The noise was almost unbearable as I climbed inside and briefly looked around. The pecking order was obvious. Beyond a few empty seats near the driver, it was packed with students of various ages. In the back, I saw a dozen boys my age all wearing matching letter jackets. Great, I thought. Those were the jocks, and I would avoid them like the plague. A handful of girls wearing cheerleader uniforms giggled and talked amongst themselves not far from where the jocks were sitting.
It was apparent that I would be spending the next year riding up front, which I didn’t mind. I wasn’t there to make friends. I was there to do my time and be done with it. As I sat down and my eyes flitted one last time across the back of the bus, I saw a girl who stood out from the rest. She wasn’t giggling and paying attention to the men but instead, her eyes were cast down as she read a book, her thick, sandy blonde hair falling in tendrils around her face.
“You going to sit down or what, kid?” grumbled the driver.
My cheeks turned red as the girl looked up to see what was going on. She smiled softly at me as I collapsed into the seat and scooted as far away from the aisle as I possibly could. This was going to be a very long day. The trip through the city was long, and like the car ride, full of profanity from the driver and jerking stops. If we hadn’t lived five miles away, I would probably walk instead of dealing with more motion sickness.
When we finally arrived at the school, I waited for everyone else to shuffle off before I stood up. I didn’t see that there were still two people on the bus. One of them was a jock, and one was the girl I’d noticed before. With my eyes cast down, I waited for them to walk, but she stopped and waited on me.
“Go ahead,” she said sweetly.
The guy behind her groaned when I didn’t move. “God, Hen, maybe he’s deaf or something. Just go. Jesus, you’re going to make me late for practice.”
The girl rolled her eyes and stepped aside for the guy to go through. “Then go. I have to stay with him anyway.”
“Whatever,” he muttered as he shoved past me, driving his shoulder into me as he did. A sneer crossed his lips as he turned around. “Oops. I’ll see you later, babe. Don’t let this nerd rub off on you.”
She winced at his words and looked at me apologetically as she got off the bus. I followed her out to where she had stopped and was smiling at me again. “Sorry about him. Buzz can be a bit of a prick at times. He doesn’t mean anything by it.”
“It’s cool. I’m used to dealing with guys like him. You don’t have to pretend to be nice to me,” I muttered.
The girl shifted uneasily and looked around. “Um,” she said. “I’ve been assigned to you as your student liaison, to help you through your first day here.”
My face flushed again. “Great.”
I wanted to kick myself for not taking up my grandma on her offer to bring me to school. At least I would have avoided the entire awkward conversation that was starting to unfold. She didn’t want to spend her morning showing me around the school. That much was obvious. her cheerleading uniform told me she probably had more important things to be doing. I wondered if it was some sort of punishment. What had she done wrong to be stuck with the new kid? With a heavy sigh, I cleared my throat and knew what I had to do.
“Listen,” I told her. “You don’t have to show me around the school. I can find my way on my own. I bet there’s something else you need to be doing.”
Her eyebrows raised but she didn’t comment as she stuck out her hand. “My name is Henrietta, but everyone just calls me Hen. That bloke who was giving you shit on the bus is my boyfriend, Buzz.”
I tried but failed to stifle a laugh. “Buzz? Wow, I couldn’t think of a more befitting name.”
Hen rolled her eyes but a small smile crossed her lips. “It’s because he’s the captain of the lacrosse team. He’s so fast he just buzzes through the other team’s defenses. You should give him a chance. Don’t let his tough exterior fool you. He’s a good guy underneath. His real name is Ridley Buzzon. We like nicknames around here.”
“I find that hard to believe,” I said. “My name is Benji and people call me Benji.”
I winced at the lame joke, but Hen didn’t seem to notice as we started to walk into the school. It was much larger than my one back home, but the pecking order seemed the same. I saw people looking at Hen before quickly looking away. Around here, it was easy to see who the queen was, but to my surprise, they didn’t give me another glance. I thought the ‘new kid’ would at least interest them a little, but none of them cared one bit about me, only whom I was with.
