𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 | chase davenport

( 001. ) | new in town

     THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL after a vacation was always an epically disappointing end to the carefree sunny days spent mostly indoors for Cher Holloway. Even with her status as a "popular," girl, that didn't mean she was always going out and about with her friends. Cher spent many of those blindingly bright days indoors with the curtains closed, curled up in a warm blanket in her bed. She would circle the same few websites, trying to find new things to distract herself over break. Oh, and go to her dead-end job. Yuck. Those days made her dread school and her very existence more and more.

However, she had been able to make herself happier about the predicament with all the memories she made over her vacation. She went out occasionally and did a fun activity or two with friends. But, even though her constant free time ended, she could see certain friends she had missed over break—especially a certain one returning from a two-week-long trip to England to visit her dad's side of her family.

Said raven-haired girl quickly cornered Cher, catching her as she locked her new locker, which was unfortunately located right by the school entrance.

"Aw, no welcome back hug?" The girl whined in a light tone, a sly smirk palpable in her voice as she leaned against the lockers.

Cher's eyes met the girl's and soon enough she was enrapturing her in a hug. The two grinned, laughed heartily, almost tripping into someone walking through the hallway. Oh, Justine, alive as ever. Justine had always been full of an energy that Cher often lacked. Just seeing her again made the tired sophomore lighten up.

"There's your welcome back hug, you dork," Cher chuckled warmly.

The raven-haired girl pulled away from the hug, but the grin on her face did not leave. "It's great to see you! You look great. How was vacation?" She asked.

Cher nodded. "Great. I got to sit around doing absolutely nothing for a while, and also got to go out and play air hockey, go boogie boarding, and play laser tag,"

Justine's nose scrunched up at the mention of the last game. "I remember you texting me about laser tag. Wasn't Trent there?"

Cher sighed, rolling her eyes as she remembered just how disastrous that day went. "Yeah. Nancy seriously needs to make new friends. Poor girl thinks that Trent's bro-ey "macho man," Cher gestured air quotes with the words, "self is a good guy and into her, but the only reason he came along was so he could leech a free game of laser tag off of her. And during it, he kept shouting insults at the other team. The only good thing about it was that I was able to shoot Trent "accidentally" several times during the game."

"God, now you're making me jealous. I wish I could have done that. He's just so... awful," Justine complained, waving her hands frantically in frustration. "Having to deal with him and his posse of future 'roided up frat bros everyday is just annoying."

Cher chuckled, "Don't you mean Just-ine-oying?" She continued to giggle lightly at her own pun as Justine rolled her eyes, giving her friend a light push of the shoulders, but nothing could stop Cher and her puns.

Justine's annoyed shout of "Shut up!" made Cher giggle harder.

Justine rolled her eyes, taking out a crumpled piece of paper. "Okay, well, ignoring that awful pun," She quickly stuffed the paper into Cher's hands, "What classes do you have? I have biology first."

Cher at first quirked an eyebrow at her, knowing that Mr. Wachokowski's classroom was all the way on the other side. Before Justine could respond, the two heard a loud wrench of metal not far from them. Justine's eyes widened, getting an eyeful of the situation. Cher's gaze warily moved to the site of the disaster, making her share Justine's shock. One of the new kids, a tall brunet, tore off a locker door with his bare hands. It didn't even seem to be out of malice or anything. He continued smiling as he held the door out to the owner of said locker. If it wasn't for how earnest and innocent his smile was, Cher would have found it creepy, but the boy clearly didn't know better. Somehow.