Schoolyard Secrets

Chapter 4

"Does she know that's way off the list of things against the dress code?" Demi frowned at Alison, talking to her left at Chelsie.

"What don't I know, you stupid scholarship twat?" Chelsie walked by, ramming her shoulder against Demi's as she walked toward the pool. The two friends watched the queen bee stand next to the edge with her friends, every now and then dipping their toes into the eerily clean water as they admired their leader's new Guess sunglasses. The pool that they were having gym in today was the size of an Olympic pool. The floor of the long rectangle was covered in white tiles. There was another pool outside and they only used that once a week, sometimes less.

"Is she always this rude or is it just with me?" Demi looked over at Chelsie, who was too busy glaring at the passé to register anything she was saying.

"What?"

"Never mind." Everyone looked around as the whistle blew. A shorter, slightly round woman came over to the pool.

"Three laps. Miss Harven, please go change." Alison glared at Ms. Sinton.

"I don't own another swimsuit. The ones I do have are revealing." Demi snickered. Alison shot her a look.

"Get in the pool, Miss Harven." The teacher scribbled something down onto her clipboard and stood in front of Alison with her hands on her hips.

"Not today. Did you know you're not supposed to swim in this? It's Versace." The teacher rolled her eyes and took a step closer. "Watch it, teach!" She took a step back from the teacher and fell back into the ten foot section of he pool where some of the other kids had already started swimming their laps.

Even the kids already swimming had stopped when the blonde screamed, falling backwards - arms flailing - into the pool. Everyone watched the figure in the tiny bikini under the water, waiting for the moment she would surface.

"You bitch!" Alison screamed up at the teacher. "I'll have your ass fired for that!" Mrs. Sinton rolled her eyes. "You just assaulted a student!"

"I didn't lay a hand on you." She snapped. Alison reached up, patting the top of her sopping wet head.

"My lawyers are going to be on you for this! You're going to pay for those glasses!" They'd flown off as she'd hit the water, now somewhere deep under her feet, sinking quickly to the bottom. Hayley and Courtney pulled themselves up out of the warm water and bent over to pull her out by her hands. They lifted her out of the pool and guided her to the doors to the locker room.

"Every keep swimming!" Mrs. Sinton blew her whistle. "I'll be back." She turned and walked after Alison into the changing room.

The well behaved class broke out into chaos. The guys started running around, cannonballing off the sides of the pool and diving in the shallow end, dunking each other's heads under the surface of the waves. Chelsie pulled herself up onto the side of the pool and Demi followed her lead, sitting down next to her, kicking up water with her feet.

"Does this happen all the time?" Demi frowned.

"Most of the time." Chelsie sighed. "Yeah, Alison is usually the starter of all the chaos around here. Not that much of a surprise."

All the others in the class were watching the class clown jumping around. Demi looked up just in time to see him jump, back flipping off the absent lifeguard's stand. He hit the water and everyone was sprayed by a wave of water.Demi reached uo and wiped her eyes.

"Alyssa won't get in any trouble, though, because like I said - her Dad is the backbone of this school's funding system."

"Yeah, well, if it was one of us we'd get chucked out in a second."

"Faster than you could think about it. But pretty damn fast." Chelsie smiled. "But she'll mope around her house for a couple days and whine to her Dad until the whole thing blows over. I've seen this same day over and over again."

"Well gym is probably going to be the most interesting thing I'll be doing for a long while." There was a noise behind them and Demi looked around. A tall, tanned and muscular guy with perfectly spiked black hair was walking in their direction. He was just as attractive as Emmet and Jace, but very mysterious. Just by looking at him you could tell he wasn't just another average jock. All the girls were looking at him.

"Hey Brad!" They squealed up at him. He smiled sexily down at them, and waved. As his eyes swept over her, he noted to himself that he hadn't seen her around. He walked over to them, half smiling. It was a dangerous smile that made Demi's stomach do a backflip.

"I don't think I've met you." He sat down on her other side. She blushed, trying to force some words out of her jellied lips.

"Uh..." She still couldn't get them to work. God, come on, Demi! "My name's Demi. I'm here on scholarship."

"Nice. I like your name. It's really unique." She smiled. "I'm Brad. It's really nice to meet you, Demi." He had an accent that was almost Spanish. She watched his lips when he said her name, almost mesmerized. Demi didn't notice she was staring at him until Chelsie elbowed her in the side.

"Oh." She smiled. "Thanks."

She jumped about a mile into the air and looked around as the door to the locker rooms burst open once more as Mrs. Sinton came back out. “Get out! Hurry up and get changed." She shouted. Everyone jumped up and out of the pool. The moment was gone.

"Maybe we can talk later?" Brad smiled warmly down at her.

"Of course." She smiled. They both stood up.

"Cool. I'll see you after school." She smiled and walked back to the men's changing rooms, even though he had come into the class so late he'd never made it into the pool.

"Brad Santinoes." Chelsie rolled her eyes. She sounded as though she was sitting through the most boring movie she'd ever seen. "He is the hotshot running around here - probably hooked up with about, uh, ninety five percent of the female population in Mystic Falls."

Okay, Demi thought. Either she's jealous or she's telling the truth. Before, Demi had thought she'd found her new best friend. Now, she wasn't sure what to think. Believe the girl that was nice to the scholarship girl on her first day? Or only take the words in?

"You know what I mean, though. He's a player - mysterious, obviously a flirt, and he never really follows the rules. He's just another bad boy." Chelsie looked over at her.

Demi was irritated now. "Okay." She wasn't sure what else to say. A player at this school wasn't about to go out with a scholarship kid, no matter what Chelsie said. Players weren't nice. They were jerks, not really caring what the new girl felt, just there to throw themselves all over any girl they could get their hands on. This had to be jealousy coming from her new friend. This 'player' had made her feel special! Players don't do that.

Both of the girls were nerds. They were super smart - just minus the cliché braces and thick glasses. She was beginning to wonder if Chelsie had ever had a boyfriend. She sighed, pushing the thoughts out of her head and grabbed a towel, walking to an empty stall to take a shower. Her heart was still beating when she dried her hair and pulled back on her uniform.