Chapter 1: Welcome To My World

“So it’s final? You’re really moving?” Kelly asked, handing me my soda.

“That’s the word. My parents said that the construction on the new house is done so we are moving in this summer,” I replied gloomily. I haven’t really been upfront with Kelly. I haven’t told her I’m also transferring schools.

“That’s okay. We can still see each other in school, right?”

“Well, I haven’t really told you but...”

“You’re transferring aren’t you?” she interjected.

I gave a weak nod, “She said that the new school is only a couple of blocks away and that we will save on gas if I go there instead of here.”

“So where?” she asked with a little more enthusiasm than I liked.

“Lexington…”

“What?” she exclaimed. “Lexington, our school’s rival. Lexington?”

I nodded again. I sipped on my soda as Kelly processed the information I had given her. I seem to recall the expression on her face. It’s exactly the same as the one I gave my parents when they told me we were moving, shock and utter disbelief.

“Can’t you transfer to Carlisle instead?”

“Apparently, if I transfer there I have to be held back a grade,” I replied.

“So you’re really going, huh?”

“Yeah, we’re moving in two days.”

“We can still keep in touch, right? It’s no big deal.”

“Yeah, of course,” I replied, but we both knew the truth. When we move, I’m going to leave all this behind. It’s not that I didn’t treasure the experiences we had it’s just that I’m the kind of person who forgets too quickly.

The day we moved was a blur. I remember going out with Kelly and my other friends and spending the day with them. I remember the chaos as we packed all our belongings double checking that we didn’t leave anything behind. Finally, I remember looking back for the last time at the place I called my home for seventeen long years.

Our new home was no disappointment. It was three stories high and was over 500 sq. meters situated on Project 7, the illustrious village where all the richest people reside, a huge house for a five person family. There were over ten rooms and still had a place for a pond, a pool table and a garden. My mother hired an interior designer for our whole home so I had no say on what my room looked like and apparently to this designer a girls room had to have a country patterned wallpapers and fake flowers but the most infuriating thing about this room was that it had a pink birdcage with a fake canary tied in the middle of the curtain fixture.

Moving was growing more and more tedious as each day passed by. I learned that because Lexington was a school obsessed with academics. I had to take summer classes to make up for an extra unit of math.

Great. As if being the freakish new student wasn’t enough they just had to make me the freakish new student that needs summer classes. I thought making friends and fitting in were things I didn’t have to worry about after tackling them during my awkward years but no. I just have to relive that experience again, didn’t I. My brother already being in college had no qualms about the move. My younger sister didn’t really care where she studied as long as she wasn’t suddenly expected to excel in school. Now, I, being the middle child had an intrinsic need to prove myself and so did fairly well in school except for Math.

The first day of summer classes came and I visited my dear alma mater with the enthusiasm of a slug. I dragged my legs to enter the gates of hell, I wasn’t exactly feeling chipper this early in the morning and wasn’t at all happy about going here. We, transferees, were ushered into a huge hall where the principal gave us a speech on how he was proud that such excellent students are entering this school and we are sure to enjoy our stay here. After that we were placed in our respective classes and were bombarded with tests that were supposed to gauge our intelligence. This went on for over three weeks, until they decided that our brains have had enough and that they have stuffed us with information.

I had used the remainder of my summer vacation in unpacking my belongings and purchasing a new school uniform, books and other requirements. My mom insisted on us making friends with our neighbors saying they are the cream of the crop but I was resolute in avoiding all human contact until the first day of school arrives which didn’t wait that long.

Now, I’m in the shower remembering every gruesome detail that lead to this day while the radio plays a preppy back to school song out of some emerging pop star’s album. I was snapped out of my reverie by a loud rapping noise from the door, “Hey! Move it! Your class starts at 7:15 it’s already seven am!”

“Okay! Okay!” I grabbed the towel and dried myself. I put on my uniform and grabbed my bag. I ran downstairs to the dining table where my family was waiting.

“Here have breakfast,” my mom said.

“Can’t I’m already late. We have to go,” I said dragging my sister off her seat.

“Okay already,” she replied. Pulling away and taking her bag with her.

I started the car and drove as quickly as I could to Lexington High. When we arrived, the bell was already ringing so I told Liz to go while I found a parking space which meant waiting for ten minutes for the entire chauffeur driven cars to be parked. I ran as quickly as I could to the office where the secretary reprimanded me for being late then finally gave me my class schedule.

My class was easy to find, it had a sign posted on the door saying ‘All Transferees Enter Here’. When I walked in, the class had already started. The teacher ushered me in and asked me to occupy any vacant seat while she started on her introduction. I saw familiar faces, some of them I met in the remedial classes during the summer, the brunette who was always with a guy and the irritatingly perky bunch of girls who seemed to laugh about everything. I made my way to the front of the class beside the sleeping guy. I hate being late on the first day of school. All the discreet seats are already taken.

