Empire High School

Students Coming to School Early In The Morning

Simon assumed he was the first one to get to the school as Mr. Daksh overheard students in the lobby asking him to get onto the elevator.

"No, get on yourself."

He pondered. "Hey, Mr. Daksh, why don't you take the stairs instead of being lazy?"

"Maybe you should worry about yourself," verbally pushing the others away.

"Mean. Okay, let's race. If I'm the first on the fifth floor before you, you have to take the stairs."

The other students started chanting do it, getting him to comply. "Three, two, one, go!"

Simon bolted up the stairs as the elevator closed, narrowly dodging a door about to hit him in the face, several teachers, and getting his feet on gum as he heard his teacher's voice asking who pressed the button. It gave him enough time to reach the fifth floor, wheezing to the door.

"At least," huffing, "I made it first," heading inside.

"More like second," Felice said, startling him.

"What the...it's only eight o'clock, what are you doing up here so early?"

"Studying. Get all the work done early so I don't have to do it later," as Mr. Daksh arrived. "See, you don't have to take the stairs after all."

Both males needed to take a seat.

—

While he decided to follow her advice, he overheard the sound of music playing in the hallway. Following the noise, he caught Sharell attempting to dance to a familiar beat.

"Wait, are you trying to do the Idol dance?"

"Yeah, I wanna figure it out before the trend fades but I can't find the vids with the girls who did the dance."

He showed her the video and the steps the person was following for them to practice before recording and trying the dance together. Awkward as it was, he had to admit it was pretty fun to dance with her.

A few minutes after he came inside, Sharell burst into the room.

"Hey, it got over a hundred thousand views!"

"Already?" Well it would be a good way to make friends. "Would you want to-"

"But you can't do them with me anymore."

"Ha," gawking as the why rolled from his tongue.

"People said they'll unfollow me if I have a boyfriend."

He blinked. "But, we're not even-"

"It's alright, I'll just do them on my own. Thanks again."

Simon turned to his teacher and Felice, befuddled.

"Did I just get rejected...without even asking her out?" His brain crashed while his head fell to the desk, defeated.

The two of them patted him on the shoulder as he tried to regain his sanity.

—

Outside, Len was watching a video about dating advice, with a host telling them to get a girlfriend who would get them a sandwich when he bumped into Arlene.

"Oh hey, what's up."

"Um..I like you, but I only like girls who can get me a sandwich!"

"Huh? There's a Deli nearby, let's go-I forgot to get lunch nearby," heading off.

"Wait for me~Huh, it worked!"

—

Near the entrance of the building, Edith, Elize, and Jenize whipped out their phones.

"Oh shoot, we forgot to do our homework!"

"Let's make a group chat so that we don't forget anymore."

"Anyone else we should add."

"Hey, I'll join." All of them turned and took a step back at Nikia's arrival.

"Someone needs to put a bell on you. We're okay."

She folded her arms. "I actually finished it," yawning.

"Didn't you hear her," Elize said, pushing her away. Thankfully, a light brown male caught her in time.

"Yo, you good?"

"No, thanks," darting her eyes back and forth and collecting her thoughts, giving the group a finger on her way up that they ignored.

"Who else should we add?"

"Maybe Sharell, Mince are cute, and the hot guys. But we need a nerd to help."

"Oh, let's recruit Arlene. That Len weirdo's totally crushing on her."

"What about Simon, he seems pretty smart," Jenzie asked.

"Not that disrespectful jerk. He'd need more eyes to see he shouldn't mess with me."

Elize pondered. "Then, Felice?"

"Mhmm, we'll think about it. Anyway, so which guy are you eyeing?"

Their conversation and bodies blocked and annoyed while Mary Kane was recording and charting down everything, amused.

—

Principal Hill watched the ladies talk and ignored the people asking them to block the main stairwell.

"Ladies, please take this conversation upstairs," to receive a hand from Edith. "How dare you!"

Devlin slapped his chest, and smirked, tapping her on the shoulder. "Don't worry Principal, I got this," approaching them, sliding his hair back.

"Ladies, heard you're making a group chat. How about you add some testosterone to that," trying to flex his muscles.

Edith laughed while Jenzie and Elize dropped their mouths in disgust. Once Edith realized he was serious, they all fled upstairs.

"Worked like a charm." As he wiped the sweat off his face, a group of students lifted him upstairs. "Devlin, Devlin, Devlin," chanting.

"What the," bobbing his head and accepting it as he gave a thumbs up to his principal. "Alright."

"Please be careful students," as they carried him through the doors upstairs.

—

Monte and Jarrod confronted each other.

"Soccer is so much more interesting and fun than basketball."

"What loser finds kicking a ball fun?"

Simon covered his mouth to hold back the ear shattering sneeze that made them think there was an earthquake.

"Let's ask the gym teacher to see what unit we'll do first. If they can't decide, we battle it out to see who's the winner."

"Fine, but what are we gonna do about the grades, did you finish the assignment?"

"Shoot, I forgot."

Bennett caressed their shoulders. "See that's the problem, you're thinking you have to do it."

"Dude, you're rich, you can pay someone to do it for you."

"Nah, my parents-actually cut me off from doing it. They didn't say anything about using my allowance. But why waste money when you can have someone do it for you. Or we can offer them something else."

Haejin approached them, pointing at Arlene and Len. "We can trick the nerds into thinking they can score with the babes."