The Marvelously Disastrous Misadventures of Jack Scarlett

Chapter 3: "Mr. Cool Kid"

I had never looked up so fast. I almost gave myself whip lash trying to see Lilith. For the first time, I was truly grateful that I sit myself in the back of the classroom, because I am sure that I would have been laughed at. But everyone else was in front of me already looking at her. Fortunately. Seeing as people left me alone, I also had the only empty table all to myself, so naturally the new girl was to sit next to me. I mean, why shouldn't she? Even though she would surely find a way to squeeze in at another table after a while of being subjugated to my company. But I thought that there might be hope for us. Where did that thought come from? I was a introverted creature of habit. I have never cared about friends. But there was just… something… about her that made me think differently. I shrugged it off as she approached my table, being steered there by Ms. December. I am not sure, but at the time, she seemed to be practically beaming and essentially walking to my table on her own, without Ms. December's influence.

She sat down and got out a sketch book that had a pure black cover with a pencil drawing of a cartoon rabbit on it. She opened to an empty page so that she could commence that morning's warm-up that was on the board. Before she started though, she looked at me and said, "Hey Mr. Cool Kid. I was meaning to ask isn't dyed hair and contacts against school policy or something? Or are you just too cool and intimidating to be told off by the teachers." I was shocked. No one thought of me as a cool kid, so I was confused, then her other words registered in my head. So that was why she was unafraid. It was unfair, that she thought of me as some sort of cool rebel, when I was frankly, just the opposite. I actually conformed to the extent where other kids would be bullied. Homework turned in on time, always on time or early, attended every school function without fail and without complaint. The only reason I wasn't bullied was because of the last part of what she said, people were scared of me. But not her. At least for now anyways.

I hastily corrected her, "It probably is against the rules, but that doesn't matter. This is actually all natural, not a single part fake." She had seemed mildly surprised by that. Her blue eyes had reflected her previous amusement. "Oh really? Is that what you tell the school to let you keep it Mr. Cool Kid?" She had asked. I was mildly irritated by the way she called me that name. At this point we had both started the warm-up and were conversing over our sketch books, mine being a slightly more expensive one that I went out of the way to but with my own money. It had a metal front and back, with the front having a design of a skull with gears popping out of its top. The pages were a slightly better quality than normal and I had even bought a set of different types of really nice pencils. My art was one of the only things that I spent money on. I saved the rest of the money I had earned from my job (more on that later).

Anyways, our conversation went something like this:
J:  Could you not call me that. Also, no, it is really actually this color on its own.
L:  What, you mean "Mr. Cool Kid"? Why would I stop calling you that, I mean, aren't you?
J:  No.
L:  But-
J:  No, I am not cool, just the opposite of it really. I only have one person that I can call my "friend". And that is just mutual attraction seeing as we are both rejects.
L:  Isn't that a bit harsh? I mean you can't be that unpopular… Can you?
J:  Yes. Yes I can.

It continued in that way for a while as she realized(from me) that essentially I was the least popular kid at this school and definitely not cool. Honestly, where did she get that idea. Are cool kids the loneliest looking ones at her old school or something? I had no idea at the time. But, we finally established that and now we were discussing each others art. The warm-up told us to draw our dream house. She had drawn a haunted mansion, complete with broken windows, ghosts, and a falling apart structure. I hadn't put much thought into mine because I tried not thinking about future houses due to my upbringing. So, I had simply drawn a two story house with a garage and fenced in yard. While it may seem a bit detailed, I wanted it to look like I at least tried.

As it had happened, we had just finished a project a few days prior to that and were getting ready to start a major project. As the T.A.'s examined everybody's warm-ups, we sat there waiting for Ms. December to tell us about our new project. After learning what it was, we started getting the necessary supplies and the like. When class was almost over, I decided to ask her what the rest of her classes were.

As it happened, we had almost all of the same classes.