Stranded

Chapter 1

"Shit," I mutter as I get out of the car, grabbing my black and white checkered duffle bag as I throw a quick glance at my watch. For the past week, all the Senior classes have been going camping. My class is last, last so we'd been anticipating this day for a whole week. Mrs. Jackson, our homeroom, and English teacher had told us that we were supposed to be in class by 2:00 pm sharp. Usually, this was our dismissal time, but the class that would be camping would arrive late.

A shiver runs down my spine, and I hug my jacket closer to my body. The weather's been getting colder by the day. You can already see the leaves turning yellow even though we aren't even halfway through October. It's hard to imagine that only around a month ago I had been celebrating my birthday during the last few hot summer days of August.

I'm about to race off when my mom grabs my arm. "No goodbye? I won't be seeing you for the next 3 days." It's after a moment that I realize what she means. Although we'll have our phones, we won't be able to call back home because there'll probably be no signal.

I quickly peck my mom's cheek, "I'm sorry for the hurry, but if I don't leave right now, Mrs. Jackson will most likely give the biggest lecture in history, and I'll be its main target," I say.

My mom nods. Just when I'm about to leave again, she stops me once more. "I nearly forgot these. Come over to the trunk for a second," she says, opening it. From inside, she takes out a small plastic grocery bag. She reaches in and grabs some sort of box. She then hands it to me.

"Why are you giving me these? The teachers will have them already," I tell her, realizing it's flares.

"Just in case," she replies. "Now go before you get scolded."

I reach class right at 2 o'clock, but, thankfully, Mrs. Jackson isn't there yet, either. I wave at the class and sit in my usual seat next to one of my best friends, Vivian, and drop my duffle bag beside my desk.

Vivian is the definition of athletic and sporty. She's competed in our school's yearly sports championships since we had both enrolled 2 years ago and had won 1st place both times, not to mention the extracurricular sports clubs she's joined. She is also the exact person you'd look for when needing advice on sporty clothing. Even today, her outfit gives off the vibes that she's going to a some big game. She's wearing a black Adidas jersey with a soft pink sports jacket that matches her sweatpants. She's done her ash blonde hair in a high ponytail that makes her look like one of those badminton players you'd see on TV.

"Where have you been, Rosalind?" Vivan asks, pulling me out of my thoughts. "If Mrs. Jackson were here -" she starts.

"But Mrs. Jackson isn't here," I cut her off, "and no 'hello'? I thought we were friends." I say, placing a hand over my heart dramatically.

"I thought we were past those formalities, no?" she rolls her eyes. "I see you took full advantage of needing no uniforms."

Honestly, I had, but why wouldn't I. I had gone with an oversized navy blue shirt with off-white flare jeans. I had topped it off with a baseball jacket and and a pair of converse of the same two colours. I had also gone with a few silver rings and bracelets. Along with, of course , my favorite pair of headphones.

"Guess who?" a familiar voice says as a pair of hands cover my eyes.

"Nice to see you too, Lix," I reply and remove the hands of the 3rd person in our quartet. "How're you doing?" I ask.

Felix, despite having his hair bleached and dyed more than any of us, still-beyond my comprehension-has some of the silkiest hair I've ever seen. Right now, he's in his bleach blond era, which suits him quite well actually and complements his freckles too-not that I'd ever say that to his face. Despite being the world's biggest sunshine, he has a complete opposite taste in clothes. Right now, he's wearing loose, ripped, light blue jeans with black combat boots, as well as a plain, oversized, black t-shirt with a zip-up hoodie of the same colour. I'd call him slightly emo on first glance, but he's far from it. He and I share the same music taste-which was one of the reasons we ended up being friends- so we'd both decided to get headphones together, and expectedly around his neck are white ones identical to mine contrasting against the black in his get up.

"The usual," he responds, then sighs. "Jay is late again."

"Of course, he is," I say, pissed. "When is he not? I mean, give me one time he was actually early."

"Never," says Felix with a chuckle. "On time: maybe. Early: never."

"He's going to get himself into so much trouble one of these days, I swear," Vivian says, joining the conversation.

"He already has gotten in trouble. The problem is that he barely got any punishment," I say. "Otherwise, maybe he would've learned the goddamn lesson."

Just as Felix opens his mouth to say something, the door bursts open, and standing there is none other than the man in question. "I am SO sorry....," Jay exclaims, starting to apologize when he realizes the teacher isn't there yet. He visibly sighs in relief, and when he sees us, the corners of his mouth quirk up in a smile. I can't help but roll my eyes at him. "It's ok, guys. You can go back to whatever it was you were doing, " he says to the rest of the class who've been staring at him, completely unsurprised by his antics. "Thought Mrs. Jackson had me there for a sec," he says, walking over to us as the rest of the class goes back to their conversations. Jay is your typical skater boy. Today, he's gone with black cargo pants paired with a forest green oversized t-shirt of some skate brand he loves. Seems like the cold wasn't only felt by me and the others, though, because tied around his waist is a cream coloured hoodie. Of course, you can't forget the typical sneakers and beanie.

Jay, like me, has coloured hair. Although his is more of a chocolate brown while mine is ebony.

He places his bag onto his desk, which is right behind mine and beside Felix's. Our class sits in pairs, meaning Vivian and I sit together right in front of the other two in our quartet.

Not one second after Jay settles down, Mrs. Jackson walks in through the door. "Good morning." she smiles apologetically. "We are already late, and I apologize for that, so I really hope all of you are here." I can visibly see her face light up as she mentally counts us and realizes that all of us are, indeed, present. "Well then," she claps her hands together, "I think it's due time we head to the bus, no?" she chuckles.

It's chaos as everyone gets up and grabs their things, trying to make it to the door first. We might graduate in a few months, but I can, with all honesty, tell you that it doesn't take much to make us act like we're a bunch of five-year-olds. Somehow, as always, Mrs. Jackson manages to quieten everyone down, forcing us to make one calm, straight line. I can't help but sigh. I swear she manages to sometimes make me feel like we're kindergarteners.

Soon enough, we're making our way through the bright green grounds outside, heading to the parking lot. Our school is one of the most well known and is, I guess even considered the most prestigious in and outside this country. So along with good teachers you can expect to have good treatment too. However, along with the perks come the downsides—such as having a rival school willing to do anything to destroy yours. The schools are built on opposites sides of the country. Our own: Nexus High, being on the north while the 'rival'—more commonly known as Andromeda High—is on the south.

Rumor is, the animosity developed through an inheritance—or well lack of one. According to the stories, generations ago the original owner of our school had left the school and majority of the of his will to the younger of his two sons. The elder, completely enraged by being almost fully disinherited went to the opposite side of the country and made his own—soon to be very successful school. 

To this day the blood feud continues between the descendants of both sons an even the students of their own school. No one at this point is shocked whenever witnessing a brawl between both. In fact, the ongoing rivalry is one of the most famous in the entire kingdom! 

I'm rudely jerked out of my thoughts when I feel someone prodding my back and turn to see Jay leaning over to whisper in my ear, "Tell Vivian to get the seats in the back so we can sit together." As I convey the message, I can't help the grin tugging at my lips as I think of the amount of fun we're going to have, admittedly most of it resulting in chaos.