Holly pulled into a free space outside the school and cut the engine. She’d managed to make it in one piece. The few lessons she had, to get used to driving on the other side of the road, had helped a lot but she was still nervous. She drove a black Ford Focus ST-2 and got quite a few looks from some students walking by. Holly wasn’t trying to be the kid with the ‘new shiny car’ by any means, as she didn’t want to attract attention to herself, but because it had been a present from her parents, so that she could get out and about whenever she wanted, she didn’t turn it down.
Holly took a deep breath and got out of the car. She kept her head down as she walked into the building, through the main door. Mr. Lawson had told her to come to school a little early to visit the school admin office to collect her schedule. She was ten minutes early, but the place was heaving with bodies already. She tried to remember the way to the office; her vision blocked by the huge crowd of students. Now, she knew why the Principal advised looking round when it was closed. Good thinking.
Holly found the room and walked in.
“Hi. I’m Holly Edwards. I’m starting today.” She told the middle aged woman behind the desk.
She had long auburn hair, tied into a huge bun, and round glasses. Her bright pink lipstick seemed to stand out from her face when she smiled, her eyes crinkling up in the corners.
“Oh; of course! You’re the English girl. Welcome to New Haven. Here’s your schedule, a map of the school and a list of extra classes you can sign up for during your free periods.” The woman handed the papers to Holly, and she glanced quickly over the list of classes.
“Can I sign up for one of these now?” she asked.
“You sure can!” the woman replied happily. “I’m Sheridan, but you can go ahead and call me Sheri. Just let me know what you want to study and I’ll set you right up. Oh, by the way, I love your accent. Which part of England are you from?”
“Thanks. I’m from Liverpool.” Holly replied.
“Well it sounds just lovely.” Sheri beamed.
Holly liked her. She was friendly, and she seemed genuine.
“Now what can I sign you up for?”
“Spanish class, please.” Holly said after looking down the list again, making sure it was definitely a beginner class. She’d tried learning a few phrases, but nothing seemed to stick in her head, and she would quickly forget what she had learned.
“The language of love.” Sheri sighed. “Ok, well I’ll let Miss. Delaney know you’ll be starting her class right away. If you have any problems at all, my door is always open.” Sheri said with an enormous warm smile.
Holly was so taken in with Sheri’s friendliness, she didn’t know whether to hug her or give her a high five and that wasn’t something Holly would have ever dreamt of doing.
Holly left the admin office and followed the maps’ directions to her homeroom. She’d been there when she was shown around, but now she couldn’t see where she was going. Holly wasn’t very tall, five-foot four inches to be exact, but the students blocking her vision seemed to be at least five inches taller than she was, and that was just the girls!
Seriously, what do these people eat?! She thought to herself.
Whatever it was, she wanted some. It was good being short, sometimes. Fitting into the junior sized trainers, and track pants meant her sports wear cost a lot less than the adults. If it weren't for her chest, she could’ve gotten away with the tops too. Holly walked along, getting a view between some people every now and again until she finally found where she was meant to be. Room five. The door was already open, and she walked through, greeting the teacher at the front.
“Hi. I’m Holly. I’m starting today.” She said quietly, so as not to disrupt the other kids in the class from their conversations.
“Ah yes, Holly. How nice to meet you.” Mrs Carter said, not sensing Holly’s need to stay invisible.
The room silenced as everybody stopped and turned in her direction. Holly closed her eyes and groaned inwardly.
“Everybody, this is Holly Edwards. Our new student from England. Please make her feel welcome.” She turned back to Holly and smiled apologetically, as if she knew Holly wanted to stay out of the limelight.
“You may as well pull the bandaid off now honey. They’re going to know you’re new soon enough.”
Mrs.Carter motioned for Holly to find a seat, and she turned in the direction her hand was held out to. She looked around and saw a girl smiling in her direction. She had big brown eyes and long dark hair. Her skin was olive and completely blemish free. Cheek bones that any Hollywood star would be jealous of. She was so pretty that Holly thought she may be a model, or at least, a beauty queen of…somewhere. Maybe the world… The girl smiled even bigger, and Holly looked behind her wondering who she was smiling at. She was giggling when Holly turned back. The girl beckoned with her hand and scooted over to make room for Holly at her table.
“Hi! I’m Devon Valencia. But, I like to be called Dev.” She said as she beamed at Holly.
“Hi. I’m Holly.” She replied, shyly.
“Your accent is so cool. Which part of England are you from?” she asked with, what looked like, genuine interest.
“Liverpool.”
“Awesome! Where about is that?”
“The North West. It’s not as huge as Seattle, but it’s still a big city. I used to live about twelve miles from the Centre.” Holly explained.
