Talent Exchange
Chapter 19
Grace's POV:
The morning after the party, my incredibly hangover friends had received the biggest ultimatum known to mankind. Ms Larson's lecture mainly included a telling off of their immature and irresponsible behaviour as well as the general guilt speech; the usual "I expected better of you". The whole time, I had been standing there listening and the entire time, I had a smug smirk on my face. I mean, if they were going to be stupid and get piss drunk- then they were going to have to face the repercussions. It was the least to say that the morning only caused them a lot of strife; Lauren had still been slightly drunk so as soon as she woke up, she ran to the toilet and puked her guts out. Caitlin was furious; between the combination of a banging headache and the glaring sun rays streaming through the large windows, she was in a bad mood but knew better than to voice her opinions and risk the wrath of our mentor.
It was finally here! The first day of school. It was now the 6th of January- a Tuesday when we had to go to school. The four of us had a kind of an *induction yesterday where we got the lay of the land. The school was enormous and held almost 2000 students. They had a wide collection of *extra curricular activities which had won the school many trophies over the years. Venice High's mascot was an eagle and the school colours consisted of blue and white. Everywhere you looked, there were banners and posters welcoming students back from their Christmas break. We had received our classes, books and locker as well as a brief tour of the school campus to know where all the important places were- so the gymnasium and the library; which I might mention was huge. We had to be there by 8 am and the day would end after 7 lessons and a 1 hour lunch break. Naturally we had a study hall a couple times a week and I immediately knew that those sessions would be my saving Grace (excuse the pun) for the time we were here. After the induction, we got back home and started arranging our clothes and equipment for the next day. Can I just mention that it is extremely difficult to come up with a whole new outfit in order to please a bunch of pretentious and materialistic people. I was glad that I had gone shopping with the girls before we left even if the trip had almost ended in tragedy. I had picked something that mostly consisted of black with occasional splashes of colour paired with the most gorgeous pair of ankle boots. They gave me some additional height so that was also a plus. We (us girls plus Ms Larson) agreed that no-one was in the mood to cook so we had all gone to this picturesque diner that Riley had recommended. It had a stereotypical 60's vibe- fitted with a jukebox and karaoke kit. From the looks of everyone in our booth, we were all grateful for the consumption of grease. the fried chicken I had ordered along with fries (you should have seen the waitresses' face when I accidentally called them chips- she was so bamboozled) had disappeared within 10 minutes and the portions weren't exactly tiny either. It was safe to say that the diner was going to be our new regular hang out other than the house. The drive home was peaceful since we all felt bloated from the masses we ate and didn't want to risk throwing it all up. Not that Ren hadn't done enough of that already. As soon as we entered the house, we all went to our rooms. I'm not entirely sure what the others did but as soon as i completed my nightly bedtime routine, I snuggled up in bed and caught up on episodes of TVD. it was the least to say that I fell asleep id episode with images of Damon Salvatore in my head.
The next day couldn't have come any quicker. I had everything sorted- my bag, gym clothes, books etc. and was seated at the island in the kitchen helping myself to a bowl of Lucky Charms. I know, it wasn't exactly the healthiest choice for a school day. The others however, were running about like a bunch of goats with their own problems. from upstairs I could hear Alison wailing about not having enough time to do her hair when in reality, if she stopped wallowing in self-pity for about 5 minutes, she'd have more than enough time. Caitlin had been frantically searching for a new pencil eye liner around the house after hers had snapped into two because she applied too much pressure to it. Lauren's problem was the most petty of all. She was screaming at everyone at the house and holding them responsible for the disappearance of her shoe. The reason I wasn't doing anything about this was because the said missing heel was actually already on her foot and when I tried telling her that, she snapped and commanded me to help her search for it. To which, of course, my natural response was a shrug of my shoulders before returning to my bowl of cereal. I swear, there was something about the first day of school that made people loco. Ms Larson had yet to show but had promises to drive us to the hell hole 10 minutes early. At this rate, I was going to be the only one who'd show up for the beginning of a long 4 months worth of torture. Another 5 minutes had passed and it was now 15 minutes till we had to leave- the chaotic household had become a lot less crazy since Lauren figured out she was wearing her shoe, Caitlin had replaced the pencil for some liquid liner and Alison simply put her straightener away and replaced it with a curling wand to emphasize her faint natural waves into cute curls. Luckily for the others, Ms Larson had taken another 5 minutes to show her face so they managed to down a simple breakfast of toast. Although the reason for why she had a towel on her head still baffled me. By now we were all mildly organised however I knew by the time we got to school, one of us would realise we forgot something. My money was on Lauren. The journey to the school itself was 15 minutes but the fact we took the scenic route was a bonus. Most of the streets were lined with palm trees and at one point, we even drove by Venice Beach. California was definitely a beautiful city- it had everything. From beaches to wonderful skylines; there was just so much to see. As Ms Larson pulled our pristine Range Rover into the *car park of the school, I couldn't help but scrutinise all the other forms of transport that were also parked in here. There were many makes of car I didn't know but only since they were of American make. Further down from the spot we were currently stationary, a couple of sports cars were parked that looked brand new. They obviously belonged to the 2% of the school population who were rich and could afford such luxuries. After killing the engine of the car, Ms Larson turned herself slightly to the right so she could see all of us.