“So, what did you do to get stuck with me?” I asked her as we walked.
Her eyes grew wide. “What makes you think I did anything wrong? Maybe I volunteered when I heard that a new kid was coming?”
I said nothing and she sighed. “Fine. I missed detention last week after cutting out for lunch. We aren’t supposed to leave, but I think the science teacher, Mr. Cross, has it out for me.”
“Well,” I said. “Thanks for showing me around nonetheless. This place is a little bigger than I’m used to.”
“So, where are you from?” she asked politely.
I sighed. “A little town in Oregon. I liked it there.”
“My parents moved when I was younger. I hated it here at first, but it does grow on you. Some of the best food in the world can be found here. Oregon.” She whistled. “That’s one hell of a drive. I bet you were ready to strangle your parents after a trip like that.”
“I didn’t move with my parents,” I said coldly.
“Oh?” she said, posing the question.
An awkward silence filled the space between us. I knew that this was coming, the inevitable questions that I would have to answer about why I was here at all. It was obvious I wasn’t here for the great lacrosse team, though the school was obviously very proud of it judging by the website and posters everywhere. And they didn’t have an amazing science program, so why, then, had I come all that way without my parents?
I ground my teeth together. It wasn’t Hen’s fault that the question was left lingering in the air. I needed to get it out. Maybe the more times people asked me, the easier it would be to tell them what happened. The only way I was going to find out, though, was to start talking. Courage, I told myself. This was going to be a fresh start for me. I just needed courage.
“My parents are dead,” I blurted out.
Hen froze, along with everyone who’d heard me in a ten-foot radius. I could feel the heat rising up to my cheeks as I looked down at my feet. So much for blending in.
“Oh, my God,” she muttered. Her hand brushed against my shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head again. “It’s okay.” I winced. “I mean, it’s not okay, obviously, but I’m dealing with it. I moved here because my mother’s parents live here, and well, you can’t really do much of anything but what you’re told when you’re seventeen with no job and no parents. So here I’m, a fresh start and all that crap.”
“Do you miss home? I couldn’t imagine trying to start over my senior year, but at least it just started. You’ve only missed the first six weeks. You’ll have plenty of time to catch up.”
I briefly thought of Carla, who’d come back to me after finding out my parents died, but it was more for the attention than anything. Everything else in that town, including my home, was gone to me. I wouldn’t ever go back there and relive the terrible memories that haunted me.
I shook my head. “No,” I said softly. “There was nothing left for me there. New York seems like a super place to start over.”
She could hear the sarcasm in my voice, masking the twinge of pain that had bubbled to the surface. I hated that I was being so rude, but I didn’t know how to stop. It wasn’t her fault I was there or that she was stuck with me. The deafening silence started to fill the air again and I looked up at where we had stopped. She quickly snapped out of the pity party I was sure she was about to give me and fumbled through the folder in her h
and.
“Um,” she said as she pulled out a paper. “Wow, so this is your schedule. Wow,” Hen said as she looked it over. “You really are taking a lot of classes, aren’t you? You know that seniors are allowed to take up to four free periods, right? You’re booked up the entire day. I mean, you have to stay on campus, but you could join some teams or something.”
I shook my head. “No, thanks. I’m not really much of a team player, I guess. I don’t mind the classes. It’s nice to have a distraction.”
“Okay, well, this is your first class, advanced biology,” she said quickly as she handed me a few more papers. “I drew a little map for you so it should be easier to find your way around. It looks like we have lunch together, so if you have any problems, you can find me then.”
“Cool,” I said, trying to sound casual but failing miserably. “Hey, Hen?” I said as she started to walk away. “Thanks for your help and everything, and sorry I was rude about stuff.”
