4Chapter 2: Meeting Nadia Perrigreen
Life as a freshman at St. Mary's High was… interesting. I wouldn't say horrible because all the kids were nice, but I wouldn't say that it was great either because almost everyone here is fake too. It's weird, I know, but I have a feeling that when people say hi to me, or even bother to talk to me, they quickly smirk behind my back. I just get these vibes you know? Well, my "look" didn't really help either. I was one of the "goth chicks" in the school… I came to school everyday wearing thick black eyeliner, black nail polish, and a drugged look to top it all off. Mind you, I wasn't doing drugs, but like a magician, I live for illusions.
You're probably wondering if I have any friends. Well, I hung out with a certain group of people, but I never felt that they really were friends, you know? It's like, we only hung out together because none of us wanted to look like loners. Anyway, there are about five other goths in the freshman class besides me, so, obviously, we all figured that we needed to stick together in case any of the blondes attack us.
Just like rebels, we got into trouble most of the time. And we've heard people say that we ought to have gone to public school, and that we didn't deserve to go to St. Mary's. It's all BS if you ask me. Trust me, NONE of us had wanted to go to this school in the first place! Anyway, we spent most of our time in detention after school. We were mostly together, you know, to keep each other company.
But, fate decided to step in one day, I guess. One day, I was sitting in my back-corner seat in French class, feeling unmercifully tired. I hadn't had too much sleep that night because I went to a concert with Dani, one my friends. She happened to have won two free tickets from KROQ, and she invited me to go with her. Of course, I was flattered that she thought to invite me out of all our other friends from school (which weren't a lot by the way). So I went. Well, more like snuck out. When I got home, my mom was sitting on my bed waiting for me and… well, let's just say that I've had a long night.
Anyway, I was just sitting there, minding my own business, and I happened to glance up once in a while, then go back to drawing skulls. My teacher, Mr. Williams, was too busy showing the class some photos of Paris when he went there to notice that I wasn't paying attention. On my third glance, I saw this really gay picture of him wearing a skin-colored tank top that looks like the one most of the girls would wear on free-dress days, which shocked me for a minute coz I thought he was naked. He had these really short shorts, and his head was dyed pink. Now, you're probably thinking that there's nothing wrong with the picture, but, trust me, if you've seen Mr. Williams on his normal days, you'd be envisioning a dull man who always wears a suit with some sort of gay-looking tie. So, seeing this picture really confirmed my suspicions that he was unmercifully gay! Now, there's nothing wrong with being gay, but if it's Mr. Williams, it's hilarious!
So there I was, looking at the picture, trying to hide my smiles and listening to the muffled sniggers around me. But for some reason, I couldn't hold it any longer and I started laughing. And I mean, LAUGHING! I couldn't stop, and I ended up falling off my chair and pointing at the picture, which got EVERYONE laughing.
You should've seen the look on his face! He was MAD! He didn't even bother to properly turn off the computer, because, as luck was on our side, the computer froze, and he couldn't get his picture off the screen. This erupted even more giggles from everyone in the class. So he frantically plugged the wires right off the socket and yelped when he felt static erupt through his fingers.
And that's how I ended up in detention on Friday afternoon. Mr. Williams blamed everything on me, obviously, even though I didn't really do anything! Ok, well, maybe I laughed, but I wasn't the one who electrocuted him! I was really pissed because on Fridays, we get out at 1:00, and I wanted to go home and sleep. Apparently, Mr. Williams wasn't going to give me that luxury. He scheduled detention for me in the library until 6 that afternoon, so I was really mad.
And he couldn't have picked a worse place for me to get detention in. I hated the librarian. She was the librarian from hell. She's this skinny and wrinkly old lady who has really long nails that she likes to stroke the blackboards with. Ugh – I hate that shrieking sound. It makes my teeth feel like they're gonna crumble. What's more, she put some sort of special software on all the library computers that lets her look at anyone's computer screen from her computer. So, basically, you can't sneak off and find online porn sites cause she'll know what you're doing on your computer. Hmm… I got in trouble for that once. It wasn't pretty. She screamed at me and nearly blew off my left ear.
