The Ginger Kid

Chapter One

My school seems to be full of stereotypes. We have everything from Jocks and Preps to Goths and Nerds. I really believe we have every clique imaginable but then again this school is totally huge. It doesn’t matter where you turn you’ll see a grouping of students flocked together like different species of squawking birds. Of course despite their differences, they all gossip. What would high school be without gossip and stereotypes? Pretty dull I suspect. It’s funny how teenagers can be so hateful and cruel to one another but it’s almost kind of like the animal kingdom. Everyone is trying to survive and it is the survival of the fittest. Sadly I, on the other hand, am not at all fit. I really do fail at this thing called high school hierarchy or at least it feels that way.

I am one of those people that kind of fall into either my own category or what we call around here a mixed mutt. I can mingle among a few different cliques but never fully belong any where. I have a few friends who are the same way and I guess having that same dilemma we gravitated towards each other. Which is cool because then at least I am not totally alone and have some real close friends. No one I have known for long time or since I was a kid, considering this is not my hometown. It doesn’t matter of course, because even as little boy I had even less friends.

Though I have people to socialize with I am most likely, in this big school of 2,000 plus students, a rare species. I am like the Tasmanian Tiger of Briarwood High. Better yet, maybe I’m the Dodo bird. I only say this because I am so stereotypical without even trying its ridiculous.

I am a Ginger Kid.

But not just any ginger kid. Let me describe myself so the sad picture can be imagined. First of all, I have the red hair. Unfortunately it’s not the cool kind of dark rich auburn kind, not I am stuck with the ugly pumpkin orange hair that I have my mother to thank for. She pulls it off better than I do. Not only is it this color, but curly too not tight curls or wavy, but a shaggy mess of them that I can never do anything with. They are always getting tangled especially after I’ve slept or it’s windy. I would cut it short if a buzzed cut didn’t make me look even more retarded. So it’s left like a mop a top my head falling nearly to my chin. It would be fantastic if I could just run my fingers through it without them getting stuck.

Moving right along, yes, I do have freckles. They are every where, most are faint but in a few places they are so prominent it’s tragic. The herd along my nose and cheekbones, down my arms and legs, concentrated heavily on my shoulders and a sparse scatter across my chest, stomach, and hips. Even my feet have freckles. I can’t escape them. In the summer it is the worse. Not only do I always get sunburn but my freckles blossom brilliantly and I feel like a brown-spotted Dalmatian. Sometimes I’ll tan a little but usually I burn and it fades away leaving me once more a sad pale teen.

To add salt to the wound I not only wear oval black-rimmed glasses but was cursed with not so perfect teeth thus condemning me to wires in my mouth. My bad eye-sight and teeth is all thanks to dear old dad. I love my father but I could have done without these issues. I am still a few months away from getting my braces off but I will be forced to using a retainer. At least it’s less metal in my poor mouth. I try to at least make them look appealing with blue elastics but sometimes I wonder if that helps at all and if I should just go with clear. I doubt they bring out my blue eyes which are probably the only thing I like about myself because they are a decent shade. Oh wait, there is more. People might say that I’m lucky to be thin but I am that annoying kind of scrawny where I wish I had more meat on my bones for some definition. But no, my metabolism has to eat it all away no matter how much I eat and I eat a lot. I’m also shorter than the average seventeen year old male. I think my last doctor appointment the nurse measured me as five feet and four inches. I mean how unfair is that? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that after my eighteenth birthday I’ll go through a growth spurt.

This may all seem pathetic but manageable, but there is a nice little cherry on top of this ginger nerd Sunday. I’m gay. Yes, that’s right I like boys though it seems so far boys do not like me. My school isn’t all that conservative and there are plenty of gays guys spread through out the cliques. Unfortunately all of them will not give me the time of day. I once had a major crush on Jakob Hall in my drama class, totally turned me down when I finally got the courage to say that I liked him. I didn’t even ask him out exactly but he just laughed at me and told me to forget about it. My friend Olivia actually went to every gay guy she knew other than myself and asked whether they would date me or not. They all said, more or less, hell no. So it seems I am doomed to be alone for the rest of my life. A spinster because I don’t think I qualify as a bachelor.

Olivia is always saying I’m pretty but what she really means is I’m girly. Great, I’m an ugly girly ginger-haired boy. Though I suppose the girl jeans don’t help but I’m so skinny they fit better. My friends say the pouty lips don’t help my case either and I think, “They’re not that pouty, are they?” But what is the use. I have accepted that I will forever be the odd one out.

It was the second Monday in October when I made my way across the school quad to my little mixed group spot. I passed quite a few cliques on my way mingling like herds of savannah animals grazing on gossip and what they did during the weekend. I mostly ignored them especially any remarks that might have been said about me, though for the most part I was left alone from rumors and the like. It was probably because I wasn’t worth all that. I don’t think that many people even know my real name, just call me that one senior ginger kid that’s really short. Of course I stopped at a few circles that I associated with from time to time like the drama geeks, the science nerds, and the scene crew who apparently seemed to like him for some reason. I only give a wave and a few hellos before I finally make it to the bench beneath this gathering of palm trees.

