Fight or Flight

Chapter 3: Strike First

It was Josette's  first day at West Valley High School. She was glad she had moved over the summer, so she could start with everyone else and not have to arrive in the middle of the school year. Still, she missed her friends from her old school deeply.

Miguel had been with her as much as possible the whole day. Josie's mom had taken the morning off to drive them into school, and she had thought Miguel was a great guy. Even if he had convinced her daughter to join the debate team, of all clubs.

The morning had gone well. Of her first three classes, Miguel was in one of them, plus one more after lunch. She had spoken to a few girls named Sam and Moon in her English class, and they seemed genuinely nice. They had complimented her outfit, saying it went well with her green eyes, and they even asked her to sit with them at lunch since she was new.

She had politely declined, explaining she had already promised her other friend, Miguel, that she would sit with him since he didn't know anyone else.

Her and Miguel had just met up outside of her History class third period and were headed to the cafeteria. Miguel was pretty nervous, because he knew he was going to see those guys again. They entered the crowded cafeteria, and grabbed trays of food from the lunch ladies. They turned around to look for an empty table, and immediately spotted the group of guys from the other night banging on the vending machine.

"Idiots." Josie muttered. She was already sick of those guys, and the first day was barely halfway over.

Miguel sighed and nodded to a table. "I met those guys in Math, I forgot their names but they seemed pretty chill. Want to try?"

Josie looked at where he directed. Two thin guys sat at the table, one with dark hair and the other with lighter brown. "Yeah, I guess."

They walked over to the boys. They looked up, like they were shocked anyone would approach them.

Miguel asked, "Is it cool if we sit here?"

The boy with dark hair and a plaid shirt said, "Ooh. Sorry, the tables really blowing up right now," gesturing to the empty seats while the other boy smiled lightly. He continued, "I can put you on the waitlist, but it's probably next semester at the earliest."

Josie and Miguel looked at each other and started to turn away, disappointed. "Oh... ok."

"No, I'm kidding." The dark haired boy said hastily. "Sit."

Miguel took the seat next to the light-haired boy, and Josie sat next to him. "I'm Josie," she introduced herself.

"I'm Miguel."

The dark haired boy introduced himself. "Demetri," he said, "and this is Eli."

Josie gave him a light smile when her and Eli made eye contact, but he didn't say anything to either of them.

"A man of few words." Demetri explained.

"Nice to meet you guys," Josie said. "Miguel said you had Math together, and I think I saw you in history third period?" She referred to the boy Eli, who she thought was kind of cute.

"Yeah." was all he said.

Demetri asked, "that's a nice accent you have, Josie. Where are you from?"

"Canada." she replied. "French is my first language."

"That's really cool." Eli said, staring at the pretty girl.