The Badass

Chapter 1-New Student

The moment I walked into the school, I knew I would have a tough time keeping my temper down around here.  I mean, there were plenty of girls here, but there were guys too.  My anger management therapist said it would be safe for me to go to the local co-ed school, instead of my dad shelling out money to send me to the all-girls private school or ship me off to an all-girls boarding school.  Besides, being in a school full of girls was really terrible, things could get reeeeeaaaallly catty and vindictive there with no boys to  distract the bubblebrains that somehow ruled the gossip world. 

I walked out of the office, and into the now-empty halls.  The bell had rang five minutes ago, so a late pass was lodged inbetween my fingers.  I sighed, looking at my map.  I shouldn't have declined that offer for an escort, I thought as I looked at the map in my hand.  My first hour was circled in blue, and it could be at the end of the universe, for all I knew. 

"Okay, room 204," I muttered, and started off in the direction I thought it was in. 

I finally found it, when 45 minutes of my 55-minute class had gone by. 

Only the rest of this year to go....

***

I was staring restlessly at the clock, waiting and willing the remaining ten minutes to fly by when the door burst open.  A high-heeled, black and white sneaker with silver studs on the toes was the first thing in the room.  A thin wrist with a beaded bracelet and silver tangled charm bracelet tossed a wadded up late pass onto the desk.  Finally, the person herself walked into the room.  The collective sound of boys leaning forward in their seats and the hiss of girls sizing up the competition blew through the room. 

I wasn't one to ogle over girls, but this girl...well, she was gorgeous.  Clad in a black tank with a plaid button up worn like Britney Spears in her "Hit me Baby one More Time" video, she showed a little skin without being super provacative.  She had paired it with a pair of cuffed jeans that hit just a little below the knee, revealing toned calves that eventually vanished into the wedge sneakers.  A bag with a cartoon of what appeared to be sushi on it was slung over her shoulder, along with a purple plaid bag.

Her brown almond shaped eyes searched the room until they landed on the only empty seat, which was the one on the window, right next to mine.  She started toward it and was about to fling herself into it when the teacher stopped her.

"Are you the new student?" she asked harshly.  New Girl turned her head so quickly the tip of her blond braid smacked me in the eye, blinding me and causing my remaining good eye to notice that her hair was really long.  Unbraided, she could probably sit on it. 

"Yeah, I'm Avery Callicks," New Girl-Avery, I guess-responded in an indifferent tone. 

"And would you mind telling me, Miss Callicks, why you are 45 minutes late to a 55-minute class?" the teacher said, a cold tone in her voice. 

"Um, in case you haven't noticed, I'm new here, and this school is a maze.  You should consider yourself lucky that I made it here at all," Avery responded, her tone so icy it made Antarctica seem nice and warm. 

The teacher opened her mouth, most likely to give her detention, but the bell rang shrilly, cutting the teacher off and allowing Avery to get lost in the flood of students walking out.  I saw though, that she was cutting a swath through the students by either pushing them out of her way, or they got out of her way. 

I didn't see her again until free period, where I hade to go to Group.  People in group had "issues".  Everything from eating disorders to schizoprenia got shoved into Group.  Me, I previously had depression.  I took antidepressants and was totally fine according to my doctor, but my mother and the school still made me go to Group.  I hated it, nobody even remotely interesting was in there.