Chapter Three

High School

I pulled up to Central High School in my new, black E-Class Mercedes. I wasn't a big car buff, and was mainly just looking for luxury. This car was a perfect fit, and seemed to suit me well. Randi had gone car shopping with me and had agreed with the decision and thus far, I loved it. I had also moved all of the things that my parents thought I was taking to college into my apartment. Things were falling into place.

I grabbed my bag and got out of the car. There were students milling about the parking lot and the entrance. Some of them stared at me as I started walking down the path to the doors. School had started three weeks before. It was enough time that I expected to be immediately labeled as "the new kid."

It felt strange to be walking back into the halls of a high school. I thought that part of my life was over. I hoped the mission wouldn't take too long. I didn't want to be stuck here for any longer than I had to be.

I found my locker and threw my book bag inside. I took out some notebooks and shoved a pen in my pocket. I really only needed to look busy. I wouldn't actually have to put too much effort into the schoolwork, just enough so that I wouldn't fail out.

Animagia had arranged my class schedule so that I had several classes with my target. They had given me an extensive amount of pictures. I would know her when I saw her for sure.

My first class of the day was Spanish. I didn't remember much of it, even though I had taken it all four years of high school. Animagia had entered me into the third level, so I hoped I knew enough for that at least. Spanish wasn't one of the classes I shared with my target, so I didn't pay very much attention to the teacher or other students. My next class however, pre-calculus, I did share with her.

Upon walking into the classroom, I could tell immediately that she was somewhat of a loner. Either that, or nobody else wanted anything to do with her. The class was half-filled, but she was sitting alone, apart from everyone else, and not chatting like the rest of them. Of course, she had only been going to the school for three weeks, so she may have just not had the opportunity to make very many friends yet. She sat at her desk, doodling something in her notebook. She seemed pretty concentrated on it. Her straight, dark hair hung over her face so I could barely see her. I didn't want to get too close too quickly, so I sat a few seats away from her.

"You new?" the girl I had sat next to asked with a smile.

"Yep. I'm Han." I extended my hand to her.

"Beverly," she said as she shook it. "Nice to meet you. Han, you said?"

"Yep. As in, Solo."

Beverly laughed, flipping her head back. "Funny. That's an interesting name. How'd you get it?"

"Secret," I said with a smirk.

Before class had started, I had been introduced to a bunch of other students and was chatting animatedly with all of them. After class, they invited me to lunch with them. They were all fun enough people, so I gladly accepted. Acting normal and making friends was all a part of the cover, after all.

My third class was P.E. It was another class that I shared with my target. I decided to attempt a meeting. As the students were trickling into the gym from the locker rooms during the last few minutes before class started, I approached her.

She was leaning against the wall of the gym, again set apart from everyone else. Her red gym shirt hung loosely over her skinny frame. She wore black athletic shorts that hung below her knees, and took away any chance of getting a glimpse of her real figure. Her hair was thrown up into a messy bun, and several strands had broken free and fell loosely around her head. She had a bored expression on her face, like she didn't want to be bothered with the dullness of gym class. But despite this, her honey brown eyes seemed to hold a light in them that intrigued me. Her pictures hadn't done them justice.

I came up to her and leaned on the wall next to her. I looked down at her from the side. She had a good profile. Her nose was perfectly sized, slightly turned upward at the tip, giving her a kind of cuteness to her otherwise pretty features. She had full lips, which were at the moment hanging open just a little.

"Hey," I greeted casually.

She looked over at me, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "Hey," she said cautiously. "Why are you talking to me?"

I half-smiled at her in surprise. "Ouch. Harsh. I just thought the two of us need to stick together."

"Why?"

"We're newbies. We'll get eaten alive if we don't watch out for each other. There's safety in numbers."

She scoffed at me. "Please. You're hardly getting eaten alive. Unless you count all the girls that are wanting to sink their hooks into you."

I smiled at her again. "Wow. You're mighty forward…and frank."

The girl shrugged as she bit her lip. "I just call it like I see it."

"Well, maybe what you think you see isn't necessarily how it is. You know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and all that."

