11

My back aches from slouching in the straight-backed chair, and my hands are clammy from full class introductions. My classes consist entirely of awkwardly asking neighbors for answers, desperately trying to recall knowledge that I’ve long since forgotten and pulling myself out of mind gripping sexual fantasies. Jeez, how do people do this every day.

“The homework is due tomorrow,” Mr. Horrace reminds as the bell rings. Horrace, more like whore ass. I sling my navy blue bag over my shoulder and become one with the river of people in the hallway. Survived the first day. Now I need to survive the dorms.

I find myself wishing for my shades again as the front doors are thrown open and we pour out like water from a broken damn. A short student trips, just ahead of me, and sprawls across the stairs, dropping his books.

There’s a chorus of laughter. I step over him without looking down. Don’t draw attention, that’s rule one.

As the crowd thins, I make for my room as fast as possible, but somebody runs up to me from behind. The flashy hair and perfume smell let me know that it’s Laila, even before I see her.

“Hi, Tallin.”

I glance at her over my shoulder, and nod.

“Um, just saying… there are lot’s of after school activities, and they’re kind of mandatory.” Her high pitched voice is beginning to hurt my ears. “I can show you around a few of them, if you like.”

I halt the rudeness in my throat, and cough to be rid of it. “Yeah, sure…”

“Great!” she says, unnecessarily cheerily. What is this girl’s deal?

I follow her gingerly through the clubs. Chess, debate, soccer, knitting, rugby, athletics, public speaking, poetry, drama, technology… none of them are anything I would ever do in my life.

“So? What do you think?” she asks, standing with her tiny feet really close together and with her lips pursed ever so slightly.

“Well… I dunno, I don’t think I’m a club kind of guy. I mean, I love the night clubs and all…”

She bursts into a fit of controlled girly giggles.

“… but I’m not too sure about this stuff.”

“Did you not have after school activities in your old school?”

I shake my head. “No. But it was a pretty shit school, so whatever. What clubs do you do?”

She tries to keep her cool. It’s like as if she’s beaming with excitement at me paying attention to her. School girls are my specialty, and I’d sure as hell finesse her in a bathroom stall if she wasn’t so… plastic.

A group of younger kids walk by, snickering at me. “Look at the scarecrow,” I hear one of them say. Damn, never thought I looked like a scarecrow. That’s pretty cool.

“I’m a cheerleader,” she says, proudly.

Of course she is. What else could she possibly be?

“But,” she adds quickly, probably seeing the expression on my face. “I also play chess, and work at the plant shelter in the labs.”

“A… plant shelter?”

“Yeah! Like, with real fruits and stuff. We grow them here.”

“Huh, that’s actually pretty cool.”

“Totally, do you wanna check it out?”

“Um… sure, I guess.”

“Alright, but take me to my locker first, I need to get some stuff.”

Look at her! She’s all over me, yet somehow still makes it seem like she’s in charge. You can’t fall for this bullshit.

And yet I find myself trailing behind her. She’s wearing a turquois green tank top, showing her pierced belly button, above a pair of tight, light jeans and pink sneakers. Ok, the view from behind isn’t that bad actually. She’s kind of got an ass. It looks soft. Her legs are a bit thin though.

“What are you looking at? Is there something on my pants?” she asks, turning back and looking over herself.

“Huh? No I…”

She breaks into a laugh. “Relax, I’m kidding,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the lockers between the science and social studies parts of the school.

She pushes me to a locker and shit I’m hard. Wasn’t she dating Davrin?

She eases against me, sliding her leg between mine and sliding her hand over my bony chest. Damn this girl is horny.

She tiptoes so her lips can reach mine. That’s soft. Shit. Her breasts press against my chest and… no screw this! What happened to laying low? Laying. When was the last time I got laid. Been caught up in all this shit lately. No chill.

Suddenly, her hand slides down my pants and softly grabs hold my my shaft. Shit. Shit shit shit shit… no!

