Chapter 1
Lee looked up at us in our camouflaged glory and said with whatever ounce of dignity he had left, "Just wait, Collins, just wait. You'll be begging for your mommy by the time we're done with you."
"Yea, that's what they all say before morning comes."
Okay, so you're probably wondering how this all happened. You know how they say that first impressions are everything? Well these guys decided that theirs wasn't going to be a very good one. I was all ready having a bad day and well, they didn't exactly make it all better.
BBBEEEEEPPPP BBBEEEEEPPPP BBBEEE—SLAM! BBBEEEEPPP BBBEEEPP BBEEE-SLAM!
"What the hell?" My eyes widened once I realized that it wasn't my alarm clock blasting in my ears.
"GRANDMA! I'M UP! I'M UP! YOU CAN STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE UP THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD!"
This has been pretty much routine since I moved in with my grandma. My parents died in a car crash not to long ago, forcing me to move in with my beloved grandmother and well, it's all been down hill from there. Let's just say she has very unorthodox ways of waking me up in the morning. So far I've been squirted with a water gun, have electric guitar blasted in my ear, woken up to fifty alarm clocks going off ten seconds apart and now a blow horn. I'm surprised the neighbors haven't filed reports against us.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I headed into the connecting bathroom. I hated mornings especially this particular morning, the start of my new school. Now normally I would have been ecstatic about starting at a new school since things didn't go so well at my last one, but this school is known for its resident rich snobs. The only reason why I'm even going to this school is because my grandma has a considerate amount of money, and when my parents died and I moved in with her, she decided that I should have "the best education out there". Now why weren't we rich you ask? Well my mother wanted to make money on her own since everything had been given to her as a child and was dead set against taking any money from Grandma but, of course, my mother got her stubbornness from her mother and so that never stopped Grandma from trying. I guess she always felt bad for never being able to help out mom so she wants to get me the absolute best for everything.
But back to my dilemma at hand, which is me being forced to go to this snobby rich school. This could be bad, very bad. You see, me and rich kids never got along. When I was younger, every Sunday, we would go to my grandma's house to visit and every Sunday she would also invite her neighbors, the Remington's to come over too. Our families got along well, in fact, our parents were really close, but it was their son, Nate that I hated. He would always make fun of me and every time when I would try to get him back, he would go running to his mommy and get me in trouble.
This all ended, however, when my mother had made the decision that she wanted to make money on her own without having her mother as a crutch. She was offered a better paying job by her company but it meant that she had to transfer to another location causing us to move a couple hours away. We fell out of touch for some unknown reason –cough- because we weren't rich anymore -cough- and even though we still visited Grandma once a month, they never came over again. They never answered our phone calls and always ignored us when we would see them. At a very young age, I realized that rich people only want to be your friends because of how much money you have, not because you're a good person. So all in all, I've always hated rich people since then. Now can you see why me going to this school isn't such a good idea?
I was interrupted from my thoughts when my grandma called for breakfast. Putting on jeans, a sweatshirt and my beloved converse – apparently rich people are too good for uniforms, not that I'm complaining – and headed down stairs.
As soon as I hit the bottom step, the smell of chocolate chip waffles overwhelmed my senses. I walked to the unnecessarily large dinning table and a plate of waffles was set down in front of me. I looked at my grandma suspiciously, "Grandma I know what this is."
She feigned a look of innocence. "What ever do you mean?" Grandma knows very well of my dislike of rich people – besides her of course – which is another reason why she's sending me to this school. Apparently it's supposed to make me see that "not all rich people are idiots".
"You know very well what this is, Grandma," I told her, trying very hard not to give in to the amazing deliciousness that was plated in front of me.
"Oh you know you'll give in eventually." She knew me too well. Note to self: Build immunity to chocolate chip waffles.
"This isn't over, Grandma," I say, giving her a look as I polished off the rest of my waffles and started walking to my car.
I drove up the long private road that led to Eastwood Academy -wow, even the name sounds snobby- and I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping. The school was huge. With its European style exterior, it looked more like a mansion rather than an actual school.
Realizing that I was staring longer than needed, I quickly got out of the car and walked up to the towering double doors.
People were crowding the hallways, making it difficult to spot the office. I tried asking for directions but my voice was drowned out from the noise. Giving up on that futile decision, I chose a direction and started walking.
Soon a door with the words Reception Officecame into view.
I walked in only to be greeted by a woman with a fake smile on her face. "Hi, how can I help you today?"
