Inside Page 4

  The first yearbook was from her first year of Third Tier, when Becca had arrived in Central.

  “You don’t really need to know the history of the building other than it was built shortly after the Second Revolution like…every other building in this city.” Becca rolled her eyes. “What you do need to know is where everyone hangs out. That never changes. Ever.”

  “Is this school full of cliques?”

  “Yeah,” Becca confirmed. “And unless you know what clique you belong to, you will be scouted by the one that finds you the most interesting.” Becca placed an arm around my shoulders. “Luckily for you, you have me.”

  Becca flipped through the pages, coming across the art students’ winning shots of the school building, which allowed me to see the basic layout.

  “We hang out in this area,” she said, pointing to a specific intersection of hallways. “Most of the studious kids hang out inside. The more social ones go outside.”

  She flipped through the pages, looking for something. I caught glimpses of the other pictures in the flipping pages, ranging from school dances to sports accomplishments. There were pictures of students accepting awards and meeting important political figures, though it was difficult to discern exactly who the students were meeting.

  “Here we go!” Becca readjusted the book on her lap. The pictures of the freshmen class were spread in alphabetical order for me to see. I leaned in closer, my eyes moving over the faces.

  “I’ll just point out the really important people you need to know and steer clear of,” Becca explained. She pointed to the picture of a girl named Jessica Daniels, explaining she was the Student Body Leader. She pointed out the child of the Chair of Justice, and who she was dating.

  She pointed out three of the girls in school who were known to be the worst in the school.

  “Why?”

  “Because they’re bitches,” Becca laughed. “No, it’s not just that. They’re Commish Kids, and they’re dating three of the smartest and best-looking boys in the school—all brothers. Because of that, these girls think that they’re also beautiful and smart.”

  “They’re pretty,” I conceded.

  “Yeah, they’re alright,” Becca admitted. “But their personalities are so bad that they are actually really ugly.” She scanned the faces in front of her, contemplating who to talk about next. “This is Todd Douglas, he’s part of our group and if you ever need help on anything relating to math or science, talk to him. The rest of us are all idiots in math and science. He’s super smart.”

  “He’s cute,” I nodded. I always had a thing for boys with blonde hair and blue eyes.

  “Yeah, he’s okay.”

  “Do you have a boyfriend?”

  “Nope,” Becca said, shaking her head. “I dated Luke Telton, and Parker Simpson,” she pointed to the two boys’ pictures and chuckled. “But that was back in sophomore year. I’ve been living the single life ever since, thankfully.”

  “At least you’ve had two boyfriends…” I grumbled.

  “What?” Becca gasped, her eyes wide. “A hot little number like you hasn’t had a boyfriend, yet?”

  “Who are you looking at?” I teased.

  “Are you kidding me? You are hot!” Becca exclaimed, looking me over. “Well, if no one was willing to date you where you came from, that’s their loss.” She grinned. “Here in Central, you’ll be beating them away with a stick.”

  “I’m so sure…” I snorted, rolling my eyes.

  She pointed others out in the yearbook, telling me the kids to stay away from and everyone’s connection to Central’s workforce. There were many kids with parents in close connection to Leader Simon, which made me feel like I was going to school with celebrities.

  Becca also pointed out the Commish Kids. She told me it was very important to know who they were before I went to school, because the kids that were part of the Commission were very exclusive and secretive, and to approach one of them would be considered inappropriate. She also told me that, if I could avoid Commish Kids, I should.

  After she taught me about the students, Becca turned to the faculty page. She pointed out good teachers and those who were particularly difficult to tolerate. I pulled the schedule I had received that morning out of my bag and found my teachers. I was relieved to discover that Becca had three classes with me.

  “You are going to be so sick of me,” I joked. “I’m going to be sticking to you like glue.”

  “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Becca assured. “And I doubt I’ll get sick of you.”

  We both had the teacher Becca said was the best in the school. His name was Darrel McDermott and he would teach our Historic Literature class, which was the class in which we would read An Angel Without Wings. Becca assured me that he was lenient and he made class fun, which made me feel a little better after she had told me that the math teacher we had together was a pain in the ass.

  She pulled out the second yearbook in order to show me some of the new students that I needed to know. After two hours, we had both drank two cups of coffee and eaten half of the doughnuts in the box. High on sugar and caffeine, Becca started telling me embarrassing school stories and silly events that happened with some of my other classmates. It was nice to be able to laugh. I had been worried I would be swallowed by my loneliness from leaving all my old friends, but Becca made me feel as though I’d known her for years.

  She was so carefree and happy, like nothing could faze her, and it helped me anchor myself in what would, otherwise, be an overwhelming reality of my situation.

  It was close to four in the afternoon when we finally ran out of things to talk about. We remained on her bed, staring at the pictures around the walls.

  “You know something, Lily?”

  “Hm?”

  “You’re really a fun person.” She smiled. “I mean, once you loosen up a little!” she teased, poking me playfully in the stomach. I giggled, worming away.

  “What are you talking about? I am always fun.”

  Becca glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and I laughed louder. Then I turned to the clock, seeing the time and sighing.

  “Okay,” I admitted, “I should probably head home…”

  “Yeah…” Becca agreed. She sat up and patted the yearbooks again. “Tomorrow, I’ll come over to your house and quiz you on everything you learned.”

  “I didn’t know I was going to be tested!”

