude. That's what you need. You'll see all your friends again! Beth, Brian, Lewis, surely you missed them!

Well, to be fair, we'd all caught up last week, when my twin brother threw that massive party my parents strictly said was not going to happen. Brothers. He'd gotten caught, and I was just really glad my friends and I weren't 'suspects' as we hadn't stepped a foot out of the attic, which we had done up for our gang just in case.

I snapped myself out of thought, realising I was attracting quite a few stares, which made me uncomfortable. Jeez, don't people have a life? I mean, other than staring at the slightly plus-size chick who had acne, oily hair and a blush on her face? Shooting a quick death glare around at the sniggering boys- my brother in the thick of the crowd- I scanned the school entrance for my friends. I saw the small group standing by the doors.

I waved at them, and rushed over, almost tripping over several times as students scurried to get to their own friends like I was at the moment. The crowds made me feel claustrophobic- wait, can you get claustrophobic in crowds?

Lewis was bouncing up and down like he'd stayed up all night drinking red cordial, watching YouTube and reading books- actually, counting the time the texts had been sent between 7:30pm and 7:00am, he most likely was. I grinned at his antics- they're annoying at first but when you've been friends since second grade you get used to them. My brother thinks we'd be a good couple, but yuck. We're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less.

Brian was annoying the hell out of Beth, putting his hands over her book and trying to steal her coffee. He was poking his tongue out at her and squeezing her shoulders until she snapped her book shut, shoved it in her bag, and slapped him in the face. His jaw fell open and she adjusted her massive glasses- which, may I add, did not hide her eyes, but kind of outlined them. Like eyeliner would, except she was against makeup. 'Too mainstream'.

I finally reached them- of course they were standing across the other side of the sea of students. They waved, Brain high fiving me and Lewis stealing my cap, which I grabbed off him and whacked him with it. Beth gave me a hug, almost spilling her coffee on me.

I raised an eyebrow at Lewis.

"A superman shirt? Really? Iron Man is much cooler!" I protested. He laughed, and nodded his head.

"I know, but I don't have an Iron Man shirt, A!" He protested. I scoffed and turned away in 'disgust'.

"What kind of fanboy are you?" I huffed. We all laughed our guts out, and I remembered exactly why we're friends. Betty shook her head, and Brian clamped a hand over her mouth before she said something about them both being 'totally something'. Well, no, she wouldn't say something, but I'm still wrapping my head around hipster slang. She glared up at him and when he removed his hand, she kicked him in the balls. Wearing ankle booties. Hard.

He doubled over, his squeak a few octaves higher than normal. Lewis and I were laughing our heads off. She was smirking, and Brian stood back up, muttering about how he may have wanted children when he was married, to which she retorted that no sensible woman would want to marry him anyways. We could nearly see his almost non existent ego bruise.

The bell went, and the doors flew open. Students waded through each other to get in, and flooded out into the hall. We pushed and shoved, trying to stay in our groups, yet trying to get our schedules. Finally, after World War Three: High School edition, we emerged from the office victorious, brandishing schedules as we ran off to our lockers. Shit, I was only near Beth, Lewis and Brian were scattered down the hall, and Beth was four lockers away. Sighing, I shoved my bag in, then, reaching into it, pulled out a roll of tape.

Beth raised both eyebrows, raising one was mainstream.

Be prepared, I mouthed at her, and she scoffed, her substitute for eye rolling. Taping my schedule to the inside of my door, I pulled out some photos: My dogs, my friends and I back in sixth grade when we had a water fight, my brother and I in our football gear, and my stepmothers horse Katerina.

I taped them them messily to my locker, and checked my schedule again. Homeroom with Mr. Smite. I signalled Beth, as I saw she'd finished. She had her earphones in, listening to some indie band or another, and was texting viciously. I walked over to her and yanked her earbuds out. She yelped and glared at me.

"Well hello little hipster! Who do you have for home room?" I questioned. She scowled at me.

"One, I'm not a hipster!" She snapped. I gave her a 'yeah, right' look and her scowl deepened.

"And two, I have Ms. Steven," she finished, brightening up. I was really jealous, as Ms. Steven was a really good teacher.

"I have Mr. Smite," I answered back, sounding extremely flat and bored. She laughed at me, and Lewis came sauntering over, half-leading, half-dragging Brian in his wake.

"Ladies," he imitated one of the cliché popular jerks, because our school is the epitome of clichéanity. We poked our tongues out at him, and he spouted out a name.

"Mr. Hill. God help me," he whined. I sniggered at him, and man, I was glad I wasn't him.

Brian spoke up.

"I have Mrs. Mered. Meh."

'Meh' is Brian's code for: OHMYGODYESWAITNOICANNOTREVEALMYTRUETHINKINGOUTLOUDINFRONTOFMYFRIENDSAHHHJHHH!!!!!

Yeah. True story.

The bell rang and I faked a small screech,

"The time has come!!" We screamed in unison. We attracted some strange looks, but meh- not Brian's meh, mind you!

AN: This lot are based off my real friends and I. So if you hate them... May as well say you hate my besties ... Or me... O.o. Beth is based off two people, but I merged them. So, yeah. Ones a guy and ones a girl and they're really different, so... Yeah .-.

Ummmm... I'm sorry if my writing seems pointless, but I have funny crap in future chapters based of true stories, built up over my school career with these fools.

Teaser: ...I noticed Jerald staring kind of creepily at the exposed vein...

-Amy