[Pg-16] Oakville High: The New School Year!

[Evil Troy]

Week One

Oakville High, a school that has long been known to be the most prestigious in the country, a school where only those with great wealth could attend. Well that was until just recently that is. For some reason, the past few years, tuition has gone down and the school has been admitting students with the highest grades from other schools to attend. Some say the school has been short on cash but who really knows. What is known, however, is how fresh and clean the morning air is, there’s not even a cloud in the sky. It is obvious that this day is going to be a beautiful day. To bad school has been in for almost a month now and all the students would have to be inside on this beautiful late summer day.

Many of the students of Oakville just made their way to the classroom were they took their seat and wait for the class to start. Others grouped up with their friends outside the classroom to talk about this and that. But when the late bell rang they all made their way into the classroom and took their seat. Normally it would take a few minutes for the first period teacher to make it to class but for class 11-C today was different. Today the students were met by their home room teacher. A kind of short woman who was in her late thirties, she had medium length brunette hair and always seemed to wear a smile.

“Alright everyone I would like you all to but put on a big smile, for today you all will be receiving a new class mate!” She said as she clasped her hands together, her smile getting bigger as she said this. “Now then I…”
About that time a tall man with short black hair walked in. He was wearing khaki pants and a light blue button up shirt with a sweater vest over top of that.

“Alright everyone if you will all settle down and pull out your…oh hello Mrs. Price….Am I interrupting something?” It was truly amazing how this man, their first period teacher, was so oblivious to what was going on. Mrs. Price just turned and looked at him with a slightly annoyed smile.

“Uh-hmm, it’s nice of you to join us Mark, are you usually late like this? Anyways as I was saying,” She turned and looked back at the class. “A new student has just transferred to our fine little school and will be in your class. Now then I would like you to give a warm welcome to Mr. Kouhei Ryo. Mr. Ryo you may come in now.”

It was then that a tall Asian kid entered the room. Wearing the schools uniform he awkwardly stood in front of the class, his blonde hair standing out like a sore thumb.

“Umm hi…not really sure what to say.” It was obvious that the new kid was kind of nervous.

“Why don’t you just tell us a little bit about yourself?”

“Oh umm well as Mrs. Price said my name is Kouhei Ryo. My father is Japanese and my mother is American which is why my hair is blonde. I um was also born in Japan but I’ve lived in the States pretty much all my life.”

“Ah thank you Mr. Ryo, you take a seat in the open seat towards the back. Now then I must be heading towards my own class. See you all later. Oh and Mark, try not to be late anymore.” With that Mrs. Price left the room and Kouhei quietly took his seat. It was then that the first period teacher made his way up to the front of the class

“Man that woman is always on me about something…Oh umm just ignore that class. Anyways, Kouhei my name is Mr. Johnson and I am your first period teacher. But back to business, due to some unexpected computer troubles I was not able to make out your quizzes so I have postponed it until tomorrow. You all may take this day as a study hall if you so choose. Now then I need to run to the teachers work room for a second so if you will just work quietly until I get back. Oh and if you choose to talk while I’m gone please do so quietly, thank you.” Shortly after saying this Mr. Johnson grabbed a few pieces of paper and headed out the door. Kouhei found it amazing how this teacher seemed so unorganized and oblivious; even though this day was just starting he could already conclude that this beautiful late summer day was going to be an interesting day.

[Willow's Tara]

Cooper had sat near the back of the classroom listening to the teacher, and then the introduction of the new kid. It was a shame he wasn't a girl Cooper though, they could use more of them not there weren't many attractive girls in this very classroom, he gave a wink to a girl looking his way and also gave his famous charming smile. He had already had two dates in the last month but neither got anywhere, maybe third time will be the charm for this year.

The teacher left to do a few things so Cooper opened a book but couldn't help but to look at the girls in this classroom, all of them were pretty enough and he was sure some of them even liked him. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk to one, especially the pretty girl sitting next to him.

"Hey, how you doing? Cooper asked in the same way Joey from Friends said it and gave his charming smile.

[Crow]

Cyanna walked into the classroom and sat on the far left towards the window. She gently set her books down on her desk and looked around the classroom, noticing the new person. She smiled and pulled out her one sketchbook with the words 'People' written on it, she then began to draw a small portrait of him.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara and Tamika walked into the classroom and walked over to Cyanna. "Hey Cee-Cee" Tamara said. The sat in the seats in front of Cyanna. Tamika pulled out her notebook and wrote a note to Tamara and Cyanna. "New person" she wrote, nodding towards Kouhei. Tamara nodded. "Maybe he needs some friends?" Tamara said, her voice questioning the thought slightly. Tamika wrote a new note to Cyanna. "Want to practice the band club piece at lunch time?" she wrote, handing this note to her.

[Crow]

Cyanna smiled when the twins sat down in front of her "Hi Tamara, Hi Tamika" she said smiling before she received a note from Tamika "I do beleive so" she said softly as she then flipped her art book around to show the twins "I already have him in my book..." she said smiling before receiving another note from Tamika "I'd love to" she said as she nodded.

[Bravado]

"She was a-seaside sittin', just a-smokin' and a-drinkin' on ring-siiiiide... On top of the wooooooorld-awh-yeaaaah! She had a drink in 'er hand, she had 'er toes in the sand, and WOAH! What a beautiful giiiiiiirl! Oh yeeeeaaaaah!"

Seated in the very back of the room was an extremely tall young man, legs draped upon the back of the chair in front of him. The desk seemed to do a terrible job in accommodating for someone of his height, resulting in a somewhat awkward, folded-up appearance. Despite the fact that there was a very specific dress-code, William had done his best to individualize the uniform, doing anything from putting sweat bands around his sleeves to untucking his shirt and leaving the belt unclasped. Though the school had requested that he get his hair cut, he instead chose to tie it back with a generic rubber band, stating that he "had to keep it for those chilly winter nights that we know are comin' on soon".

As the other students spoke to one another, he continued to lean back further still in his seat, twirling a headphone around his finger. If one were to stand in close proximity, they would hear Van Halen's "Beautiful Girls" blaring from it, which was indeed what he had originally been singing. By now, he had become aware of how loud his singing was and had toned it down to a dull roar. As he sang quietly to himself, he tore a piece of paper from a notebook and proceeded to doodle one of his infamous stick-person swooners. Momentarily, she was accompanied by two "friends", one drawn in teal and the other drawn in magenta. The main stick-woman, one he often drew and referred to as "Lorraine", was always done in yellow and given blonde hair, respectively.

"Here I am, ain't no man of the woooorld, naaaw, all I neeeed is a beau-ti-ful giiirl! Ohhhh YEAH!--Beautiful girl!"

Once the song had ended, he sat in silence for a moment in an attempt to take in the class' conversation topic. A new kid? How did he miss it? Wrapping his headphones around his iPod and slipping it back into his pocket, he refined his seating position to one of simply slouching and focused intently on the new kid. Widening his eyes, he created a sort of false staring competition with the student, playing based on the fact that he was shy.

This kid's gonna cave in no time.

[Crow]

Cyanna then looked back to her drawing as soon as Will walked in the room. His headphones were blaring as usual causing her to grip her pencil a bit tighter than normal, not that she didn't appreciate music... But she wished that the boy would preserve his hearing at least.

[Abstract Monkey]

Sean was sitting at the very back, in the corner furthest away from the door, of the classroom. He was always certain to be the first student to arrive so he could secure this very seat. His so called safe haven

Sean was reading a book, as always. His current reading material was a novelle called The Road to Jerusalem. First part of a trilogy about a young mans journey through life. He had picked it up the other day and was nearly done with it.
And just as often as you'd see Sean Farley reading a book, you'd hear William McCallister singing along with one of his favourite tunes. The other boy was always sitting in the back, near Sean. Listening to loud music and often singing along. Drawing, mostly, indecent pictures involving a harem of stick figures.

At first Sean had found the guy annoying. But after a short while, he had grown accustomed to the constant music. It had even affected his reading. He often found himself reading at the pace of the music, the faster the beat/music went, the faster he'd read. And the other way around.

More of the usual consisted of Cooper Rivers hitting on various beings of the opposite gender.
And out of his eye he caught the sight of three girls; Cyanna, Tamara and Tamika chatting and joyfully exchangeing notes with each other. More of the usual.

At that time Mrs. Price was about to introduce a new kid to the class. Just before that though, the classroom teacher Mark entered at his usual time. Late.

