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It seems that Isaac notices my alarmed expression.

"Alright now, Sinclair. It's fine," he whispers, tapping my shoulder, rather roughly. He seems to now have a nickname for me after not even being acquainted with me for an hour. "She ain't that bad. Just got charged for a few, pretty minor.." he pauses, glancing away from me.

"Minor.." I repeat, motioning him to continue and to not leave me hanging.

"-cases concerning her possession of crack." he blurts.

My eyes widen. "CASES CONCERNING WHA-"

"Sssshhhhh!" Isaac smashes his index finger against my lips. My shock reaches an all time high. While I saw it before as impossible to become more appalled, I now realize that I was dead wrong. My disbelief stands beyond me at this point. I continue to sit, speechless, and ultimately decide that I'd better just accept whatever the hell is going on. I've probably experienced weirder things at home, watching Mom do her virtual Zumba classes. A silence quickly ensues. I notice the others in the room begin to stare at me, seemingly right through me. I then return my gaze to Isaac, who swings his head low, and then nods to himself. "She's good."

The group shares glaces, in some sort of unspoken communication. As if the silence didn't seem more endless, it lasts for another few seconds, before the stares turn into positive murmurs. The murmurs then alter into the group silently cheering, and flashing me huge smiles. They seem to ignore me mouthing "What?" to them, as their smiles continue to grow larger. A girl from behind approaches me, and studies my face. With an eager grin, she whips out her hand to me. "Amira. I hope you like it here."

"Huh?" Is all that can escape my mouth.

Amira retains her smile that is about the size of Africa. "Babe, you're the first to not threaten to snitch. Do you.." She takes a quick pause, likely just to stare more into my soul. "..wanna maybe actually join this?" Due to my speechlessness, my face remains blank. "It isn't that huge, or exciting, I know. But it's our little family. Maybe a new member could be.. pretty nice." After saying this, she timidly looks downwards, and as I struggle for an answer, I notice her taking quick pauses to look back up at me.

Admittedly, it's pretty adorable.

"I don't see why not." I laugh. This results in Amira squealing a booming "YES!" and the rest of the group coming close to me, with looks of approval and the occasional high five. In almost an instant, I notice that one member has stayed in their original spot, not looking particularly happy at all. As Jay remains in her dim corner, she peers at me, with squinted eyes. Almost in a sinister manner, but not quite. Despite the positive uproar from the others, I feel myself becoming more and more uncomfortable as she shoots daggers with her eyes.

A tan, husky dude then approaches me, and he looks as if he's been directly ripped off of an issue Sports Illustrated. "I am Romeo," he says with a grin, and an immensely heavy, Spanish accent. He then holds out his monstrous hand for me to shake, and then proceeds to shake the life out of me within three seconds. "That little shy guy right there, that's Thomas." Romeo directs his hand at a frail, babyfaced kid, seated in the same dark corner as Jay. "He'll speak. Eventually."

8:20 AM

Before I can make any further conversation, the room begins to vibrate as the second period bell rings. This prompts Isaac to snap his fingers with a toothy grin. "Guess that's it! See y'all pubes later." He proceeds to dart up, and flick the back of my shoulder. "That means you, Sinclair. Get to your next class." The rest of the group begins to depart the small room, one by one, all waving goodbye to me. I can't help but plaster a massive (and probably ugly) grin across my face. These people have been some of the most welcoming I've met at this hellhole. Despite their rather odd intentions.

Jay is still rested in her corner, seeming to have no intention of getting up. It's odd that she didn't leave with the others, or even begin to. Is she waiting for me? I quickly dismiss my thoughts. She likely has a free period. I finally gather my things, and before my hand reaches the door, I hear a thunderous stomp behind me.

"Wait." Jay orders.

Fuck.

I slyly turn to face her, without a clue of what she's about to tell me. It's not like I know her well enough for her to intimidate me too much. It's not like we're close friends, and she's about to have a "we need to talk" conversation. I snap myself back to reality in an instant. I'll be fine.

"We need to talk." She sternly says.

You've got to be joking.

She softy motions me to come her way, and I begin to think that she can probably hear my rampant heartbeat from feet away. She can probably smell fear.

Without any change in her facial expression, she holds a strong gaze with me, then sighs, jerking her head downwards. "I don't trust you. At all."

I let out a dry laugh, in a shitty attempt to lighten up the mood. "I don't expect you to trust someone you've known for less than an hour, so it's cool."

She keeps her cold tone. "You haven't given anyone a reason to trust you, so why is everyone else carelessly letting you in?"

I shrug. "I really don't know. But what I do know is that I have no intentions to ruin this. I'm pretty fascinated by it, actuall-"

"Pull any shit and you'll regret it, alright?" She blurts.

"Noted."

And with that, I prepare to dash out of the room, hoping to avoid any further comments she had. As I reach the door, I feel her eyes on me from behind. If this little talk was a ploy of hers to intimidate me into not coming back, it's definitely working.

"One more thing," I hear her muster. I contemplate whether I should turn around or not.

"Nice ass, Sinclair."

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