Anyway, that afternoon, I walked to the library after saying goodbye to my friends. It was empty except for the librarian of course. As I entered, she looked up from her computer and motioned for me to get closer. I smelled something acrid when I got close to her.
"Ms. Johnson," she said in her high-pitched voice, "you're here for detention, am I right?"
"Yeah…" I mumbled inaudibly.
She scrutinized me with those cat-like eyes over her glasses as she said, "And what is it for this time?"
"Uh," I lingered, not wanting to tell her the real reason. I knew she'd give me a hard time if she found out how I got here.
"Well, speak up!"
"Mr. Williams didn't tell you?" I said, trying to avoid her question.
"No." She said, "He said you'd tell me yourself."
"Well," I said, "all I did was laugh in class! What's wrong with that?"
She cleared her throat and smirked at me. "Well, it's wrong if you were laughing at him and disrupting the whole class in the process!"
"So he did tell you!" I blurted, then clamped my mouth shut. I was already in enough trouble.
"Yes…" she said, narrowing her eyes. I didn't like that look.
"So, um, what am I going to do the whole afternoon?"
"You can start by scraping the gum off the tables and chairs."
"That's gross!" I protested.
"Who said detention had to be fun?" she whispered dangerously.
"Uh, no one!" I tried to laugh it off, but it sounded like I was choking.
"Then make yourself useful!" she said and went back to typing as if I was never there at all.
An hour later, I was still scraping the gum off the desks. It wasn't as gross as I thought it would be since most of the gum was mine anyway. I made a mental note never to stick gum under the desks anymore. I was about to go to the last table, when a girl came in and sat down there. She spread all her books on the table and sat on the chair with her back as straight as a wall. She was a pale and skinny girl who was wearing one of those senior jackets, and her light-brown hair was tied in a tight bun with a few curls coming loose. She didn't look intimidating, so I went up to her table and started scrubbing it.
"Excuse me," she said politely in a meek voice after about a minute of watching me scrape chewed gum. "Do you have to do that here right now?"
"Uh-huh" I mumbled, not even bothering to look at her.
She started to look a little exasperated. "What about the other tables? Couldn't you do those first and this one last?"
"Nope"
I could tell that she was the shy type, and that she would be too polite to bully me, so I kept scraping.
"Nadia!" I heard the librarian shriek, causing me to stand up quickly and knock one of the binders off the desk. "Is she bothering you?"
"No, it's alright!" the girl named Nadia timidly answered.
"If you say so." said the librarian eyeing me, then getting back to her work.
I bent to pick up the binder from the floor, and I was about to give it to Nadia, when I noticed something gold in the front cover. I saw that it was a picture of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, showing the part of the movie where Belle and the Beast dance to that really famous song. I can't remember what it's called, but I used to watch it when I was little. On the bottom of the picture were words saying, "Play rehearsals from Wednesday to Friday afternoons next week!"
Nadia noticed me looking at the cover and blushed when I gave it back to her.
"You're auditioning for that stupid play?" I asked incredulously, thinking that a shy girl like her would never have a chance.
"Why, yes" she said, now blushing profusely. I guess she caught the hint of disbelief in my voice, and I instantly felt ashamed. "I am in drama class."
"You are?" I said, "How come I don't see you?"
"You probably take the really early morning classes," she explained. "I take it during the day."
"Oh" I said, not knowing what else to say.
"Are you auditioning?" she asked, trying to make conversation.
"Uh, NO!" I scoffed. "I hate Mrs. Pritt. She barely even notices me in drama class."
"Well," said Nadia, "she is a little snobby, but I'm auditioning because I like to sing and act."
"Good point."
Nadia then looked at her watch and sighed. "Oh my! It's already 2:30. My dad'll be here soon." She started packing her books and things and as she stood up, she said, "I hope you'll audition. It's a really great experience!"
"Ah well," I said shrugging, knowing that the last place I'd be caught in is the auditorium, prancing around and singing like an idiot.
As she walked on, I suddenly had a curious idea. "Wait!" I said, catching up, "What part are you auditioning for?"
She smiled, and I saw a gleam of excitement in her eyes. "You'll see."