Chapter Four: New Kids Never Did Fit In

A new girl, Evelyn shows up at Jackson High. =O

       Chapter Four

 

         Danielle kicked the soccer ball into the goal. She heard a thump, and saw the soccer ball flying back at her. She ducked as quickly as she could, the ball barely missing her head.

         “Heads up!” Valerie yelled, laughing. “That stupid piece of wood. I wish my dad could actually build something.” She rolled her eyes as Danielle stood up.

         Danielle took a few steps forward, and grabbed the soccer ball that had bounced off of the piece of wood hanging from the goal. “I know, right?” She handed the soccer ball to Valerie, who started to juggle it with her knees.

         Valerie grabbed the ball, and rested it at her side. She puckered her lips, and moved them side-to-side. “I am bored. I wish we could hang out in my room.”

         Danielle began to mimic Valerie, and moved her puckered lips as well. “I know, but Skylar took over.” Suddenly, Danielle realized what she had to do. “I have to go to the bathroom…” She said, grinning.

         “Sure.” Valerie said.

         Danielle flung her eyes open, startled at what she had just seen. She was in her bed, and she was panting harder than ever. The room seemed really humid, and she clutched her hands to her face. Her face was drenched in sweat. Why had she been sweating? That was definitely not a nightmare. In fact, it was one of the most pleasant dreams Danielle had had in a long time. She hadn’t realized how much fun being Valerie’s best friend really was. Danielle rolled over and looked at her alarm clock. 3.43am. She sighed, and went back to sleep, hoping that her dream would continue

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      “Breathe in through your diaphragm.” Mrs. Bree said, pacing back and fourth in front of her classroom. “And…out.” She stopped pacing, and held her stomach. Patting it a few times, she said, “ Feel you stomach fill itself with air as you breathe. This is the proper breathing technique for an actor or actress. It gives you the best air, see?”

         Skylar snorted. Could this get any lamer? She had learned proper breathing techniques when she was eight. And now, in Advanced Drama, they think that they should review it? Please!

         Mrs. Bree stopped pacing, and looked at the class. “You kids need to breathe! Let me hear you exhale! Now, breathe in…and out!”

         There was a deep sigh that came from the class. “Good, good.” Mrs. Bree said, nodding and grinning.

         Ashlyn looked over at Skylar, who was standing in the row behind her. She gave Skylar a look that said Kill me! Skylar had seen that look many times.

         “Now,” Mrs. Bree said, her grin growing as she spoke. “I have a very special surprise for you guys.”

         Just then, the door swung open and a girl with bright red hair walked in, chewing a piece of pink bubblegum. She had her hand on her hip and her weight was forced to on side. She wore huge, pink, playboy sunglasses. Skylar smelled the sugary, fruity smell of Bubblelicious gum from across the classroom, and laughed at how hard the red haired girl chewed it. Her jaw was chomping on the gum so fiercely, Skylar could hear her teeth beat against each other as she chewed.

         “Class,” Mrs. Bree said, putting her hand on the red haired girl’s shoulder. “This is Evelyn. Evelyn…” Mrs. Bree gulped. “…this is the class.” She giggled, and then showed Evelyn to her seat.

         Ashlyn turned and looked at Skylar again, giving her the same look. Skylar shook her head and rolled her eyes, smiling weakly.

         “Evelyn is new here at Jackson High. She just moved from southern California. Where did you say you were from, honey?”

         Evelyn pushed her gum with her tongue so that it hung out from her mouth. “I’m from La Mesa. It’s like, right next to Mexico.” She nodded, puckered her lips off to the side, and closed her eyes as if to sleep, resting her head on her hand.

         Skylar laughed. Evelyn was definitely not going to fit in at Jackson High. Jackson High was just like the rest of Jackson, only more uptight. Evelyn was a lazy, gum-chewing snob.

         News had spread pretty fast about Evelyn. Jackson rarely got new students, and one as unique as Evelyn was definitely going to be talked about in most conversation.

         Unfortunately, Evelyn soon became a huge part of Skylar’s life. She was in her math class, her science class, and her history class.

         “Hey, can you pass this up to Zack?” Willow said, poking Skylar’s back and swinging her gleaming, dark black hair. She held out a piece of lined paper that had been folded up so many times, it almost looked spherical.

         Skylar turned around, facing Willow. Willow was wearing a dark brown Peter Som dress covered in Swarovski crystals. Sitting next to her was a transparent Marc Jacobs tote, which Skylar could see held a few textbooks, some lip gloss, and a pink, Conair hairbrush. Skylar nodded, gulped, and grabbed the folded piece of paper. Zack and his brother, Henry, were two of the richest guys in Jackson. They knew every single designer, even those ones that are so expensive and so nice that it seems as if you are forbid to wear them unless you are a celebrity. They live on the outskirts of town (also called “Rich Jackson”). Only the richest of the rich lived in Rich Jackson.

