Strings - For the 'Single' Readers

Chapter One - The Nerd Herd

Shoutout to the boy that I'll have a romantic date with. But only I'll know about it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Having a boyfriend is all that matters in high school. It's not about the grades, if you really think about it. In fact, West Lakes High is separated into two major groups; the taken and the single. Guess what group I'm in? That's right. The single.

I've only ever had one boyfriend in my whole life, and that was with Danny in 9th grade, when he cheated on me with some other popular girl. Apparently, the whole school knew but me, which was fantastic. Oh, and one more thing. There are also two 'classes' in my school. The normal ones, like me, who keep to themselves, and the others. The populars. You never want to associate with them if you want to survive high school. Trust me. I've had three years of experience.

So here I am, in my junior year of high school, in the Nerd Herd and with no boyfriend. That's what we call ourselves. The Nerd Herd. My best friends Julie, Jenna, and Megan are my best friends, and are also in this 'clan.' And now it was the second month of school, and we all pretty much had no social life. Well, except for Megan who is dating some guy in her honors calculus class who is even more of a nerd than us. Glasses, braces, buzzcut, you name it. So, as I said before, here we are with no social life, and it was just another ordinary day of school.

"Clare? Did you hear the announcement about the Mathletes?" Megan pokes my arm, and I get jolted out of my thoughts.

"No, Meg. Do you really want to do Mathletes?" I answer, giving her an incredulous look and not answering her question. She rolls her eyes and goes back to her book, becoming absorbed into it just as she always gets. I look back to the front of the room where Brian and Joshua, two of the many on school student council, were still talking on the screen about some kind of bird watching club.

The announcements go on a while longer before they finally announce that Battle of the Bands signups are going to be posted at the gym doors during 5th period. The whole room starts clapping and a few "Hell yeah!"s were shouted in the back. That's another thing- this school is all about music. Choir, instruments, bands, anything, and I mean anything, that has to do with any type of music can be found here. Battle of the Bands was like High School football here. There were no jocks and a TON of musicians. It was actually pretty rad if you ask me, but others, like Megan, well, not so much. She had a pretty smug look on her face as she held her ears while everyone else cheered.

"Alright everyone! Quiet down!" Mr. Shannon shouts above everyone, clapping his hands. Eventually, the cheers quiet down and History begins. Personally, History is my favorite subject. Pretty much everyone in this room loved it because they wouldn't be here if they didn't. It was an AP level class after all. Class flew by quickly, and soon the bell rings.

"Where are you going?" Megan asks me as I pack up my stuff.

"Algebra 2," I reply, a smile on my face. Meg looks at me skeptically.

"Why are you smiling. You hate math," she says, pushing up her glasses up her pointer finger. "You've changed your mind about the maths, I see?" She smiles and nudges me as I make a disgusted face.

"I hate math. Always have, always will," I say, getting my backpack up off of the ground and putting in on my shoulders.

"Then why are you so happy?" We begin our way to the Math wing.

"Because he'll be there!" I quiet down my voice.

"Who?" I smack my forehead, annoyed. "Oh right! Him!" Megan narrows her eyes and smiles sneakily.