"So you're not loving all the attention? You fit right in with that crowd."

"What crowd?"

The girl rolled her eyes at me. "Please. The popular rich kids. The crowd that everyone else wants to be a part of. You worked your way right in like a pro."

I didn't know whether to be insulted or amused. "You sure have a lot of opinions."

"Like I said, I just call it like I see it."

"Problem is," I said with a sigh as I pushed off the wall and started to walk backwards, away from her. "Sometimes your eyes can play tricks on you." I turned away from her and continued walking. After a moment's thought I turned my head back and said, "My name's Han, by the way."

I walked towards the nearest crowd of students and began to socialize for the last few minutes until class began. Apparently, this girl was going to be more work than I had anticipated.

---

The next day, my first class was with my target. It was English. This time, I decided to take a seat right next to her. She didn't even glance over at me. She just kept doodling. I leaned over, trying to see what she was drawing. It was a person, a man.

"Wow, that's really good," I said with all sincerity.

The girl stared over at me. "Who said you could look?"

"Do you take art classes?" I asked, ignoring her question.

"None of your business. Why are you sitting here?"

I leaned back in my chair. "I figure I'm not going to let you off the hook that easily. I'm going to show you how wrong you can be about a person when you judge them so quickly without even knowing them."

"Really?" the girl scoffed. "Was that a new Mercedes I saw you pull up in this morning?"

"Yep. I love that car. I'm not going to apologize for having a nice car. Still doesn't make you right."

"Whatever." The girl went back to her drawing.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"What?" she asked in annoyance, putting down her pencil.

"What's your name?"

She looked a little taken aback by the question. "Um, it's Riley."

"Riley. Nice. I like it."

The teacher walked in and I pretended to be paying attention for the rest of the class. I left Riley without saying anything. I didn't want to overdo it. My next class was European History. Riley wasn't in my class, but that girl Beverly I had talked to the day before was, and she hailed me over to sit by her when I entered the room.

As I chatted with her and her friends, I tried being more observant. I guess I could see where Riley was coming from. It was sort of obvious that these kids were the popular ones. I hadn't really paid much attention to all that in school so it hadn't even occurred to me. Hanging out with these kids was more about proximity. Plus, they were more sociable than the others.

After class was over, Beverly walked out with me. "There's a party this weekend, if you're interested. My friend Jessica's parents are going to be out of town, so, everyone's coming. It's Friday night. I can give you directions if you want."

I thought for a moment. I wasn't sure if I had patrol that night. Plus, it was really only worth it to go if Riley would be there, but I doubted she would be. "I'll think about it."

"Well, just let me know." Beverly gave me a wave as she headed down a separate hallway, leaving me to walk the rest of the way to my locker alone.

I ate lunch with the same group I had eaten with yesterday. I debated going to find Riley, but I didn't think she would much appreciate my company for all of lunch. I had to ease my way in, not stalk her.

My next class was physics. Riley was in my class, but unfortunately, the seats were assigned. There were four people to most tables, and Riley was not at mine. My table only had three people. The teacher gave us a lab to do, and I turned to my tablemates, who were both guys. "So, I have no idea what's going on," I said honestly.

"It's okay. You're new," said the guy sitting next to me. He was tall and lanky, with big glasses that he kept having to slide back up his nose. "We can help you out."

"Yeah, we'll just explain everything as we go along," said the other boy. He was a little on the short side, but well built, with spiky black hair and a slightly large nose. "I'm Matt."

"Hey. I'm Han."

"Justin," the tall kid added.

Matt went to go get the materials for the lab. It had something to do with some sort of pendulum. They tried to explain what we were doing as we did it, but I was a little lost. I had taken physics my freshman year, and it was all a bit fuzzy now. Even though we were just a few weeks into the quarter, I was already confused.

When we were finished for the day, Matt walked with me out of the classroom. He seemed like an okay guy.

"Hey, I don't mean to intrude on your business," he began saying as we walked. "But…I saw you talking to that girl Beverly in history today."

"Oh, you're in that class?"