She was used to being questioned which part of Liverpool she was from. Her accent wasn’t as thick as some. Quite possibly due to the fact that she didn’t go out much, or that she had to learn to speak slower and more clearly because Oli couldn’t understand her.
“I like how you say ‘Seattle’. Will you say it again?” asked Dev, with a grin.
“Seattle.” Holly repeated.
With her accent, it came out as ‘See-a-uhl’. Dev giggled excitedly.
“Oh my God that’s amazing. My friends are going to love you.”
Dev told Holly about her friends, Marissa ‘Riss’ Kennedy and Kayla Roberts. They were cousins that were so close; they should have been sisters. Their Mums were twins and the girls were born close together, so they had been raised together too.
“There’s a group of us who hang out together. Some of them are guys. One of them is my twin brother, Alex. He’s a great guy, I can’t wait for you to meet him.” Dev said with a warm smile.
It was evident that Dev loved her brother and was close to him. Hey they were twins after all.
“Um…ok…I guess.” Holly said nervously.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” Dev snorted an apologetic laugh. “…Here I am already planning your day for you. You don’t have to hang out with us if you don’t want to.”
Holly thought for a second and realised that she actually did want to hang out with Dev. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling that they would be good friends, and Holly didn’t usually make friends easily.
“It’s ok. I’d love to hang out with you.” She said, making Dev grin from ear to ear.
“You would? Great! I’ll tell you what…We’ll keep it to just us girls for a couple of days. Let you settle in and then we’ll introduce to the others. We usually just have lunch with them anyways. You’ll probably see them in class before then.” Dev was practically bouncing in her seat with happiness.
“What the fuck is that thing?”
Holly heard from behind her. The girls’ voice was quiet, but Holly could tell she was meant to hear it. She turned in her seat and made eye contact with a girl at a table, one behind and to her right.
“Excuse me?” Holly asked, her heart rate increasing.
The girl had blonde hair, down to her shoulder blades, brown eyes, and her lips pursed as if she were sucking on a lemon. Her eyes were narrowed at Holly as if she had done something to royally piss off the girl.
“Ignore her Holly…” said Dev quietly. “…That’s Stacey. The resident bitch. Don’t waste your time talking to her.”
“I said ‘what the fuck is that thing’?” Stacey repeated. “And by that, I meant you.”
Holly was surprised at what Stacey had said to her. She’d been in the class for less than twenty minutes and somebody had started on her already.
“Me?” Holly asked, her voice high pitched in disbelief that this girl had said something nasty to her, when she didn’t even know her.
“Yes, you. What the fuck are you supposed to be? New girl showing up halfway through the school year? What the fuck did you do at your old school? Fuck the principal?”
This made Stacey cackle and the girl sitting at her table laughed with her. There were a few snickers around the room and Holly could feel herself getting angry. She told herself to stay calm and not rise to the bait.
That’s what the girl wants. She wants to see how far she can push you because you’re new. Don’t let her win.
“I moved here.” Holly kept her voice calm and steady.
“Was he any good?” Stacey threw her head back and laughed again.
Holly clenched her fists on the table.
“Stacey, shut the fuck up. If anybody was going to fuck the principal, in any school, it would be you. Now shut up!” Dev shouted to Stacey.
The other students burst out laughing at what Dev had said, and Stacey’s face fell into a scowl.
“I was just kidding, for fucks sake.” Stacey spat. “I just wanted to see if ‘Mary Poppins’ could take it. You know, ease her into her new school. It can get real nasty around here.”
Stacey was smiling but with a venomous look in her eyes. There was obviously a lot of animosity between her and Dev, and Holly had a feeling that she hadn’t heard the last of Stacey’s bitchy comments.
The bell sounded for the next lesson to start and all of the students got up and began leaving the room.
“What class do you have?” Dev asked as she picked up her bag and stood.
Holly noticed that Dev was only a little taller than her. A few inches, maybe five-seven, but not as tall as some others she had passed in the hallways earlier.
“Advanced English. You?” she felt relieved that her new friend didn’t tower over her as much as she thought.
“Oh just regular English for me.” Dev chuckled. “My class is in the opposite direction to yours. Do you know where you’re headed?” she asked as Holly looked down at her map.
“Yeah, I remember where this room is now. I think I’ll be ok.”
“That’s good. What do you have afterwards?”
“Chemistry” Holly replied as she looked at her schedule. “Room…thirty-two”
“Oh yay! We have that class together!” Dev said happily.
“I’ll see you then, but if you get lost…” she quickly got out a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote something. “…Call me. Here’s my number. Text me yours when you get a sec.”
“Will do. Thanks.” Holly took the piece of paper from Dev.
“It’s really great meeting you, Holly. You’re going to have so much fun here.”