“Good morning class! I’m Ms. Choi, your homeroom teacher and also your English teacher. Okay, so you may notice that we have many new faces in class. Old students remember to be nice and make them feel comfortable. Now, let us have our new students introduce themselves. Will all new students kindly go to the front of the class and one by one tell us your name and the school you came from.”

I was the last one to stand so I was at the end of the line as eleven transferees stood in front of the class as if on a firing range expecting someone to just shoot them dead or at least I was. I felt awkward being taller than most of the girls and being a little chubby. My height made me stand out and no one wants to stand out on the first day. One by one the transferees introduced themselves and unfortunately none of them came from my school. So when it was my turn to introduce myself as expected when I mentioned my school some laughed, others whispered and others didn’t really care. We were asked to sit back down and the rules of the school were discussed.

“Now class, we will have our elections for class president, vice-president and treasurer. We will vote by raising our hands and no one can abstain. The transferees are not given the right to be voted since you don’t know anyone yet. All nominated candidates are given a minute to give their speech. The floor is now open for nomination for the position of treasurer. The treasurer’s responsibility holds all the pecuniary matters of the class.”

Murmurs burst in class mostly coming from the back. I looked back and observed the different groups in the class. In front are the scholars who may or may not be from wealthy families followed by the fairly well-off kids whose parents like mine probably had a decent job that paid well and then at the back of the room are the filthy rich kids whose parents either owned multinational companies or held high positions in the government. How do I know? Lexington High although known for academic excellence is more popular as the school where the wealthiest families send their kids. The area around Lexington: Project 7, Lanesbury and Greenwich are all known for being the residence of the most influential people in this city.

“Ms. Choi, I’m nominating Gerald Finn for treasurer,” came a voice from the back.

“Anyone else?” Ms. Choi looks around, “Okay, Mr. Finn give us your speech.”

Gerald Finn, a thin and short guy who wore glasses, awkwardly came to the front. “I-I will d-do my best as the class treasurer and p-promise to keep the money s-safe,” he said out of breath. I was about to clap when someone from the back howled and burst out laughing.

“Ms. Choi, I motion the nomination for treasurer to be closed,” said the tall blonde who nominated Gerald. He seemed to be the leader since no one contradicted him and everyone came to the same conclusion.

“Okay. Mr. Finn congratulations you’re now the class treasurer. Now, we have the position of vice-president. The vice-president is responsible for the coordination of the numerous activities in school. ”

The same blonde spoke again, “I nominate Jared Pratt as vice-president.”

“Are you sure you wish to do that Mr. Lexington?” asked Ms. Choi. She seems to know the hierarchy in class. “Anyone else has a nomination?”

“I nominate Patricia Bell as vice-president,” came a voice from the front.

“Ma’am, I wish my nomination to be removed,” answered the blonde sitting beside the blonde guy who had control of the whole election.

“Well then, Mr. Pratt wins. Will Mr. Pratt please come to the front of the class and deliver his speech.”

I looked around to see who Mr. Pratt is, when the guy sleeping beside me suddenly stood up. “I resign from my position. I give it to,” he looks around and points at me. “Her. I relinquish my position to her.”

“Mr. Pratt that is not possible if you were awake then you would have heard that transferees are not allowed to hold any position.”

“Really? Then I accept,” then he sits back down and goes back to sleep.

“Last, we have class president. I’m going to assume that Mr. Lexington already won. Does anyone disagree?”

No one spoke up.

“That’s settled then. Mr. Lexington being the class president since primary school I’m sure your more than well acquainted with your responsibilities. You will work along side Mr. Finn and Mr. Pratt. Now, I’m sure most of you have already heard of the annual Halloween Festival, this year our class has been assigned to manage the event. Mr. Lexington will coordinate with the other class officers in deciding the theme and activities for the day. Remember, to make room for the annual candle lighting ceremony.”

Half the day went by smoothly as teachers one after another came and went discussing their classes and giving the initial requirements. I even made new acquaintances in the process. The girl sitting behind me introduced herself as Michelle Evans, president of the Food Circle an organization created by food aficionados where they provide goods for bake sales and other school activities. It was about lunch time when I heard my stomach growl and remembered not eating breakfast. Fortunately, the midday bell rang and we were dismissed for lunch. Michelle told me to go ahead and buy lunch since she had to go to the Kitchen and get her meal. Apparently, high ranking members received a free lunch everyday. So I made my way to the cafeteria and was surprised by its magnitude. It was the size of our gym and was two stories high. It contained every kind of cuisine I could think of. Actually it looked more like a buffet. There was a sushi bar, a stall which sold Italian dishes and many more. I made my way to the cheapest stall I could find and bought myself French fries smothered with cheese and a can of soda.

