Enemies Without a Limit

Chapter 18

          *                                                           *                                                                    *

Damn, this place is huge, Darryl thought mindfully as he took in the very large-scale auditorium packed with at least eight-hundred other freshman like him, lightly chatting among themselves. It was freshman orientation at Curtis High School and it was a chance for the new freshmen to greet and meet with each other, teachers, guidance counselors and their principal, before their classes started in an hour. He walked down one of the long aisles, stopped to one of the middle rows and slid through a row.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" Darryl asked a girl who was blankly staring into space. As she turned to him, Darryl's breath hitched. He hadn't much chance to really look at the other girls but by far she had to be the prettiest. The first thing he noticed was her eyes. They were big, warm, and brown. She had an innocent, but playful face, with honey-brown skin. She had a natural beauty to her that had him reeling in. Her lips looked soft, plump and inviting. But her hair was a sight too, with it's long and curly length which seemed to bounce from of her sudden movement. 

"No. Go for it." she answered with an inviting and friendly smile. His breath caught again.

Darryl took his seat beside the girl, searching through his head to find an interesting topic to talk about. The stretching awkward silence was palpable and he thought that he had lost his window of opportunity to engage her in conversation, until she turned to him once more.

"What middle school did you go to?" asked the mysterious girl beside him.

"Oh, um, I.S. 27." Darryl replied.

"Oh cool. I went to I.S. 75." she offered. Darryl mentally beat himself up for forgetting to return the favor and ask her. C'mon Darryl, don't fuck this up. 

"Oh, I heard of that school. Do you have any friends from your old school here?" 

"No. No, not really. They all abandoned me and went to school in Manhattan." she replied with a teasing pout. Darryl laughed and she joined him, her laughter sweet and musical and he liked the sound. "What about you?" 

"Nah. Same here." Darryl answered as their laughter died down. There was another pregnant pause between them, but this time it was more comfortable. As she had turned back and looked straight ahead towards the stage he used his peripherals to stare at her some more. Her outfit was simple, just a graphic tee that read 'I <3 Me. You should too.' and some faded, distressed jeans. Her chest wasn't as developed as many girls her age but they showed a lot of potential. 

She turned back towards him and he quickly diverted his gaze. "Hey, wanna compare schedules?" she offered as she dug out her schedule from her blue, floral-printed bag. He took his schedule from his pocket, silently hoping they had at least one class together. They held their schedules side-by-side, scanning through. 

"Ooo! We have math together...oh and lunch!" the pretty girl chirpped. Darryl smiled weakly in response. Damn it! Really? Math of all subjects, Darryl thought to himself as he loathed his weakest subject, Why couldn't it be English or history?

"You don't say much, do you?" the girl asked curiously, breaking into his thoughts.

"Oh! No, I don't mean to be so quiet, it's just--"

"Good Morning and Welcome, Class of 2012, to Curtis High!" boomed at voice on stage through the microphone, cutting Darryl's words. They both looked toward the stage to the plump, yet average-height man who stood behind the podium. He grabbed the mic from it's stand and began to walk around the stage. He had a bright colored maroon blazer with the Curtis High logo and blinding white slacks, and judging by the lockers that Darryl saw out in the hall, they must have been the school colors.