"After the whole party fiasco, I'm finding it very difficult to be trusting all of you today. However, I have managed to muster up a little sympathy for your situation so I will be giving you this one warning: if I hear of even a sliver of funny business coming from the four of you- I'll have you shipped back to England before you could say "Land of the free and the home of the brave" do I make myself clear?" From my seat at the front, I gulped and muttered a yes. The others followed with their own acknowledgements.
"Good, now get out of my car." We all scrambled out of our seats with our bags on our shoulders. Ms Larson reversed out of the parking spot and yelled "Sayõnara suckers!" as she drove out of the schools entrance. Holy crap, that woman got more crazy everyday. Alison walked up to my side and whispered in my ear.
"Everyone's staring. I think we should give them something that's definitely stare worthy." She winked at me and I gave her a knowing smirk in return. Caitlin and Lauren sidled up to us and like the scene out of mean girls, we all walked into the school in a line. Ali casually flicked her hair over her shoulder as we walked past a group of students who brought out their phones and started recording. That girl- so melodramatic. Lauren flirtatiously winked at a couple of jocks who were standing by their lockers and Caitlin just glared at everyone since she distasted even being here. My phone started buzzing from inside my bag so I took it out and checked it. It was reminder telling me that my period was soon due to start. It was a good thing I came prepared. In the main hallway to the office, many students were lined up against the lockers and as we walked past- all their heads turned. I hated all this attention so I rolled my eyes. A lot of them were going to think I was a bitch now but I couldn't care any less. It's not like they'd be wrong; I am one of the baddest bitches alive. Once we turned the corner to get to the office, I overheard the masses of whispers break out about us. I had a feeling by second period there'd be at least six rumours about the 4 of us. The lady who was sat behind the desk in the office was perhaps in her mid 50s and looked like a lovely woman with graying hair and round spectacles.
"Erm, excuse me?" I asked, clearing my throat in order to gain her attention. The lovely old lady looked up at us from her computer screen.
"I'm sorry my dears, this technology is all so confusing. Now, how can I help you girls?" Before I could say anything, Alison spoke up for me.
"We're the new students from England ma'am. The principal told us to come here first thing in the morning." The receptionist murmured a few things to herself while clicking a few keys on the keyboard.
"Well that's all sorted now. You girls can go to your home room class now." The girls and I thanked her before walking back up the corridor we first found. The students had now vacated the hallways and we were the only ones to be seen. I led the girls further down the hallway until we reached a door with the number 212 printed on it. The class was full and it looked like home room had already commenced.
"We should go in..." Ali whispered in my ear. I grimaced before bracing myself and knocking on the door. I could hear the entire room go silent from the other side of the door and it took approximately 10 seconds for a strong authoritative voice to say 'come in'. Nervously, I took the first step into the unknown territory. From beside me, Alison gave me a small nudge from her elbow as a sign to speak.
"Um hi. We're your new home room students?" I managed to stutter out. Caitlin, Lauren and Ali gave me sharp looks to which I returned a sheepish smile. The home room teacher was a man who looked like he was in his late 20s. A few females were blatantly ogling and checking him out.
"Welcome, I'm Mr. Jacobson, I'll be your home room teacher for the time that you stay at Venice High. How about you introduce yourselves? And no that wasn't a request, it was an order." I internally smirked at his laid back attitude. He was much more chill than our tutor back at Ridgewald. I nudged my head towards Lauren and Caitlin so that they introduced themselves. Cait wasn't that happy about it so she huffed before depressingly walking to the front of the room with our bubbly friend closely towing at her heels.
"My name's Caitlin and I like the colour black. Also I could think of a million other places I'd rather be
than here." Everyone gave Cait an incredulous look after she threw them a dazzling smile and stalked back to her place beside me. I stealthily gave her a high five for her little speech thing. Next up was Lauren. She gave the room a flirty smile and I noticed a few boys perk up in there seats. Ugh, men.
"Hello, my name's Lauren and I enjoy gymnastics and arcade games." She shot a jock on the front row a wink before walking back to us. Alison and I had agreed if a situation such as this ever occurred, we would tackle it together. So we both strolled up to the teachers desk and stood in front of everybody.
"I'm Grace and this is Alison. Instead of us telling you guys about ourselves, why don't you guys just ask us questions?" For a minute or so, everyone in the room was silent and the other students cast wary looks to each other. I was starting to get fidgety when a random guy yelled from the back.
"Are you guys virgins?!" I gasped at his crude language. But admired his courage to ask anyway since I knew Ali was about to tear his bloody head off.
