CHAP. FOUR—CAFETERIA.

『.* +• ᴄʜᴀᴘ.ꜰᴏᴜʀ• *.+』

THE DAY CONTINUED AS SOMEWHAT MUNDANE.

The Specials Class, however...weren't much the same as what Scarlett had back in El Paso. Professor Ada was going to be her teacher in every lesson. Math, Geography, the Sciences—most of the lessons were basically just minuscule as if the classes didn't actually matter. And they had no P.E.

Which was weird because; wasn't Physical Education supposed to be important for each student? But why should she care? Scarlett hated sports with a passion.

It was like being homeschooled, except actually being 'at' school. The students in the class though were all a little weird. Danté did reach out and talk to Scarlett for a bit. Mostly he asked what favorite colour she liked. Sapphire was chatty even at a first impression. Fortune was pretty direct that she didn't like her very much. Gadiel and Nicolai weren't much talkative either. Scarlett sighed, looking down at her notebook after writing down notes for the day.

The class period ended way too soon, and it wasn't long until the bell rang to signal lunch. All around her, everyone quickly just walked out the door in some orderly fashion. As if they all had somewhere to be.

"Ms. Lax. You can go to the cafeteria for lunch," said Ada. Scarlett watched the teens leave as she packed her stuff, the only place to vacate now was the cafeteria.

_______________________________________________

Sitting alone in a mess hall was not all bad.

Pastonville High and her old school were nowhere different. Usually, for most teens, they'd have someone to sit with. But a relative few would be stuck on the impending social doom of 'who do I sit with?'

She got herself a tray of spaghetti and meatballs, sticking the plastic fork on the pasta while sighing dismally. Her ears pricked at the sound of obsessive laughing and whispering. She darted at the 'Mean Girls' from earlier, they were in their cheerleader outfits—sneering back at her and laughing.

But the only one who wasn't laughing in that group was that sporty brunette, the same one Scarlett bumped into earlier. So she was one of them, Scarlett somewhat saw it coming. 'Tch. Broads.'

"Hey," a voice moved her from her trance as she looked up at normal brown eyes. He had short jet black hair, and charming looks too. He also looked familiar. "Is—is this seat taken?"

"Uh...no. I don't really care who sits or not," Scarlett muttered. "It's kinda hard when you're the newest person in school, huh?" he lightly chuckled. Scarlett forced a smile at the boy. "You can sit here if you want, I don't mind."

"Thanks," he set his tray on the table before sliding himself on a cafeteria bench across her. "I'm Shawn. We...met the other day." Scarlett quirked a brow, confused. "Across the street of your house? I was unpacking some stuff?"

Scarlett narked her head back as she recalled after moving into her uncle's home yesterday. "Oh yeah. The new neighbour. Well, we didn't particularly meet. We just saw each other from across the road."

"Yeah. Well, sorry I didn't say hello. I got called to fix some things around our new home. I just got here after all," he chuckled and raised a fork. "It's fine. I moved here too. I'm Scarlett."

"Cool name. Almost matches the hair," the short-haired raven boy complimented. "Well, I was born like this so—" the redhead shrugged. "What about you—why come to this dump?"

"Well, my dad has some business to do here. And it's a nice change of scenery. Being from Louisiana."

"Huh, New Orleans?"

"Yep. It was too loud and crowded to live so—we packed and headed out. And you?"

"My dad moved me here from El Paso to live with my uncle."

"Texas girl, huh? Then where's your hat and boots, cowgirl?" He quipped with his cospeech act as if he did wear a real cowboy hat. "Ha ha, real funny." Shawn chuckled at her response before taking a bite of his lunch. Shawn was different than anyone she met.

He looked anti-social, but his tone was a huge contrast. Scarlett averted her sight to the popular table, the girls started to coo at Shawn and look like they were prepping themselves up. Except for the carroty-eyed girl. The ravenette that called Scarlett a 'drenched-out loser' earlier flicked her hair back before wearing glossy lipstick and standing up on her red pencil heels, despite wearing a dark green and yellow cheerleader outfit.

