Challenge | Adam Banks

TWO

Delanie slipped through the grand doors as quietly as she could, leaving her brother out of sight and out of mind. The vast theater was already nearly full of high school students - some new, some returning. The state of the room was a strange, hushed-loud, with everyone talking quietly, yet all the combined voices rising to booming volume. The giant crowd formed a pit in Delanie's stomach. Where on earth was she going to sit?

Her gaze darted all around the room, searching desperately for a seat by itself. In the searching process, she found a pair of brown eyes encased in a face that she would've found handsome, had she not known the person it belonged to. Lady luck surely had it out for Delanie, for it was quite unfortunate that the first person to recognize her in this school was Nigel Sweeney. She held his gaze for far longer than she would've liked to, as she gave him enough time to actually react to their eye contact. He acknowledged that he knew her by sending her a wink that made her shiver, causing her to quickly return her focus to looking for a place to sit.

She finally found a suitable seat just a few rows from where she was standing. Walking as softly as she could so as not to draw attention to herself, she made her way towards the empty chair. Next to the seat she had in mind sat a blonde girl in a leather jacket whose attention was focused on picking at the dirt beneath her finger nails. She didn't look up as Delanie approached, which forced Delanie to loudly clear her throat. The other girl's head flew up, her eyes growing wide. After a tense moment, Delanie nodded at the empty seat, "Um, is it okay if I sit here?"

The blonde nodded vigorously, awkwardly adjusting her body in her own seat. "Of course!" she said quickly, flourishing her hand over the chair for dramatic effect. Delanie hurried to sit, setting her bag at her feet as she did so. The blonde girl took a moment to collect herself before turning back to Delanie with an outstretched hand, "Hi, I'm Mabel."

Delanie, almost alarmed to hear the girl talking to her, jumped a little bit at the suddenly heightened volume of her voice. Once she comprehended that she was just introducing herself, she smiled and shook her hand, "Delanie. It's nice to meet you."

Mabel returned her smile, easing back into her chair. The Dean hadn't made his appearance yet, so there wasn't much else to do but talk to the people around you. The couple to their left were too infatuated by each other to spare a passing glance, so that meant that if they didn't want to die from boredom, the two girls were going to have to get familiar with one another. Mabel was the one who struck up a conversation, "So, are you a freshman too, or is that deer-in-headlights look a permanent kinda thing?"

"Deer-in-headlights look?" Delanie asked, fighting off the embarrassed blush the threatened to cross her cheeks. Sure, she was incredibly nervous, but she thought she was doing a fine job of hiding it. Perhaps it was the awkward interaction with Nigel that blew her onto the wrong foot.

Mabel began to explain what she meant, but Delanie's brain blurred it out as Jett walked through the doors, an unbridled confidence in his stride. He gave a few high fives to acquaintances he passed, flashing smiles and exchanging greetings with anyone who said his name, before making his way to his teammates and friends. Delanie scowled as she watched him plop himself in between Nigel and Chris, two of his oldest - and most obnoxious - friends. Seeing her brother being treated as a celebrity just deepened the pit that was already in her stomach. To get him and his friends off her mind, she turned back to the blonde next to her, who seemed to be waiting for a response. Delanie cleared her throat, "Uh, sorry, could you repeat that? I got a little distracted."

Mabel laughed, "Clearly. What, another one of Jett Park's fangirls?"

Delanie had to stop herself from gagging. Hastily, she shook her head. "No, God no," she spat, the thought of Jett having any sort of "fangirls" making her sick to her stomach. When she caught Mabel's waiting expression, she sighed. "Jett's my brother," she explained, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so.

A look of realization flashed in Mabel's eyes as she clapped her hands together. "I totally see it now!" she exclaimed, pointing at Delanie's face, "you guys have like, the same nose."