"Um, excuse me? Do you want to repeat that? I don't know how things work in this country but in England, a guy isn't allowed to ask whether a girl is a bloody Virgin! I'm only gonna say this once so listen carefully, don't ever ask a girl that question again. That goes for all of you boys that think with your dicks. And to answer your question, yes I am a Virgin!" Ali hissed out that last sentence and stormed back to the other girls. I whispered an apology for my 'overly passionate' friend to our new home room teacher. He shrugged it off and said that he'd heard a lot worse and that the boys deserved it.
"Um soooooo. Any other questions that won't be indirect insults?" I asked with a tired smile on my face.
"So, you guys are like from England? Does that mean you've met the Queen?" A brunette in a cheerleaders outfit asked and I barely managed to squeeze my lips together in order to stop myself from laughing. From behind me, I could hear Ali, Cait and Ren snickering about the cheerleaders comment.
"Yeah, totally. In fact in my spare time, I drink tea and eat crumpets with the Queen at Buckingham palace. And if she's up to it, we occasionally have a game of croquet." I responded sarcastically. What a dumb question; it's not like I was significant enough to have met the Queen.
"Okay, that's enough questions for one day. Girls you may sit down at any empty seat available." My eyes quickly flitted over the room. There were enough spaces for all four of us however the down side was that all the empty desks weren't together. There were to unoccupied seats in the centre of the room and a single desk two seats to the left and another one right in the back corner. Caitlin straight away went for the back where it was secluded and away from normal human interaction. Ali and I took the one's in the middle leaving Lauren with the seat to the left most side. Caitlin immediately sat down and plugged her earphones in, playing her music at a deafening volume. Lauren on the other hand turned into a social butterfly as soon as her button hit the chair. Many guys around her turned to get to know one of the new girls and a really pretty one at that too. Alison and I sat down at the consecutive desks and discussed our classes for today. We were both engrossed in our conversation about having gym last period, that I didn't even realise someone was vying for my attention until they loudly cleared their throat making numerous heads around the room turn.
"Chad? No way! You go to school here?" The brunette male from the plane was currently standing in front of me with his hands in the pocket of his dark jeans.
"Yeah I do- I would've told you but mentioning what school you go to isn't something you bring up in a first conversation." I gave him a playful frown and Chad just chuckled in return. The entire of that home room hour was spent getting to know our new classmates- I say our, I just mean Alison and I since the other two were being antisocial and too flirtatious for our liking. You can take a guess as to who was doing what. After the bell went, we all went to our first period class which was AP Chemistry and Lauren had AP Biology. Luckily for us all the science classrooms were down one hallway. Caitlin Alison and I walked into a room labelled Chem 7 while Lauren walked further down to Bio 4. Once our feet entered the room- it went deathly silent. I plucked our transfer student slips out of my friend's hands and placed them in the hands of the chemistry teacher. Since we were already kinda late- Mr. Jamieson (the name of the teacher) allowed us to skip the need to make introductions. There were literally only just enough seats for the three of us to sit in but they were all in different places. Without a heads up, Alison and Caitlin briskly walked off to their seats. Cait's was in the back as per usual and Ali took the spare seat next to Chad since that was the only person in the room that she actually knew. So I, being the unlucky person I am, had to sit next to a complete bloody stranger. It was a guy so that was even worse since I was rather socially awkward with the opposite gender. Actually, I was socially awkward with everyone now that I think about it. I pulled out one of my many new notebooks I had purchased and set my bag down on the floor beside my chair. My new chemistry partner turned his head to look at me but I kept my gaze focused on the front where Mr Jamieson was teaching about covalent bonding. I didn't bother taking notes since this was stuff that we had covered in *module C5 at school in England. All throughout the class- the guy with the dark hair kept glancing in my direction as if he wanted to speak to me but backed out at the last second. When the bell finally went to signal 2nd period- I all but ran out of the room to get away from the uncomfortable situation. Naturally I didn't leave to my next class without the others. While I was leaning against the wall outside Chem 7, I watched Lauren be escorted to her second class of Home Ec by two buff looking guys who I could only guess we're jocks. The sly girl even managed to shoot me a wink as she walked passes to which I only smirked in reply. When Alison and Caitlin finally joined me- we walked to Phys 5 together. I was thoroughly grateful that both my classes so far were in one hallway. For Physics, the story was essentially the same apart from the fact we got to choose where we sat and the teacher was happy to accommodate the rest of the class to our new seating plan. Ali and I sat next to each other again while Cait was at the back. Again. This time it wasn't in the corner but it was still essentially the same thing. Nothing new was learnt in physics just as it was for chemistry and it made me rather glad that the education system in England was slightly more advanced to America.
YOU ARE READING
Talent Exchange
Teen FictionOne group... Only one group from each of the schools have the opportunity to go to the other school and see how things work. This was one of the newly formed ideas that the government came up with to have the new generation of teenagers in Britain a...