Marbles was staring into space. Dark thoughts started to overtake her. She saw Claire’s face, tears streaming non-stop, but she wouldn’t say anything. All Marbles could do was call out to her. Claire... CLAIRE!!
“Marissa!”
Marbles startled in her seat, doing her best to compose herself. “Y-yes?”
Principal Murphy let out a heavy sigh. “I hope you’re more attentive than this in class. You can go now.” he said. The principal looked back down at the papers on his desk. He was a bit overweight, with a reddish complexion. His white hair was balding on top and he had a comb-over. Marbles thought it was sad to see someone in their fifties with shock white hair already.
“Oh…sorry, sir.” she said. She got up from her seat—swinging her backpack over her shoulder, and left. Walking down the hall towards her first class, she couldn’t help but chastise herself. I’m still thinking about her…I just wish it would stop. I just want to move on. Get it together Marbles!
Bang!
For the second time today, Marbles was startled into jumping. This time though, when she looked up, there was a girl in front of her. This girl had caramel skin, shoulder-length straight black hair, a green top that was more like a sports bra, waist-high shorts, and mean eyes. She had slapped her hand down on one of the lockers in front of Marbles, effectively blocking her path.
“Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” the girl said. There was a mean smirk on her mouth and, glancing up, Marbles could see matching smirks on the two girls behind her.
“A new girl? Can’t believe they let her in.” One of the girls behind her said.
“Trashy sweater, trashy shorts, trashy shoes…looks like just trash to me.” said the main girl. Boss girl started to lean in closer. Oh god…this can’t be happening right now. Not on the first day! Trash? Is that really how I look to them? Marbles cheeks started to blush deeply and she tilted her head forward, letting her straight brown hair block her face. What am I supposed to do…
“Chealsey! Congrats,” interjected a new voice. “you’re the biggest bitch today. Now move on.” he said.
The owner of this new voice had big lips, dreads on the top of his head with the rest a tapered fro, and he was wearing a cropped Tshirt that said ‘Top This’ and capris jeans.
“Gh-! Ew..it’s Tray.” the main girl, Chealsey said. “You know I been praying for you every night Tray. You’re not still gay…are you?” A smirk re-plastered itself to her pretty face. One of her friends said, “Get him gurl!”
At first all Tray did was stare at her deadpan, then he said, “Do you want me to make a scene again?”
Chealsey actually started to blush. “W-well whatever. Let’s go girls.” she said before starting to walk away. She called back over her shoulder, “You’re going to hell Tray!”
Once Chealsey and her posy were gone, Tray turned to Marbles. “Don’t mind those stupid bitches. I’m Tray.” he said, holding out his right hand.
Marbles reached out to shake his hand. “My name is…M-Marbles.”
One eyebrow rose up. “Marbles? That’s not really your name is it?” Marbles gave a slight shake of her head. “Well whatever. I don’t care what you want to be called. What’s your first class?”
“English.” she said sheepishly.
“Me too. Let’s go.” he said. Then he started to walk off, so Marbles went ahead and walked beside him, a bit confused. She had changed schools several times before, and people didn’t usually befriend her, at least not like this.
She expected him to talk, but he just walked quietly beside her. Tray turned his head to look at her and caught her staring. He smiled, then he frowned and stopped. “Wait, holdup.” Marbles stopped beside him, worried she had already messed up. “You’re not a homophobe, are you?”
Marbles gasped, shocked at how forward he was. It took her a second to form words, but she finally got out, “N-no! Why? I’m not! I was just looking…” He started to shake his hands in front of her.
“No, no. I was just checking. You never know. And I don’t want to waste my time on someone who hates me for no god damn reason.” he said, and then once again started walking ahead of her. She caught up beside him.
There weren’t many people in the halls. Just a few guys and girls were around, hanging out by the water fountain or by their lockers. It was a bit odd. There should be more students here, right? Or was it one of those schools with two different schedules?
“Here we are.” Tray smiled over his shoulder, opening the last door of the hallway they were in. The first thing Marbles noticed was that Chealsey and her gang were sitting in the back of the room, chatting. Seriously?! They’re in the same class? There were a few guys and another girl or two scattered about, but besides that, the rest of the seats were empty. Tray walked up and sat in a desk up front. Marbles went and sat beside him, next to the window. Chealsey didn’t even spare them a glance.
Tray took his messenger bag off his shoulder and put it down on the floor. Then he turned to look at her. “So, what’s the story?”
Marbles took her backpack off and placed it under her seat. “Story?”
“Yeah, girl. The last thing I expected to see was a new girl today. Why are you here?”
Marbles bit her lower lip. What am I supposed to say to that? I guess… “Well…I had a problem…so I had to move here?”
At first Tray just tilted his head up and squinted his eyes at her with a strange look on his face. “Like a drug problem?” he said.
Marbles’ eyes went wide. “No! Jesus. Like….I got taken out of my foster home…so I got placed with someone here.”
“Shit. That sucks. But that doesn’t really explain why you ended up at this school..” he said before being interrupted by someone who walked into the room.
“Quiet down, get your notes out.” he said. Marbles assumed he was the teacher, Mr. Alex. He was younger than she expected. He was about five foot ten inches tall. He had short, side-swept dark brown hair, and piercing blue eyes framed by square glasses. He was wearing a white shirt covered by a blue cardigan with black jeans and black shoes. His eyes glanced over her before he walked to his desk.
Marbles looked around. The class was barely half-full. Is it really time for class to start? Where is everybody? She went into her backpack and started to get her notebook out.
“Marissa?”
Marbles started a little at hearing her name called so suddenly. She looked up to find Mr. Alex looking at her. “Yes, sir?”
“Before I forget,” his voice was deeper than she would have guessed, but in a nice way, “you need to go to the principal’s office after school. He forgot to give you your make-up packet.”
“Oh…okay. Thank you, sir.” she said.
Mr. Alex turned back to what he was doing, writing names and quotes on the white board. Marbles looked behind her to find almost everyone was taking notes, including Chealsey, who looked up and gave her a quick scowl before continuing to write. She then looked to her right at Tray, who was looking at his phone under his desk. Why does he sit in the front row if he’s just going to be on his phone? This school is so weird. Marbles flipped to the front page of her new notebook and started taking notes.
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