"Yeah. And sorry if I'm out of line here, but, you seemed pretty friendly with her and I just wanted to warn you, she's got a boyfriend."

I shook my head quickly. "Oh, I'm not interested in her like that."

"Regardless, her boyfriend's the jealous type. I just thought I should let you know."

"Duly noted. Good lookin' out."

"Yeah, no problem."

My last class of the day was an art class, sculpting. It was fairly mindless work, and I didn't really have to worry about doing poorly, which was a nice relief.

After class I went to my apartment to meet with an interior decorator. I told her I didn't care much what she did as long as she kept it looking like the bachelor pad I wanted it to be. I had faith in her abilities. She came highly recommended.

Once our meeting was over, I gave Orion a call. "I was wondering if we have patrol on Friday," I asked after we had shared a general greeting.

"No. Diamond Duty on Thursday, though."

"Okay. Sounds good. Thanks." I went over to the pile of blankets in the master bedroom that were acting as my bed for the time being. I lay down with a sigh and began to think about how I could get Riley to come to the party, and if it would even be worth it to try.

---

The next day, I sat down next to Riley for pre-calculus. I had decided to take the direct approach. "So…are you going to Jessica's party Friday?"

Riley gave me a look that said she most certainly was not.

"Were you not invited?" I asked in mock pity.

"I was. Jessica's actually a pretty nice girl. She's my lab partner in chemistry."

"So then why aren't you going?"

"Just because Jessica's nice doesn't mean everyone else is. It's not really my scene."

I gave a sigh as I leaned back and put my hands behind my head. "Well, if you're not going, I guess I won't go either. Don't want to be the only newbie there."

"Oh, shut up, you're totally gonna go."

"So you are going then?"

"No."

"Then neither am I."

Class started then, ending our conversation. It seemed to me that I had a better chance of getting Riley to the party than I first thought. It seemed like a good place for her to let loose, especially if there was booze involved.

After lunch I went to the cafeteria for lunch. While I was in line, Beverly approached me. "Hey, Han," she greeted, walking in line with me. "You decide anything about the party yet?"

"Yeah, I think I will go."

"Great. I'll give you directions tomorrow in class, okay?"

"Sure thing."

After I got my food, I decided to change things up a bit. I saw Matt sitting with a group of friends, and he gave me a friendly wave. I figured that was as good an invitation as any. I went and sat with them. This group wasn't quite as loud and active as Beverly's, but there was still good conversation.

I went to gym class next. In the locker room, after getting dressed, I was putting my clothes in my locker when I sensed someone getting too close to me from behind. I swiftly turned around, just in time to find some guy's forearm heading my way, slamming against the upper part of my chest and pushing me back into the lockers. "What the hell, Man?" I exclaimed, more surprised that upset.

"I've been watching you, Solo. Stay away from my girl!" He gave me one extra shove before walking away, followed by several other guys who all sent me dirty looks.

Another student approached me and put a hand on my shoulder. "You okay, Man?"

I looked to see that it was actually Justin, my lab partner in physics. "Yeah. Hey, I didn't know you were in this class."

"Yeah, I am. I'm actually on your team today." Justin pointed to the white board in the hall, which labeled all of the basketball teams of the day. There were two teams of ten, and Justin was just under my name on Team One.

"Oh. Cool. Hey, who was that guy?"

"That's Adam, Beverly's boyfriend."

"Ah," I said with a nod of understanding. "So that's what Matt was talking about. He tried to warn me."

"Adam's just a jerk. Try to steer clear of him if you can."

I didn't need to be told. The last thing I wanted was to draw too much attention to myself. I was here to do a job, and that was it. I didn't need to get involved in high school drama. I had managed to avoid it the first time around, and I didn't want to get sucked in now.

We went out to the gym and stayed near Justin before class started. "I apologize in advance," Justin said to me. "I suck at basketball."

I shrugged. "Who cares? It's just a game, right?" I was actually pretty good at basketball. I was fairly good at most sports. I was strong, agile, and quick. It all came with the Animage territory.

