I hate first days
Feeling the car slowly coming to a stop Willow gazed up to admire the carved stony letters pronouncing her new school’s name. The street up front was buzzing with students scurrying around. Some hasten to catch their planned class, some stood socializing and an individual here and there chose for the solace of their own company, just like this one dark-haired boy she detected glaring at her. Clad in floppy jeans and a simple white shirt he sat on a low brick wall, playing with his phone and headphones attached to his ears.
‘Summervile high’ Her mothers voice startled Willow up. ‘Huh, what mom?’
Her mother beamed. ‘Its the name of the school honey, YOUR school from this point on.'
Willow snorted ‘I know mom. I can read you know!’
She felt her mothers hand caress the fabric of her dark blue denim skirt, rubbing out some folds, and fashioning her long sleeved white satin blouse.
‘Hey listen honey, I know this is all hard. After what happened between me and your dad, moving to another place and leaving your friends behind and all, but I’m sure you’ll be having new friends in no time. Have fate sweety.’
Willow turned to face her mother’s caring eyes. ‘What if they don’t like me mom?’
Reaching the age of 16 last month, Willow and her mother moved away on the insistence of the latter after her father chose to cheat on his wife. Forced to abandon the place where she grew up along with the safety of its familiarity, Willow felt anxious to start all over, on a new school.
She took a pluck of golden curly hair dangling in front of Willow’s pretty but gloom looking blue eyes and tucked it behind her ear. ‘They won’t sweetie, trust me. You’re a good-hearted person, easy to talk with, intelligent, and you have a great sense of humor.’ They both chuckled. ‘Listen, I’m not gonna lie to you. They will test you. They will force you to take the first step, but in the end, they too will see how wonderful you are.’
Willow observed the buzzing school entrance again, snooping up some more precious seconds in her mother’s car to gather a portion of highly needed courage.
‘Okay, see you with supper mom’ Willow opened the door right after she received a hug and a kiss, closed the door, waved her mother one last good-bye and turned around to wend to the school’s entrance.
Most ignored her while she mingled in, various gave her curious looks. ‘Who is that blond girl? I’ve never seen her before’ She heard some boy asking from behind. ‘She looks hot though.’
‘Hey check out this Swedish looking floozie.’ She heard another voice announcing. Willow looked up to see who was talking. ‘Yeah that was me blondie, does it bother you?’ A lean black haired wench chuckled all sardoniclly. She stood accompanied by two other girls. One of them, a stout stickly-haired brunette with a far to tilted nose which would call up the envy of any pig. ‘Keep walking curly mane. You don’t wanna start with me on your first day.’ She oinked in contentment.
Even her laughter sounds like a pig, pity her. Willow concluded.
‘Hey watch it!’ Willow called out to a boy. He bumped up on her rougly when darting by. Her phone got yanked out of her hands and landed with a thud on the ground. Lucky for her, it was protected with a thick leather cover. The phone was still intact. Only several passes we're scattered on the floor. Slipped out through the fall. ‘Bloody fool’ She crouched down to pick up her stuff, when a shadow fell over her. She gawked up. ‘Here, let me help you.’ A gleeful boy crouched down right next to her. ‘Some guys just don’t know how to treat a lovely lady.’
‘Hey, your that guy from the wall!’
‘Guy from the wall?’ He chortled. ‘Yeah, you we’re sitting on that wall over there and peeked at me when me and my mom arrived with her car.’
‘I was? Anyway, the name is Garth.’ He stuck out his hand. ‘Willow… Willow Vargas.’ She accepted his offering hand. He chuckled ‘Really, surnames too? Ah what the heck. Garth… Garth Frayser.’
They both stood up and continued their stroll toward the entrance. ‘Sooo, where are you heading?’
Willow unfolded her schedule. Its paper rustled between her fingers.
‘I have history lesson at uhm... let me see. Ah! Here it is, at 9:15 a.m. in room B23 and after that mathematics in B21.’
‘Want me to walk with you? I have a talent for guiding beautiful girls on their first day you know, especially the curly blond ones with great legs.’ He swaggered.
Willow rolled her eyes and chortled ‘Uuh, that would be great… I guess, thanks.’
‘According to your schedule our time of break overlaps. We could have lunch together if that’s okay with you pretty eyes.’
‘Your not very thriftily with flatteries is it?’ Willow laughed a bit uncomfortable. ‘But, okay let’s do it. I am new here after all’
‘Yes you are.’ Garth gave her a charming wink.
Sigh, just my luck, the first person I meet is an odd guy who is over obviously trying to hit on me. He’s nice though, but a bit queer and definitely not my type. I hope I’m not forced to afflict his feelings in the future. Hate it when I have to do that. Willow mused.