I plopped down on the bench and pull my black shoulder bag into my lap. I’m in my usual pair of girl jeans, a worn plain pair of converse, a plain yellow tee, and a fitting zipper Adidas jacket. Olivia and Sadie both say my sense of style is really not up to par but I won’t let them give me a “make-over” much to their chagrin. I push my glasses up and began to rummage through my bag for the novel I’m reading in English.

“James!” Someone calls out my name and I recognize the voice so I don’t even raise my head nor flinch when the voice settles down next to me.

“Good morning, Olivia,” I say politely and finally pull out the book I was looking for.

“Guten morgen, Jamesy! How are you?” The dark brunette asked in her usual cheerful tone.

“As well as anyone is at this hour,” I replied. I was feeling a little sleepy. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t a morning person but having to be at school before seven can take its toll.

“Aw, well at least drama is first period, right?” she poked me in the arm.

I sighed and smiled, “Thank god for that.”

Soon the rest of my friends joined us and we chatted about casual everyday things. Aside from Olivia, the brunette with brown eyes who is as loud as her sassy wardrobe, there is Sadie, Wyatt, and Thomas. Sadie could be in with the Preps if she didn’t always do what most Preps don’t do. She’s also excellent in Math and I seriously suck so I am always going to her for help. She is super pretty with blond hair and green eyes. Wyatt is kind of on the hefty side, but he’s a real big teddy bear. He’s taller than all of us and surprisingly an amazing artist. He keeps his brown hair short and tidy and wears thin rimmed glasses over warm brown eyes. Thomas is the only one in our group in a sport. He plays on the varsity soccer team but he also is in a band called The Mutts. He’s half Korean and half white with thick dark hair and tense dark eyes. Thomas also has the best grades out of all of us but then he has strict parents. He’s quiet but a sweet guy and always loyal. None of us are sure about his sexuality since he seems totally uninterested in anyone except his band, school, and soccer. Wyatt I think has a crush on Olivia who seems oblivious to the fact which is even more amusing since she seems so intuitive to everyone else love lives. Sadie has a mystery boyfriend we have never met and she rarely speaks about. Then there is me, with no prospects what so ever. But like I have told myself and others many times, I have accepted it.

The Drama room is one of my favorite places to be at least while I’m at school. It’s spacious with a desk for the teacher, couches, bean bags, and chairs set up before a small stage. The teacher likes us comfortable and relaxed thus no hard desk and chairs. Mrs. Lowell also allows us to come when we have a free period or during lunch. She’s cool like that. She reminds me a bit of a hippy or one of those fortune tellers in style with wavy silver streaked brown hair done in pigtail braids and a huge smile to light up blue eyes. She’s very energetic. It’s obvious she is my favorite teacher too.

All my friends and I took drama so we at least had one class together. I first took it my freshman year just for an easy elective but I found that I was really good at acting and improvising. It was fun and I guess I found my calling but then again I am also skilled in science. It’s usually the girls and I that do the acting when we have plays and so forth. Wyatt helps with sets and Thomas usually volunteers as techie.

We all settled down on our favorite worn navy couch to wait for class to begin. The girls and I talked about our weekends while Wyatt sketched and Thomas slept. Slowly first period Advanced Drama began to filter in students and the late bell rang. The room was active with mindless chatter until Mrs. Lowell walked in and addressed the class getting them to quiet down.

“Hello my lovely future actors and actresses how are we this morning? Well I trust,” she smiled big and fiddled with the large necklaces around her neck. “First things first, we have a new student joining us.”

Olivia and I exchanged a glance before we looked up at Mrs. Lowell.

“Come here, Asher, and introduce your self,” our teacher said motioning towards the front from the back. I can’t help but turn and watch as a tall boy with sandy blond hair strolled up to the front with an easy gate. He was a little taller than Mrs. Lowell and probably about the same height as Thomas but definitely not as tall as our budding artist Wyatt. His features were sharp and masculine but he smiled a little and it was soft which softened the rest of him just a little. The color of his eyes was hard to determine but I guessed they were hazel. His hair looked soft styled shorter in the back than the front with slightly swept bangs and lay stylishly messy. He was in a pair of dark fitted jeans, a slim green flannel with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, graffiti covered slip vans, and navy blue canvas messenger. There was a strange bracelet around one wrist.

“Hey, I’m Asher Holland, and I just moved here with my sister from New Zealand.” He had an accent.

Oh god, I think I’m in love.

Author Note: Yeah so I decided to enter NaWriMo so all of that was probably utter crap but as they say it's quanity not quality. I am a bit late starting but I plan on attempting to do this and getting it done. Hopefully. So I thought romance should be easy and this will most likely be kind of cliche but ah well. I hope you all enjoy it and I hope this helps me out of this uber slump I've been in. I just haven't been able to write much or decent lately. Anywho, please review they make my day!

P.S. expect about 2,000+ words per chapter and 25 chapters all together, that's the goal.