Fresh Meat

Chapter One

I flushed the toilet and slowly got up from the floor. “Mom, I’m too sick to go to school. Can I just wait until tomorrow?”

For most of the morning I had been bent over the toilet, heaving the contents of the large breakfast my mother had made for my first day back at school. I was a nervous wreck. And I only had half an hour to chill out before the school bus came.

Mom just rolled her eyes and handed me a wet cloth to wipe my mouth. “You’re not sick. You just let your nerves get the best of you. Why are you so nervous? I thought you liked school.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Mom, puh-leez. I only liked school when I knew everyone, when I had friends. I won’t know anyone!”

I had gone to a private school from kindergarten to eighth grade, and my parents decided to torture me and make me go to public school my freshman year. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration. My mother had to quit her job to take care of my ailing grandmother, and money was tight. They really couldn’t afford to send two kids to private school, so I got stuck going to a public school since it was my brother’s last year at Heritage Academy and it didn’t seem fair to pull him out his senior year. And like it was fair for me to start my freshman year around people I didn’t know?

“That’s not true, honey. You’ll know Richie.”

Richie? How could I be excited about Richie? Richard Huntington III was the child of my mother’s best friend. I haven’t seen him in awhile, not since we were little. He was such a dork; at least he’d been back then. I doubt he’d change any.

“Whatever, Mom. I just hope I look okay.” Since the age of five, I have always worn a uniform to school. I never had to worry about what I looked like, because all of us girls looked the same. I looked down at my denim skirt and red blouse with matching red sandals. I had really wanted to wear jeans and flip-flops. That’s what all the kids at the mall had been wearing when I went shopping last weekend, but Mom had insisted that I dressed up for my first day.

Mom gave me a reassuring hug. “Oh, honey, you look great! Now, let’s take a picture.” She always took a picture of me on my first day of school, even though I’d been wearing the same thing for eight years. At least this time I’d be wearing something different in the photograph. She went to find her camera, and I took another look at myself in the mirror.

As she was finishing the photo shoot, I heard a loud horn blow. “Oh! That must be the bus!” Mom exclaimed excitedly. She put her camera down and handed me my backpack. Oh God, not the dreaded school bus. I’d never ridden a bus before, especially not a school bus.

As I started to walk out the front door, Mom pulled me aside. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you to school?” All weekend she had been offering to drive me to school on my first day. Once again I declined. How embarrassing would it be to have your mother drive you to school? I was sure she’d want to walk me to my first class; I couldn’t risk that embarrassment. I was her baby and at times, she still treated me like one.

I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I quickly thought of an excuse. “No, Mom, I’m fine. Besides, I want to ride the bus. I want to go ahead and meet my fellow classmates. I’ll be riding the bus all year long; I might as well get used to it now.” The horn blew again out of impatience, and I kissed her on the cheek and rushed off.

Getting on the bus was the hardest thing I have ever done before. My head was down as I got onto that dreadful vehicle. I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone. I didn’t want my tears to be visible to the other passengers. It was very quiet, so I looked up to see how many students were actually on the bus and was relieved to find only a couple of kids. My stop must have been one of the first ones. I took an empty seat and pulled out a paperback to read.

The ride was pretty uneventful. No one asked to sit next to me, which kind of sucked. I had wanted to meet someone before entering school, but oh well. The bus pulled up in front of the student parking lot and I followed everyone out. I’d been to the school earlier that week to register for classes, so I wasn’t surprised by the monstrosity of the building. What surprised me was the amount of kids roaming around.

I headed off for homeroom and got stopped at the main entrance by a security guard. I couldn’t believe that I had to empty my pockets and go through a metal detector. It’s not like we were in a bad area of town.

As I was walking down the hall, once again I was surprised by the school’s population. As I looked closer at the students, I realized that everyone was wearing jeans. And I also noticed that there were cliques. This was just great! I was sure to not make friends with anyone. I could already tell that high school was going to suck.

I was the first to enter the classroom and took a seat in the front. I had ten minutes before the bell rang and wished the time would fly. I couldn’t wait until the bell rang to let school out for the day.

This really wasn’t fair. If I was old enough, I would have gotten a part-time job over the summer to pay for my school tuition. Damn Hunter! He’d left early for school for a meeting with the student council. He’s class president. I wish I could have gotten some words of encouragement from him. He’s a pretty cool older brother. Right now he was probably hanging out with old friends, exchanging stories about this past summer. I couldn’t help but feel jealous.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. I couldn’t handle this; I wasn’t strong enough. I didn’t care if anyone called me too sensitive, which was a part of who I was. Crying helped me, well just a little.

“Are you okay?” I looked up and was greeted by a warm smile by an incredibly gorgeous guy. His teal blue eyes were a familiar color. Did I know him?

I shrugged. “I guess I am. I mean, it’s my first day and I don’t know anyone and God, I just wish I were back at Heritage.”

“Madison? Wow, looks like you know someone. It’s been a long time since we saw each other. How’s the family?”

We knew each other? I certainly would have remembered this gorgeous guy, had I met him before. He sure did look familiar, though, with those teal blue eyes.

He laughed when he saw my confusion. “C’mon on Madi, it’s Rick.” He took the seat next to me and I turned to face him. I didn’t know any Ricks, and yet he knew my name. Who was this guy?

“I’m sure I don’t know a Rick, but you do look familiar…” I trailed off as I watched the room fill up with other students. All the girls wore jeans and t-shirts with flip-flops, but they all looked so fashionable and so pretty. They looked like they belonged here at Franklin High, and I looked out of place. I belonged with my friends at Heritage Academy.

Rick watched me watching the fellow classmates with terror. “Oh, you’ll be fine. These girls don’t bite. I can’t believe you don’t recognize me. I mean, okay, I was a dork back then. I stopped wearing glasses when I got my braces taken off last year. And I probably still went by Richie when we last saw each other.”

Richie? Wait a minute, was this Richard Huntington the third? Wow, I guess people can change. Maybe high school wasn’t going to be so bad…