Sean had only vaguely heard what was said by the teachers. And he only looked up briefly to get a look at the new kid. What he had observed was a medium height guy with asian characteristics and very blonde hair.
Sean didn't really like new people. They tended to make him nervous. He never knew how they'd treat him and his problem.

[Evil Troy]

Relaxing back in his desk Kouhei just sat quietly. To be honest he was expecting some of his new classmates to come up and introduce themselves, but he was surprised when no one did. He could definitely feel the love.

‘Wow I’ve only been here for like what ten minutes and I already feel like an outcast.’ He thought to himself as he leaned his head up against his hand. ‘Oh well, I guess I may as well see what kind of people are in my class. Hmmm…..lets see here.’

As he started to look around the first person he saw, that caught his interest, was a guy with short brown hair. From what little bit Kouhei heard from his conversation with a girl sitting next to him he could tell that he was a player.

‘Wow I guess it’s true, every school has one.’

Next was a group of girls, three of them, each sitting in front of the other one. They all seemed pretty cute but he noticed that one of them, a brunette with long hair, kept on looking over at him before looking back to a small notebook on her desk to jot something down. Kouhei could feel his face grow hot as he noticed this, but it was until that same girl showed the notebook to the other two that he knew his face had to be shinning a bright shade of red.

‘Umm normal enough I guess…but what did that girl write down about me? Hmm I wonder if she thinks I’m cute or something? Ha here’s hoping.

After the group of girls he noticed a guy sitting in the back corner all by his lonesome. It wasn’t hard to deduce that the guy was a bookworm, and probably anti-social as well. But the bookworm seemed normal compared to the guy sitting next to him. He was tall and just a little while earlier he was even singing to himself. Now, however, he was just starring, starring with unrelenting focus on Kouhei. He couldn’t help but to feel a little uneasy and a bit creped out by this guys stare.

‘So pretty much so far I’m in class with a guy who is focused on women, three cute girls, one of which may think I’m good looking, a bookworm, and a guy who is umm well….focused on me….’

It then hit him; everyone in the class may just be waiting on him to say something before they introduce themselves. Granted it was stupid logic and he knew it but it was worth a try. Kouhei then looked over at the group of girls and smiled a little.

“Umm excuse me but you wouldn’t happen to know why that guy in the back is diligently staring at me would you?”

[Willow's Tara]

Cooper noticed the new kid seemed a bit off, probably wasn't sure how to introduce himself to the rest of the class, he knew how that was back in the 8th grade he had the same problem, but then a guy in the 12th helped him become open and charming. He was going to get up and introduce himself but the new kid started talking to the pretty girls across from him, he would wait until he was done talking to them. Maybe he could use some of Cooper's advice, if he had problems with women then he would be happy to help, but considering he just spoken to one of them the kid probably isn't too bad.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara looked at Kouhei and smiled, her cheeks going ever so slightly pink. "No we have no idea why that guy keeps looking at you, maybe he's gay and has a crush on you" she said, stifling a small giggle. Tamika giggled and wrote something on her notebook and showed Cyanna. "I think Tamara might have a crush on the new kid" she wrote. She quickly wrote another not, this time for Kouhei, she handed it to him. "I'm Tamika, the school freak, I mean mute, my twin sister Tamara is the one who just spoke and the artist girl is Cyanna, we are all in the band" she wrote.

[Bravado]

That was all it took. In a flash, William tore his gaze away from the new student and proceeded to lean forward in his desk.

"Gay?! Whoa there, bro, this cat doesn't roll that way! I was just trying to break the new kid here in a little bit. Y'know, to see what we're dealin' with. So far, he seems scared shitless of all of us, and I'll admit, that's probably my fault."

With a small snicker, he resumed leaning back in his chair, hands behind the back of his head. After a moment, he grew to feeling somewhat awkward and once again removed the cap from his Sharpie to add more women to his growing collection.

[Evil Troy]

When Kouhei heard one on the twins suggest the guy was gay he could feel himself being taken aback by the comment. Not even five minutes into the class and he was already being hit on by the gay kid.

‘It must be my hair.’ He thought to himself. ‘It always seems like someone thinks I’m gay just because I’m an Asian kid with blonde hair. Man I really need to die my hair a normal color some day.’

Of course before he really had a chance to say anything the guy that was staring at him announced the fact that he was a heterosexual. Thank god. He then went on however saying that he was “just trying to break the new kid here in a little bit. Y'know, to see what we're dealin' with.”

‘The hell? Break me into what? Just that alone makes me question what he said before and it’s bad enough that this is coming from a giant.’

When the tall guy was done talking Kouhei looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “Scared shitless? Umm right now it’s more like freaked out, before it was more surprised and confused. Not really sure which one really fits the bill at the moment. Besides if some guy you didn’t know was staring at you and someone said they were gay wouldn’t you be a little freaked out as well? “

Shortly after saying this he turned and looked back at the girls, one of who had written him a note. Kouhei tilted his head to the side a little before looking back at the girl who had written him the note.

“So your name is Tamika and the girl that just talked is Tamara, which is you…” He said as he pointed a finger towards the strawberry blonde. “The so I’m guessing you’re the artist Cyanna she’s referring to.” This time he moved his finger towards the girl with the long brunette hair. At the same time it just occurded to him that this girl Cyanna must have been drawing him when she was glancing over at him. “So wait, Tamika, you say you’re a mute. So you really can’t talk? Also Cyanna when you were glancing over at me earlier were you doing because you were drawing me?”

[Crow]

Cyanna looked up from her drawing when Kouhei asked a question "Dah" she said softly as she finished a bit more shading before showing it to him. It was Kouhei with a confused look on his face.

[Bravado]

"Oooooooh! Well, look at you!"

There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you were broken in. Pretty ballsy though, comin' back at me on day one. I think this might work out after all. At first, you seemed kinda like a pussy, but I get it now, and I was wrong."

In mid-sentence, he put his hands in the air as though surrendering. Upon finishing his conversation, he turned slightly in his seat to face Tamika.

"For the 'class mute', you sure do got a lot to say. If every guy in this class went blonde, would you finally start talkin'?"

With a snicker, he tore the edges off of a piece of paper, crumbled it into a tiny ball, and flicked it towards the window.

"Pyoo pyoo."

As he continued making an assortment of paper objects(namely planes and crumbled up paper balls), William watched intently and incorporated sound effects as each one traveled.

"Ka-SHANG! AAAH! Pyoo pyoo!"

Every now and again, his eyes would wander back to the small cluster of students in the middle of the room, though his goal was not to make eye contact with anyone now that he had put himself in an awkward and antagonistic postion.

[Crow]

Cyanna looked back at William with a stare as cold as the country she came from. Nobody poked fun at her friends, especially Tamika... She knew that if things persisted, she would have to step in and speak up for her mute friend. "Он лучше держит его рот закрытым..." she muttered to herself.

{Translation: "He had better keep his mouth shut..."}

[Evil Troy]

When the girl was done with the drawing Kouhei took a good look at it. “Wow that’s really good. But is that what I really look like when I’m confused?” But before Cyanna would have a chance to answer the tall guy in the back said something else. Once again it was something about breaking him in, he also said something about him thinking that Kouhei was a pussy. An eyebrow lifted when he heard this.

‘Wow how the hell can you get that someone’s a pussy when you’ve only known them maybe five minutes?’

Shaking his head a bit almost in an attempt to shake off the comment Kouhei looked back at Cyanna was now muttering something under her breath in another language, Russian he assumed. Because of this Kouhei decided it would probably be good to change the subject before more fuel could possibly add to the fire.

“So umm you’re all in the band? What instruments do you all play?”

After asking this Kouhei glanced back at the tall guy who was now throwing paper airplanes and little paper wads. Normally he wouldn’t have found this to be too out of the ordinary but the fact that he was putting sound effects with them just made it seem odd.

‘Well it looks like I somehow earned me a rival.’

[Crow]

Cyanna turned her attention back to Kouhei and smiled "Dah. I play the cello, Tamika plays the flute and Tamara plays the violin" she said softly. Her anger for William was put to the back of her head as she tried to be nice for the new student.

[Bravado]

Aware of the tension developing in the room, William was unaware of what his next move should be. Though, it appeared that a student was trying to change the subject, so he willingly complied.

"Band kids, eh? I dabble on guitar, but I'm nothin' compared to the greats. Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, Kirk Hammett... Y'know, the works. I try, but I'm no band kid."

Upon hearing Russian spoken, William tilted his head.