After their morning lessons, Willow and Garth met up in the school’s cafeteria to share lunch together.
‘So, how did it go?’ Garth chewed on a spicy chicken sandwich. Willow took a seat, and put her tray on the table.
‘Great! I even made new friends!’ She unwrapped the paper package of her sandwich and licked of some remoulade sauce of her fingers ‘Mmm, delicious!'
‘New friends you say? So where are they?’ He scanned, searching.
Willow pointed at a table a few meters away.
‘There they are’ she waved merrily. Two girls waved back joyfully ‘I promised to spent lunch with you today, or else I would have joined them instead. You should feel honored.’ She winked and took a bit.
‘How loyal of you, however, what a happy man you would have made me if you took the ginger with the cute freckles along. ’ Willow shook her head in disbelief. And I thought I was your project of the moment.
‘You should watch out for the girl with the long dark braid chatting with your friends though.
‘Huh?’ Willow rounded up. ‘What about her?’ She took another tasty bit.
In a remarkable ungentle manner, Garth wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, took a long sip of his coke and finished with a prolonged loud burp. ‘She’s Celeste’s niece.’
Just wow, this guy. Doesn’t he realize this behavior diminishes his chances with me to below zero? Or does he actually believes that his irresistible charms and good looks overshadow the bad manners?
‘Oookay… and who is this Celeste if I may ask?’
‘You may honey pot.'
‘Did you just called me a grocery article?’ Garth ignored her last question but answered the first. However, he just had to dip the last piece of sandwich for a lick of sauce before enlightening her. ‘Don’t worry about Celeste though, you will meet her in time, trust me and probably sooner than you would have wished.’ Willow shrugged. ‘Say, do you know anything about this janitor? People keep telling me he is missing for almost a week now. Even his van seemed to have dropped off the earth into nothingness.’
Garth chuckled. ‘I guess your first gonna hear about Celeste before meeting her.’
Willow frowned. ‘What the hell are you talking about. That doesn’t even make any sense!’
‘Listen, people don’t speak about it openly, but everyone knows that Celeste and her girls are behind the janitor’s disappearing.’
‘They abducted him?’
Garth nodded ‘Not only that, they probably shrunk him and his van down also.’
Willow burst out in guffaw and almost choked on the orange-juice she was drinking. After coughing a few times she recovered herself ‘Sorry about that’
Garth waved to her that it was okay. ‘No problem sugar cup.
‘But... cough... shrunk him down you say?’
Garth nodded simultaneous he eye-balled the butt of a girl who just passed by. After that he presented a grin to another and received the finger in return.
I’ll just going to ignore that. Willow thought.
‘You mean, shrunk down in the sense of, reducing him in size?’
‘Hmm’ Garth acknowledged
Willow couldn’t help but to chortle again. ‘Like... Wow. Do you actually expect me to believe a story like that? Or is this some kind of lame ass joke?'
‘I do not joke here skirt.’ Willow raised her eyebrow by the mentioning of another cozy-name, this time a piece of cloth.
‘Especially if its about shrinking. God! Wouldn’t that just be awesome! To be shrunk down to say 1 inch tall!’
Willow frowned. ‘What would be so awesome about that?’
‘Well you know, being all helpless around the so called giants and all.’
‘Serious? You like being helpless?’
‘Well not in every situation that is, maybe in the presence of a beautiful girl’
Willow looked at him in aversion. ‘Oh my god, is this some kind of fetish you are talking about?
‘Huh?! No of course not! Haha. I only meant I would rather be found by an appealing girl if I was shrunk down is what I am saying, that’s all.’ He looked up.
‘Speaking of appealing girls, here comes queen hotness herself.’
‘Is that even a word?’ Willow said and rounded in her seat to witness the sight of three girls entering the school’s cafeteria. All sound of chatter, clatter and shoving subsided with their entrance, even the teachers muffled their voices and observed. What the? Why are they all staring at them in reverence? Willow pondered. Who the hell are these chicks?
Up on front stood the one who improbable seemed the packs leader, a slender but pretty thing she was. Blessed with a healthy pair of voluptuary lips and glossy blond hair tumbling about her elegant shoulders. A blue silken gown decorated her sun-tinted body. Its delicate fabric fluttered around her streamlined legs while she clattered in on a pair of high heels. Hands casually resting on her hips, she scanned the room. The narrow eyes gave the girl a stern and ominous look. Willow couldn’t explain why, but somehow a vibe of awe emanated from this feminine appearance. Like it was almost impossible to conceive the girl as an equal. This one stands above all.
