Artemisia High

1 | New Girl

Cress ran her hands through her hair. It was short and choppy. She cut her hair a few days before to reinvent her look. It felt good to no longer carry the burden of long hair, a burden she lived with most of her life.

It had been over a month since Crescent Moon found her father. Every waking moment had been spent learning about one another. She recounted her days in the orphanage, and he told her everything he could about her mother.

Cress never realized how wonderful the outside world was until she left the orphanage. Now, she spent all of her time outside exploring every corner of California. She'd tried human interaction, but that was hard when her whole life had been full of "yes, please," and, "no, thank you," and, "my name is Crescent Moon." She never became very close with any of the other orphans. There was one boy, Julian, that she was fairly close to, but that tale ended tragically. Cress had gone through the orphanage's files and discovered that Julian did have a relative who lived in the next state over. Cress hacked into the system and tried to contact the relative, but the next day, Julian was gone. That was when the owner of the orphanage began keeping her separate from the other orphans and put her to work.

Presently, Cress was getting ready for her first day of high school in San Francisco. She would be attending a school called Artemisia High School. Cress had scoured the Internet to find out why it was called that, but there was nothing on the subject. No clever reason, no old town, and no historical figure. Her only hope was to ask around and see what she could find.

As she looked through her vastly empty closet, she picked out a plain white dress for her first day. She didn't want to draw too much attention to herself; being foreign would already do that.

The entire car ride, Sage quizzed his daughter on the different landmarks around them. He made sure she knew her way around the town so she'd be safe. He couldn't bear to lose her again.

Finally, they reached the school. Even though Cress had researched the school extensively, she still didn't expect what lay in front of her. The building looked even bigger than in the pictures, and of course, there were the kids. They populated the front lot and courtyard in different cliques. Before Cress had the chance to take it all in, her father was ushering her out of the car.

"I have a job interview to attend and I don't want to be late. Good luck, honey, and call me if you need anything. I'll be back to pick you up after school."

"Okay, dad. Wish me luck."

"You've already got more luck than you'll need."

With that, he drove off, leaving Cress to explore her new life. It was weird not being in the orphanage every day with nothing but her blanket to protect her. Now, she would be treated as any normal teenager would be. She would soon learn that wasn't much better than how orphans were treated.

After a thorough examination of the building, Cress walked inside. She already had her schedule but didn't know where any classes were located. After all, the school was bigger than any building she'd ever been in.

Cress spotted a brown-haired boy chatting with a few other guys. He looked like he knew his way around the place, so naturally, Cress went up to him.

"Excuse me," she said, tapping his shoulder meekly, "do you know where I can find room 204?"

The boy spun around to face her. He looked her up and down and laughed.

"Are you sure you're in the right place? You don't look like you're from around here."

Cress stood a little straighter, imagining she was the queen of Artemisia High School. He was one of her subjects, perhaps the jester. She let out a shaky breath and spoke again.

"I command you to tell me where room 204 is, please."

The boy laughed again and elbowed one of his friends. "Get a load of this! You ever seen this girl?"

All of the boys shook their heads.

"Why don't we give the master a proper welcome and show her where her place is, huh, boys?"

Cress stood proudly and waited for them to tell her where the room was, but instead, the boy grabbed her wrists and slammed her against the locker. Cress let out a whimper and tried to push back against the boy, but his comrades formed a wall around him.

Just as the boy was about to make another move, a hand slammed against the adjacent locker. Cress was too afraid to look and see who it was; she was locked in place by fear.

Much to Cress's surprise, the voice that rang out was female.

"Knock it off, Roland."

"Scar!" Roland said, turning to face Cress's savior. In that moment, he let go of Cress and let her fall to the ground. "You know this girl?"

"I know she doesn't deserve this crap you're giving her. Pick on someone your own size, Roland, though I doubt there's someone as small-minded as you."

Roland looked at Scar with fury. "I'll get you for that, farm girl." With that, he walked away and his henchmen followed.

"Are you alright?" the girl said, crouching down to Cress's level.

Cress took this opportunity to get a good look at her. Her hair was a mess of red curls and her skin was covered in freckles. She wore a plain red hoodie that seemed worn from age. She looked strong enough to take down all of those guys by herself, as she certainly wasn't nimble and small like Cress. They were practically opposites.

"Thanks, Scar."

"Scarlet."

"Huh?"

"My name's Scarlet. Yes, like the hair, thanks for asking."

"I didn't ask..."

"Oh, I know. It's just that everyone asks. That's why I sometimes go by Scar. It makes me seem tough to those who think I'm not."

"Oh."

Scarlet smiled. "You're not from around here, are you?"

Cress shook her head. "It's my first day."

"A freshman, then?"

"No, a junior."

"Oh. Sorry. You just seem a little—"

"Small? Yeah, I get that a lot. Or, I would, if I had anyone to talk to."

Scarlet held her hand out to Cress, which Cress took gratefully. Scarlet pulled her up and put an arm around her.

"Why don't we get you to class before karma comes for me in the form of Roland's fist?"

"That would be great, thanks."