"Whatever that was couldn't have been too good, so my bad. Didn't mean to make you go all Russian on me."

Once more, he put his headphones on, this time switching to Take Your Whiskey Home.

"Well my ba-beh, she don't want me a-rooound... She says she's tiiiired... Of wat-chin' me fall dooown..."

[Crow]

Cyanna smiled and raised both her eyebrows a bit proud of herself as she sat back and folded her legs lady-like. She followed her mother's advice to a tee 'When threatened, speak sternly in Russian, no matter what volume.' thank goodness she didn't follow her dad's advice 'Attack first, ask questions later'.

At next she heard a tune comming from her art bag. She pulled out her cell phone as a ringtone version of Russia's national anthem played before she opened her phone "Привет отец, что это?" she said quietly as a male speaking Russian could be heard faintly on the other line "Я не могу, я находиться в классе прямо сейчас... Призовите обратно меня в пределах восемь. Любите Вас, Пока." she said before hanging up the phone and putting it on silent before putting it in her bag.

{Translations: "Hello Father, What do you need?" and "I can't, I'm in class right now... Call me back at around eight. Love you, Bye."}

[Abstract Monkey]

Sean had taken a pause from his book. The atmosphere in the classroom was slowly going towards an awkward tension. And, to no ones surprise, William was more or less in center of it all.

Sean had snickered when William had been accused of being gay. Somehow he found the whole idea hillarious. Ah, how he could see it before him. Tall William McAllister, wearing a skimpy pink outfit and marching in front of the gay parade. Happily proclaiming his sexuality to all who might listen.

Pushing his glasses up on his nose with a trained hand movement. Sean regained some of his posture.
Eyeing the new guy. He could see that Williams comments had not affected him at all. Well, except for some light confusion. Which is understandable.

After making a distasteful comment about Tamika's mutism. Her friend Cyanna muttered something in, what Sean could decipher, russian.

"Didn't mean to make you go all Russian on me." Immedially after William said that, Sean started laughing. For some reason he found it funny. People had often commented on his weird sense of humor.

[Evil Troy]

After Cyanna told him what instruments the three of them played Kouhei smiled and looked at the twins.

“Ah that cool, You’re all gonna have to let me hear you play sometime. So Tamika plays the flute and Tamara plays the violin you say? Hmm let’s see if I can remember who is who. Let’s see here you’re Tamara.” As he said this he pointed towards Tamika. “And you’re Tamika right?” He said as his hand pointed towards Tamara.

But before the twins had a chance to correct him the tall guy said something him about dabbling with the guitar but not being very good at it. Of course what he said next seemed to catch the attention of the kid in the back corner. After hearing the comment about going Russian he just seemed to bust out into laughter. About that time Cyanna’s cell rang and when she picked it up Kouhei could feel his mouth drop.

‘Okay? What’s the deal? Does this school actually allow cell phones and no one told me or is this a special case? Oh well I just see about that later.’

After Cyanna’s phone conversation was over, which he didn’t understand one bit of it, Kouhei glanced back at the kid in the back corner. “So who’s the bookworm?”

[Crow]

Cyanna smiled "That's Sean" she said softly "He doesn't talk much" she said as she fiddled with her hair.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara smiled and pulled out her flute. "Cyanna always forgets which one of us plays which instrument, it's hard to tell us apart with no visable birthmark, but I have a birthmark, and none of you will ever get the chance to see it" she said. Tamika giggled and grabbed Kouhei's hand and pulled him to the seat beside her. Tamara leanded back and whispered to Cyanna. "I think Tamika might like him" she whispered. Tamara played her flute for a minute and then put it back in her bag. She then stood up and walked over to William. "If you ever tease my sister again then Я покажу вам, чому я був майже throwen у в'язниці в минулому році!" she snapped. She walked back to her seat and sat down, hoping Cyanna would know what was said.

{Translation: I'll show you why I was nearly thrown in prison last year}

[Crow]

Cyanna nodded at Tamara's comment. And when she spoke to William, she understood perfectly and continued to give him the death stare... Her father calling about how to work the microwave didn't change her anger towards him.

[Bravado]

Man, why is everyone ganging up on me...

Sitting up slightly, William stared at Tamara and appeared slightly confused.

"Now, I can tell what's Russian by the sound, but I don't have a damn clue what you guys are actually saying. I know it's no good, though, so I'm gonna have to ask you to chill out. I was just havin' a little fun; no bad vibes here. I'm not out to get anyone. So do me a favor and just... Chill out."

As he finished speaking, he positioned his legs to be draped across the top of his own desk and fiddled with his untied shoelaces.

[Crow]

Cyanna then went back to her drawing. She smirked and pulled out a small sketchpad with a smiley face on it before begining to draw a chibi picture of William about to be dipped into a hole in the ice with Tamara and herself in furry winter coats cheering, She began to giggle to herself about the drawing.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara turned around to see what Cyanna was giggling about. "Nice picture Cee-Cee" she said. "I actually have an outfit exactly like that from when we had the winter holidays in Ukraine, it was fun" she added.

[Shu Die Hua]

At approximately 8:12 AM on a beautiful, late-summer morning, Ellen “Ellie” Cho could be seen speed-walking like an idiot to her first period class. She muttered an obscenity in Chinese (just one of the perks of being a Chinese-American) and shifted her heavy bag from one shoulder to the other, cursing her mother for packing such an overly-extravagant lunch.

The fact was, Ellie hated being late. Her moral compass wasn’t thrown out of whack or anything, she just abhorred her teacher and knew that if she walked in even a minute after the bell he’d use it as an excuse to slap a detention on her.

You see, Mr. Johnson had a personal vendetta against the girl; she certainly wasn’t what you’d call “innocent.” Ellie remembered back to her first day at Oakville High when the feud began, and she’d made the (totally on purpose) mistake of calling Mr. Johnson by his first name.

Well, you call me Ellen, she could remember saying in a saucy voice, why can’t I call you Mark?

And like big-horn rams - or over-excited frat boys - the two have butted heads ever since. Ellie even liked to fantasize that she held one of the top spots on the man’s “Students I’d Love to Fail” list.

Yeah, that sounded good.

So when Mom is about to strangle the living daylights out of me for bringing home a “B” I can just say "but Mommy, he’s a bad man! He’s just out to get me!” I might even throw in some pouty lips and fake tears for good measure!

Ellie laughed all the way to homeroom but paused when her shoulders were square with the door. Just the thought of her impending demise was enough to make her feel a flicker of sympathy for death row inmates. She sighed.

Better just walk in, old girl. Walk in like you own the place. Go sit in his chair, put ‘yer feet up on his desk - she looked down and smiled at her muddy combat boots - it’ll be a piece of cake.

Ellie opened the door a crack . . .

. . . and slipped in like a shadow, hoping no one would notice. By the time she found her usual spot in the back - in a desk that was hopelessly scribbled with stick figures, naughty words, and sausages (at least, she hoped they were sausages) - she realized she hadn’t taken a breath since opening the door. She let it out earnestly at the same time she noticed Mr. Johnson was nowhere to be found.

[Crow]

"Really?" Cyanna said smiling "What a coincidence" she said as she blew off some eraser marks before begining to draw Tamika in the picture wearing a similar coat to Tamara but in a blue shade holding the rope that was lowering William "I have the same coat from when I moved here"

[Fox Xalian]

"It's the fashion over there though since it gets bloody cold in winter" Tamara said. "I should wear it during winter, we should all wear our coats and be like triplets" she said, giggling slightly. She watched as Ellen walked into the classroom.

[Crow]

"I think Russia is a bit worse that Ukraine is since it is closer to the North Pole" Cyanna said softly "Or at least the town where I'm from" she said softly as she finished drawing the picture "We should totally do that for the wintertime" she said softly as she then slipped the picture to Tamika.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara nodded. "Still it's colder over there then here" she said. Tamika looked at the picture and smiled, she also giggled slightly and gave the picture back to Cyanna. Tamara grabbed some paper from her book and rolled it into a ball. She threw it at Williams head then tried to act innocent.

[Bravado]

"Jeez, I could only guess what little treasure's wrapped up in here. I'd have to be a damn fool to open that!"

With a good-humored laugh, William stretched his legs further still across the top of his desk, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

Then it began.

The insatiable curiosity of the paper ball's contents was setting in, and it was evident that he eventually would give in and unwrap it.

Oh man... But I know they want me to open it, so I don't want to."

Doing a double-take, he withdrew his legs and reached down to obtain the curious projectile.