Right behind this imposing figure came sauntering in the two other good looking teenage females, they positioned themselves alongside their queen.
One grinning gal with a puffed up messy bush of auburn hairdo. A lickerish smirk bedecked her appealing face when she glared at the cafetaria's crowd. The most intriguing features of her body we’re without a doubt her voluptuous bare thighs and full, firm ass, nicely wrapped up in far too tight raveled denim shorts. Donned in a glittery white crop top which revealed her flat athletic abdomen adorned the upper body. She finished the outfit with a laced up pair of sporty sneakers.
‘Look at all those lost little lambs.’ She sniggered in a husky voice. A radiance of malice shone from her sparkling blue eyes. That one looks twisted.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still whilst the crowd and the three girls contemplated each other in silence. Willow surveyed the cafetaria's folk. A mixture of esteem and dread could be read on everyone’s faces, no exceptions. One girl dropped her filled up tray to clatter on the ground by the sight of them. Another boy wetted himself, and a wrinkly grey teacher started to sweat like a pig.
‘Speak to me girl’ The blond leader suddenly snapped.
The other crony on the right responded, a black haired beauty.
‘Over there, the upper left table at the back.’ She pointed out.
Most of her garments followed its coiffure color’s example, with a black satin double split skirt decorating the lower body, clacking black leather knee boots to grand her legs an all-powerful appearance and afresh, a black leather jacket, sleeves up. Her forearms we're embellished with dozens of shiny sonorous golden bracelets. Together with the white shirt below the jacket these we’re the only things that broke with the monotone of her colorful predilection.
And this one looks like trouble.
‘They are coming this way!’ Garth squeezed Willow’s arm with bulging eyes. ‘Ouch! Let go of me!’
She looked up and noticed the girls approaching in their direction with seemingly, her in sight.
What could they possible want from me?
Students and teachers hastened to get out of their way. ‘Nothing to see here people! As you we’re!’ Black beauty roared. Gradually, everyone in the cafeteria began doing their thing again. Some resumed their interrupted journey, others started a conversation, and before we knew it, all chatter became an indistinct rumor once more.
Willow saw Garth beginning a soliloquy ‘They do not come for me. No, they aint. I did everything Natalya asked me to do with the storage room, please don’t let me have to experience another shri…’
‘Hey! What the hell are you talking about?’ She yanked him out of his reverie. ‘What is going on here? Why is everyone so afraid of these ordinary looking mean-girl wannabe’s? Who are they?’
‘L-Listen… W-Willow was it right? Listen Willow, these girls are the reason two teachers freaked out last year. They both exclaimed separately from each other a story about being shrunk down by them.’
It all started when Mr Konheim accused Tanja of being kidnaped and tortured by her for two days. No one believed him seeming the fact that he’s a very sturdy stout guy and Tanja only a petite girl of slightly higher than 5 feet. Everyone made fun of him and his shrinking stories. It didn’t help him either that Mr Konheim was a very flirty guy. More and more people started to believe he made this all up to get rid of Tanja as retaliation for making a fool out of him after a misplaced compliment in the school’s cafeteria. The only one who took his story serious was this one officer. Despite the fact that Mr Konheim’s accusations we’re beyond ridiculous, he found it hard to believe a capable man like him would come up with a story like that if it was his intention to get rid of Tanja. Why not come up with a more plausible story? It was all to no avail though. Interrogations proved nothing. Mr Konheim went mad, got fired and from what I heard ended up in some mental institution.
Three months after, Ms Frankenfort didn’t showed up for class on monday morning. They found her cold dead body later that day dangling from a rope in her bedroom. She did leave a note though, its content corresponded to Mr Konheim’s story. Nevertheless, the police had to let the girls go due to the lack of evidence.’
Willow looked at him all aghast. “I… I don’t know what to say.’
‘Well don’t, save your words for them, cause here they come.’
‘Beat it microbe!’ Black beauty sneered.
‘Yes of course Natalya, at once Natalya.’ Garth jerked up to his feet and in a clumsy manner shoved his tray to clatter on the ground. ‘Sorry about that, I’ll clean it up right away. Be ready in a jiff.’
‘NOW!’ Natalya screeched.
Garth backed off to get away, but bounced with his backside against someone. He turned around to be greeted by Tanja’s lascivious smile. ‘Hey Tanja.’ He returned her smile in a strained way. ‘What lovely smile you have there, as always. A very creepy, but lovely smile haha. I mean that in a positive way though. Okay bye.’ With that Garth ran off leaving Willow by herself with the girls of woe.