Hen smiled, a little sadness still in her eyes. “It’s no problem, really. Hang in there, Benji. You might end up liking this place after all.”
I didn’t tell her what I was thinking as I walked into the classroom just as the bell rang. An older man sat at the desk and looked up as I approached and cleared my throat. His eyes lit up when I handed him my schedule. All I could think was, ‘please don’t make this awkward, please don’t make this awkward.’ Every eye in the room was on me, most of them hidden behind glasses or books. The teacher stood up and stuck out his hand.
“Well, Benjay, it’s good to have you here. I was looking over your transcript last night, and I must say, I’m impressed. This class should be a breeze for you.”
“It’s Benji,” I said. “Not Benjay.”
At once, I regretted saying anything to him as he pursed his lips. My general disdain for authority wasn’t lost on him. He must not have read the part of the transcript where I was once suspended for correcting and proving wrong my last science teacher. It wasn’t that I didn’t like teachers. I just wanted them to know that they were wrong when they were. Was it so wrong for a student to have the desire to be taught correct information?
He cleared his throat. “Well, Benji. Hopefully, you aren’t going to let the past cloud your future. You have a very bright one, I might add, if you can get over the little . . .” He searched for a diplomatic word. “defiances of the past. This is a fresh start! Why don’t you take a seat and we can jump right in?”
I clenched my fists and went to my seat, letting the anger pass through me and out. If I had to deal with one more person telling me what a wonderful fresh start this was going to be, I would lose control altogether. The kids around me looked at me and whispered. It didn’t take long before I realized that my little outburst in the hallway was already spreading through the rumor mill. Anyone who didn’t know I was little orphan Benji would know soon enough.
Slumping back in my seat, I gazed out the window as the teacher started to talk about the chapter they were on. I didn’t even need to open my book. It was work that I’d gone over and mastered over the summer, back when my parents were still alive and I was taking summer coursework to get into the college of my dreams. Now, though, the only dream I had was to survive the next year and then get my real fresh start. The one where no one knew who I was or what I’d been through.
“Benji?” The teacher asked. “Are you with us?”
I sat up and nodded. “Yes sir, sorry.”
He smiled knowingly at me, and I fought back the desire to run from the classroom. I needed to make the best of things, I reminded myself. Pouting wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Just survive the day was quickly becoming my new mantra. As the bell rang and I shuffled off to my next class, I did my best to keep my head down and my spirits up. I just had to survive the day, right?
Chapter 3
The first half of the day went tortuously slow with more questioning stares from students and teachers pressing me about what I already knew. By the time lunch rolled around, I was ready to be done with the day altogether. It wasn’t until I walked into the cafeteria and saw her sitting at a table near the window that my mood started to improve. I carefully picked out my lunch and looked back around for Hen.
She didn’t see me as I approached the table, but I knew that her boyfriend did. A few of his teammates looked up and elbowed the others to get their attention as I approached. I wasn’t going to make any friends by sulking alone in a corner all day. Plus, she said she would help me out whenever I needed it, so the offer was there. As I got closer, she saw me and smiled, lighting up my whole world.
“Hey!” she said cheerfully. “How is your first day going?”
I shrugged. “Not too bad. Better now though. I didn’t realize how far behind the curriculum here was going to be. I might see if I can test out of a few of my classes after all.”
“That’s great!” Hen said.
I looked at the empty seat next to her and cleared my throat, mustering up all the courage that I had. “Do you mind if I sit here?”
“There isn’t any room. Sorry, nerd,” one of the jocks said.
Buzz and the others laughed, but a glare from Hen quickly shut them up. “Sure, you can sit down. Ignore them. Brains intimidate them.”
“It’s okay,” I muttered, doing my best to ignore the glares that I was getting from the other side of the table. “So, what do you guys normally do around here for fun?”
“Beat up nerds,” Buzz said.
“Shut. Up,” Hen said. “There is a ton to do. New York has everything that you could want. What kind of things do you like?”