"Don't look now but, broad coming in at your 6 o'clock." She whispered. Shawn quirked a brow before hearing the clicking of heels behind him.

The cheerleader plopped next to him with an intentional flick of her long black ponytail, dark blue eyes, and a forced smirk. "Hey. I'm Kayley!"

"Shawn," he replied with a thin grin, Kayley grinned even wider. "So me and my gal pals thought to ourselves and we were like; 'oh my god, you look soo cute.' And cute guys have an all-access pass to sit with the Queenz. And not to be annoyed by this—drenched out, ginger ale broad." She said with a bouncy high voice, but hiding a venomous tongue, like all cheerleaders.

'Who're you calling broad, Ariana Grande wannabe?' Scarlett shot her cerulean daggers at Kayley.

"Thanks for the invite, but I'm fine here," Shawn politely declined. Kayley pretentiously pouted. "Aww, too bad. Well then—" the ravenette slowly got up from the bench, glaring coldly at the gingerette before covering it in a sweetening smile.

"—if you ever happen to change your mind. I'm available." She blew an air kiss and posed a wink before walking away to her seat—swaying her hips intentionally.

"Tch," Scarlett scoffed. "Guess what they say is true, Hell does exist."

"She seemed nice," Shawn hummed. Scarlett rolled her eyes. "And the boys are always the oblivious ones."

"You sound like you know her."

"Earlier, her car drenched the sidewalk water on me. So yeah, what's-her-face is my nemesis."

"I think she said her name was Kayley."

"I know that. It's not like I would actually give a shit to care," Scarlett snarled, placing her elbow on the table and the weight of her head on her hand. The teen boy aired out a snort at her quip, almost coughing up on his meal. "Don't choke on your meal, idiot," Scarlett stated bluntly. "But if I did, would you help me?"

Scarlett took a moment to think about it and simply shrugged. "Depends."

"You're cold." He playfully pouted. For the first time in a while, Scarlett broke out a small grin. Her eyes quickly averted to three new people coming toward them.

"Hey, can we sit with you guys?" Said a teen boy with glasses. Shawn and Scarlett took a careful look at the three. Two boys and one girl.

"Sure, the more the merrier, I guess," the gingerette wavered bluntly. The two boys sat near Shawn on both his sides, and the girl went beside Scarlett.

"We couldn't help but sit next to you guys, not because you're new or anything." Scarlett stared at the megane teen on Shawn's right. He had short spiky dull blonde hair and bright brown eyes underneath his glasses, wearing a formal blue shirt and beige trousers that fit the geeky aura he had going around him.

On Shawn's left; was a melatonin-skinned teen boy, with long dreadlocks wrapped into a bun—wearing a dark blue hoodie. "And not because the jocks kicked us out of our favorite spot," the teen muttered.

The raven-haired teen looked over to the far left and saw buff teens in school jackets sitting on the tables while talking over each other. "I see," Shawn questionably rose a brow.

"You can sit here," Scarlett sighed. "Thanks so much. I'm Maddie by the way," said the maroon frizzy-haired girl, who wore dark red prescription glasses and a matching turtleneck. Her skin was heavily tainted with freckles but they made Maddie look adorable—albeit her geeky ambiance. "This is Dorian and Zack. We're the geeks of the school."

"Nice to meet you. But preferably, I'd like to be addressed as Zachary," the megane blonde illiterated with an alien sign—the one known from Star Trek.

"Just call him Zack," Dorian ignored him. "Scarlett. Shawn." The gingerette introduced bluntly.

"We've never seen you guys around here before," said Maddie.

"You can really tell?" Shawn blinked.

"We're a small town so we practically know everyone in Pastonville," Zack explained before examining the 17-year-old redhead. "And we've never seen anyone with eyes so blue and...skin that pale before."

"We both just moved here. Separately," Shawn explained. "Really? Where from?" Maddie asked.

"Texas."

"Louisiana."