When I went back to the classroom, there was only my seatmate whom I appropriately named “Weirdo” sleeping there. I think I’ve only seen him awake twice in the whole time we’ve been here. First, when he pointed at me and then when he woke up to listen to his ipod. I placed my food on the table and opened the can of soda. I was surprised when his head suddenly shot up then he turned to me in a way that reminded me of the movie “The Exorcist”.

“Fries. Nice,” he said. All of a sudden he was reaching for several pieces of fries and stuffing it in his mouth.

“What are you doing?” I demanded. I looked at him incredulously and watched as he just proceeded to eat my lunch. I finally got a hold of myself and pushed his hand away when he tried again.

“You’re mean,” he said like a little kid, pouting his lips and wrinkling his brows. Is he for real? He is definitely weird.

Just then Michelle walked back in class and sat beside me. “The line was unusually long. Maybe because it’s the first day and they had to decide who’s going to give Dorian his lunch.”

“Dorian?” I asked turning to face her. “Who’s Dorian?”

“You don’t know? He’s the class president. The tall blonde,” came her reply.

“Oh. So why is it such a big deal? Why is he receiving a free lunch is he a member?”

“Dorian Lexington is the grandson of the founder of this school. He was the one who convinced the principal to build a new kitchen for the Food Circle. He’s more of an honorary member.”

“Whoa. So he is really popular.”

“Yes, he’s also smart, kind and an all around nice guy. Academically he’s in the top 10 percentile of the whole school. He’s also the MVP of the basketball team and members of various clubs. Not to mention the guy is the son of Senator Ivan Lexington.”

“So he’s perfect?” I asked.

“Not really,” came a voice from behind us.

I turned to look and saw Dorian Lexington standing there with a smile on his face and milk in his hands. Oh my God! What a way to embarrass myself. I started to feel my face heat up and turned my attention back to my lunch or what’s left of it. Apparently while I was conversing with Michelle, Weirdo kept on picking at my food. “What are you doing?” I asked, turning to face him.

He had a wide satisfied smile on his face that made me want to spill my soda all over him. “M-I-L-K.”

“Here you go,” Dorian handed him a carton of milk to him. “Sorry he gets really cranky when he hasn’t drank his milk yet. You can have my lunch. Someone’s going to take it up here. Mich, please tell them to give it to her. C’mon Jared lets stop bothering these ladies.”

Weirdo, I mean Jared stood up from his seat and happily sipped his milk all the way to the cafeteria.

“Wait, he has it delivered to him?”

“Yeah, usually by an eager freshman who has heard rumors about him. “Oh here it is.”

I looked at the door and saw my sister carrying a brown bag. “What are you doing here?”

“You know her?” Mich asked.

“My sister.”

“I’m here to give Dorian his lunch. Is he here?”

“Sorry, Dorian said to give his lunch to your sister.”

“What? I went to all this trouble just to bring you lunch. I thought I was at least going to see him.”

“Too bad. Now my lunch please, I’m starving.”

“Here. Whatever.” She pushed the bag towards me and stormed off.

I laughed when she left. I can’t believe she wanted to meet him. “This smells great!”

“Of course! The Food Circle only prepares the finest meals.”

I took out an elegant lunch box and carefully opened it. Inside was shrimp coated with garlic butter, a fish fillet and a creampuff. Whoa. They really eat here. Maybe Weirdo didn’t do such a bad thing after all, I though to myself. I proceeded to eat Dorian’s lunch while learning more about the school from Michelle.

“What’s with Pratt? Is he really that- strange?” I asked.

“Well, no one really knows much about him except Dorian. From what I’ve heard he’s been drinking milk everyday since the incident.”

“Incident?”

“No one really knows the details but it happened nine years ago. He’s usually just sleeping or listening to music. You’d be surprised though he’s also in the top 10 percentile of the whole school.”

“Unbelievable!”

Dorian and Jared came back right after we finished our lunch. Jared came in with fries in hand which he casually plops down on my table. “So-rry! Here you go.”

“Uh, what am I supposed to do with this?” I asked.

“Eat.”

“I already had lunch.”

“Eat it anyways,” he said with a smile.

“Uh, thanks.” I looked back at Michelle who had a mischievous grin on her face. “What?”

“Nothing, we should return these back to the Kitchen.”

“Okay,” I took the lunch box and half empty can of soda with me and we started making our way down to the kitchen when I accidentally bumped into someone and dropped my soda spilling it on his pants. I looked up and saw a raven haired guy towering over me surrounded by several people glaring at me. Oh my God! What did I do now? “Sorry! I’m so sorry! I dropped my soda and it spilled,” I stopped when I noticed the people surrounding him making their way towards me. I backed up and looked for Mich who wasn’t anywhere in sight. Great! She left. What am I going to do?

-Chapter End-

P.S. The introduction is long to give you a feel of the character’s situation. The pace will pick up quickly right after this.