4 What Is...?

“Alright, everyone, take your seats.”

Taking a seat would have been easy for me if I hadn’t arrived in the middle of the semester. Seats and cliques were already taken and established, so I waited until everyone else had taken their seats before trying to locate an empty one.

There was none.

The teacher, a young woman with a middle part and cat–eye glasses, didn’t seem to care.

“Class, we have a new student. Everyone, welcome Jade Adams.”

There was some mumbling and grumbling and something that sounded like ‘Welcome Jade Adams.’

The teacher didn’t seem to care that half the class sounded bored and half asleep, probably because she was already used to it. But it worked in my favour anyway because it meant that I could go back to being a shadow—the one in the corner. The one who sees everything yet goes unnoticed. The one who… You know the drill by now.

Unfortunately, my shadow days might be over, I realised, when I looked toward the centre of the class – of course, totally cliché – to see Blondie staring daggers at me.

At me?

Well, there goes my anonymity.

I looked away from her, wished I hadn’t, when my gaze landed on the twins from this morning. Leo and Lea.

It was too late to turn away and pretend that I didn’t see them. Lea waved enthusiastically like me, and they have been friends forever.

“Introduce yourself to the class, Jade Adams.”

Was that really necessary?

Judging by the way the teacher stared intently at me and the way the rest of the class now seemed interested in me, an introduction was definitely necessary.

Luckily, I was prepared for this. Back in Sunders, I watched new kids get judged right as they walked through the doors. Since we didn’t wear uniforms, new kids were judged based on the type of clothes they wore, their make-up, hair and overall aura.

If you spoke too properly with a soft voice and avoided eye contact, everyone assumed you were a nerd, and they showed almost no interest in you. Until they are bored and need someone to bully.

If you are lucky, you are unmemorable enough to avoid bullying.

On the flip side, if you come off as stylish, attractive and confident, you attract the attention of the boys and make the girls your enemy. Every girl suddenly wants to be your friend just so that they can keep their eyes on you and prevent you from stealing their crushes and boyfriends. Every boy with raging hormones would want to try to impress you.

Well, I am not here to topple the hierarchy, so I lowered my gaze and crossed my hands in front of myself as I said, “H – hi, everyone. My name is J-Jade Adams and I …” I sucked in a deep breath, pretending to collect my thoughts.

I heard a few snickers.

Good, my plan was working.

I even managed to blush and blink rapidly like I was hiding tears.

I felt the teacher’s hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay, Jade, there is no reason to be shy. Here at John Manheim, we are all family. Aren’t we? I am your class teacher Mrs. Pascal. Now, can we find a seat for Jade?”

No one cared about finding a seat for me, no one but Leo, who eagerly jumped up and offered to get an extra desk for the storeroom.

He was out of the class and back with the desk before Mrs. Pascal could even agree.

“Jade can sit beside me!” Lea offered.

Now what the hell is wrong with this girl? She was someone I knew I had to avoid. I told you, I have survived high school by being that student no one ever knows. A girl like Lea was the type to attract the wrong kind of attention to herself, the kind of person who would draw attention to me.

I had to think fast.

“I’m hyperopic, Mrs. Pascal.”

“Ugh, a nerd,” someone said. “You don’t have to use nerd terms. We get it!”

“Hypetope? What does that even mean?”

“It means nerd can’t see a thing and must be as blind as a bat.”

I didn’t have to look to see that it was Blondie who had spoken. She smiled sweetly as she looked at Mrs. Pascal. “Am I right, Mrs. Pascal?”

“Not exactly, and I am sure that there is a better way to have said that. Unfortunately, Jade is long-sighted and can’t see objects close to her.”

“Oh really?” Blondie whined, feigning concern. “You poor thing. I can’t imagine how hard that must be for you. It must be hard not being able to see the things that are right in front of you.”

“Yeah, especially when they are none of my business,” I couldn’t resist saying.

“Ohhu she has a mouth on her,” someone laughed.

Blondie faked a smile while her eyes shot daggers at me. I would have thought that my answer would have made her happy since it implied that I didn’t care about what she and her boyfriend were doing in the bathroom.

Anyway, my answer seemed to have pissed her off, but there was nothing I could do about that.

“Leo, you can help Jade take her desk to the back of the class.”

I was happy until I saw whose seat was right beside mine.

My neighbour’s.

Seriously, how many more cliches can we get in one story?

“Go on and have your seat.”

I thought about telling another lie, but what sort of eye problem could I come up with that would make sitting beside Douche bag impossible?

I didn’t have time to think of a lie. Mrs. Pascal was already telling the class to settle down for the first period.

Biting my lips between my teeth, I accepted my fate and started to walk down the centre aisle when I tripped and nearly fell flat on my face.

The class burst into laughter.

The laughter was humiliating, but not as humiliating as the realisation that I hadn’t just tripped because I was clumsy, but that someone had set a trap for me.

And that someone was the first person I ran into that morning. The redhead girl with the pouty lips.

I looked up to see her high-fiving Blondie.

Blondie raised her brow at me, looking smug and happy with herself.

“I bet you didn’t see that one coming, Longsighted freak,” she cackled.

“Kendall, Briella, please keep the teasing to a minimum.”

That was all Mrs. Pascal had to say to that injustice.

Oh, I get it now, Blondie and Redhead were the most popular girls in class. The type of girls who could get away with anything.

Great.

What is this? Mean Girls: Revenge of the Plastics?

I wasn’t about to play into Blondie’s silly games, so I turned away and got to my seat.

Leo was standing there like an excited puppy, all smiles and giggles.

“Thanks,” I said to him.

“You’re welcome. Don’t worry about Blondie. After class, Lea and I are going to give you the breakdown of who is who in class. Whom you should avoid and who you can be friends with.”

I would rather they didn’t bother, but I feigned a smile and nodded. “Great.”

I had barely even settled in my seat when Jerk Face, aka my handsome neighbour, turned away from the friend he had been talking with to smirk in my direction.

“That was a pretty good lie you told up there, but you didn’t have to do all that just to sit beside me.”

I ignored him. Trust me, if I had known that I would end up beside him, I would have lied that I had myopia instead and taken the very front seat.

Yes, I would risk being seen by the whole class just to avoid Donkey Face.

“So, that punch earlier, is that something you are into? I think it’s hot?”

“Really,” I said sweetly. “So how will you explain to your girlfriend when I give you a black eye?”

He searched my face to see if I was joking. “Is that a promise?”

“Wanna go into the bathroom and find out?”