Justin and I were a part of the first five guys called in to play for our team. Adam was too, for the opposite team. I was playing forward, and so was he. We were playing a one-on-one defense, and I just happened to be paired up with him. The game started. I got the ball for our team, and Justin started to dribble it down the court. He threw the ball to me, and I took a shot, making it in. My team cheered and there were a few high-fives going around before they had to focus on the other team's offense.

I tried my best to block Adam. Unfortunately, he kept trying to make jabs at me with his elbows and knees, which required a lot of suddenly backing away on my part. During one part of the game I got distracted by watching Justin go for a shot, and Adam elbowed me square in the stomach. I doubled over and stumbled back a few steps.

A few seconds later I saw Justin's feet approach me. "You okay?"

"Yep, yeah, I'm fine," I said, forcing myself to stand up straight. I had suffered a lot worse; I could hardly let this faze me. "Nice shot, Man. I thought you said you sucked?"

"I do. I was just lucky."

"Yeah, sure. Come on, let's go." We ran over to our side of the court.

The game went by okay for the next few minutes. Justin and I actually made a pretty good team. I realized he could really only make the shot in one spot of the court, so whenever he was open there I would throw it to him and tell him to shoot.

Adam got the ball at one point, and I was trying my best to guard him without getting hit. But as I focused on his dribbling, wondering if there was a way I could steal, Adam swung his other arm back and elbowed me in the face.

I reeled back from him, clutching my nose, which had taken most of the hit. I heard several people ask me if I was okay, and I recognized Justin's voice among them, but I couldn't really see much but lights. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision, and it returned to normal within a few seconds. I saw the gym teacher, Mr. Reynolds, standing in front of me. "Let me see it, Han."

I took my hand away from my face. There was blood on it. Mr. Reynolds touched my face gently. "I don't think it's broken, but you should probably go to the nurse. "Riley, come here! Take Han to the nurse!"

The girls had been playing on the other side of the gym. But when anybody wasn't playing, they sat by the bleachers and watched the games. Riley was sitting with everyone else who wasn't playing. "Why me?" she asked in surprise.

"Because you never want to play anyway. I'm doing you a favor."

Riley gave a sigh as she got up and walked over to me. "Come on, let's go."

We left the gym together. "How bad is it?" I asked.

"It's fine. A lot of blood, but your nose doesn't really look any worse than it already did."

"Ha. Funny. You know, I don't really need you to take me. I'm fine. You can go back if you want."

Riley smirked over at me. "Do you know where the nurse's office is?"

I did not. "Okay, yeah, you should probably come with me."

"That's what I thought. So what happened, exactly?"

"That Adam kid's got it out for me, I guess."

Riley nodded with understanding. "Yeah, he's a bit of a mindless jock."

"Do you only speak in stereotypes?" I had meant it to come out more jokingly than mean, but I was annoyed at the situation and it came out kind of nasty.

I looked over at Riley, hoping I hadn't angered her, but she just looked pensive. "Yeah," she said after a few moments. "I guess you're right. I thought I had you pegged pretty well when you came here."

"You don't think that now?" I asked, somewhat hopeful.

"Well, I don't really know you. But…I saw you at lunch today, sitting with Matt and Andrew and them. And I know you were helping Justin out today while you guys were playing. And, you don't seem to mind being seen with me. So…it seems to me that you're not really like those other kids at all."

I hadn't even been trying yet to prove to her that I wasn't. I guess I had just done it naturally. It was good to know. "I told you your eyes can play tricks on you."

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have judged you so quickly."

We walked in silence for a few minutes before we reached the nurse's office. "This is it," Riley said, motioning to the door. "Hope you feel better soon."

"Hey," I said before she could start walking away. "Come to the party with me."

Riley bit her lip, looking unsure. "I wasn't really gonna go," she said after a moment's pause.

"Please. I want you to come. And I think it would probably help me out with this whole Adam and Beverly situation."

Riley gave a sigh. "Alright, fine. But only because I can't say no to you while you're bleeding like that. It's just too pathetic."

I smiled, recognizing how ridiculous I must look. I could already see the blood gathering on my shirt. "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yep."

I went into the nurse's office, thinking that things were starting to shape up a little.