It's probably like, five penises all stuck together or something, and that's something I want to see.

That thought was the prime mover for William. The fact that there was even the slightest possibility of that parcel containing conjoined genitalia completely and utterly captured his attention and motivated him to casually peel apart the creased paper, hands tucked into his desk, and explore its contents. A gradual, visual change in expression was prevalent on William's face as he had a staring contest with the drawing contained.

"Oh that's cute. I get it. I'm the one in the little furry jacket there."

Feigning analysis, William continued, putting a finger to his temple and scanning over the picture once more.

"Mmhmm, yep, and the one about to go swimming is your mom. Got it."

Smiling slyly, he proceeded to drum his fingers across his desk, when suddenly, he became aware of another's entry, namely Ellie.

"Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh...!"

He followed up his crooning with the word 'late' put to the generic baseball organ tune.

"Luhluhluhlate-la-laaaate! Yooooouuuuu're LATE! It's cool though. Dig the shirt."

With that, he quickly looked back down at his own collection of amateur drawings and proceeded to add more stick-figures.

[Evil Troy]

“Eh I bet he’s just shy. Most people who are bookworms are usually like that.”

As soon as Kouhei said this Tamika grabbed him by the arm and set him down in the desk beside him. In a way this made him wonder if anyone had heard what he said. Of course he couldn’t help but to laugh as the mute girl moved him. ‘Wow she’s pretty cute.’ He thought as he smiled at her.

“Haha alright, alright I’ll sit beside you. But yeah you guys look so alike; you need to wear like name tags or something.”

About that time Tamara threatened the tall guy in Russian. Kouhei grimaced.

‘Oh great it seems like just about everyone here knows Russian. Well I guess I’m gonna have to start learning it as well….Ah man this sucks. I hate learning new languages. I mean really it’s not as if I know enough already. Oh well it can’t be helped I guess. Hmm by the way what is that guy’s name?’

Sitting backing his desk to relax Kouhei took a second to take in everything that was going on. In a way it was almost like watching TV. In a way he knew what was going to happen, but the results were still just as amusing even he had no clue. This kind of reminded him of his old school.

“I guess no matter where you go things always tend to be the same.” He quietly said to himself before looking over at Tamika. “Hey Tamika what is that guys name? You know the tall one.”

Right at that moment someone else walked in. It was a girl and to Kouhei’s surprise she was Asian, Chinese to be more precise. Curious as to who the new person was Kouhei watched her at she took a seat in the back beside the tall guy.

‘Wow I didn’t know this school had foreign exchange students.’ He thought as he turned back to look at Tamika.

“Hey also, who is that?”

[Bravado]

As he sketched his stick figures, William kept an ear open in regards to the rest of the classroom. Naturally, he didn't want to miss anything, as he enjoyed tossing his two cents into a multitude of topics. He did not, however, pique up to any discussions in particular until he heard a certain taboo word floating in the air from the new addition.

Tall.

He did not particularly care for this reference; he preferred that people acknowledged him by any other term or aspect, and to put it lightly, was quite taken aback.

"Hey kid, I have half a mind to really mess you up, huh?"

After speaking, his eyes wandered quickly back down to the top of his desk, followed by a light blush which he did his best to ward off. Truth be told, he would not actually harm anyone; if anything he felt antagonized and awkward. In an effort to regulate himself, he once again opened his Sharpie and doodled incoherently upon a new sheet of paper.

[Shu Die Hua]

Ellie rolled her eyes when William began a Broadway production about her apparent tardiness, but she left it at that. Usually she’d mutter an off-hand comment when someone did something shitty like making her the center of attention, but she’d come to tolerate Will and all his hyperactivity. The dude was weird, without a doubt, but so was Ellie. She felt closer to him in that way.

“Dig the shirt,” he said at last, causing her to glance down at the ratty Dream Theater concert-tee her dad had given her. The poor thing had suffered what seemed like a thousand rinse cycles, and the colors cracked like paint. She usually wore these beloved shirts - the ones that announced her love for classic and progressive rock to the world - to the point of disintegration.

“Scenes From a Memory, circa '99” she said, referencing the album featured on her torso, “thanks.” She wondered if he’d heard that last part.

After refocusing her attention to the front, eyes safely shielded by the copy of Psychology Today she’d snuck into her bag, Ellie got one of those creepy somebody-is-staring-at-me feelings and glanced over to the group of Russian girls in the corner of the room. Somebody was staring at her, but it wasn’t Cyanna or either of the psycho twins.

Who’s that? she thought, jerking her eyes back to her magazine. Looks Asian. Korean? Nah, maybe Japanese?

She pretended to read the words on the page for another minute or two, until it was safe to sneak another peek at the boy.

Cute . . . but what’s with that blonde hair? Does he think he's Xiu Yi?*

Ellie chuckled and continued reading her outdated magazine, a particularly fascinating article about people and their obsession with the paranormal. She would act non-chalant for now; she had a feeling she’d be meeting the New Kid sooner or later.

*Reference to a character in the Taiwanese drama 花樣少年少女 who is often teased for having dyed-blonde hair.

[Bravado]

Recovering slightly from the previous upset, William looked up, face still slightly red, and grinned at the newcomer.

"Hey, yeah! I'm a Six Degrees man myself."

To display knowledge of the album on her shirt, he broke out into a deliberately poor rendition of Beyond This Life.

"Head-line, mur-der... Young-girl...Killed..."

With a laugh, he stopped singing and faced Ellie.

"Sorry, my James LaBrie is lacking. I gotta work on that."

Feeling somewhat awkward after abruptly ending his conversation, William stared at the chalkboard and pounded his fists on the table.

"Man, as badass as this was, it kinda sucks now. Where's the teach? I come here to llllleeeeeaaarrrn!"

After a few moments, William rose to his feet and pressed his face against the classroom window.

"Man, those birds are havin' more fun than me, and they're just sittin' there! Hell, I'd rather be at a Mu Alpha Theta meeting than here, and that's really sayin' somethin'! I swear. This is my only life, and I sure as hell don't wanna waste it just sittin' here in an empty-ass classroom drawing stick figures and spittin' game!"

Sighing, William placed a hand to his chin, knelt down, and leaned up against the windowsill.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamika started to write a note to Kouhei. "The tall kid is William, stay away from him he's not nice, and the Chinese girl is Ellen, the teacher has it in for her" she wrote. Tamara looked at Kouhei. "Just remember, I never wear dresses and Tamika does" she said.

[Crow]

Cyanna began to twiddle her pencil between her fingers for something to do. The teacher was taking a really long time.... So she decided to draw a few clothing designs to pass the time, she quickly sketched out 5 models that looked like her and began to draw clothing on them.

[Willow's Tara]

Cooper noticed the girl Ellie walking or sneaking into class hoping the teacher would not see her, of course he was not here so she was in luck. He then notice she seemed to look at the new kid as he was staring at her he leaned over to her

"Hey, how you doing?" Cooper asked, he couldn't help himself by saying that in the same way Joey from Friends did it. "That's Kouhei, he's a new foreign exchange student, and Mr. Johnson is obviously out at the moment but hopefully he won't have noticed your late arrival, I can cover for you if you like" Cooper told her

[Shu Die Hua]

Ellie was finishing Will's rendition of "Beyond This Life" in her head when a voice made her jump.

"Hey, how you doing?"

She looked up slowly and saw Cooper, the resident jock and flirt, leaning against the back of his chair.

"That's Kouhei, he's a new foreign exchange student," he said, pointing at Blondie, "and Mr. Johnson is obviously out at the moment, but hopefully he won't have noticed your late arrival. I can cover for you if you like."

What is he doing?

The last time Cooper deliberately talked to Ellie was last year, and only because their teacher fought tooth-and-nail to get them to be biology partners. Since then she'd only watched him from a distance, and came to the realization that she didn't like what she saw. He was thick-headed and hit on anything with a beating heart, and she absolutely could not stand his macho attitude. So why should he talk to her now? He was obviously up to something.

Ellie forced a grin that may have come out more menacing than she'd intended: "That's okay, I think I can handle Mark."

[Bravado]

Noticing that Ellie now was holding a conversation with Cooper enticed William to turn around for a brief period and listen. He could only imagine what his plans would be next. A cheesy pick-up line, perhaps? Maybe not; that wasn't his style. Wary nonetheless, he continued stealing glances at the two of them and drumming his fingers against the windowsill. After a few minutes of this, he rose to his feet and stretched backward.

