As her father's small family car pulled up to the driveway entrance of the immense boarding school, Jeneta smiled and bounced her head to the catchy tune of the music playing in her CD player, singing along mentally to the popular song. With her eyes closed, she didn't even see how grand and impressive the entrance to the world famous school was. She was only listening to the song, as though it was the only thing that mattered.
When the car stopped, Jeneta's father looked back in the backseat, expecting her to open the door and jump out, but she was still listening to the song. The tall, blonde man cleared his throat loudly to get her attention, but it wasn't enough to get past the music. He rolled his eyes and cleared his throat again. Jeneta still didn't hear him. Instead...almost to add insult to injury, Jeneta began singing along with the popular Destiny's Child song; "All the women, independent, throw your hands up with meee! All the honeys making money....!"
"Jeneta!" Philip finally shouted out, getting slightly annoyed. How do kids today listen to such junk? It was music like that which make kids so....disrespectful, he just knew it.
Jeneta jumped a little at her father's loud voice, and sheepishly took off her headphones. "Huh? Oh, sorry Dad, we're here already?" A slightly embarrassed grin spread across her dark face. "I guess I was a bit carried away with the song..."
"So I noticed," Philip rolled his eyes again. "Tell you what, why don't you give me that CD player, just in case you're not allowed to have it in there. That way, you can get it when you come back home..."
"Aww Dad, come on!" Jeneta said dejectedly. But at the look of her father's face, she knew he meant business. She sighed and gave up the CD player. Jamie, for the first time in a very long time sitting quietly beside her, snickered loudly and pointed a finger at her.
"Don't even start, Monkey Boy!" growled out Jeneta, opening the door to get out. The boy narrowed his green eyes and was about to make a smart remark before his father gave him a stern look.
"NOT this morning! We're already a few minutes behind as it is!" the man said. "Jeneta, you know where to get your schedule. And remember...no trouble,"
"Alright, alright Dad, I promise! You and Mum gave me that "new school, new beginnings, no more fighting" speech already. I'll be fine! Don't get your knickers in a twist!" Jeneta grinned and waved a quick good-bye to her father before rushing off. She carefully made her way through the crowded immense stairway that led to the school's grand double doors. Like the other students, Jeneta wore the age-old school uniform colors of blue, black, white, and silver. The skirt was a delicate black, blue and silver plaid, while the jacket was a dark navy blue made with thick material for the chilly weather. On the left side of the jacket was a beautifully designed Old English style letters of W and B, standing for Waterberry's, surrounded by the silvery outline of the mythical beast called a phoenix.
Once past the crowd...most of which gave her curious stares, Jeneta hurried to the Head Mistress's office, where first year students and transfers were supposed to pick up their schedules before class. Already there was a bit of a long line, as student admissions went up this year. Impatiently Jeneta stood in line, until it was finally her turn. Jeneta walked inside the office, and the red-haired Head Mistress, Mrs. Butterfield, gave her an almost bored look. "Name please?"
"Jeneta Mutombo," the girl said while crossing her arms over her chest.
The woman flicked through the many cards she held before coming to her name. "Ah yes, here we are..." She read the name silently, then her eye widened slightly with recognition. "Oh yes, Jeneta Mutombo. I've heard of you from your last school. A big fighter, eh?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Well, I don't know what your parents are teaching you, but I will not tolerate any fighting here, do I make myself clear?" The Head Mistress opened a draw at her right side, and quickly found Jeneta's schedule.
Jeneta's eyebrows raised slightly as she realized her reputation even made it all the way here. Her hands then clenched to her sides with slight anger. She doesn't even KNOW me, and already she judging me by what everyone else is saying! she thought with annoyance. But instead of acting on the anger, Jeneta took a deep breath to calm herself, and smiled stiffly as she took her schedule. "Don't worry, M'aam, nothing like that will happen here. I'll do my best..."
"Sometimes your best isn't enough. Remember that," the woman said, her eyes still narrowed. "Trouble makers are not welcome here. I didn't become a successful Head Mistress for nearly thirty years to have someone like you disrupt everything..."
"Whatever," Jeneta mumbled to herself. When Mrs. Butterfield looked up at her suspiciously, Jeneta gulped and bowed her head. "Errr...thank you Mrs. Butterfield, I..appreciate your concern. Umm..have a nice day!" She quickly left the stuff office, oh so glad the woman had not heard her. Leaning against the office door, she looked at her watch, and sighed heavily. She had only about twenty five minutes to get her books before first period starts, and the book store was nearly across campus.
With a big roll of her eyes, Jeneta rushed past the students coming to and fro in the large hall, and hurried to the bookstore.