I push her away by the hips. She’s so leaned into me that she nearly trips over herself as she falls backwards. “I…” she stammers, “Oh my god I’m so sorry!”

“No, relax,” I mutter, adjusting my boxers. “We’ve known each other for two days.” That’s bullshit. You’ve boned girls you’ve known for minutes.

“My god this is so embarrassing,” she cries, covering her face with her hands.

Time to leave before she does. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” I reassure, quickly striding away.

It takes a full minute of walking before my boner finally goes away. Shit, now where even am I? Why is this school so big?

I steer myself between a storage unit and one of the outskirt classrooms and slump against the wall so I can get my shit together. Lay low, don’t be noticed. Why is it so hot? Shit man, argh this is horrible. Why can’t I just…

“Oi, Scarecrow…” I hear.

I turn, seeing Davrin standing at my only exit point. Feraq, smaller but more muscular, steps beside his friend. Henchman and king bully. “Um, hi,” I respond.

“Excuse me?” Davrin asks. “What’s wrong with you dude. You’ve been here two days and you’re already making moves on my girlfriend? What the hell man? Was there no bro-code where you’re from?” Shit, he saw. Or somebody saw and told him.

Ok, so he just wants to talk.

“Sorry mate,” I say, standing up. He’s a good four inches taller than me. “I didn’t know, and to be fair, she moved on me.”

“Bro, what the hell? You slide into her, and then accuse her of cheating? Laila is the loyalest bitch on the planet, you hear me?”

“Hey man, I swear I’m sorry,” I tell him, trying to walk by. With his huge, meaty arm, he shoves me back.

“You don’t disrespect me like that man,” he tells me. Feraq bends down and picks up a stick.

Oh shit. They’re about of mess me up. “Told you mate, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure of that.”

I see the blow coming a mile before it reaches me, sway out of reach. Davrin nearly stumbles over himself, and Feraq stares at me, shocked.

No. I’ve been beaten to a pulp more times than I can remember, but by who? Blax was a goddamn AWOL drill sergeant that had a body made of Kevlar. Lorrick was a five year army official with more experience fighting than I have screwing. Zorikan? He’s a freaking god of street fighting, that doesn’t even count. But this? This is a high school bully. That’s degrading.

I duck under his next swing and throw all my meager weight into a punch, straight at his belly. My fist literally bounces off his meaty torso. Shit. Ok, maybe not fight them. Woah!

I barely manage to duck as Feraq swings the stick like a baseball bat, directly at my head. Shit, that could’ve given me brain damage! This bitch is crazy!

Davrin launches himself at me again, and I’m forced to cat jump onto a windowsill. “You bitch!” he hollers, swatting at my ankles. I dance, evading his slow motion swings.

I take my eyes off him for a moment, just fast enough to see Feraq hurl the stick at me. Shit. Dive!

I launch myself forwards, surprising Davrin so his hands move to protect his face. I glide over him, managing to scrape a roll in the tiny space and spring upwards, propelling myself with the wall so I just manage to reach a window on the second floor.

“Get the stick, you idiot,” I hear Davrin holler.

I get my leg up and pull myself up onto the windowsill, too high for them to reach me. “Sorry lads, maybe next time,” I call down.

Oh shit, forgot about the stick.

I scrunch to the side as the stick smashes into the window, cracking the weak glass. Davrin rushes to collect it as it falls, while I scramble to my feet, launching myself across the gap and managing to grab hold of the gutter on the other side of the roof. Thank the damn world for making me lighter than a loaf of bread because it doesn’t break, and I manage to haul myself onto the flat roof, splashing into a puddle.

I run. Then collide with something. What? How? No. Someone. That’s human.

“Ow!” the person groans.

I pick myself up from the murky roof-water. “Agh shit, what the hell?” I ask, looking at him.

He’s tall, tan skin and a mop of curly hair on the top of his head, with the sides and the back shaven. I recognize him as Terrel, one of my dormmates. “Dude that was awesome!” he cries.

I snort. “The hell are you doing up here?”

“Watching of course!” he says, like as if he’s attending a football match.