Delanie rolled her eyes. "Haven't heard that one before," she grumbled. Their appearances weren't eerily similar or anything, but when you put them side by side, it wasn't exactly hard to tell that they were related. That was about where the similarities began and ended. Steering the conversation away from herself, Delanie questioned her new acquaintance, "If you're a freshman, how do you even know who Jett is?"

Mabel shrugged, "I mean, everyone kinda does. He and Rick Riley are like, household names for people at Eden Hall." This statement earned another eye roll from Delanie, which caused Mabel to laugh again. "I actually know Jett because of my sister, though," she explained, "she had like, a huge crush on him last year."

"Of course," Delanie snarked, just holding herself back from rolling her eyes a third time. School hadn't even technically started, and she was already hearing about how much everyone loved her brother.

Mabel turned her nose up as she reminisced on how her sister would talk. The blonde girl's lips curled as she mimicked her sister's voice, "She always droned on and on about how the entire hockey team was dreamy. Everyone at this school practically worships those hockey boys. Personally, I don't get it. I think baseball players are way hotter."

Delanie shook her head, "I've been around hockey players since I was three, and I'll tell you right now that they're all the same." Mabel nodded in agreement, but raised her eyebrows in a way that asked Delanie to explain further. The dark-haired girl scoffed as her eyes wandered to the group of upperclassmen siting across the room, "They're all loud, classless, meatheads that only care about two things: girls, and hockey." She watched in disgust as Chris, Rick, and another boy teased a group of freshmen that sat in front of them.

Mabel seemed to concur with almost everything her new friend said, but still opened her mouth to ask a question, "Well Jett seems..." her voice lulled to a silence as an older man took the stage, tapping the microphone to get everyone's attention.

The room silenced immediately, everyone focusing their eyes and ears on the man in front of them. Delanie immediately knew that she must've been looking at Dean Buckley, the man whose name was signed at the bottom of her acceptance letter, and who Jett seemed to think was an absolute legend. He seemed to be an esteemed man, but he lost Delanie after "illustrious tradition of excellence."

Delanie pretty much tuned out the rest of his speech, until his voice was laced with a new enthusiasm. He recaptured the young girl's attention with his heightened pitch. There was a beaming smile on his face as he spoke, "We proudly open our doors, via full scholarships, to a truly gifted group of student athletes. So, will you please join me in giving a big, rousing Warrior welcome to the gold medal winners of the Junior Goodwill Games. I present to you-"

Delanie and Mabel both jumped in their seats as the curtain behind Buckley came crashing down, revealing a tumbling group of teenagers on rollerblades. The entire audience roared with laughter as the kids fell on and over one another, shoving each other and trying their hardest to scurry to their feet. A brunette boy emerged from the accidental dog pile, an embarrassed smile on his face. "Hi," he started, the microphone picking up his voice, "we're the Ducks."

Mabel smacked her palm against her forehead as everyone in the crowd continued to laugh. This time, Delanie couldn't hide another eye roll. She knew exactly who the ducks were - Jett had demanded that the entire family watch their tournament run on television. However, he had failed to mention that they would be attending Eden Hall as freshmen, just like his younger sister. If Delanie had known that, she would have seriously considered public school.

"What an entrance, hey?" Mabel joked sarcastically as the Ducks made their way off-stage.

Delanie scoffed, "As if they need one. At least with the Ducks here, maybe people will drool over them, and not bother me about my brother."

"Oh, I wouldn't count on that one," Mabel suggested, elbowing her friend in the bicep. Delanie followed the girl's gaze over to her brother and the rest of the varsity team. They were all laughing the hardest out of anyone in the building. Rick and Chris were still giving the kids in front of them hell, and Jett had a look on his face that Delanie had never seen before. Mabel caught the girl's attention once more, "I don't know too much about how Eden Hall works, but I don't think this group of snobby rich kids is going to take very kindly to our new friends."

"We'll see," Delanie started, her eyes still narrowed at the group of older hockey players across the theater, "like you said earlier though; if there's one thing these people love, it's hockey players."