"Um, yes I'm new here. I need to get my schedule."
"What's you name?" Her fake smile was beginning to bug me. I hated people who acted fake, just another reason for my dislike of rich people.
"Aubrey Collins, Mrs." I told her, attempting to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
The lady handed me a paper with a list of classes and the times posted on them. "Here you go sweetie."
"Okay, thank you. Bye." I headed out of there as fast as I could. Her sickingly sweet smile made me want to puke.
As I started towards my first class, I saw a poster with Volleyball tryouts on it. At my old school, I was pretty good, so I decided to tryout. I would just have to run home during lunch to get my gear.
The rest of the day went by fine. Luckily the schedule had directions on it, so I wasn't late to any class, saving me embarrassing confrontations with the teachers.
When the final bell rang, I began to head to the doors of the school; that is until I saw a poster of a certain thing I had forgotten I had after school. The sign read: Volleyball Tryouts! Muttering every curse word I could think of under my breath, I turned around and starting walking in whatever direction I hoped was the gym.
Damn, I was lost. Stupid school and its unnecessary largeness… I was ready to give up when three guys walked past me, so I decided to put my pride aside and ask for directions.
"Hey! Um excuse me, could you point me in the direction of the gym?" I regretted asking the question just as soon as it came out of my mouth. The only reply I got was a sneer and the "look". You know the one where they look you up and down and then make that face because they've determined that you're not good enough? That look, the one that made me decide right then and there that I hated him.
I opened my mouth to snap at him but he turned around and walked away, along with another guy who had the "badass" look to him. Oh great, he has groupies. I just had to make the popular one hate me. I was about to turn back around and give up before noticing that the third guy hadn't left. I raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.
He stuck out his hand with a huge grin on his face. "Hey there, my name's Beau Ryder. I apologize for them; they aren't very fond of new comers. The gym's this way, I'll walk you there." The boy said with a slight Texan accent.
I shook his hand with a suspicious look on my face. Hm…he didn't seem like those other two guys; He actually looked nice. He had shaggy, ear-length brown hair, studious, dark eyes, surrounded by a strong, square jaw or, in other words, he was extremely good-looking. I wonder what he was doing with them. I planned on asking him this, but before I could open my mouth, he started making his way in the direction of what I assumed was the gym.
"I can see that, their fondness for new comers I mean," I told him with an annoyed expression on my face, "So who were those two idiots who refused me directions?"
"Those two 'idiots' are my best friends Kade and Lee." Beau told me chuckling.
"Well no offense, Beau, but you have terrible choice of friends." I said disbelieving that someone as nice as him could be friends with those two jackasses.
"Nah, they just like people to think of them like that so people won't get close to them." Beau replied with a clouded expression on his face, as if remembering something that had happened in the past.
We walked in silence the rest of the way until the "gym" came into view, which was more of a really tall house rather than a gym. "Whoa, you call that a gym?" I said, shielding my eyes from the sun as I tried to see the top of the structure.
"We get that a lot. You'll get used to it." He had stopped at two huge double doors. This was beginning to look like a mini-replica of the school itself.
"You must be trying out for volleyball. Well good luck, our team is really good." Beau said, looking me over.
"Don't worry; I've been playing volleyball for a long time," I said, knowing that it was going to be tough since their team is reining champions for five years straight.
"Okay, well try not to let them get to you. Like I said earlier, a lot of people you meet here don't like new people…" He trailed off and then gave me a funny look as if expecting me to answer some unasked question. "I never got your name…"
I considered say no, you know because of the whole "never talk to strangers" thing but I decided what the hell, I was feeling adventurous today. "Aubrey Collins."
"Well good luck, Aubrey Collins, we'll meet up again." Beau said, which was kind of creepy, and left me hoping he wasn't of the stalker type. Shuttering, I hoped to God not. There was enough of those back at home.
I guess you're wondering whether I made the team or not? Well let's go with not. The Captain and Co-Captains who were holding the tryouts decided that they hated me as soon as I walked through the door. I mean, it's not my fault that their attempt to "accidentally" trip me – and I have no idea why considering the fact that I've never met them in my life but whatever- back fired and the person who had attempted it had their face connect with the floor resulting in their nose bleeding profusely. This caused the person who orchestrated the whole thing –I'm assuming the person who tripped me was her minion- to start calling me things that I shall not repeat and provoked me once again resulting in her "accidentally" falling on her face as she was walking. Let's just say that this didn't end well. She freaked -her hair turned red and I swear her eyes had flames in them- and the ending result is me having to "watch my back". Great…my first day of school and I already have the Queen Bee and her minions on my bad side and OH let's also not forget that random jackass who refused me directions; let's call him the King Bee.