“Watching?” I ask, incredulous.

“Yeah, I wanted to see what would happen, and I was not expecting that! You’re like a little ninja!” he tries to clap me on the shoulder and I shrink away from him.

“You’re dead Tallin!” I hear Davrin bellow.

“Yeah, but that might be a problem,” Terrel mutters. “You probably should’ve let him beat you up. Get it over and done.”

I push my disgust back down my throat. “How am I supposed to go back to dorms? He’s going to kill me in my sleep.” I need allies, can’t piss this guy off just yet.

“Aw no way. Davrin’s a brute, but he’s not an idiot. He knows that you could report him for this, and that there might be a witness, ahem ahem you’re welcome. He’ll be super nice to you for a while and hope you forget about it.”

“Forget about it? You said he wasn’t stupid.”

“I dunno, I guess he knows that you know that he’s a useful person to… not be enemies with. Plus, if you do report him, and he gets suspended or something, he would like actually murder you. But it’s not like he could really get suspended, he’s the principle’s son after all.”

“What?” Oh shit. This might be bad.

“Yeah but who cares. You’re a badass!”

No. I’m bad and an ass. But yeah, who cares, right? Tauren. She cares. She cares about me. Oddly enough. Not really sure what I’ve done for her, or why she stuck around me. Because I’m worth it? Huh, sounds like bullshit.

“Hey dude, what’s wrong? You’re face went all dark.”

“No. You just saw it light up for a second,” I murmur, striding away from him.

“What? What was that? If you said some deep philosophical shit then I don’t really care. C’mon, you oughta meet my crew! You’re a major clout factor now bruh! Wait till they here about you!”

“I don’t like you or your friends. Go away.”

“Nonsense! You haven’t even met them! And nobody likes me until they know me! I’m not actually an annoying twat, this was just… a freak accident. Hehe, sorry I’m sweating a lot right now.”

“I’m leaving.”

“Yes! Leaving with me to go meet the homies!”

“No. I’m leaving to my room.”

“You’re room? Screw your room. It sucks! Why do you think it’s your room?”

Because I suck.

“Nobody wanted that room, which is why it’s empty. Duhhhh… it’s boring as hell in there, and Davrin is probably lurking in your closet or something.”

I meet his gaze for a moment, and I feel his eyes melt into their sockets.

He erupts into a nervous laughter. “Relax a bit would you? C’mon I’ll take you around.”

“No. Stay away. Stop putting your arm over me…stop… don’t…”

~

“Hala bitches!” Terrel blares, waltzing into a trashy corner behind the science laps.

“Yooo, whatup mate,” says a dude. Literally, the picturesque definition of a dude. He’s got thin, shoulder length, brown hair that’s brushed straight down, a big nose and a pink pair of sunglasses perched on his nose and some sort of bleeping gaming device in his small hands. He’s slouched with nauseating posture into a weird angular bench that’s for some reason part of the wall. Damn, humans make no sense.

I open my mouth to respond, but then I realize that Yannis hasn’t said anything to me. He doesn’t even look at me.

“Yo dickheads check out what I got…” blurts someone else, who abruptly stops jogging. She’s softly panting, holding her navy blue school bag in one hand and a scrunched up paper bag in the other. Her shoulder length hair falls in distinct stylishly shaggy strands, some of which cover her face. “Who dis?”

“This right here,” Terrel starts, slinging his arm over my shoulders. “Is the man who literally got cornered by Davrin and Feraq… and escaped!”

“What? You’re joking!”

“Deadass man! He dodged right through them like a ninja! Freaking scaled up the wall and practically backflipped onto the roof!”

“Bullshit,” Yannis calls, not looking up from his game.

“I’m serious dude, tell em!” Terrel demands.

“He’s joking,” I say.

“Aw c’mon,” he heaves, giving me a clap on the back. “Be serious now.”

“Terrel you’re high as a cloud,” the girl laughs.

“I didn’t backflip,” I add. “I don’t really know how to do one.”

