Spying on the Enemy

Chapter 1

                “Six more months until I graduate.” I repeat this to myself in my head while sitting in pre-calculus on the first day back from Christmas break. My teacher is droning on about some equation or some sort that I already forgot how to do. Who decided it was okay to give me math first period anyway? I barely passed Geometry my sophomore year.

                “Tia, would you like to tell me what the answer is?” Mrs. Calum looks at me expectantly. The whole class turns to where I sit in the back of the room. My best friend, Quinn, looks at me with a smirk on her face. She knows I haven’t been paying attention the last hour of class.

                “I-“ I look to Quinn for help. She has always come to my rescue in math class.

                “The answer is pi over two.” Quinn’s red platinum blonde hair swings forward as she faces Mrs. Calum.

                Phew.

                “Very good Quinn, but next time I would appreciate if Tia actually answered the question.” Mrs. Calum looks pointedly at me.

                Shortly after, the bell rings to dismiss us to our next class. I grab my purse and walk up to Quinn’s desk. She is frantically stuffing everything inside her folder. If my best friend is anything, she is an over-acheiever. So she has all of her notes out for class. Mrs. Calum stands at the door to greet the next class coming in. Quinn and I dash out of the room before the juniors make us move faster. I have to go to gym class next, so I take my time. I walk Quinn to her AP anatomy class. Today she is dissecting a cat. Ew.

                “Have fun picking apart a cat,” I say.

                “Why do you have to make it sound more disgusting than it already is?” She scrunches her nose at me.

                After she walks in, I go to my locker. My French teacher glares at me from her classroom.

                “Bonjour Madame Clare.” I slam my locker shut, walking away to the locker rooms. The minute bell rings before I reach the door. Then the actual bell rings just as I walk into the locker room. My gym teacher gives me a warning look. She knows that gym isn’t really my thing. The locker room is abuzz in conversation by the time I open my locker. The girls next to me talk about their Christmas and the ridiculously expensive presents they received. Another girl talks about her vacation to Germany.

                The downside of going to a private school in Manhattan is definitely the snooty girls that accompany it. They are all kids of wealthy doctors, politicians, or businessmen or women. Even though my parents are well-off, I don’t make it a point to brag too much. Not even about the car they purchased for me for my seventeenth birthday in June. For Christmas, my mom and dad surprised my brother and me with Disney World tickets for this summer. Since we have never been to Disney World, I was extremely excited for the present. Theo, my eleven year old brother, was the most excited though.

                Changing into my shirt and shorts, I tie my gym shoes next. By the time I get into the gym, most of the students are walking around the gym in a circle. For the first ten minutes, we walk to the crappy music they insist is in this time of year. A Beyonce song plays in the background. I spot my friend Spencer walking with another guy from the lacrosse team. His hair is spiked up today. I run over to him, relieved to have a friend in the same gym period as me. Last semester I was stuck with a bunch of juniors who thought it would be funny to continually hit me in the head with a volleyball. Underclassmen are the worst.