Forbidden and Afraid

Chapter Two: New Friends. Old Habits.

Cailins POV

The lady at the desk printed out my schedule and a map of the school. She said I'd have a few "buddies" throughout the day until I made some friends. I smiled gratefully and sulked out of the room and made my way to my new locker.

After about 5 frustrating minutes of searching for the locker number I growled in aggravation. Just then a small hand lands on my shoulder. I spun around and saw a peppy girl with fake auburn curls and paint smeared on her pants, looking at me with an odd sort of smile.

"Need help?" She purred.

"I..um.. I.. Y-y-yeah.."

"You just go like this...." She said as she leaned close to me. I could feel my face begin to redden and my heartbeat quicken. As she puts her hand softly on my shoulder, and draws me closer and whispers, "...and then." My heart on the verge of bursting, she smirks and shoves me into the lockers and throws her head back, laughing. A few girls appeared from around the corner. Obviously part of the cheer team. Considering they had their uniforms on an everything.

I sighed, go figure, my first day and I've already been shoved into a locker. The girls sashayed away while the one with the curls , clearly, the leader of the small pack of she-devils, yelled over her shoulder, "Dike," at the top of her lungs, making the majority of the kids in the hall stare at me.

As the wave of kids began to move, I was repeatedly knocked against the locker feeling the hard metal against my back I slipped to the floor and feet began pushing me out of the way.

"Hey. You alright?"

I didn't recognize the voice at first, until I saw the book the mysterious shadow laid down as it crouched beside me. That was then, this is now. I slowly lifted my head from my knees, which I had pulled close to my chest, and saw the shadow belonged to the sweet girl from earlier who showed me where the office was.

Her face went pale as she got closer to me. She examined my face as I stared into her startling hazel eyes. They were dim but beautiful. I noticed small things about her from this distance. The small chip in her front tooth, the dimples that were etched into cheeks in concentration showed in her round cheeks when she was focused. How the corners of her mouth were turned down, she caught me staring and smiled, even then the corners of her mouth stayed down. It was cute. I quickly look away, blushing. And as I did, I caught sight of paint smeared on her hands. I scoffed, which made her eyes snap up to me. Startled.

"What is it? Play with paint day?"

"Um? What?"

"The girl that shoved me and her little cheer buddies were covered in paint. And so are you. Look, if your one of them you should just.."

"Leave? Because that's not what I'm doing. I just came from art. Trust me, I'm no cheerleader. I'm a left over."

"But then why.."

"They were probably making the banners for the pep rally."

"Why are you helping me?" I was generally curious and a little shocked that someone would want to help me. I'm not used to help and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

"I know how it feels to be new. And I want to make sure everyone feels included. And if they don't then I try my hardest to change that."

And with that the bell rang. We got up and she walked me to class and promised to be there when class was over. She turned to leave when she suddenly stopped.

" Oh, and by the way, I'm Lacey."

"Cailin."

"Cute."

We said our goodbyes. The first half of the day went by in a blur. Class after class. Look after look. Shove after shove. I was already beginning to grow tired of school, and the first day wasn't even over yet. The only good thing that happened was that Lacey invited me to sit with her at lunch out it the courtyard.

The grass was dark green, and cut short. Still soft when you walked across, though. There was a large fountain in the middle, about the size of a marry-go-round. There were metal benches surrounding the fountain. Lacey led me to a table under a willow tree and I gasped.

"It's so pretty. Willows are my favorite"

She smiled and her eyes lit up. "Mine too."

When we sat down I asked how she managed to snatch this table and she just smile sadly and nodded to her right. I glanced over at the trash cans, which were about to overflow, and sighed, dreading the time when the rest of the kids empty their trays.

I tried to focus on the glass windows surrounding the courtyard. By the looks of it, it's one-way glass, stretching the entire block of the courtyard before hitting the double glass doors. Lacey tapped my shoulder, snapping me back into focus. I managed a convincing smile at her and she began introducing me to the rest of the "leftovers."

Lacey's POV

After we sat down, I introduced her to Mia, a small Asian girl with cropped purple hair. John, who was sitting across from me, is a tall, muscular boy who would make a good Jock if he wasn't gay. Sadly, the coach didn't feel the same so he kicked him off of the team, he's never gotten over it.

Cailin was being very shy as she picked at her food, never really eating. I shoot her a Are you okay? look. Slowly nodding, she managed a meek smile. She was so adorable when she acted all shy. I wish she would at least look at me.

" So, why did ya move?" Asked Mia as she ate her 6th roll of sushi.

" We had some...uh.. difficulties at my last school."

" What kind of difficulties?"

" Things that I'd really prefer not to talk about right now"

" Okay, I guess."

Mia went into a deep conversation with John about organic foods and some parade coming up. I stole glances at Cailin as she stared at her shoes until the bell rang, singly for the end of lunch.