This Side Of Paradise

'-_one_-'

(Jewel... Idk who she is. I found her on tumbler! Lol. )

     I sit in my new classroom, looking at the walls and while listening to the murmurs of class discussion over the periodic table and it's relevance to God. In all the movies, everyone seems to notice the new girl, because at the moment they can even seem exotic; but here I am wrong. Everyone seems to look past me and the only acknowledgment I receive is from the lady at the front desk who has such thick glasses I don't think she even saw me.

     My long dyed red hair is plopped messily on top of my head and my makeup is applied lightly so I don't come off as, 'warning! fake bitch!' Maybe I look sloppy, is that why no one is talking to me? my jeans are frayed in certain areas and the sleeves of my University of Houston hoodie go inches past my wrist, my fingers just poke out feeling the cool air of the classroom.

     I moved out into the countryside with my parents, two dogs, and my cat names Pickles, to a small school in a small town called Mattsville. It was because of my dad who does real estate and the city is getting crowded and wanting to move out into a quieter area. My mom does online college at the moment but she wants to get into interior design and works really hard at her studies. She didn't seem to care about moving, actually, it seemed like she never even noticed. I had to leave behind my old school and all my old friends in exchange for a larger plot of land with neighbors whose cows persist to escape and eat our lawn.

     I've always been a really good kid with grades good enough to get on the Honor Track every year. I was captain of the softball team and competed in debate for the past 2 years, I was content with my life, nothing was astray or wrong. Since the move I have finally settled into this school at the start of second semester and I hoped that I would be challenged with more difficult work, but I seems that even my request for work has disappointed me. 

I watch the kids frantically shake their papers at the teacher and ask how the simple compound problem should be solved. I'm just thankful that I moved in my sophomore year rather than freshman or senior; that would have been grueling. At least my birthday is coming up and I will be 16 and I can talk my parents, mostly my dad, into letting me get my drivers license. 

What kind of car do I want? Maybe a truck, that might be useful out here...

     I was so focused on staring at the wall and thinking, that I didn't notice someone trying to get my attention, even with them nonchalantly waving their finger in my face. I look up at this kid with blond hair and big glasses staring at me, waiting for my to reply and I don't even know the question. The heat rises to my cheeks, embarrassed by my daydreaming.

"Excuse me?" I ask very politely, he was, after all, very attractive and seemed nice enough to try and talk to me.

"I asked what your name was." He smiled with perfectly straight teeth and it was genuine.

"Oh, Hi. I am Jewel. Powell. Jewel Powell." I hesitantly end up repeating myself. Embarrassing, I thought to myself. I mentally rolled my eyes at myself for being such a geek.

"It's nice to meet you, Jewel, I'm sorry that you are stuck in a classroom with a bunch of fools."

"Aren't you in this class?" I mean, wouldn't he be calling himself a fool?

"No, I am a junior. I was coming in to get this paper signed by the teacher. Mr. Kavinsky is the Physics teacher also. By the way, I'm James. Johnson. James Johnson." He says, smiling again while he mimics my stutter, but in a kind joking way. 

How could I forget to ask him his name?

"Oh well, I can't say that they are fools. This is an honor class." I tilt my head and smile.

"Don't let your eyes deceive you." He smirked, which faltered when he heard the teach call him over. "Later." He turned on his heel and walking coolly and casually to the teacher's desk.

~(later)~

     Walking into the lunchroom, I know this will be the biggest battle yet. Obviously the stereotypical groups are set and the jocks sit with the cheerleaders,the nerd sit with their computers open, the alternative kids sit with their headphones in staring at each other, and then there are little me's; the people who don't have a group and sit alone. Luckily i decided to pack my lunch today because by the smell wafting around the room, frozen ground beef is being heated and put into horribly stale taco shells. The atrocities they feed these kids, it's a wonder we don't all get sick and never get to come back to school because we died, or maybe that's their motive.

     I begin to walk in through the door as the kid with the blond hair and adorable glasses sees me and waves me over towards his table, the jocks, and the cheerleaders. I avert my eyes and continue to walk the other direction, which doesn't work because he gets up and starts walking towards me while practically shouting my name. I'm mortified as people turn and look, well everyone because the kids with their earphones on, I'm grateful for them.

"Hey! You! Dammit..." He points at me, shaking his finger while he searches for the name, my name. "JEWEL!" He bellows way too loud.

Reluctantly I turn, I have been chased, cornered, and captured. "Hey." I muster. When he walks up to me I notice that he's at least a foot taller than I am and I have to look up at him. His eyes are a shocking green I never noticed before and he has a cluster of freckles on his nose.

"I know you saw me waving you over." He says to me sternly, like an owner would scold a cat for knocking something off a table. "Why don't you come sit with us?"

     I look at him in silence and raise an eyebrow. Pondering if he sincerely asked this question or was it meant to be rhetorical. He continues to stare so I assume it was meant to be answered.

"Because... I don't know them." I somewhat scuff at him. 

"You know me!" He pouts his lip at me, like a child begging for candy. 

"Barely. You waltz into my classroom, make small chat and you think I  know you?"

"Damn. Sassy, I think we will be great friends." He smiles, grabs my wrist that's resting on my hip, and pulls us to the table of glaring eyes. I'm doomed.

     After standing at the table wondering where I would sit, James moves his backpack off a seat next to him and gestures for me to sit. Raising my eyebrow again, I cautiously maneuver over the cluster of backpacks and sit down. 

"So J.J. who have you brought to the table?" A quirky cheerleader asks with a very high pitched voice that reminds me of Ariana Grande. I mentally roll my eyes. 

     I practically vomit from the overbearing smell of cologne and perfumes that seem to hover stagnantly over this table. Everyone is staring at me, some have this judgemental glare that shoots from their eyes like hot lasers while others look actually curious. Then there's a girl picking at her nails acting very uninterested in my presence. I swallow my discomfort and smile. "Hi. I'm Jewel Powell."