Why Me, Why Now?

Jacksonville High, Here I Come...

LACI ANDREW'S P.O.V.

     As I walk into my new school, I pull my beanie low, and tuck my blonde hair behind my ears. I look around, and immediately get scared that everyone will stare at me because I'm new, but to my surprise, no one is looking at me. Not even in my general direction. I look around for the office, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I must have looked lost, because a guy and a girl come up to me and start talking to me as if I know them.
     "Hi there!! I'm so glad you made it! I know where you're going, so I'm going to take you there. That alright with you?" The girl said, swinging her dark brown curly ponytail all around.
"Um, sure, why not? But I've gotta hurry. I have a meeting with the principal. It's about-" I start. The girl interrupted me, and grabs my hand and makes me follow her. The guy she was with walked quickly behind us to wherever it was we were headed.
"So, where exactly are we headed?" I asked, confused when we passed the office sign.
     "Why the gym, of course! It's the night of the big game! It's a pep rally, duh!!" The girl said, still dragging me and bopping her ponytail. I stopped dead in my tracks, refusing to let her take me further.
     "I need the office, not the gym. I'm new here..." I explained, as nicely as possible.
    "Oh dear! My mistake! I'm so sorry! I thought you were the DJ. Okay, follow me this way to the office. If Mrs. Moore gets upset for you being late, I'll explain it was my fault that you got sidetracked. She loves me," she says with a huge smile and a head tilt.
     We head over to the office, and on the way, the guy following us finally speaks.
     "Um, since you're new here, hi, I'm Taylor. Taylor Starks. Nice to meet you. And your name is?" He asked, going in for a handshake.
     "Oh, um, Laci Andrews. Nice to meet you, too," I say with a smile, shaking his hand. His grip is really tight, and I have to actually pull slightly in order to get away.
     "I'm Amber Riley. I'm the student body president. That's why I was trying to get you to the pep rally, and why Mrs Moore loves me..." She explains, looking me up and down.
I notice that she is dressed really well for school. She's wearing black dress shoes with white knee high socks. A light blue sweater over a pale pink button up shirt. Then I see why she's staring at me. I'm wearing my skinny jeans, high tops, beanie, long sleeve t-shirt, and a bunch of bracelets on my wrists. Her hair is all pulled back and going into one curl, where mine is pulled into a messed up side braid.
I'm continuing to compare and contrast each other, as I'm interrupted with Amber talking.
"Anyway, this is the office. Warning, Mrs Moore comes across as kinda mean, but she means well. Good luck!" Amber says with a huge smile, turning away. I turn to head in the office, but Amber quickly runs up to me right before I have a chance to enter. "Oh, and this is my number. Call me when you get out of here, and I'll show you around, okay?" She asks, kind eyed.
     "Yeah, thanks, Amber!" I say, as she turns and walks away, Taylor right beside her.
     I turn into the office, and look at the secretary. She's young with long dirty blonde hair. It's straight, so it falls perfectly on her shoulders. She stands up and walks around the corner. I see that she's skinny, too. Seriously beautiful.
     "Hi, how may I help you sweetie?" She asked, with the sweetest voice ever. Yet, I'm still nervous.
     "Um, I'm looking for Mrs Moore. I'm new here, and I don't know where to go..." I try to explain without my heart beating out of my chest.
     "Oh honey, no need to be scared. Her office is right over there. Just head down that hallway. She's the first door on the left. Hope you like it here," she said, pointing down a hallway, smiling sweetly at me.
I head down the hallway, and see a plaque on the wall that read:

     MRS MOORE'S OFFICE

     I walked in and stood in the doorway. I looked up to see a woman in her early thirties with medium length black hair and glasses writing in a notebook. She looked up and saw me, and took off the glasses.
     "Come in. Sit," she instructed, pointing to the chair in front of her desk. I take a seat, and look up at her, shyly. "Hi, I'm Mrs Moore, as you probably already know. You must be Laci Andrews, correct?" I nod, not saying a word. She reaches into a drawer, and grabs a file folder. "Okay, good. Your file here says that you were a straight A student up until the last semester of 10th grade, and then they suddenly dropped to B's and C's. Why is that, Mrs Andrews?"
I scramble in my head to find a reasonable explanation, being as I couldn't get her the full story without telling her my entire life story.
     "Um, I can't tell you a lot of it because of the amount of time we have, but long story short, um, my mom and dad started fighting really bad, my grandma died, and I started caring about that stuff more than my grades. However, I did get them back up in the last month or so." I say, not making eye contact the entire time.
"Understandable, but you need to keep your grades up this year. Colleges look at your grades for high school, especially junior and senior year. I expect great things from you Mrs Andrews. Good luck. I'm sure a student will be happy to show you around and get you to your classes," say says, handing me a slip of paper with classes and teachers' names on it. "I hope you love it here. Welcome to Jacksonville High," she said, half smiling, putting her glasses back on, and getting back to her paperwork.
     I slowly stand up and leave her office. I go back through the hallway to the main office and grab the doorknob when the secretary says something.
     "Good luck, sweetheart. If you ever need any help, I'm always here," she said, smiling and her blue eyes twinkling.
     "Hey, Amber? I'm out..." I say, pulling my phone out, and calling her.
     "Great! How was it?"
     "Um, good, I guess. Where are you?"
     "Oh, I'm still in the gym. Hold on, I'll come and meet you."
     "Um, okay," I say, hanging up. I'm waiting in front of the office, looking around. Scanning the crowd.
Suddenly, I see a girl coming towards me. She has almost bleach blonde hair, it pulled it a tight bun. She was wearing a cute dress that shows off her back, and it was kinda short.
     "Hi, you must be new. I'm Makenzie Starks. Nice to meet you. What's your name?" She said, obviously preppy.
     "Um, Laci. Um, I'm supposed to be somewhere, but I'll talk later," I say, trying to walk away.
     "Oh, no. That's fine. I don't mind. And neither do my friends, right girls?" She says, her eyes going all mean and she turn to the girls behind her.
     "Uh, yes ma'am!" They say in unison.
     "Meet Zoe and Nikki Masters. They're twins." Makenzie says. As she points at each I notice the differences quickly. Zoe has long straight hair, whereas Nikki has short wavy hair. Zoe seems more into jeans and t-shirts, like me, but Nikki seems more into dressier clothes. Zoe doesn't seem to be wearing makeup, but Nikki seems to be wearing A LOT.
     "Um, well, I gotta go. Talk later?" I ask, turning around and leaving before they have a chance to stop me.
As I turned around, I see Amber, and I quickly run up to her.
     "I see you've met the real world version of Mean Girls, the Plastics. It's crazy how similar​ they are. What were you doing with them, anyway?" Amber asks, looking kinda offended.
     "I have no clue. Makenzie came up to me, introducing herself, and she wouldn't let me leave. I finally had to just literally run away towards you." I say, upset at the fact I was pinned in a horrible situation.
     "Well, that's Makenzie for you..." Amber says, rolling her eyes, and heading back to the gym.