Jack Frost Nipping At Your Nose

New Kid

                Chapter Five: New Kid

               

                “Some party, huh?” Clara asked messaging her temples. I nodded peering around my shoulder making sure no one was around. Confusion crept across her face as she slowed her pace to stare at me. “Are you feelin’ alright? You’ve been paranoid since the party and that was, like what, two days ago? What really happened in the woods? Oh my God! You were raped by some psycho, weren’t you? I knew it!”

                “Raped? What are you talking about?” But her words hit me hard. It could have so easily become that, especially in the bathroom. What stopped him? I shook the image out of my head and pressed a thin smile across my face. “It was nothing.”

                “Whatever you say.” She grumbled. “Besides, we have more important things to discuss, like your mother’s face when she found out about the dress. How exactly did that go, anyways?”

                “I don’t want to talk about it.” I murmured. She belted out a hollow laugh. When my mother found out I had ruined my six thousand dollar dress, it was like WWIII. Her tanned skin turned a boiling red, dad just stared as she swung wild punches through the air fuming with an intense rage I could barely comprehend. I didn’t dare tell her about the shoes for fear of my own life.

                Clara’s laughter suddenly stopped. I glanced up as she tilted her head off to one side in confusion. “When’d we get the new kid?” She asked. I followed her gaze.

                There, standing maybe a couple yards ahead, was a boy dressed in an all white suit and a slender black tie. He wore dark shades to hide his eyes and his caramel colored hair was kept short and sweet, sweeping right above his left eye. His skin had a faint olive tent, but from what I could tell was flawless. Beautiful. I felt Clara’s confusion sinking in. At Masterson High School, it was extremely rare to receive a new student let alone receiving one without the rest of the school knowing. We operated on a small town system. Everyone knew everyone, gossip spread like wildfire, and in one day this guy defied it all.

                “We should talk to him.” The words slipped right out of my mouth. Clara snapped her head back to me in shock.

                “Wait, what? Have you seen us? Have you seen him? No! Girls will be swarming him in two seconds flat! I’m not up for that!”

                I gave a dull shrug off my shoulders. It was true. Every high school had them, the plastics, the fakes, the populars. It didn’t matter what you called them, the outcome remained the same: they were the top of the food chain and wanted the rest of the world to know. If I gathered the guts to speak to this guy, I’d be dead before dinner. But somehow, I didn’t care.

                “I want to talk to him.” I said. “With or without you.”

                Before she had a chance to protest I started down the deserted path towards the boy. I watched as he fixed his shades to a point on his nose. A fine, lopsided smirk rested on the side of his mouth as his gaze reached me. All I could do was bring my hand halfway up and give him a half-hearted wave.

                “And who might you be?” My heart nearly skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. A deep, southern British accent grazed his lips. I let it swell in my eardrums and rest in the pit of my stomach. How was it possible he already had so much power over me?

                “W-Winter.” I hiccupped. I sealed my eyes shut in embarrassment. Out of reflex, I brushed my hair over my face to try to conceal the rose color I was sure was quickly spreading across my cheeks.