 Danielle and Valerie lived in Rich Jackson. Skylar remembered sleeping over at Valerie’s house a few times in seventh grade, and every time they would debate on whom they should teepee, although they always seemed to teepee Zack and Henry.

Holding the note in her hand, Skylar leaned forward, making sure that her tee shirt was covering her jeans well enough. She had a weird figure, and jeans never fit her perfectly.

She poked Zack on the back, and felt his silk button-up shirt against the back of her soft fingertips. Zack turned around, and Skylar stiffened.

“Um…” Skylar said. She gulped. Seeing the impatience of Zack’s face, she continued by shoving her arm out again, gripping the note tightly, and saying, “Here.”

Zack looked confused, as if Skylar were holding some sort of poisonous spider in her hand. “Okay.” He said, slowly moving his hand toward hers and reaching out for the note. Once he had finally grabbed it, he quickly whirled around and read the note. He was soon writing a response on the back.

Skylar sighed. She was happy that dilemma was finished with. For some reason, she found rich people very intimidating. She felt like if she made one mistake around them they could buy her humility. By some coincidence, she was best friends with Danielle and Valerie in seventh grade, though they seemed to be very comfortable around each other. Skylar, on the other hand, did not. While Danielle and Valerie lived on the same block in Rich Jackson, Skylar lived in an apartment across the street from a McDonalds. Valerie and Danielle always had their inside jokes that they devolved at soccer practice, and they seemed to have new ones everyday. It was hard to be Valerie and Danielle’s best friend, and it was even harder to keep up with their lives.

Skylar blinked a few times, bringing herself back into reality. I am in history class. Pay attention, Skylar. Skylar seemed to talk to herself in her head quite a bit, and she had noticed it.

“Juliuth Thaethar .” Mr. Kim said, using his handy-dandy lisp as he spoke. “One of the motht amathing figureth in all of Rome.” He made a cheesy smile, winked, and continued blabbering, as if the class actually cared about Roman times.

To Skylar, History was the most unnecessary subject in school. When would you ever use the life of Julius Caesar as an accountant, a realtor, or, most importantly, an actress?

Skylar glanced around the classroom. She saw Zack, who was still frantically scribbling on the back of the note. Skylar glanced left, and noticed Raymond Shaw flipping a TechDeck on his black, metal desk. She also saw Elsie Elis, a girl who was widely known as the dumb blonde of the school, picking at her perfectly filed nails with a blank stare on her face. As she glanced some more, she noticed that nobody seemed to be paying attention to Mr. Kim’s lecture on Julius Caesar. She turned around to see what else was happening, when she almost screamed with terror.

 Evelyn was staring at Skylar from the corner of her eye, her mouth chomping on a huge piece of green gum. Her bright blue eyes shone, which made the scene all the more creepy. Skylar twirled around in her seat as quickly as possible, trying to pretend that she did not just see Evelyn staring at her. Skylar could feel Evelyn’s gaze pounding upon her. That was really strange. Skylar thought. Why was she staring at me? Is there something in my hair? Skylar put her hand out behind her and patted her own head, trying to feel a wrapper, a bug, or anything that could have made Evelyn stare the way she did.

Suddenly, Evelyn burst out in laughter, making the whole class turn. Evelyn didn’t seem to mind this negative attention, and kept laughing. She pounded her fist, her head resting against the desk as she hooted, giggled, and chuckled.

Skylar was amazed. It almost seemed as if Evelyn had read her mind. What had caused her to laugh? It seemed as if she had started laughing the instant Skylar had thought about there being something in her hair, but even that wasn’t that funny. In fact, it wasn’t funny at all.

As Evelyn’s laughter died down, Mr. Kim felt obliged to continue with his lesson. Skylar, feeling brave, glanced back at Evelyn, who, to her astonishment, still had her gaze totally focused on Skylar. Trying to be nice, Skylar smiled and made a teasing face that said, Why are you looking at me?

Evelyn stared at Skylar for a few more seconds, her facial expression unswerving. All of a sudden, Evelyn grabbed the note that Willow had been writing to Zack from Willow, and unfolded it at lightning speed. She held the note up for Skylar to see.

Skylar couldn’t breathe. It was so bizarre, she couldn’t believe something that strange had happened to her. She wasn’t sure if it was a joke, or if Evelyn could actually be serious. The note clearly stated, in spiky black ink:

 

Skylar Simmons is a dead-b***h