The warm and friendly look in Dev’s eyes made Holly feel funny inside. Like she was happy.
Well that hasn’t happened for a while.
“Thanks Dev. It’s great to meet you too.”
They waved to each other and turned to go to their classes.
Holly made her way down the hall, trying to find her way through the mass of tall people. She looked down at the map in her hands and was glad that she was still going in the right direction. She needed to pass three more doors, and then her ‘A.Eng’ class would be the next door on the left. Holly, felt a chill down her spine and she lifted her head just in time before she almost walked into a huge wall of…chest.
“Hi, you must be one of the new people.” A male voice said to her.
The voice rolled over her, sending shivers through her body and breaking out in goosebumps. Holly looked up and saw the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen in her whole life!
Black hair that was long on top and short around the sides, some strands falling down into big chocolate brown eyes that were framed in thick black lashes. Cheek bones that most girls would kill for and lips that looked full and juicy and kissable and…
"Español?" He asked, sending another wave of tingles through her body.
Holly found that she had lost the ability to speak and just stood there…staring…the heat began in her neck, and she felt it creeping up to her face.
Oh no! Please don't blush!
"Francais"? He narrowed his eyes a little, pushing his hands into his pockets.
Nope…still nothing. She was frozen, staring at the beautiful and extremely tall guy standing in front of her. He had to be over six feet at least.
"Are you ok?" He now had a look of concern.
Holly swallowed and found her tongue could finally move again.
"Um…I…”
Holly couldn't form any other words and she walked away, completely embarrassed, as fast as she could.
Holly got to her classroom, slightly breathless, her heart beating fast, and introduced herself to the teacher.
He showed her to her desk, and she sat down putting her head in her hands. Her face was still on fire, and she had to take deep breaths to calm herself down.
I cannot have a panic attack now!
Whenever Holly got scared, or worried, especially about someone she loved; she would often go into a panic. The last attack she'd had was when she'd gone on holiday with her sister, Emily, and her then boyfriend, Jeff. Some young boys thought it would be funny to push Holly into the pool. Holly couldn't swim and, even though the water was shallow and she had stood up, she had a panic attack and Emily had gotten her out of the water before she passed out.
Holly managed to calm down when she had a strange feeling in her stomach and looked to the doorway, just as the Hot-guy as she'd named him, walked in.
His eyes locked with hers for a split second before she looked down and tried to focus on a small scratch on the corner of the desk.
As everybody took their seats, she felt Hot-guy behind her. Not directly, but close enough to keep her goosebumps present. If she were to look over her right shoulder, she would see him. See his eyes that she imagined could look right into her soul. His lips that she swore had hidden magnets inside, pulling hers in their direction, his black hair that she wanted to run her fingers through…
The teacher addressed the class and said the five dreaded words she didn't want to hear.
"We have a new student…”
As the teacher introduced Holly to the class, and told them she was from England, some of the students actually said 'Hi' to her. She didn't want to appear to be 'snotty' so she looked to those who had spoken and said 'Hi' back to them. As she looked towards the back of the room, she made eye contact with Hot-guy and he was smiling at her.
Oh. My. God his smile!
Her stomach knotted with the butterflies fighting over each other for space.
Holly felt the heat creep up her cheeks again and turned back to stare at her desk. She kept her head down for the rest of the class, not really hearing what the teacher was saying. The bell went for the next period, and Holly bolted out of her seat and practically power-walked to Chem class, making sure not to look back as she went.
Holly walked into Chem class and looked for Dev. She saw her, sitting near the centre, waving her over to her desk.
"Move over Jake" Dev said to the guy sitting next to her.
A blonde guy, about six feet, short hair that was spiked on top and blue eyes. He reminded Holly of a typical 'boy band' kind of guy. He had that look about him. He smiled wide when he saw Holly walking towards them.
Dev pulled a chair next to her for Holly to sit down.
"How'd your first class go?" Dev asked with a smile.
"Oh it was OK, I guess. You know, new girl, embarrassing introduction to the whole class…” Holly replied, trying not to think about why she was really embarrassed.
"Hi, I'm Jake." Jake butted in, his hand outstretched for Holly to shake.
Holly just looked at his hand and then to Jake. She recognised him from homeroom. He’d sat at the front and had smiled at her when she walked in.
"I wouldn't. You don't know where he's been." Said Dev with a chuckle.
"Hey!" complained Jake but laughed it off, dropping his hand down. "So…Holly. You're new. How are you liking our school?" He asked blinking his eyes quickly, trying not to be obvious as he was looking Holly up and down.
"I've been here for two hours." Holly replied. "I can't really tell yet."
"Well I'm sure I can make things more pleasurable for you." He said with a wink.