Some hero. Usually, the unattractive ones try to compensate on other area’s.
Willow looked up and saw the blond haughty queen-bee gazing intensely at her. Willow realized she was being scrutinized. She didn’t like it one bit, but lacked the guts to do anything about it. Her stare appeared to penetrate all the way to her naked soul, ready to unmask her most darkest, dirtiest secrets.
‘Are you sure this is the right girl Natalya?’ Celeste asked.
Natalya gave a deep frustrated sigh ‘No, she’s just the new prima donna in the making’ voice dripped with sarcasm. ‘Of course Celeste. Trust me, she’s the one, have I ever been wrong?’
Not for a moment Celeste took her eyes apart from Willow. ‘No you haven’t.’ She replied in an absent voice. She took a seat right across Willow. ‘Your new here right?’
‘Hey! she asked you a question!’ Natalya scorned. Willow shook up from her trance, got completely sucked away in those hypnotic pretty green viewers of Celeste
‘Huh, what?’
Tanja sniggered, and in Willow's consternation, she sauntered negligent along the table to end up behind Willow's chair. What does this freak wants? She started to feel uncomfortable about the way this Tanja leered at her. Its like this oddity is about to stab me between the ribs. Tanja began tickling Willow's back with a few fingernails and tousled her hair a bit, jerking it playfully. It made Willow cringe. ‘You’re a cutie aren’t you?’ Tanja spoke into her ear with a whispery hoarse voice. Willow felt an electric sensation traveling along her spine and goose bumps popping up on the neck and arms. She swallowed away some surplus of saliva and stared into Tanja's far too close for comfort piercing blue eyes. They we're punctuated with curiosity and rapture. Stunning eyes this auburn-hairdo had. Stunning and shrewd, the eyes of a predator ready to devour her prey. A scent of mint could be smelled from her exhaling warm breath against Willow’s cheek.
Natalya chuckled ‘Just a little more Tanja, I think she’s about to cry out for her mom.’
Willow looked up, glad to escape Tanja's intimidating gaze and saw Natalya grinning at her in malicious pleasure. Why does this gal seem so familiar to me? That typical crooked grin, I've seen her before, but where? Willow pondered
‘Can I have her back again please?’ Celeste’s voice broke in. Both their attention got drawn by the sound of it.
Fuck, yes. Let me get back to you please. Willow thought.
Tanja stood up straight, looked Willow in the eyes once more and fondled her cheek accompanied by a charming smile before strolling back to her position next to Celeste on the other side of the table.
‘Sorry about that. Tanja can sometimes be a little… overwhelming. She really is a nice girl once you get to know her better. So how is your first day at school? You like it here?’ Celeste asked in a surprising gentle voice. ‘Uhm, yeah, I think I’m gonna love it here.’ Willow replied more politely than she felt.
‘Good, is that a salmon sandwich you have there?’ Celeste pointed to a half finished piece of bread lying in front of Willow on a plate. ‘Huh? Uh, yea it is.’
‘Excellent choice. A word of caution though, don’t ever try the Chef’s special. Chances are its stuffed up with something special, if you know what I mean.’ She delivered an amiable smile and winked.
‘Say, got any plans tomorrow after school? We would love to get acquainted with you, show you around and such. We can get things done here you know.’ She touched Willow’s hand with hers and gave a petty squeeze accompanied by a warm smile. ‘So, whadda ya say? Tomorrow, my place?’
Willow looked alternately at Celeste’s kindly face, Tanja’s gloated grin and Natalya’s stoic appearance. She asks it so politely, and yet, why does it feels like I don’t have a choice? Well, I did want to have new friends and these girls seemed to be top of the food chain around here. What could be so bad about that? Only, what about the stories Garth just told me? Those we’re horrible! On the other hand, it’s just stories, who says they are true, maybe he made them all up to claim me for himself. Celeste seem like a really nice and cool girl. Willow pondered and made up her mind.
‘Tomorrow your place.’ She said in all merriment.
Celeste tittered ‘Great! Come here sister.’ Willow got treated by a warm and sisterly hug from the queen-bee herself in front of everyone. ‘What was your name again?’ Celeste asked. ‘I uhm… I didn’t tell you’ she answered relucant.
‘Willow is her name.’ Natalya said and gave her a wink. How does she…?
‘Willooow… sounds elegant and graceful, I like it!’ Celeste hugged her again in glee.
And with that, Willow got promoted from first-day-rookie to upper-class-member over the course of a few hours. It felt great! Never in her wildest dreams would she thought it to go like this.
What she didn’t notice was Celeste’s snippy satisfied smile when walking away with her adherents on the tail.