"Well, I'm officially bored as hell. I'm half-tempted to jump in my car and just go home. It's clear that we ain't learnin' shit today. I mean, hell, the least we could do would be to go shoot some hoops in the gym or something. I drew stick figures in every color I have already."

In this time, he would be standing at full height, which was something he did not particularly enjoy, and with that, he scooted back into his desk. After catching another glimpse of Ellie's shirt, William proceeded to quickly draw a Majesty logo on the latest doodle's shirt, though his boredom remained.

[Evil Troy]

Kouhei let out a small sigh because he, like everyone else, was starting to get really bored. Watching everyone else did seem to bring some entertainment but at that same time it really didn’t. One good thing though was the fact that he didn’t have to keep referring to William as the tall guy anymore, which apparently he seems to hate. Kouhei smiled and thought to himself for a moment.

‘Hmm why do I get the feeling that I’m gonna have to remember the fact that he doesn’t like being called tall?’

Shortly after thinking this Kouhei overheard the one guy who seemed like a player talking to the Chinese girl, Ellen. He really wasn’t sure what he was talking about but he did hear the guy say Kouhei was a foreign exchange student. Hearing this Kouhei turned around and looked at them.

“Umm actually I’m not a foreign exchange student. I’m…”

But before he had a chance to finish his sentence a female voice came over the intercom.

“Kouhei Ryo, please report to the principals office.”

Kouhei tilted his head a little after hearing this. ‘The principal’s office? Why do I need to go to the principal’s office? Ah man don’t tell me I’ve already done something wrong. No, there’s no way I could have, but then why would I need to go?’ Shaking off the thought he stood up and headed towards the door, but when he reached the door he stopped and looked back at the class. ‘Hmm I wonder if I should say anything? Nah, just keep going.’ And with that Kouhei left the room and made his way to the principal’s office. When he reached the main office an older woman behind a desk smiled and looked up at him.

“Ah you must be Kouhei Ryo, no?”

Kouhei tilted his head slightly confused. He then nodded, “Yes ma’am I am.” The woman’s smile seemed to get even bigger when he said this. It was almost creepy in a way.

“Miss Sakura is waiting for you inside my dear.”

“Uh thank you” He muttered before slipping into the principal’s office. In a way he felt relieved to get away from that woman. Inside Kouhei found another woman sitting behind a desk. She looked to be Japanese and she had very light brown hair. She even looked to be the same age as Kouehi’s father.

“Ah Kouhei, I must apologize for waiting until now to meet you. I must say you’ve really grown up. Why I remember when you were just in diapers.”

Kouhei’s eyebrows raised and he could feel his mouth hanging wide open. ‘The hell? Is she just screwing around with me or is she being serious? If she is being serious does that mean she knows Mom and Dad? Oh my god I’m so confused! Hey just calm down it’s not that big of a deal? Not that big of a deal!? What the hell am I thinking!? Why the hell am I even freaking out about this!? I mean it’s not like it’s really that big of a deal…maybe I should figure out what’s really going on. Okay breathe Kouhei breathe.’

As Principal Sakura watched Kouhei’s reaction she couldn’t help but to laugh a little. “Hahaha, from that look on your face you must be confused. Please sit down and let me explain.

Meanwhile,

During the remainder of the time of first period Mr. Johnson never did return to class. However, shortly after Kouhei left the classroom the bell rang ending first period. Now it was time for P.E., everyone favorite/least favorite period. Of course the students of Class 11-C will have to hurry up and change so that they will not be late for the drill instructor of a teachers class.

[Willow's Tara]

Cooper could tell she didn't really want him talking to her so he decided to deceased talking to her, excuse him for trying to be nice and social, it was probably the fact he was always trying to hit on women and he knew it was a problem, but he didn't know if he could get it fixed.

"Oh sorry, I meant new student don't know where that came from" Cooper apologized to Kouhei when he had spoken to him before the voice came on the PA. Cooper wondered exactly what was it the principal wanted with him, how would someone who's just new get into trouble already.


Finally the class was over and Cooper headed off to PE, he did like the class the teacher wasn't too bad and he did like what the girls wore. He got changed and headed into the room they were supposed to be here casually looking around at other students while waiting to hear the lesson plan.

[Fox Xalian]

The twins watch as Kouhei left the classroom after being called to see the principal. Before they could begin throwing around ideas as to why this happened the bell rang. "Great P.E" Tamara said. Tamika rolled her eyes and giggled, grabbing her stuff and going to get changed. "Come on Cee-Cee, time to be a little less bored out of our skulls" Tamara said.

As Tamika walked towards the room she was meant to go to the cheerleaders ganged up on her, teasing her abut not talking. She curled up in a ball and started to cry, as the girls kept bullying her.

[Crow]

Cyanna got up and went over to her locker, she looked over to see a group of cheerleaders in a circle and calling names about being silent... She knew that it was Tamika and quickly dropped her books with her locker still open and rushed over "What is the meaning of this?!?" she said with a stern voice as she had anger in her eyes.

[Fox Xalian]

"None of your business Commie" Kait the head cheerleader said. "Go back to your hovel" one of the other cheerleaders said. Tamara ran up to Kait and punched her in the face. this turned into a full blown punch up between Kait and Tamara. This gave Tamika time to scurry behind Cyanna, whimpering quietly.

[Crow]

Cyanna then rushed Kait up a locker, holding her by the shirt, lifting her slightly off the ground "If you EVER, say another word about the twins or me again... I'll be sure to make you life extra hard from now on." she said with a smirk and a wink before dropping her and turning around to the scared Tamika "Here, let's go to Phys Ed." she said softly as she offered her hand and smiled.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara spat on Kait, who was sitting on the ground, looking shocked. Some of the football team saw this and started laughing at her. Tamika took Cyanna's and and stood up, hugging her. Tamara looked at Cyanna and smiled. "Thank you" she said, speaking more for Tamika then herself.

[Crow]

"No problem, guys" Cyanna said softly "Now, we gotta hurry up and get to class before we're late" she said smiling as she then picked up her books and put them in her locker and grabbing a violet bag containing her gym clothes and locking up her locker.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara nodded and grabbed her gym bag with her clothes. Tamika, who had already gotten changed, walked to the gym room and waited for her friends. The only other person in there was Cooper, the only boy in her class who would flirt with any girl he saw, except her, he had never flirted with her before. Tamara was in the changing room with Cyanna. "So do you think anyone will cause any more trouble for Tamika?" she asked. She looked down and traced her birthmark, it was in the shape on a crescent moon. She looked back up at Cyanna as she pulled her shirt on.

[Crow]

"I'm not sure" Cyanna said as she pulled on her athletic tennis dress "But if they do, then a little call to my dad will help... Let's just say a little 'something something' will turn up in their lockers" she said smirking as she pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail tied with a matching bow and began to put on her running shoes.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara giggled. "Well lets go and see if the teacher is here yet" she said, pulling on her shoes and skipping into the room. Tamika looked at her sister and smiled. She was sitting against the wall, writing something in her diary.

[Crow]

"Well, it doesn't look like he's here yet... So it'll give us some time to stretch out" Cyanna said smiling as she bent down and tucked her head between her calves and wrapped her arms around her legs, without bending her knees.

[Bravado]

"'Bout time! Damn!"

Jumping out of his seat, William gathered his two notebooks, tossed them under his arm, and proceeded to run into the gymnasium. It had seemed like an eternity since he had went from one class to another.

"Damn, I'm glad to be out of there! I wonder what's up with teach, though. He never came back."

Shrugging, he ran into the men's locker room, twisted the dial in favor of his combination, and placed his uniform inside. As he changed into his gym clothes, he hummed to himself and stared forward in an attempt to avoid the others; unnecessary eye contact would provide for a more awkward situation than even he would have liked.

Once he was finished, he walked towards the door of the gym and entered promptly.

[Shu Die Hua]

When the second period bell rang, Ellie hopped up from her desk - cracking her back loudly - and yelled "sweet release!" Her magazine had gotten dull after the first ten minutes of, um, "reading" it, and she was glad to be one period closer to the bike-ride home. She lingered behind the other kids to situate her bag, but headed out in plenty of time to make it to her next class.

Shit, she thought, as if she finally realized where she was headed.

You see, out of the approximate 1,352 embarrassing moments Ellie'd experienced in life, 1,351 of those had taken place in P.E. class. She hated wearing shorts that proclaimed her stark-white legs to the world (she wasn't a "sun person"), hated being picked last (second-to-last on a good day) for team sports, and deplored smelling like a hobo when the class was over. It didn't matter if she rolled on all the rainbow-flower-unicorn lady's deodorant in the world, if she could still smell a tinge of B.O., she was not a happy Ellie.