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Eyes looking around nervously, Prya Namrata walked slowly out of her dorm room and down the hall. In the girl's dorm building built especially for any international students on scholarships or students who's parents could afford on-school housing, everyone was busy rushing about, some students pulling on their school jacket as they rushed out the door, trying to make it on time to first period class.
No one noticed as Prya looked helplessly at her schedule. She had only arrived in England by herself and settled in the school just four days ago, and she had been too shy and withdrawn to even ask anyone about where the bookstores and any classroom buildings were located. But the Indian girl knew what she couldn't hide for much longer from all these strange people, and finally decided to take a chance in finding the buildings herself. The school tour didn't do much good; the tour guide went by the buildings too fast and Prya didn't catch most of what she said.
But time was running out, so she had to act fast. Take a deep breath, Prya hurried down the hall and out the building. Once outside, she felt a little better, and continued to walk pass the many noisy students rushing by. After a few moments, she spotted a building across the large school courtyard where students were coming out with piles of books. She nodded to herself, exhaling slightly with relief. That must be the bookstore over there. Well, here goes... With that, Prya walked towards it. She was just about to reach the store's heavy glass doors when a rather large student walked by, and bumped heavily into her.
Prya nearly fell to the ground, but steadied herself just in time. Thinking it was just because of the large crowd of students, Prya shrugged it off, but the other student had other ideas.
" 'Ere now, what's all this? Can't a guy walk by in peace without getting bowled over?" The student, standing at nearly six feet tall with dark blonde hair and cruel, ice blue eyes, looked down on her with contempt. He wore the male version of the school uniform of black pants, white shirt, and the regular dark blue school jacket very sloppily.
"I...I'm sorry...I meant no disrespect.." Prya's heart began to beat loudly in her chest, as it often did when she was nervous. "I only wanted..."
"Oh great, and it's one o' them foreigners too!" the big guy said, hearing her distinct Indian accent. "First I 'ave to see more of you bloggarts around, and now you want to push me aside!"
Suddenly, a small group of students began circling around, seeing who would begin a fight already at the beginning of school. The big student step forward menacingly to Prya. "I guess I'll 'ave to teach you 'ow foreigners should stay in their place 'ere!"
The girl's eyes widened in alarm as she stepped back, her body shaking with fear. Oh, it was just her luck to get in trouble already! "Please, I didn't mean anything! I just wanted to...!"
"Too late for that!" The big guy, obviously a senior, raised his hand, but a loud, clear voice rang out in the morning air, making everyone look behind them.
"Leave her alone!"
Walking through the thin crowd, a young, obviously Chinese girl walked up to the big bully, her eyes narrowed.
"What did you say, you little chit?" The bully turned around and balled his fist, annoyed and angry that someone interrupted him. His cohorts, three other fellows just as big as him, came up to stand by him.
"You heard me. Leave her alone." The Chinese girl stopped right in front of him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Or are you afraid to actually pick on someone your own size. I guess the only way for you to win is to fight with a girl, huh? Oh yeah, that's some way to fight honorably!" The crowd sucked in a breath, totally surprised by the girl's words. Everyone who has been here long enough knew that Harry Underwood was one of the biggest bullies in the school. Everyone either stayed away from him or stayed on his good side. But the girl showed no fear, and that surprised everyone more than anything else.
"Oh yeah? I'll show you!" With a roar of rage, Harry raised a fist and charge after her. With a smirk, the girl easily jumped out of the big guy's way, and as he sailed past, she stuck out her foot, and he tripped over it and fell flat on his face on the concrete ground.
The crowd, growing larger by the moment, gasped in surprise again. But no one had any more time to react after that as Harry jumped up and rushed the girl again, his eyes filled with rage. This time, the girl didn't jump away, but instead crouched low in a fighting stance, and just when the bully reached her, she kicked out her leg and knocked his legs out from under him. Once more, Harry fell face flat on the ground, and this time a trickle of blood leaked out of his nose.
"You think you're so funny, don't you, you almond-eyed wench!" Harry growled out. "Well, nobody does that to me and lives! It's just the two of you here! As soon as I'm through with you, I'll pound the other foreigner too!" He roared again, but this time, another figure jumped in his way and blocked his path. She kicked out her leg and tripped him, sending him for the third time on the ground.
"Wrong, you'll have THREE of us to deal with!" Jeneta said, stepping back as the big guy stood up painfully. "Back off, or you'll be in trouble!"
The bully looked from to the dark-skinned girl to the Chinese girl, breathing very hard. One of his companions stepped forward, his hands clenched. "Hey boss, you want us to take care o' them?"
Harry almost nodded his head, but just then, a whistle blew, and one of the school's security guards rushed up, waving his baton.
"Naa, they'll be another time," he growled out, getting up and moving off in another direction. He pointed a dirty, finger-nailed finger at them. "You better watch your back! Next time, I'll get you! I swear, I'll GET you! All three of you! You're nothing but freaks!" With that, he and his group rushed off as the guard came up.