"Grandma, I'm home!" I yelled, walking through the front door. My senses were immediately over-whelmed with the smell of cookies baking in the oven.
Following my nose into the kitchen, I found Grandma staring impatiently at the oven.
"Baking cookies, are we?" I told her, rolling my eyes affectionately.
"What else is there to do in this boring city?"
"Um...see the sights? This is Miami, Grandma, walk on the beach, go shopping, anything a normal person would do," I said smiling.
"Well then, you should be happy that I'm not normal, since you have freshly baked cookies to come home to every day."
"Yea, yea, well one day I'm going to drag you from this house and take you to the beach with me." I gave her a pointed look.
Grandma's face lit up upon hearing the timer go off on the oven, signaling that the cookies were done baking.
"Grandma, at 5:30 I'm starting my shift at that café so don't freak out when you come looking for me and I'm not here, " I told her, chuckling as she stuffed a cookie in her mouth, even though heat was radiating off of it due to it just coming out of the oven.
"You do know that you're supposed to let them cool before you eat them, right?" I asked, a bemused smile on my face.
"Oh please, dear, I've been baking cookies since your mom was little. My mouth has long since then developed an immunity to the heat. And I don't see why you want a job, you know if you need money I will just give it to you."
"Grandma, we've gone over this a million times, I want to make money on my own and also, I don't need to be taking money from you whenever I want," I said to her as I was walking out the door, leaving no room for argument.
I entered the door to the café and was pleasantly surprised. The café was a small cozy place; its burgundy colored walls and softly lit lights gave the place a homey feel, which was probably the reason for teenagers being the majority of the customers.
I walked up to the girl working behind the counter.
"Hi, I talked to Mrs. Airhart earlier on in the week about that job wanted sign and she said that I could start today?"
"OH! Yes, you must be Aubrey. I'm Eden, Mrs. Airhart's daughter. Your shift ends at 6:30 for today but starting tomorrow, your shift will be from 4:00 to 5:30. It's gets pretty busy around that time but I'll be working the same shift as you so don't worry about getting overwhelmed or anything. If you have a problem with the hours or if you would like to work later or at a different time, just ask my mom and I'm sure she'll work something out. The only this you're required to wear is the apron that's on that stool over there. Do you need a tutorial the machines or do you have experience?" Believe in or not, she said this in all one breath. She was panting by the end of her little speech and leaned an elbow against the counter.
I chucked at her expression. "I have plenty of experience working in coffee shops so the machines shouldn't be a problem. So the boss' daughter eh? Should I be afraid?"
"Oh yes, very afraid," she told me, a mocking expression on her face.
We stared at each other for a moment before busting out laughing.
"So what brings you to Miami? I'm guessing you've just moved here since I haven't seen you here before today. Every teenager visits at some point," Eden asked me, whilst taking someone's order at the same time.
"I just recently moved in with my grandmother," I told her, my voice implicating that I didn't want to further elaborate.
Luckily, Eden got my message and changed the subject. "So what school are you going to?"
"I'm going to Eastwood Academy. I just started today. What about you?" I had to refrain from ranting on about the rich, snobby inhabitants over there.
"Really? I go there too. I wonder why I didn't see you. What's your schedule?" Eden asked me, a confused expression on her face.
"A Period: Spanish III, B Period: Physics, C Period: AP U.S. History, D Period: Pre-calc, E Period: P.E., F Period: Composition," I told her, ticking each period off of my finger. I was good at remembering things when I wanted to.
"Well today was ABCD rotation so it makes sense that I didn't see you during Spanish and Physics because I take French and Chemistry instead but I have History and Pre-calc the same time you do. I wonder why I didn't see you." She directed the question more at herself rather than me. It seemed to have upset her that she didn't notice me.
"Don't worry about it. I sat in the back and just kind of tried to lay low; you know, to avoid those awkward class introductions." I gave her a smile to let her know that it really wasn't a big deal. She seemed to perk up immediately.
"Do you have anyone to sit with at lunch? If not we would love it if you sat with us," She asked me, a hopeful expression on her face.
"We?" I gave her a suspicious look.
