RAIsed of Drama

Chapter 5

To Get Into An Eagle Head

“What took you so long to come back home yesterday?” asks me Antonio on the bus of the second day of school.

“Well…” I try to only reply that, as I look at the window. I know I’ll get scolded if I say the true story, which is part of his bossiness around me, and part of why I love him so much. He cares too much for me.

“Riley?” he asks expectantly, raising an eyebrow as he waits for a reply that does not come.

“I… uh… Look! We’re here!” I announce a matter of fact. I am too eager to get down for my own sake, so that means Antonio feels himself a lot more curious.

I stand up, rushing him into coming down with me. I know for sure that once people spot him, it will only take any minute to get him surrounded by a big crowd and I’ll be able to escape from his question, at least for a little more. Therefore, just as I imagined, I get myself freed from him in a matter of seconds actually.

“Why did you get rid of him?” asks Ian right on my ear as a whisper, startling me. I punch him in the arm when I turn to face him. That’s what stops his evil laugh.

“Well, I saw Jules yesterday, again. And he” I point to Antonio “told me to stay away from him, so I expected him to scold me once he finds out, and I’m gaining time.”

“Okay… if you want to, I’ll scold you so you can tell him I already did” he says mocking me. He gains another punch. “Okay! I was only trying to help… jeez…”

I smile my devilish sweet smile with his pain. It’s good to see him so in a good mood today. Which reminds me, yesterday Antonio tried out for the football team and Ian stayed to wish him luck. I wonder if that action made them feel more friendship around them.

“So how did the try outs go?” I ask completely changing topics, once we get to our lockers.

“Pretty well, actually. The coach seemed happy by his new addition. The only thing that bothers me is the way one of the team’s members looked at me when he saw me coming with him. He was…”

“Scary?” I offer thinking on Chris’s glare of yesterday.

“A lot. He looked at me like if I owed him an explanation about why was I with him, like if I was not supposed to.” He says, opening his locker and confirming my suspects.

“Well, we’re not supposed to.” I explain as I take out my books of the day. “I mean, we don’t have a club yet, so we now are at the lowest ranks of school’s hierarchy. Until we find where we belong at, then we’ll be classified. That’s how things work out here. I’ve been working my way out of it since I get here, so Molly and I belong to different ranks but still we hang out. But some people won’t accept it. Ever.”

“So what, we don’t even talk while being here?”

“Well…” I tell, implying the answer.

“You notice how much you say ‘well’ right?” he says, not really liking what I just answered to him. I shrug, what can I say? It’s all true. “Whatever, so you’re saying that the cliques here are everything, aren’t you?”

“Yep. School is mean that way, isn’t it?”

Ian snorts. He definitely likes school hierarchy just as much as I do, which means zero. It’s just mean, and unkind and I find it very discriminatory. But of course, guys on the top of the balance would never see things this way. In addition, cliques were made supposedly to get you to be with the people that like the same stuff as you do. So, of course, you feel like in a happy family and a place where you belong. They fluffing don’t even know.