"That's so cool!" The rubicund teen gushed. Just as the group chatted along, the cheerleaders decided to walk up towards them. "Uh-oh. Queenz alert," Maddie whispered to everyone else before looking away from the cheerleaders.

Kayley pounced in front of them. "What do you know, the geek squad has new dorky members," the teen sneered with bubblegum in between her gums. "Not you, Shawn. I suggest you like—leave this pity party of sorry excuses soon, and hang out with the cool kids."

"What don't you just pack your royal ass and beat it?" Scarlett muttered, giving Kayley and the girls an icy cold glare.

Kayley popped strawberry-flavored bubblegum before she could speak. "Oh? For a second there I thought you were talking to me. Know your place, Stepping Stone. You were already a loser before I met you. And this group is proof."

Scarlett scoffed and gave her the high-low glance. "Like a petty Mean Girl wannabe like you can scare me with a weak comeback like that? Take a hike, Corpse Bride." Kayley sharply gasped as well as the other girls.

Scarlett was pretty sure even the whole mess hall reacted. But the brunette girl, the one Scarlett met earlier, was the only one of the cheerleaders to react with a light chuckle.

Kayley curled her long-painted cuticles into a fist. "You like—don't know who you're messing with," she gritted her teeth. Maddie lightly tugged Scarlett with fear on her face. "Yeah, I really shouldn't be talking to her like that." She whispered anxiously.

"Or what? She'll hit me with her pom-poms? Oh, I'm sooo scared." Scarlett retorted in a mocking tone.

"I-" before Kayley could respond back, the bell rang, marking the end of lunch. "Come on, Kay. We're going to be late for cheerleading try-outs. Like, this bitch isn't worth it," said a blonde cheerleader. Scarlett lightly chortled. "Where I'm from, that's a compliment."

"Whatever. Let's go, Queenz." Kay ordered, flicking her ponytail like a whip before sauntering out of the mess hall. The brunette stayed behind as she watched Kayley and the rest walk away.

"Sorry about Kayley," she clasped her hands apologetically. "Don't be. She's just a brat that breathes attention."

"Ugh, tell me about it."

"Kairos, like...what's the hold-up?" Kayley shouted. "Oop. Gotta go. Again, sorry." The brunette, dubbed as Kairos, paced out of the hall with the rest of the cheerleaders.

The three geeks were amazed at the gingerette. "Woah, you might've been the only person that had the balls to step up to the Queenz like that," Maddie gushed, Scarlett could see the shine on her black eyes.

"The Queenz?" Shawn rose a brow.

"Known to be the Pastonville Queenz; they're the Kardashians of the school," Dorian explained. "Kayley is the most popular girl here, with over 30,000 followers on social media. She's literally the popularity hub of the school."

"And?" Scarlett rose a brow unimpressed before walking out the halls with Shawn and the geeks. "Her dad is the Mayor of the town. Which means she has the power to kick you out of the town."

"So I'm supposed to bow down to her and kiss the ground she walks on? I don't care if she had a million followers or that she's the President's daughter. What I hate most, are people with an inferiority complex."

"Huh, I never thought of you as a kind of badass until now," Shawn chuckled lowly. Scarlett lightly chuckled and raised a thin smile. "Yeah, well. I lived in the rough areas of El Paso. Comes with the attitude."

_______________________________________________

Just outside of the school fields was a dense forest, which was believed to be safe and free from any large wild animals.

But the field where the cheerleaders were practicing their roles—a rogue figure stalked from the woods. With yellow short blonde hair and glowing clandestine yellow eyes, the woman deeply inhaled and let out a sweet sigh of relief as she caught the most saccharous scent. "So it is here. Master Jagger will be pleased." The woman disappeared in a blur.

Back on the open football field, Kairos thought she saw something move from the corner of her eye. Looking back at the forest, she stalked around and found nothing but endless trees.

"Kairos, hey! Focus, did you hear what I just said?" Kayley snapped her fingers at the brunette.

"Oh. Sorry, Kay..." Kairos shrugged the inkling away and continued onto her rehearsal. But something told her, that something—or someone was lurking in the shadows.

-END-