"Yea, me, Dayton, Elliot and Hayden, there's only five of us but we are always looking for new people to sit with us. Dayton has been my best friend since kindergarten. He's the gayest, most fashionable and awesome guy you will probably ever meet. I must warn you though; he might try to kidnap you to go to the mall with him. It's best to just go along with him. Trust me; he can be very persuasive when he wants to be. Elliot and Hayden are my twin other brothers. They're very…protective I guess you say. That's why they sit with us at lunch. Apparently it's to 'let guys know not to mess with me' or something like that. Aggravating little twits…" Eden grumbled the last part to herself but I could tell that she was very fond of her brothers.
"Yea sure that would be-" I wanted to tell her that I would love to sit at her lunch table, but my voice died in my throat when I saw who walked in. It was them; the one that gave me the look, I believe his name is Lee, and his groupie, Kade. Lee took his time making his way up to the counter, smirking upon seeing my glare. When he had finally reached the counter, he purposely ignored Eden, who was at the register, and turned to me.
"Hey, why don't you be a sweetie and fix me a Chai Tea Latte, a Toffee Mocha, and two ham and swiss sandwiches." He said, giving me a look that would make any other girl turn to mush, except me. The only thing it did was piss me off even more.
My glare was full on now. "Listen, jackass, first of all, you don't order me around. Second of all, I'm not the cashier, the girl by the cash register is and thirdly, if you want any of what you just ordered, I suggest you ask nicely. Easy enough to for you comprehend, sweetie?" There was so much venom in my voice by the end of my little rant that his groupie, Kade, flinched by his side.
Lee just stood there shocked, as if no one has even spoken to him like that before. I continued my glare until he regained his posture and his smirk returned.
He looked at me innocently. "Please?" Oh great, he was sarcastic now. Joy. This better not be an everyday thing or I might have to reconsider my job options.
Once they had finished paying and sat down at a table, I finally gave up on my glaring and started on his order. The bad thing about this coffee shop is that it's more like a restaurant in the sense that we bring their orders to them instead of them just waiting at the counter for it.
Eden turned to me, "THAT WAS AMAZING!"
"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked her, confused.
"No one has ever told Lee off like that! People have wanted to do it for years but no one has ever had the guts, including me. I guess you can say him and his two best friends, Beau and Kade, rule the school. Practically every girl has a crush on them. It's disgusting. I was beginning to think I was the only one who didn't drool on myself at the thought of them. Dayton, my brothers and I call them The Mighty Three a.k.a. the M3."
"I met them after school because I needed directions to the gym. Lee had the audacity to give me the look. I was so extremely pissed off but they walked away before I could react. Beau stayed and walked me to the gym. He seemed really nice." I was finished with their orders but I decided to let it sit for a while and you know, if it happened to get a little cold, well then they would just have to deal with it.
"Oh Beau is the sweetest guy you will probably ever meet. He's friends with pretty much everyone in the school. It's Lee and Kade that you have to worry about. Lee has probably dated every cheerleader and dance team member in the school and dumped everyone of them. Kade is considered the badass of the school; you know, motorcycle, leather jacket and all," Eden told me, stealing a glance at the two waiting impatiently in their seats.
I looked down at the orders on the counter and heaved a sigh. "I guess I have to bring them their orders now."
Begrudgingly, I made my way to their table, making sure it took as long as possible. When I finally got there, Lee was staring at me, an annoyed look on his face, "Took you long enough."
"Aw, did I keep you waiting? My apologies sir," I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I didn't feel like waiting for an answer so I turned on my heel and walked away. I could feel his glare on the back of my neck.
"Remind me why girls fall over themselves to get close to them?"
"Um, maybe it's the fact that they're hot, rich and single? It doesn't matter the fact that they're jackasses. Girls these days, where have their standards gone?" Eden rolled her eyes upon saying this.
"Hmm…from what I've seen and what you've told me, they sound pretty arrogant. What do you say we put them in their place?" A mischievous smile had appeared on my face and from the look Eden was giving me; she knew I was up to no good.
"What exactly do you have in mind?" She replied, a suspicious look on her face.
"How are you on pulling pranks?"
A/N:
Yes, the name Eastwood Academy does exist but I don't imagine the two are anything alike. If you're wondering how I picture the school, I strongly encourage you to look up Milton S. Hershey Middle School. That's almost exactly how I picture it in my head. Read, review and I hope you enjoyed. I will post the next chapter as soon as I can.