Dignified

Chapter nineteen

Every single pair of eyes in the cafeteria stared intently at the boys as they made their way out of the room. The jocks were no longer laughing. Instead, some looked frightened and some looked angry from the embarrassment. Clark angrily gripped the side of his bag, picking up his speed as he walked down the hallway. "Um...Clark, where are we going?" Asked Trace, following alongside Clark.

"Anywhere. I don't care." He responded through gritted teeth, turning a corner. They stopped as they came across some large, glass double doors. Trace stepped up and pressed his face to the glass, grinning widely. "It's the library." He said, opening the door. The boys stepped inside, each left in awe as they looked around the grand library. The bookshelves were lined in neat rows around the circular library, modern silver tables with spinning, royal blue chairs placed in random spots along the room, and glass windows making up the entire north wall. "This place is amazing." Trace said, grinning as he began walking around. "No way. Look! It's two stories!" He said, pointing up at a staircase they hadn't seen before. They stepped forward some more and looked up behind them, smiling as they saw the glass railing that enclosed the top half of the room. In the center of the library there was a large row of computers on either side running across the room. The chairs were cushioned and the computers looked expensive, just like the ones upstairs. "This is too cool." Ryan said, running his hand over one of the glossy silver tables. "That's not all, though." A female voice said. The boys turned and faced the main, circular desk that sat behind them. There was two computers at the front for student checkouts, and a printer at the back of it. "We serve coffee and hot chocolate here, too." A short girl with dark hair and brown eyes with specks of green said, smiling as she sat down at one of the computers. "It's really good too." Another girl said from behind the boys, joining the dark headed girl behind the desk. "I'm Delia, and this is Hannah." A blonde haired girl said, pointing at herself first and then at the brunette. She sat down at one of the computers beside Hannah. Ryan smiled at the two, thankful they were being nice and not rude. "Hey. I'm Ryan, this is Clark, Zach, and Trace." He said, pointing to each of the boys as he said their names. Hannah nodded, giving the boys a thoughtful look. "You boys are new, aren't you?" She said.

"Yeah. We just transferred in from Brassford about fifteen minutes away from here." Clark said, crossing his arms. Delia nodded, giving a slight smile. "I'm sorry you got off to a bad start here." She said, nodding her head in the direction of the cafeteria. "Those guys are a bunch of jerks. They all follow Darren around as if he were a god or something."

"Wait, who's Darren? Is he the one who started it all?" Trace asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. He's such a jerk. I'm sorry to say this, but you guys made a new enemy today and he's not a nice one." Hannah said, sighing slightly.

"He's going to try and give you a really hard time while you're here, but just ignore him. He's a wimp. He won't fight anyone unless his henchmen hold them back." Delia said.

Ryan nodded, biting his lip as he thought back to the incidents they had experienced only a couple minutes before. Darren's dark hair was spiked up at an angle, his dark eyes constantly scanning the room for someone to pick on. He reminded Ryan of Estemus, only Darren wasn't as evil. Darren looked like a normal school bully, willing to pick on someone and taunt them, but not kill them. Estemus had an evil, cold look in his dark eyes that said he wasn't scared to kill anyone. Ryan shook his head, bringing his attention back to the present. "What lunch do you guys have?" Hannah asked, pulling the lever under her office chair to make it sink down lower. Delia laughed and did the same, both of them grinning as they looked up at the boys. Clark took out his schedule, pressing his eyebrows together slightly as he looked it over. "I have the last lunch. I think we all do, actually." Zach and Ryan did the same, nodding at their older brother. "Yeah, we do." Zach said, crumbling the paper back up and putting in to his pocket. Trace cringed slightly. "Do you have to be so messy, Zach? Why couldn't you just slip it into your notebook?" He asked, clenching his fists in irritation. There was nothing that bothered Trace more than folded papers. It drove him crazy seeing a paper crumbled up, wrinkled, or torn. Zach smirked, taking it out and folding it in all sorts of directions. "Not all of us are neat freaks like you, Tracey." He said.

Clark rolled his eyes, sighing slightly at his brothers. "What grade are you guys in?" He asked Delia and Hannah. "We're both sophomores." Hannah said, a thin smile on her lips. Clark frowned slightly. "Then why are you two behind the main desk?"

"We're library aids. We get to help out and be a student aid for the librarian." Delia said. "We sit here for a class period and check books out to people, organize shelves, or just run errands for Mrs. Miller."

"I'm guessing that's the librarian?" Trace asked. Delia and Hannah both nodded.

"Class starts soon. You guys should get going." Hannah said.

"Alright. Thanks, guys." Clark said, nodding. "We'll see you around." The boys waved, heading out of the library. "Maybe not everyone here is a jerk." Ryan said, shifting his bag to his other shoulder. "Just get to class. Trace, here's your schedule." Clark handed his younger brother a different paper. "Before lunch, lets all meet up right here, okay?" He asked, pointing to the front of the library. "Behave. Don't lose control." He said, walking off in the direction of his class. The boys nodded and departed, each going their separate ways. Ryan sighed slightly. He wasn't liking Dawson so far. He shoved his hands in his pockets, wandering around the hallways until he found his classroom. He took a deep breath before going inside, praying that there was none of the jocks in his room. Ryan stepped into the room, only to feel his heart plunge to his stomach. Sitting in the back of the room with a tipped chair was none other than Darren Coleman. He looked up and saw Ryan, the corner of his mouth lifting up into a smirk. "Hey, look who it is." He said, pointing up at Ryan. His friends that were laughing stupidly turned and saw him, mimicking the same smirk Darren wore. "This is going to be a fun class." Ryan muttered under his breath, taking a seat in the desk right beside the door. He leaned his head against the wall, the thoughts racing through his head. Everything would be so much better if Peyton was there. She always knew how to make him feel better and she could always make him laugh without even trying. 'I wonder what she's doing right now.' He thought, rubbing his arm. He smiled without realizing, feeling happy at the thought of her. Ryan flinched slightly, as he felt something hit the back of his neck. He brought his hand up to his neck, detaching a large spitball from his skin. "Disgusting." He muttered, wiping his hand against his trousers.

"There's more where that came from." Darren said, his friends laughing loudly. Ryan turned and glared at him, clenching his jaw. He smirked as he noticed the water bottle sitting on Darren's desk. Ryan stared intently at it, pressing his eyebrows together as he focused. Within seconds, the bottle burst loudly, water splashing onto the jocks. Darren jumped, angrily wiping at his clothes that were now wet. "What the hell!" He yelled, his ears going red as he looked around in embarrassment. Ryan grinned, resting his head back against the wall. He looked up as he saw his teacher walk in the room. The man began to speak but stopped once he noticed Darren and his wet buddies. "What happened?"

-Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate it. Don't forget to comment or vote! :) -