“Um . . .” I said. I hadn’t been prepared for questions. I was ready to be content to just not get the crap beaten out of me for asking to sit down.
“Can’t you see that you’re scaring the poor kid, Hen?” said Buzz. “He probably doesn’t know what to do with a girl who actually talks to him, or better yet, doesn’t run when he tries to talk to them.”
“You’re being a real prick, you know that?” she shot back before turning her attention to me. “There’s a great selection of museums if you’re into that sort of thing. Or the lacrosse team has a home match this weekend that you could come to.”
My mind quickly went through everything I’d looked up about lacrosse on the flight to New York. None of it was very useful, though, in the current situation. I was sure that they all knew how to play the game. There was nothing that I could offer to the conversation. When Buzz and his friends finally started to ignore me and go back to their conversation, I leaned over to Hen.
“Are you sure that it’s okay that I’m here?” I asked.
She smiled. “Of course. It’s fine that you’re here until you find your footing. New schools can be hard.”
My heart sank. Her words weren’t lost on me. It was one thing for me to sit with them while I was the new kid and she was obligated to help me, but once I was settled in, I was going to be on my own. I fell silent and focused on my food, trying to get through the awkward lunch as quickly as possible so I could flee and never make the mistake of sitting with them again. After a while, Hen started to gather her things. I looked at her, wondering if she was leaving so soon.
“What are you doing?” Asked Buzz bluntly.
“I have to go talk to one of my teachers. I’ll be right back, though. I promise,” she said as she looked at me.
I smiled and nodded. “Okay.”
As she left, I went back to my food, picking at my salad and trying to keep my head low, but it didn’t do any good. Buzz had his eyes locked on me as he shoved my tray. It got the attention of the others as I looked up at him.
“She’s only being nice to you because you’re new. Oh, and because Mommy and Daddy are dead. Don’t think for one second that you’re welcome here.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” I muttered.
“I saw you in class, you know,” he said as he leaned back. “I can tell already that you’re going to be a teacher’s pe
t, aren’t you? Do you even know what lacrosse is? God, you’re so lame. I don’t see why I let Hen pick up strays like you. It doesn’t matter. She’ll be done with you before the end of the day. Then I never want to see you at this table again, got it?”
“Sure thing,” I said weakly.
I felt like such a failure. How could I think that I would ever have a shot with Hen? Even as a friend, she was out of my league. As soon as I was done with my food, I left the table and scurried away, not looking at Hen when I walked past her. I only had a few more classes and I would be done for the day. Suddenly, the walk back to the apartments didn’t seem so bad. I would take my time and hope that no one was home when I got there. At least then, I would get some peace.
When I shoved my way through the apartment door, I was grateful to see that there was no one around. The last thing I wanted to do was answer a thousand questions about my crappy first day of school. My grandmother had left a note on the counter, sitting on top of a stack of cornbread. She was at work, and my grandfather was at his weekly poker match. I would have the apartment to myself for the rest of the night until she got home after picking him up. With a sigh of relief, I poked around in the fridge before deciding I wasn’t hungry.
My appetite had disappeared when my parents died. Now, I only ate when I absolutely had to. It wasn’t a disorder or anything serious like that. I just didn’t feel like eating anymore. Everything that I tried to eat reminded me of my mother and her cooking. I would give her a hard time about it when she was alive, but now, even her overcooked spaghetti would have tasted like manna from heaven. With nothing else to do, I retreated to my bedroom and did what little homework I had in under an hour.
It was too early to go to bed still, so I made my way back out to the living room and turned on the television for a little bit of noise as I browsed through my computer. Social media was the one outlet that I had where I could still stay in touch with my father’s side of the family. It was really the only reason I had it until today. I’d managed to make a few friends at school, and now I looked for them online, sending out friend requests and looking at profiles as they were approved.
The City Superhero (Book 1): Rise Of The Super Strike Page 2