I wonder what fun awaits me today, she thought sarcastically.

Ellie was walking slowly and humming "The Wall" by Kansas when she neared a corner and heard a myriad of voices on the other side. She recognized one of them (the loudest) as Cyanna, so she sidled up to the corner to see what was going on. The Russian girl had another girl - a cheerleader - by the collar and seemed to be threatening her. By the look on Tamika's face (or was it Tamara?) who was off to the side crying, the cheerleader had done something mean to her. After muttering something Ellie couldn't understand, the pom pom princess weaseled from Cyanna's grip, brushed herself off, and stalked off with her perky, brainless minions in tow.

Ellie waited until the Russian girls left for the gym and laughed a shock-tinged laugh.

Who knew the girl had it in her? she beamed, almost like a proud parent. Putting a cheerleader in her place had always been one of her own dreams, so her respect for the Russian shot up from the sorry position it was in before.

When the coast was clear, Ellie jogged to the girl's locker room, yanked a pair of rainbow-striped knee socks and black shorts from her bag, and took her usual seat on a bench in the back. She couldn't help but replay the memory of Cyanna's "vigilante justice" in her head, and tried to remember to give the girl a congratulatory fist-bump when she got the chance.

[Willow's Tara]

Cooper had been standing there waiting for the teacher when he heard some commotion, he had no idea what it was and walked over to the door and down the hall before noticing one of the twins, Cyanna Cooper was sure of had one of the cheerleaders up against the lockers. Kait that was right, however Cooper only flirted with her once before seeing exactly what kind of a bitch she was, they had almost gone on a date before he called it off after Kait tried to make a girl jump into mud and posted it on Facebook, he may be a player but Cooper hated bullies, sure it was hard to resist the looks of Kait but when he stood back and thought about it, she was unattractive.

Walking back into the room seeing that Cyanna had dealt with it, someone he had flirted with before Cooper waited again. He noticed before that what must have happened Kait chose to pick on Tamika, the only girl Cooper hadn't flirted with and that was because he didn't know what Cyanna might do if he did, sure flirting with her and Tamara only received a look once or twice but since Tamika was deaf she may be more prone to be protective.

He knew what it was like to have a deaf relative though, his cousin was completely deaf and Cooper learned sign language from him, funnily enough it was his deaf cousin that taught him how to do How are you doing and many other flirts in sign language. Cooper noticed Cyanna doing some sort of stretches, one that he found well let's just say interesting, he didn't want Cyanna catching him looking so he just did some warm ups of his own.

As he did Cooper noticed Tamika writing something down in a book, she seemed quiet but still attractive to him, of course she was quiet because she was deaf but that wasn't her fault, now Kait's rudeness was Kait's fault, pity nobody tried giving her a hard time just because she was popular.

"Hey Coop watch for the ball!" one of his friends shouted as Cooper turned and the ball whizzed past him before going towards Tamika, quickly he ran and caught the ball a few seconds before it hit her.

"I am sorry, I am lousy catcher and slow reaction time' Cooper told her but remembered unless she could read lips wouldn't know what he said so Cooper did sign language to tell her what he said. He flashed her a smile before running over to the guys and played the basketball while they waited.

[mcstringer]

Alex tore threw town on his bike. He was way late for school thanks to his father and his little training camp. He still wore a pair of padded finger gloves from practicing on the pads. He found he had enough time to make it to second period, if he hurried. Not the "turning over a new leaf" impression he was looking for. He tried hard so far to show that his delinquent days were behind him, though he did turn viglianti for a few freshman once.

He was glad to hear the news that they were staying here for good. It meant a couple of things. One, he might actually stay for longer than a year and graduate, and Two, he actually had to give a shit about his self-image. In the past to months, he did more studying and fight dodging that he ever did in his entire life. His grades and character were good, but only good enough to get into the school. Alex still needed; wanted to show who he really was.

He was still reeling from the 6 month old news as he crashed his bike and himself into one of the bike racks near the gym. Alex didn't pause to lock the beaten up bike. He just made a bright red blur the the guy's locker room. He managed a head nod to the much taller William as he left. He threw on his gym clothes in record time and rushed out the door. He eventually took in his suroundings and his plopped his tired self by Cooper looking like a train ran over him with a few extra buises. He flashed a tired wave in the playboy's direction as he didn't want to seem impolite. Being nice was still a new concept to him.

[Crow]

Cyanna finished holding her stretch as she then propped herself up and sunk down, doing a horizontal splits while reaching to the left and bringing one of her legs up to a straight stretch against her head. She has been taking gymnastics since she was 3, father insisted that she should apply for the cheerleading team... But she didn't want to be a part of that crowd.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamika just glared slightly. She was mute, not deaf, although her muteness could be confused for deafness so she didn't bother with it. Tamara walked over to Cooper. "She's not deaf you know, she's only mute" she said, with a slight attitude, but that was because of her protectiveness. Tamika stood up and joined Cyanna in doing some stretching.

[Willow's Tara]

Cooper felt completely embarrassed, he hadn't even known that "Oh I am so sorry, I actually thought you were" Cooper apologized, he wondered why she was mute exactly, some people had a good reason or did it to make a point or had a traumatizing experience. "Won't happen again I promise" Cooper said to the both of them still feeling embarrassed and hoping Tamara wouldn't get too mad. "But either way there's no reason for Kait or anyone else to pick on her" Cooper also added.

[Fox Xalian]

Tamara nodded. "I know that, hence the fact Cyanna and me nearly killed Kait before" she said. She turned and walked over to Tamika and Cyanna and joined them.

[Poison's Beauty]

The summer air was heavy. Even as she walked beneath the shade of trees, Anne could feel the weather breathing against her body. She held herself close, hands hidden in the pocket of her sweater. I hate summer time, she thought as the clouds opened another patch of blue sky. She scowled as a sun ray lit up the grass next to her grandfather's tomb.

That morning after a heated conversation with her grandmother, Anne had felt a need to visit her grandfather. She had spent most of that moment staring at his tombstone, wishing she could at least know that he felt her presence there. It was not until she heard the alarm of her watch that she realized she'd missed her first period. Crap, that's just what I needed on top of everything else.

She ran as quickly as she could, making her way towards Oakville High School nearly colliding with a boy riding a bicycle halfway. As the school building came into sight, she rushed towards it just as the bell rang for second period.

The hallway was already full of students making their way to their other classes. Anne slowed her pace and let off a sigh of relief. She'll deal with the consequences of skipping her first class later, she decided, and rounded a corner just in time to see Tamara spitting on one of the cheerleaders. She grimaced at the sight, involuntarily stopping in her tracks. Her muscles tightened, as if ready to take on heavy blows. The sight of confrontations always gave her such a feeling of uneasiness.

Tamara, Tamika, and Cyanna were already walking away leaving the cheerleaders to the uproar of the football team. They won't be too happy about that, she thought just as Ellie jogged by on her way to class.

Anne followed, entering the locker room a few minutes after her. She changed quickly, replacing her worn-out sweater with a dark baggy t-shirt and a pair of jogging pants, and made her way to the gymnasium. Tamika, Tamara, and Cyanna were already doing stretches while Ellie sat on a bench by herself. Anne smiled timidly as she passed Ellie, and sat herself down waiting for the teacher to arrive.

[Shu Die Hua]

Ellie’s shorts were rubbing her in all the wrong places, so she gave them a generous tug before taking a seat on the right-hand side of the gym, the side closest to the girl’s locker room. The bleachers were usually tucked away in their - Ellie searched for the right word - cubby, but there’d been a huge basketball game last night and she guessed the janitor'd been too tired to put them away. She couldn't blame Dan, though - the adorable, pocket-sized, mustachioed Mexican whose duty was to keep the campus clean - hundreds of idiotic, screaming basketball fans were enough to force anybody to call it an early night.

Ellie checked the clock and realized there were still five minutes before class officially started. Might as well relax, she thought, plopping down on the lowest level of the bleachers. She stretched her arms along the step behind her (the way she’d seen tough-guys do in movies), and crossed her legs to admire her rainbow-striped socks. They were almost as cool as the Elton John t-shirt she'd changed into, her official "P.E. shirt."

Now, it was time to people-watch.

