something new | crygi

two

From New Mexico, the Methyd's went straight to their new home in California. Los Angeles, California to be exact. "Great, a town full of rich kids who will never have to work a day in their lives," Crystal thought as they drove past the lines of mansions that didn't seem to be uncommon in the town. The Methyd's new house was nicer than the one they lived in back in Missouri, a little bit bigger, but nowhere near as modern or fancy as most of the others in the area.

Crystal's first few days in LA were spent unpacking her belongings and trying to familiarize herself with the places in town. She found a local pizzeria, ice cream shop, coffee joint, and thrift store, all the essentials. Before she knew it, it was Sunday night. School started the next morning and Crystal could not be less excited.

"Crystal you are being ridiculous. Everyone is gonna love you! Plus, I've heard they have a great art club!" Crystal's mother exclaimed in a tone somewhere in between sympathetic and annoyed.

"I'm not joining any clubs for a little bit Mom. I need to adjust first, and I doubt that I'll make friends easily. These kids are all rich! They will probably want nothing to do with me," Crystal rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get ready for bed now."

Her mother took that as her cue to leave the room, not saying anything else. Crystal used to be close with her parents. They had the perfect life back in Missouri. Once a week they had family game night, and they would always eat dinner together. This changed when they told Crystal about the move for her father's new (and better paying) job. She had tried to bargain with them, asking to stay in Missouri with her grandparents, but they refused to hear her out. Their relationship hadn't been the same since. Realistically, Crystal knew that they felt bad and she was maybe being a little bit unfair. She would never admit that to them though, choosing to shut them out and try to make them feel guiltier instead.

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The school seemed huge and ominous as Crystal looked out the window on her father's truck. They drove through the parking lot to the front entrance, Crystal examining the cars and students that went along with them. Her eyes were quickly drawn to a bright pink convertible with a pretty blonde girl sitting in the front seat of it. The license plate read "FABULUS." Crystal made a mental note to steer clear of the blonde dressed in all pink, as she seemed like the type of girl that would be a bitch to her back at home.

After receiving a list of classes and a map of the school, Crystal headed to the first place on her schedule: drama class. She quickly found a seat towards the back of the room and got out a notebook and a pen, trying to blend in as much as possible. She looked around the room at the other students who were talking amongst themselves. Her ears tuned in to a conversation between two guys towards the front of the room, only one of which she could see from where she was sitting. She didn't catch what they were talking about because all she could focus on was how familiar the guy out of her view's voice sounded. She was trying to place the voice when her thoughts were interrupted by the teacher, Ms. Sport, clearing her throat to get everyone's attention.

"I trust you all had a delightful holiday break. I want everyone to check the sign up sheets in the lobby for new activities, especially our Winter Musical," she said in a theatrical voice, emphasizing the end of the word musical. "We will hold single auditions for supporting roles and pairs auditions for our two leads. There is also a final sign up for the upcoming art show; art club president Jackie Cox can answer any of your questions on that," Ms. Sport announced, motioning towards the dark haired girl who was sitting next to Crystal.

Suddenly a ringing noise filled the classroom, someone's phone, which cause Ms. Sport to change her tone as she continued to speak.

"Ahh the cell phone epidemic has returned with the new year to plague our space of learning. Gigi and Gavin, hand them over and I will see you in detention! We have zero tolerance for cell phones here so we will get to know each other in detention!" Ms. Sport spoke as she approached Crystal, holding a bucket out for her to place her phone into. Crystal reluctantly dropped her phone into it. "And welcome to East High, Ms. Methyd."

She continued to collect the phones of almost the entire class, telling them they all had detention after school in the auditorium before dismissing them at the bell. Crystal felt a hand on her shoulder as soon as she walked out the door.

"Hey! What're you doing here?!" Kyle blurted out, a little too excited. Crystal's eyes widened at the sight of him. So that was the voice Crystal had recognized.

"Oh my god! Hi! My dad just got a new job here!" Crystal laughed, feeling relieved to know someone already. "I can't believe you live here, small world huh?"

"Yeah, guess so. I can totally show you around the school if you want. Or the city sometime maybe? I can show you all the best places in LA! All the spots my friends and I like! It'll be so much fun, like a date almost! Well-not a date- unless you want it to be? Have you been to California before? I could show you some of the other cities too if you'd like—" Kyle's rambling was cut off by Crystal abruptly turning down the hallway to the left as she followed her map;  she had barely heard two words of anything he had just said. He walked a little faster to catch up with her.

"Well anyways, welcome to East High. I bet you're just dying to sign up for that now that you've met Ms Sport." Kyle spoke as he motioned to the sign up sheet for the winter musical that they were walking by.

"I don't think I'll be signing up for anything for a while, but you totally should!"

"Yeah well, that's completely impossible."

"Nothing's impossible for you Kyle," a flirty voice said from around the corner.

"Shit," Crystal thought. It was the blonde girl from before. She was even prettier and more intimidating up close. Her bright blonde hair shined even under the dull light of the hallway and her all pink get up looked like it was made specifically for her. It probably was.

"How nice of you to show the new girl around," the girl said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

She then took a pink pen with feathers at the end out of her pink purse and signed her name across half of the sign up sheet in big, cursive letters. "Gigi Goode." Of course she had a model name.

"Oh, did you want to sign up too? My brother Gavin and I are in the musicals every year, but newcomers are always welcome! I'm sure we can find some supporting role for you!" the girl, Gigi, smiled passive aggressively, her piercing blue eyes now looking straight into Crystal's. Her eyes flashed with something Crystal didn't recognize as she held the pen out to her.

"No no, just looking!" Crystal responded quickly as she didn't want Gigi to get the wrong idea and end up on her bad side.

"Okay, great!" now switching her attention to Kyle. "Kyle, did i mention how handsome you look today? I sure missed you during vacation," Gigi said with the same flirty voice from before.

"Kyle must be her boyfriend," Crystal thought, not that she care, but then saw the awkward look on the guy next to her's face which seemed to say otherwise.

"Yeah-uh- me too!" Kyle stuttered. Gigi looked back and forth between the two of them before turning down the nearest hallway and bidding them goodbye with a "toodles!"

As soon as Gigi was out of her sight the fake smile that was plastered across her face dropped. "God it is hard pretending to be straight," she couldn't stop her mind from thinking. "Especially in front of a pretty girl."