Nameless - I

01 - What the F is String Theory!?

This story begins on the first day I laid eyes on her.

I started school in the middle of the first semester of the school year. Awkward. My mom had always promised never to do this to me. This time I had agreed to go along without a fight under a few conditions - not that I really had a choice. No more moving until I finished off my junior and senior year at one high school. And I could go to the local high school of my choosing.

I chose a school with a population of over a thousand students. This might be every day for you but for me, it was as exciting as going to Disney World.

The school was in a new state and I didn't know a single person. The first day the dean introduced me to a student to show me around, an obligatory assigned friend for the new girl. We will call her Katie. She is an overachiever-type, pretty in the way that most blondes with blue eyes are. Not a bombshell by any means, she had the slim body type of a runner. A long-distance runner is more accurate since that was her position on the track team. She was also in the school band and part of the student council, like I said overachiever.

Yet, in a school this large with so many different types of people she blended into no particular group. She was slap dab in the middle of the high school hierarchy. I knew right away I'd fit into her friend circle. They were right in my comfort zone. This story is clearly not about her.

At lunch she introduced me to her friends, there were about five of them sitting at her table. Her boyfriend, whose name I can't remember and don't feel like making up, was also in the band and participated in an unspecified sport. And her best friend Kris, he was in theatre and captained an all-male acapella group. Her other three friends were fillers like me, I won't introduce them.

Kris and Katie were tighter then PB&J in a sack lunch on a hot day. They would always quote Mean Girls. I can't remember how many times I'd walk up to them, sitting together their heads bowed giggling and gossiping, for them to look up and exclaim, "You can't sit with us!" Only to have them pat the seat next to them or pull a chair out for me.

They were also the biggest gossips I'd ever met. Real life gossip girls. They seemed to know everything about everyone. It was through them I learned about her, or at least how everyone at school viewed her.

She was the first topic of gossip for them to discuss after introductions. It was, "Hi, everyone this is the new girl", after which everyone introduced themselves. They asked me a couple of questions about myself. Where was I from, what my hobbies were, and if I was dating anyone. I made a couple of jokes and tried to be as charming as possible about my uneventful life.

I mentioned I was a dancer, classical nothing hip, I didn't have a boyfriend, and wasn't from much of anywhere-yadda yadda, same ole, same ole. I was met with approving smiles and then it was on to the real conversation. The Dirty.

Most high schools have a formal newspaper or newsletter, run by students and supervised by the powers that be. Sunny High was no different; however, Sunny High also had an online "newsfeed". One unknown to the grown-ups. It was called, "The Dirty".

It was a place where students could post what was going on in RL. And anyone could post if it was dirty enough. You could upload the link or photo you'd taken and then follow it with a description. It was users choice to post anonymously or loud and proud. Then you would wait, if it was juicy enough the admin approved, then it was posted for the world to see. Students posted pictures of fun parties with blurbs about each person. Jilted lovers posted dirty secrets about their exes.

There were stories of cheaters, and love triangles and scandals. It was a parent's nightmare and a snooping future employers treasure trove. For the students of Sunny High, The Dirty was a badge of honor. You only got on The Dirty if people cared about what you did and were worth mentioning. Kris and Katie claimed they'd uploaded several tidbits. Though to me it didn't seem they were running in the right crowd to get the deets.