Cyanna and the twins were still (big shocker) joined at the hip and stretching off in one corner of the room that seemed unnecessarily far from everybody else. Cooper, looking uncharacteristically down-and-out, and Alex, a boy Ellie didn’t know that well, were talking amongst themselves in another corner. William was there, too, but Ellie made a conscious effort not to look in his direction.

“Oh, dude!” she exclaimed, feeling relieved when Anne appeared out of nowhere and settled beside her. Anne was almost comically shorter than Ellie and reminded her of The Sidler from a classic episode of Seinfeld (you know, because she was so quiet and stealthy), but for some reason Ellie never felt self-conscious in her presence. In fact, Ellie seemed to gain something from the girl. Confidence, or whatever the hell shrinks called it.

She uncrossed her legs and smiled.

“You missed quite a show first period,” she began, flipping her long hair out of her face, “we got a new kid. He’s Japanese, I think - yeah, I thought you’d appreciate that - but he’s got some, um, interesting hair. Let’s see . . . oh yeah, Cyanna beat up a cheerleader, Cooper got shot down, and other than that it was the usual BS.” Ellie stopped and glanced at the other kids in the gym. “So, why’re you late? And don't tell me your dog ate your homework.”

[Poison's Beauty]

"Family matters, the grandmother decided to use me as a scratching post today," Anne answered with a hint of the bitterness she felt this morning. "You know how she likes to keep her fingernails deep under my skin."

As soon as she said the words, Anne felt an embarrassment loom over her. She'd never been the type to openly express her resent, yet alone her family frustrations, but her she was speaking out. Hesitantly she cleared her throat, wringing her hands as her eyes averted towards Cooper and Alex.

Ellie was the only person she could call a friend. Although she was just as closed a person as she was, Anne and Ellie seemed to share a level of unspoken understanding. At least, Anne was comfortable enough to tell her how she felt.

"What do you mean he has interesting hair?" she asked, trying to stir the conversation to a less uncomfortable topic.

[Shu Die Hua]

Ellie nodded, understanding that Anne didn't particularly like talking about her home-life. That's okay, she thought, but in all honesty the girl felt a ping of curiosity whenever she uncovered something new about her little friend. I guess you could say it was a closeness - a bond - she didn't feel with any of her other classmates. Well, that's not entirely tr---

Aroused by Anne's question, Ellie flinched. "Oh, um, the dude's hair?" She thought for a moment and pointed to the yellow stripe on her left sock. "It looks a little something like this." She laughed, amused by the confused look on Anne's face.

"Don't worry, you'll see him sooner or later."

Checking the clock, Ellie grunted. "Class is going to start any minute. Where is everybody?" She picked at a scab on her arm and looked back at Anne. "I would ask where our teacher is, but I'm kind of hoping he's a no-show like Mr. J!"

[Bravado]

Now that the commotion outside of the gym seemed to have blown over, William's own emotions conformed to the general standard. With that, he simply began humming and made his way towards the bleachers. Originally, his plan had been to seat himself next to Ellie, but for whatever reason, he felt as though it wouldn't be such a good idea. As well, his attempt at eye contact seemed to be in vain; she would not face him, though why this was, he couldn't be certain.

Screw it, I'm doing it anyway.

He now had become slightly nervous, which was uncharacteristic for him; this was likely due to the fact that Ellie seemed to not want to look at him. Had he done something wrong? Was there something stuck to his shoe? With a shrug, he began to walk towards her section of the bleachers, when-- Cockblocked!--Anne took a seat next to her. Anne of all people! Where had she been all throughout first period? No matter; he would just have to wait. Reaching into his pocket, he found his iPod once again, this time switching from Van Halen to Led Zeppelin. As he sat and listened to Over The Hills And Far Away, the reality of Ellie's Elton John shirt gradually fell within his comprehension, and because of this, he could not help but laugh quietly to himself.

[Evil Troy]

P.E., a class that some people would consider to be their favorite period; a period where a person can get out of the classroom and get to run around a play whatever game of sport was scheduled for that day. For others, on the other hand, this is not the case; they consider it to be a class where they can easily get embarrassed or consider all the running and other activates to be nothing more than unnecessary work. At Oakville High things are no different…well almost.

A minute before the bell rang a tall burly man walked into the gym. He walked straight and tall. Most would say he walked with authority, the rest would just say he walked like that because he had something shoved so far up his ass that, that was the only comfortable way he could walk. Sporting a black pair of track shorts, a plain green tee, and a whistle hanging from his neck, this short haired brunette walked to the middle of the court and looked around at everyone.

“ATTTEEENNNTIIIOOON!!!” He bellowed as he put his arms behind his back. “ALRIGHT YOU MAGGOTS GET IN YOUR LINES! YOU KNOW THE DRILL, LADIES ON THE RIGHT GENTLEMEN ON THE LEFT!”

As all the students took their place in their lines the “Coach” diligently watched them.

“I apologize for my tardiness; however, there was a problem in the teacher work room which needed to be addressed. But back to the matter at hand, Miss Cho would you mind explaining to me why you are not in dress code!?”

It was true that most people had no clue why the “Coach” was so uptight, most just assumed that he really did have something shoved up his ass. Everyone else, however, said that he used to be a drill instructor for the navy seals, they were almost right. No, Mr. Shepard was actually a drill instructor for the marines; however, after returning home from a tour in Iraq he lost a taste for war and became the couch at Oakville High. Because of this he has been deemed a strict hardass that despises tardiness and had a problem with people who could not follow dress code.

“I am also aware that Class 2-C has received a new student, however, I see no new faces. Mr. Rivers, is this new student skipping class!?”

Anyone who was in the room could just tell from Mr. Shepard’s voice that Kouhei was pretty much screwed.

Meanwhile,

After a semi-long talk with the principal Kouhei now had a better understanding as to why they chose him to come to Oakville. It also wasn’t until after this conversation that Miss Sakura realized that Kouhei was late for his second period class.

“Oh wow, after all that talking I seem to have made you late to your next class. Kouhei you might want to hurry to class so that your teacher doesn’t get too upset.”

Kouhei nodded and got out of his seat. “Thank you Miss Sakura, I have P.E. next correct?”

“You are correct, oh and if your teacher gives you a hard time about being late tell him he can come talk to me.”

“Yes Ma’am” And with that Kouhei made his way out of her office and towards the gym.

[Allan-Hatai]

Kat dragged herself into the school and to the front desk to check in. She was so jet lagged she hardly knew her own name at the moment. At least her mom had called and explained why she was late. She grabbed her slip of paper with an unintelligible mumble and headed for PE, having also been told it was second period. Well, it wasn't her fault when her dad called her up at midnight Friday and insisted she come to Italy for the weekend. He wouldn't even let her say "no". So here she was, having gotten home very early that morning and sleeping less than five hours, and she had to go to class with an ex-drill sergeant that would yell at her to move her very tired and jet-lagged butt faster, probably with several unnecessary profanities thrown in.
She dropped her bag on the bleachers and headed for the line, standing at the far end of the girls side, as far away from the boys as possible. Of course, Mr. Shepard was yelling about something. Kat loved to antagonize him, so she was going to wait to give him her excused note until he asked for it.

[Shu Die Hua]

Ellie was slumping on the far end of her drill line, closest to the boys. She bent her knees and lolled her head from side to side (as was her usual routine), and prayed she wouldn't die from whatever completely unneccessary, torturous exercises Mr. Shepard had in store for them today. In fact, with his buzzed hair, broad shoulders, and impossibly thick neck, Ellie had a hard time believing the man even qualified as a high school teacher. He was more like the Incredible Hulk's scary, even more deranged second cousin.

Liao Tian*, please have mercy on a girl that cannot run, jump, or skip for shit . . .

"---to the matter at hand, Miss Cho would you mind explaining to me why you are not in dress code!?” was the line that interrupted her prayer.

The girl leaned forward - painfully slowly - and looked down the row to where her teacher was perched on his high horse. She stepped back and glanced at Anne, who was watching her with a slightly hysterical look on her face. The taller Asian gulped, and took a full step forward out of line. Her spine snapped straight in mock-military fashion.

"Sir!" she yelled, squeezing her eyes shut in case the man came barrelling toward her like an angry pitbull, "Page 8, section B-12 of the student handbook states that a t-shirt and shorts constitute an acceptable P.E. uniform, sir!" She snuck a peak around the room with her left eye. "And if that isn't reason enough for my admittedly awesome attire, it's impossible to deny that Elton John is an effing genius!"

She braced herself.