“Ha!” Terrel exclaims. “So the rest of what I said was true!”

I shrug. “Kinda. Davrin’s pretty fat honestly. I doubt he’d be able to catch a mosquito.”

“Shiiiit mannnnn,” the girl commends. “Well, you do look like a cat. A stray one.”

I put on an exaggerated scowl. “That last part wasn’t necessary.”

“But it’s true.”

“Haha!” the girl laughs. “I like this dude. What’s your name? Or shall I call you Flash Cat?”

“The name’s… Tallin,” I say with obvious hesitation. That’s a dumb name. Why the hell am I using that dumb ass name. Stupid ass dumb ass idiot name. What the hell. Screw that I… an image of Sekera, laughing so much she’s crumpled to the floor, flashes into my mind. I let my imagination linger on the colorfulness of her hair. “But my friends call me Dingo.”

“A fitting name, lad,” Terrel says, finally pulling his sweaty arm off me.

“But you aren’t my friends,” I spurt, pulling myself back together.

“No yet!” Yannis calls.

The girl offers a hand to me. “The name’s Arika.”

Arika? That name…. Yarika.

A shiver runs down my spine. Yarika, my first friend on the streets. I’m forced to blink away the images of her grey skin and twig thin legs. I clasp Arika’s hand. It’s warm and forgiving. I can feel her pulse. Alive. She’s breathing. But… this isn’t Yarika. This is Arika, whoever the hell she is. Dumb name. Very dumb name, just like Tallin. Hey God, if you exist… dick move man.

Arika’s looking at me slightly concerned. “You good man?” she asks.

“He will be,” Terrel butts in with a wicked grin, snatching the bag from Arika’s hands.

“Oh shit, don’t tell me that’s Bansilin,” I murmur.

“Hell no, we can’t get any high grade shit around here. But it isn’t half bad.”

I watch tentatively as he pulls the thick clump of weed out of the bag and sets up a bong. “Here? Isn’t that… unsafe? Can’t we get caught?”

“Caught? Do you know this school at all?” Terrel asks. “Last month our chem teacher saw Viggale get beaten to a pulp by Feraq, and he didn’t do shit.”

I crack my neck, but it doesn’t take away the tension. “I’m going.”

Terrel shoves the lit bong into Yannis’s hands. The gaming device clatters to the floor. “C’mon mate, just a minute.”

“No. Buzz off,” I say, swatting his hand off my shoulder.

He grabs my wrist, and I sear into him with my dagger sharp eyes.

He shrinks into himself but doesn’t let go. “Dude, chill out for a second. You’re new here and you’ve just gotten a whole load of new enemies. You could use some allies.”

I can see Arika inhaling so deep her eyes nearly roll up. “One whiff,” I mutter.

“Yeah!” Terrel says, pumping his fist in the air.

Arika hands me the bong, Terrel lights it and I breath in… then instantly erupt into coughs. Jeez, it’s been long since I’m smoked anything. Been too caught up in all this bullshit.

“Take it easy there mate,” Yannis tells me.

“What kind of backstreet lowgrade shit is this? I swear there’s grass in this.”

“Bullcrap! You just took a bad whiff,” Arika shoots back.

“Hey mate, not all of us are used to East Side Specials,” Terrel tells me, exhaling plumes of smoke through his nostrils.

I cough again, and wave smoke away from my eyes. Damn, how long has it been since I smoked last? Shit, I’m not sure I like it that much anymore. Yeah, screw this, I have shit to do. “I have shit to do.”

“Nawww you don’t,” Terrel drags. “But hey if this isn’t your jam, go ahead and run off. I’ve got like… three classes with you… ish… and we don’t have work for shit.”

“There are other things that fall under ‘stuff to do’ than work,” I mutter, pushing past him.

“Well… are we friends now?” he calls.

I don’t respond.

“See you ‘round, Dingo!” Arika shouts.

A heavy shower breaks from the heavens as I break into a jog. I’m grateful for the splatters of rain that wilt my hair over my eyes.