"What's the problem here?" the guard asked, looking at Jeneta and the other girl in the eyes.
"No problem sure, none at all. Just a little...welcoming party, you might say." Jeneta replied with a roll of her eyes. Just at that moment, the loud bell signifying the start of the first period went off, and the crowd quickly dispersed and hurried off in their own direction.
"That's right, nothing to see here anymore. Off to class now!" the guard said, shooing everyone away. He then turned accusing eyes on Jeneta. "I don't want anymore trouble out of you, Missie....any of you!" He pointed his baton at Jeneta, the Chinese girl, and Prya, then rushed off.
As the guard walked away, Jeneta stuck her tongue out at him behind his back, then turned to the Indian girl standing not too far from her. "Hey, are you alright? He didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"
"Oh, errr...no, he didn't. I'm fine, thank you very much." Prya swallowed and lowered her head. "I didn't do anything wrong, he just...he just..."
"Hey, don't worry about it. I heard about him, he's nothing but a first rate bully. There's a rumor going around that he's was suspended twice last year, and if he messes up this semester, he might get kicked out....finally!" Jeneta looked at the shy girl. "By the way, I'm Jeneta...."
"Oh, I'm Prya, nice to meet you." Prya blushed slightly as she pushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear.
"Yeah, yeah, and I'm Xiang Ling, Ling for short. Look if we don't want to get in trouble, we should get going," the Chinese girl said, pointing to the big clock over the school's huge double doors.
"She's right, let's go." Jeneta was about to rush off and pick up her books where she left them on the bench besides the bookstore, when Prya gave a startled gasp.
"Oh no! In all the excitement, I forgot to get my books for my classes!" Prya moaned. "I can't go to class without them, and there's hardly any time!"
"Oh great!" Ling threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry, we'll help you get your books. After that, we'll just explain to your teacher what happened, that's all." Jeneta nodded, picked up her books, and taking Prya's hand, headed for the bookstore.
"We?" Ling said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yes we! Now come on before we're in BIG trouble!" Jeneta practically dragged Pyra along, while Ling, after picking up her own books from the bench she was sitting on, followed behind. Within five minutes, the girls got the books Prya would need, and hurried off.
"Wow, I can't believe you and I got Latin I together for first period!" Jeneta said happily as the girls walked through the main building's front doors. The halls were just about thinning out, giving the girls hope that they might not be too late if they hurried.
"Yes, I'm glad to have made a friend already," Pyra smiled. She then turned to Ling, "By the way, Xiang Ling...errr..Ling..how did you learn to speak English so well? You just got here from China, didn't you?"
Ling smirked and pushed a hand through her black hair. "Surprising, huh? Actually, I've been going to American based schools in Beijing all my life, and I just transferred from an American high school there. Practically everything there was in English as well as Chinese because we had a lot of American students going there. Their parents got transferred to company branches in China, so they decided to transfer to schools there as well." She turned to look at Prya next to her. "And you, are you here with your parents?"
Prya's eyes lowered slightly. "No, my parents are still in India. I live in the girl's dormitory..."
"Cool, so do I!" Ling's eyes brightened up. "My uncle was not able to find anyone to watch his herbal shop, so I had to come alone. But it's okay....he promised as soon as he does, he'll visit."
"That's nice," Prya said, then her eyes saddened. "I...I don't know if my parents are coming to visit me..."
"Don't worry, since we're friends now, we'll just have to stick with one another until your families do visit." Jeneta said. She looked up at the classroom number above the door. "Oh, this is where me and Prya go, Latin I. We'll see you later Ling?"
"Sure thing!" The Chinese girl waved as she hurried off to her math class.
Prya and Jeneta walked in the classroom just as the teacher was about to take roll call. With a stern look, she ordered them to find a seat and began calling off names.
Jeneta quietly went to the back of the classroom and sat down next to a blonde-haired girl wearing glasses. Jeneta looked at her curiously for a moment, feeling like she had seen her around somewhere. The girl looked back at her and smiled shyly.
Then, Jeneta remembered; she had seen the girl in London a few times when she shopped with her mother, and she was supposed to have been the granddaughter of one of her mother's many friends.
She was about say hello when the teacher slapped shut her attendance book and took out a thick book on the Latin language.
Oh well, I guess I can talk to her later. I think her name is....Heather..or Emma or something. Jeneta sighed as she opened her textbook, and tried to listen as the teacher droned on. Gee, I wonder what other surprises are in store for me today. A fight on the first day of school, then making three friends. But I can't help feel that something is meant to happen soon...something big. With a sigh, Jeneta laid her chin on her left hand, suddenly feeling as though she was in for something soon strange and mysterious....and very soon.
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