Chapter 2

I arrived in English class with a letter from the principal excusing me for being late. There was an empty seat in the back corner and I was about to slip into it when I heard a familiar voice whispering my name loudly. I turned to see Eduardo patting another available seat next to him. For some odd reason I decided to shake my head and slip into the back seat. As I sat down and shuffled through my notes, and listened to Mrs. Schern talk about formal and informal essays, a paper airplane hit the side of my head. Mrs. Schern must have noticed it because she turned all her attention from the board to me.

"Karla, what are you doing?"

I thought fast and said, "Sorry Mrs Schern, I've got 4 brothers at home. They grab all the loose leaf around and fold them into all kinds of shapes. I guess they got a hold of my notes yesterday. It sort of glided out while I was organizing my stuff." To my immense relief, she bought the story, advised me not to do it again and returned to the essay topic. I smiled to myself, maybe it was a good thing I was accepted on a scholarship. Most teachers already had a good impression of me and never thought of me as a troublemaker. Not that I was and i hoped to never be one.

As soon as her attention transferred from me to the lesson again, I discreetly unfolded the plane.

Be on ur guard. u just offended one of the most powerful groups in the entire Academy. Some of them have staff members as relatives. They're plotting, I heard them when I walked past. If u need any help whatsoever, even if it's asking where the washrooms are :), I'm right here and so are my friends. trust me, pple that u've got no idea exist, already know who you are. I think u know y... I'll intro u to my friends during lunch. ~ ?

I put the note away and attempted to refocus on my essay assignment. I looked at Eduardo who was staring at the board, tapping his chin with a pencil. He suddenly looked over and winked at me. I felt the heat creep up my cheeks and mentally kicked myself for letting him catch me studying him. I shook away the thoughts from my head and immersed myself in editing and improving my essay. By the time class ended and the lunch bell rang, I'd completely forgotten about Eduardo's note and was in my own little world. I dodged around crowds to get to my locker. I grabbed my book and lunch and was about to head up to the reading room (similar to a library but allows food as long as people clean up after themselves) when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around expecting trouble but instead was met with a group of 5 good looking guys grinning down at me; Eduardo included.

The first thing I noticed? they were all taller than me, and athletic. The shortest one was at least a head taller than me. Eduardo stepped forward, "this is the group of friends I mentioned to you about."

"Hi" I said, discreetly observing each and every one of them.

"Aw, Ed, you talked about us? I'm so touched!" One of the tallest guys spoke up, putting a hand to his heart and feigning delight.

Eduardo rolled his eyes and shoved him playfully.

"This is Justin, kinda the unofficial leader of our gang." Eduardo introduced.

"And this is Eduardo, whom you've probably met before. He goes by Ed, Eddy or sometimes even Eddy-o if you're his mom." Justin added with a wicked smile and mimicking Eduardo's voice. I laughed; this guy was proving to be very funny. Justin's physique was very similar to Eduardo's. He seemed to be of latino heritage due to his darker skin tone and black hair which was wavy and flopped around his head. He seemed to be wealthy, dressed in the newer style and everything on him was expensively branded. His shoes were still shiny and seemed to have been worn only a couple times. Everything on him screamed wealthy and it was clear he worked out. His build suggested a soccer, basketball, football and track athlete. He was 2 and a half heads taller than me with lighter coloured eyes, contrasting with his colouring.

"Aw, shu'up Justin" Eduardo whined.

"All right all right." Justin said, "this is Mike." He introduced the boy on his other side. Mike was not of the same build as Justin and Eduardo. He too was athletic but more of the lean and lithe type. He had brown chocolaty hair which he styled towards the front in a spike and brown almost black eyes similar to mine. However, he too was dressed in the latest style similar to Eduardo and Justin. he was a couple inches shorter than Justin and a couple inches taller than Eduardo, who was as I noted before about 2 heads taller than me.

"How's the tennis and badminton?" I asked him, startling all the guys. All their eyes bulged.

"Pardon, Sherlock?" Mike asked, but his eyes were glinting; impressed.

"You have the build of a tennis player, I mean look at your wrists, and they've obviously been worked out more than anything else. Whenever something moves, your eyes dart to it, like you're trained to in tennis. Last of all, most people who play tennis also play badminton. Is that correct?" All of them were grinning away now.

"Yes, I play tennis and badminton in different clubs." Mike admitted. I glanced around the group, and decided to ask another question. "You too?" I directed a question at a guy who was standing closest to me. He had red curly hair, green eyes like the sea, and freckles splattered across his face. His nose was slightly upturned, giving him a pixie like look. His eyes crinkled when he smiled. He too was lean and lithe but shorter than Mike. In fact, he was the shortest out of the entire group, which didn't say much since he was still a head taller than me. He had an easy going and contagious smile which lit up his entire face. I think he was the only one in the group who didn't wear designer clothes or clothes with expensive brands. He wore faded jeans which were worn at the hem and a faded hoodie just like me. His sneakers had several scuff marks and the soles were worn.

"I'm Ben." He said sticking out his hand for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you. I have a brother called Ben, short for Benjamin."

"Nice! But mine's short for Benedict." Ben replied.

"How many siblings do you have?" Asked the last boy who I hadn't been introduced to. I must have hesitated because he quickly added, "Oh the name's Steven."

"Hi." I greeted, shaking his hand. His hand was firm and had a strong grip. He was the same height as Mike. In fact, to me, he was the white version of Mike. Judging from his broad shoulders, he played basketball,badminton, tennis, and maybe volleyball? He had blonde hair which darkened into a light brown in some areas and clear grey eyes. His eyes made me feel like he was reading me like an open book. All my secrets, fears, emotions, deciphered by him. He was about the same height as Justin, making him tower over me.

"7 siblings." I replied.

"Whew!" Justin whistled under his breath, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Any of them go here?"

"My brother, Santiago. He's a little more than a year younger than me but he's already taller than me. Why?" I inquired curious.

"ooh, I don't know. I'm the junior basketball team's co-captain and I was just scouting around for some talent."

"He doesn't really play in clubs. But he's been named star MVP of his school teams before." I stated proudly.

Justin, Eduardo, and Mike nodded. We stood there awkwardly for a few moments until I couldn't take them all staring me anymore.

"Well, if you're all done staring," I teased, and they all looked away except for Mike who gave me an amused smile, "I'll just go read my book!" I said, holding up my novel and side stepping out of the way. Before I could get far, Eduardo grabbed my arm. I quickly swung my arm out of his hold, dark memories threatening to surface and engulf me like a black sea.

"Don't do that again." I warned, attempting to calm my racing heart beat.

"Sorry." Eduardo said his eyes wide with alarm.

"It's ok, just stuff that happened before."

"Like what?" He asked. I stiffened, I really wanted to tell him off but I couldn't afford to lose friends. To my relief, Mike smoothly cut in, "let's just get to the cafeteria ok guys, and girl."

They surrounded me like a squad of bodyguards and we trooped down the hall to the cafeteria. They joked and bantered but I was only half listening. I noted that everyone we passed turned to stare at us. I wondered what I had done to get this unwanted attention.

The automatic doors to the cafeteria whooshed open and the entire cafeteria fell silent as all eyes fell on us.