Rumor Mill

Chapter 1 - Attention

"Tay, do you want a ride to school or not?"

"Jor, I already said yes! I'm just looking for my shoes!"

He laughed at me. He was always laughing at me. "Well, you wouldn't be having this problem if you didn't throw them at Cam yesterday."

"Wouldn't be having this problem if you didn't throw them at Cam yesterday," I mocked. "If he wasn't being such an asshole then I wouldn't have thrown my shows in the first place!"

"Yeah, well, they stink. Ya stink, Jardine." Jordan wasn't the best at comebacks, but he was my best friend. "I'm outside now."

After putting my Converse on, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed for the stairs. I made my way outside to find Jordan parked in front of my house. Rob was riding shotgun, but got out so I could instead. 

" 'Morning, Tay."

"Good morning, Rob. Where are the other guys?"

"Mike told me that he thinks he's sick and Cam has overslept, as usual." Rob replied. I chuckled at the thought. So typical of them.

These were some of my favorite mornings: in the car with my friends, windows down, singing along loudly to whoever's ipod. I never wanted it to end, but it had to once we got to the school parking lot. Oh, high school - what a heartless bitch. I mean, I did well enough and I kept to myself, but some days it just wasn't enough. I guess hanging out in the library and being involved in things like the orchestra automatically get you pegged as a dork. I knew that. I don't know why I question it. But things should be questioned, shouldn't they?

Jordan and I have the same homeroom, which meant that we had to split up from Rob; it was on the other side of the building. Our first class was English. I liked English. We got to write and talk about books. We took our familiar seats: far back enough to keep from inviting attention, but not so far back that we couldn't read the board. 

"Whoa," I heard Jordan say. "Check her out." 

I looked toward where he was pointing to see a blonde girl standing nervously in the doorway. She was beautiful. 'Must be new,' I thought to myself. 'How awful.' She made her way to Mr. Perkins' desk and handed him a paper. I saw her lips moving, but everyone was being too loud for me to make out the words. He nodded and smiled at her, and pointed to the seat in front of me.

"Babe alert, Jardine. Please turn off your emergency anxiety systems before it accidentally launches projectile vomit at the newcomer." He said in a hushed tone.

"Eckes, I will kill you." I punched him in the bicep. He rubbed it and frowned for a moment, but immediately started giggling once the girl took her seat. I could feel him poking me in the back with his pencil. I kept jabbing him in the leg with mine.

"Jesus, Tay!" He exclaimed. 

Jordan was just loud enough to catch the new girl's attention. She gave us both a weird look. I smiled sheepishly at her. She gave me a small smile in return. 

"Hi there, "Jordan said, trying to be cool. "New here?"

"No, I've actually been going to this school for years. I've just been invisible." She replied in an unfamiliar accent. I burst into nervous laughter. She gave me another small smile. 

"Oh. Yeah, well..." Before Eckes could think of a good comeback- which was highly unlikely to begin with -the bell rang. The blonde turned back around in her seat.

Mr. Perkins took his usual place in front of the class. "Good morning, everyone. Before we start the day, I'd like to introduce the newest addition to our student body. Jenna, if you will?" He gestured at the girl. She stood from her seat and I tried not to eye her ass too obviously. Who could blame me? It was right in front of my face!