*God

[mcstringer]

Alex snapped to like a raw military recruit. He tired beat-up ass was front row center as quick as his feet would take him. Not out of any since of duty, family bred enviroment, or for being a general suck-up Mr. Dick, as he affectionatily called the coach in his head, was bound and determined to turn the day to a "Alexander Roast". It was like clockwork. He'd wail on a few students, then turn to him, but he'd eventually mouth off and he'd be doing physical training* for the entirity of the P.E. period. Alex was already picking out his work out spot along the usual wall when he spotted Kat and some one new walking in. Not necessarily together, just the scan of good spots pulled his eyes to them at the same time.

Alex smiled in Kat's direction. She was the first girl he knew that would enforce a personal space "law" with such violence. He learned quickly to stay away after putting his hand in the perverbial fire of course. They were also in the same martial arts club in school, so there were plenty of chances to get his revenge, which he did...sometimes. The club's greatness shone in its "Do not care what you practice" policy. It was a real hodge-podge of everything and gave everyone to have a versitile enviroment to learn.

Alex rolled his eyes over the new kid and wasn't really impressed, but atleast he wasn't the new guy anymore. It also ment Alex was the babysitter. He had the wonderful priviledge of showing the new kid the ropes and making sure he did not anger the wrong people. A part of him played a wicked smile across his face. He could so screw with the kid. He'd be tramatized for ever, but the inevitable bubble popped and he filed away that he might as well start his duties sooner rather than later and introduce himself after class. Plus, it might balance the cards in his favor again after missing first period. This school's principal loved innitiative, especially towards good deeds.

He waited for "Coach" start on him, as Ellie made his "lowly grub" mask fall with a small snicker. Her mouth got her in almost as much trouble as his, but she was right. It was not their fault the School Board, teachers, assorted faculty. and student council weren't specific enough for their "maggot brains."


*physical training- or PT. An often used punishment method by the military and like groups. It occurs by excersising until you drop from exhaustion, then you do a little more. It gets to be more of an annoyance factor than anything else. You got want to do anything against the rules because you don't want to go through the PT red tape.

[Fox Xalian]

At hearing Ellie's remarks to the pit-bull of a teacher they had for P.E. Tamara tried not to giggle. Tamika rolled her eyes at the teacher, no one liked him, but she didn't like being yelled at, last time she was yelled at by this teacher she curled up like she did when she was teased by the cheerleaders, she couldn't remember what he said but she remembered lots of yelling and Tamara's face trying not to show the rage that had been building, but not being able to help her sister had hurt her. Tamara had apologized so much after that class for two weeks, it annoyed Tamika by the end of it. Tamika shook her head to get rid of that memory. She glanced over at Cyanna and Tamara, she wanted reassurance that she wouldn't be picked on again today.

[Willow's Tara]

Cooper wasn't sure why the teacher was asking him, while Cooper liked sports he didn't really like the teacher that much, sure he was nice to him but the way he treated the other students annoyed Cooper to no end.

"Well sir he's at the principal office because they wanted him up there, he can be hardly blamed for that and I am sure the principal will give him a note" Cooper told him, he wasn't going to get the new kid in trouble especially when it was no fault of his own.

[Crow]

Cyanna folded her arms and stood there ajusting her hair. This guy was similar to the gymnastics coaches she had at home, so his yelling didn't quite affect her that much. She hoped that her athetic dress would suffice for gym-wear because she didn't want to wear shorts and a t-shirt.

[Bravado]

Despite the fact that the gym teacher was quite loud, William typically found that most people possessed one of two elements: a breaking point or a sense of humor. Keeping this in mind, he removed the rubber band from his hair, placed it around his wrist, and shook his hair out. Now that his appearance had slightly changed, he rolled up his pants to a considerably shorter length, batted his lashes at the rest of the class, and fell into line with the girls. As he stood in military fashion, he quickly poked Ellie on the shoulder and offered a flamboyant wink.

Who knows? Maybe he won't notice.

[Poison's Beauty]

Anne was still thinking about the new student's strange hair when Mr. Shepard, the bulbous P.E teacher, entered with his usual air of authority. He was dressed in a green shirt and black shorts, his face strained into a look of contempt. Mr. Shepard was Anne's least favorite teacher. He was too loud of a person, reminding her of an enraged buffalo stampeding across a meadow, and he didn't seem to know any other facial expression.

“ATTTEEENNNTIIIOOON!!!” he yelled. “ALRIGHT YOU MAGGOTS GET IN YOUR LINES! YOU KNOW THE DRILL, LADIES ON THE RIGHT GENTLEMEN ON THE LEFT!”

Anne rushed with Ellie to the forming line. She stood close to her friend, who was doing what she assumed to be stretches, and had her eyes glued to her worn-out Converse High-Tops. Her ears were intentionally deaf to Mr. Shepard screams of order at the students.

Is it necessary to be so loud so early in the morning? She wondered in annoyance. Anne was still bitter about the conversation she had with her grandmother. Like Mr. Shepard, her grandmother had a similar air of arrogant authority. What's with all this useless screaming, why can't he just say what he wants?

Just then, Ellie leaned forward. Anne turned her eyes just in time to see the P.E teacher glaring in their direction. Her friend had taken a step back and was now looking at her.

Oh no, did he call on me for something? Hysteria painted her eyes wide. She stared at Ellie, unsure of what to do. Before she could think of anything to do, Ellie had taken a step forward and answered the teacher.

"..and if that isn't reason enough for my admittedly awesome attire, it's impossible to deny that Elton John is an effing genius!" Anne just stared at her in disbelief.

Ellie had always been able to provoke authority without much hesitation. If she wasn't annoying Mr. Johnson with his first name, she was breaking through Mr. Shepard exterior.

The sight of her now, wearing her rainbow socks and Elton John shirt facing the solid green and black of Mr. Shepard was rather comical. Anne stifled a giggle not wanting to get involved.

Kudos Ellie, she thought silently. Her eyes were glued back to her shoes.

[Evil Troy]

When Mr. Johnson heard the girl’s response his face turned a deep shade of red from anger. As much as he hated it he had been out smarted. But before he even had a chance to think of a response Kouhei walked into the gym. The tall mans eyes fell on the unsuspecting Asian.

“You there! I assume you are the new transfer student! Why are you late!?”

When Kouhei heard these words he could feel his body freeze. This man was definitely an intimidating man for someone who was not used to him. “I uh…was in the principals’ office talk…”

But before he even had a chance to finish his sentence Mr. Johnson walked up to him and interrupted him. “If that is true where is your note!?”

“She didn’t give one to me sir she…”

“She didn’t give one to you!? You know it sounds to me like you were just plain late! You want to know what I do with people who come in late without an acceptable excuse!?”

“Sir no Sir! You misunderstand, Sir! Miss Sakura told me to tell you were I was and if you had a problem with it you should go speak to her after class was over, Sir!”

It was true that this response was really not the response Mr. Johnson wanted to hear. But oddly instead of going ahead and making him run or do push-ups he decided to indulge on what Kouhei said.

“Alright Mr. Rayho, after class I will personally go talk to Miss Sakura. If what you said is true you are off the hook. However, if I go to her and find out that you lied everyone in this gym is going to have to run until I throw up! Do you understand me!?”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

“Good now get in line with the rest of the gentlemen!”

Without any hesitation Kouhei jumped in line. In a way it felt kind of odd going ahead and getting in line, mainly because he skill had his uniform on. Of course seeing how he somehow managed to get out of having to run already he figured it would be best just not to say anything at all.

“Alright, everyone seems to be here now except Miss LeRuse and Mr. McCallister. Does anyone happen to know where these two might be?” About this time Mr. Johnson was looking through the girl’s line when he saw Kat in her usual spot.

“Miss LeRuse I not sure when you slipped in but I am sure that you are late! Explain yourself!” At that moment a vein popped out of his head. “MR. MCCALLISTER!!! GIVE ME TWENTY!!!”

[Allan-Hatai]

Kat fished out her admit slip and held it out with two fingers, covering a yawn with the other hand. "Yes, I was excused, and yes, I have the slip of expensive paper to prove it. Anything else you require before I zone out from exhaustion?" Maybe she shouldn't have said that last bit, but hey, it was the truth. Who could fault you for telling the truth in a world where lies ruled? Especially those of adults to children. Of course, it's not like Kat would've controlled her mouth anyway. She tended to let her thoughts out more when she was tired or in pain, so there you were right there. Maybe he'd make her sit out and she could get some more sleep...