Oh dear God.
"Jake! Don't be such a pig! I'm so sorry about him, Holly. He's an ape. Just ignore him and he might go away. I do." Dev said as she scowled at Jake.
"I'm just kidding jeez! Anyway, how old are you?"
His question caught Holly off guard. She frowned a little in confusion.
"Seventeen, why?"
"Just asking, you know, getting to know you. So…did you leave anybody behind in England? A guy? Boyfriend or something?"
Dev rolled her eyes at Jake, as though he had tried this before and it was his usual thing.
"Jake, leave her alone." She spat.
"I'm just asking. Come on! What's the problem?" He turned back to Holly. "So? Anybody special in your life?"
Holly's thoughts immediately turned to Hot-guy. He was pretty 'special' alright. The kind of special you wanted to squeeze, just to make sure they were real.
"Um, no.” She said as she cleared her throat. Her pulse racing as she thought about Hot-guy's lips, smile, hair, eyes…
"That's good. There's a party at the weekend, down at the hill. Wanna go?"
Holly was surprised at how forward this guy was. He didn't know her, and yet he was asking her to go to a party with him?! Not. A. Chance!
"Um, Sorry, no." Holly replied as she looked into her bag for her Chem book.
"Why?" Jake asked as Dev was trying to hold back a smile. Holly wanted to be polite and make up an excuse, but what was the point? There were only so many times the ‘I’m washing my hair,' or ‘I have lots of homework to catch up on' can be used.
Holly had already caught up on the work she had missed from the beginning of the school year. She'd started it even before stepping foot onto US soil. Yes, she was all caught up and didn't have anything that 'had to be handed in urgently'. She decided to be truthful. It might hurt sometimes, but she didn't want to lie and make him think that she would have gone with him if 'insert excuse here' hadn't stopped her.
"I don't want to."
Jakes' mouth popped open and Dev couldn't hold back as a giggle escaped from her lips.
"What do you mean?" He asked as if he'd never heard that before.
"I mean I don't want to go to a party with you. Or anywhere else. Please don't take offence, but I don't know you. I've been in this school for a couple of hours, and you ask me out as if it were a given that I would agree. Well, I'm sorry. That's never going to happen. You seem…sweet, but the answer is no."
"Oh, well ok then." He said, looking as if he didn't know what had just happened.
"That was awesome!" Dev mouthed to her as the teacher got everybody's attention to begin the lesson.
The bell signalled the end of class, and they picked up their bags ready to leave.
"I have math class now. Ugh. Algebra is kicking my ass!" Dev complained. "How about you, Hol. What do you have?"
"I have a free period, so I'm using it to take Spanish lessons." Holly replied. She’d wanted to take Spanish lessons for a while. Since the holiday with Emily and Jeff, Holly wanted to learn the language. She’d been left in a room with a first aider, when Emily had gone to call her Mum. The lady couldn't speak English, and Holly couldn't speak Spanish. That prompted Holly to learn. That and the fact she thought the language was beautiful. It sounded so nice to listen to.
Holly even had some songs in Spanish that she liked to listen to and even sang along, but she didn't have any idea what they were saying.
"I could teach you Spanish!" said Dev.
"You can? You speak Spanish?"
"I'm fluent." Dev answered with a shrug as if it were common knowledge. “My Parents are Spanish. Well, my Mom's Dad is American and her Mom's from Madrid, but my Dad's parents are from Alicante. They came over here a couple of years before my Dad was born."
Holly could’ve kicked herself for not noticing Dev's heritage. The olive skin, dark brown eyes, dark hair…Hispanic. Like somebody else she thought of…Hot-guy. He had the same olive skin as Dev. She'd seen quite a few students that also looked of Spanish heritage. Some, possibly, Italian or maybe mixed heritage, she didn't know. But, she knew that Hot-guy had some serious gorgeous features and she imagined those features right next to her…
”Holly are you ok?" She heard Dev say.
"Oh…yeah…Um…Thanks. I'd be grateful if you could help me that would be great. I'll still take the lessons though. I don't want you to miss any time with your own stuff to help me. Besides, I really need to start with the basics. I'm a complete beginner."
Holly knew she was rambling. She couldn't help it. She’d been zoning out with images of Hot-guy in her head she felt bad that she might have ignored what Dev was saying to her.
"That's a good idea. I might get carried away. Did you put my number in your phone?"
Holly nodded that she had.
"Good. Text me your number and, if you get a chance, text me in class, and let me know how it's going. I have to get going anyway. Alex will be waiting for me. We have Algebra together."
Dev left for her class and Holly walked to the languages department.
'Let’s hope this goes well'. She thought as she, once again, drowned in the sea of student’s bodies.