  * *** *

  I was excited to have my first friend in Central over to our new house. I was helping my mom unpack, trying to pass the time quickly before Becca showed up, glancing at the clock every two minutes.

  “You seem pretty excited about your friend coming over,” my mom noted, unwrapping another glass and placing it in its appropriate spot with the other fine china.

  “I am.”

  “Seems like you two have really hit it off,” she continued, reaching for another glass as I closed the cupboard doors on the fancier plates.

  “Yeah, I guess,” I admitted, trying to act casual, though I was counting my lucky stars with how well I was able to get along with Becca after knowing her for such a short amount of time.

  “Is she a nice girl?”

  “Of course she is. She’s been telling me about the school and everything I need to know so I don’t feel like an outsider on the first day.”

  “That’s good. It should make the transition a little easier.”

  Becca rang the doorbell around ten in the morning. When I answered the door, she was staring around our front steps with wide eyes.

  “This is one amazing house…”

  “Thanks,” I said awkwardly. “Come in.”

  I introduced Becca to my mom, who greeted her warmly and, thankfully, said nothing embarrassing. After she had met my mom—she would have met my dad, too, but he had already left for work—Becca and I went to my room, where she met Dexter. With Dex curled up next to her on my bed, Becca began quizzing me on what I remembered from the
previous day. She corrected me on things I missed, teasing me that this knowledge was more important than anything we would learn in class.

  Once we had reviewed the information, even though we were not very serious about the quiz, Becca sat through an hour of me showing her pictures of my friends and adventures back home. Soon, we were laughing at silly pictures and memories as I relayed stories about the antics of my friends.

  When we came across one picture, she asked me where it was taken, seeing the paintings hanging on the wall in the background.

  “Oh, that’s at an art show the students put on at my school,” I explained.

  “Are you an artist?”

  “…I wouldn’t call myself an artist…”

  “You draw, though?” When I nodded, her smile broadened. “I wanna see!” she gasped. “I can’t draw to save my life.”

  I collected the sketchbooks from my desk, including the newest one. I was always a little nervous letting new people look at my work. I constantly got good responses, but I was continuously worried that someone would hate my art. I did not take criticism well.

  She took the sketchbooks and looked through the pages, her eyes wide.

  “These are amazing! You should join the art club at our school!”

  Feeling more at ease than I had a week before, I enjoyed the afternoon, feeling better able to handle the transition into Central with Becca helping me and accepting me with open arms.

  Chapter Five

  It was the day every student dreaded—the first day at a new school.

  Even though Becca had agreed to meet me before our first class to be sure that I was doing alright, I was in a state of high anxiety.

  I sat on the school bus with nervous butterflies eating at my stomach. I fiddled with the straps of my school bag, feeling as though I was walking into a battlefield. Of course, every student would say that Third Tier was a warzone.

  Finally, I saw the front of the massive school pictured in Becca’s yearbooks. The apprehension inside me grew. At my old school, I was one of three students who had connections to Central and I had tried to pretend that there was no different between my family and my friends’ families. Now, I was going to a school full of children connected to the government and was terrifying.

  The bus approached far too fast for my liking. I took a deep breath and, as the rows in front of me cleared, I stood and left the bus.

  I quickly took in my surroundings, trying to remember where Becca said she would meet me. There were more kids than I expected. It was a much larger school than my old one, but I still had not expected the immense size of the student population. I became lost in the flow of students heading into the building. Rather than stop and point myself out as the obvious new girl, I followed the traffic.

  Entering the main doors, I tried to remember how the school layout from Becca’s yearbooks, discreetly glancing around, pretending as if I knew where I was going.

  Thankfully, I did not flounder for long.

  “Lily!” Becca called, weaving her way through the students.

  “Hey! I was worried I wouldn’t find you.”

  “I’d never leave you alone,” Becca assured, placing an arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go to the office and find your locker and ID and everything like that.”

  “Ah, formalities,” I groaned.

  Becca took me to the main office where I was given the normal paperwork—a map of the school, my locker number and combination, and my ID that was to be displayed on my uniform blazer at all times.

  Becca helped me find my locker and, as I was placing textbooks inside, a girl I recognized as Becca’s best friend Jill, greeted us excitedly.

  “Hey, you,” she beamed, sneaking up behind Becca. Becca whirled around and grinned, throwing her arms around Jill.

  “Hey!” she squealed. “I missed you so much!”

  “I know!” Jill agreed. “God, it was so weird not having you on the trip. It’s the only year that’s happened.”

  “I know…” Becca groaned, rolling her eyes. “Stupid body. It hates me.”

  “That’s alright, we’ll just take a trip ourselves!” Jill declared. She turned to me, still smiling. “Who’s this?”

  “This is Lily Sandover,” Becca introduced. “She’s new here, so we’re adopting her.”

  “Great!” Jill said, extending her hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Jill.”

  “Hi, Jill.”

  “What’s your first class?”

  “Economics…” Jill whined, rolling her eyes.

  “Aw, I hoped we were going to be in the same first class.”

  “Who do you have for Lit?” Jill asked quickly, looking expectantly at Becca.

  “McDermott.”

  “Yes!” Jill cheered. “Me, too! Third period?”

  “Yes!” Becca cried loudly, hugging Jill again. “We all have the same Lit class!” Becca said, motioning to me as well.

  “That’s perfect! So does Taylor,” Jill added.

  “It’s fate!”

  I watched silently, not sure what to say and feeling very out of place. The two girls were obviously very close, and with how little I knew about Jill, I felt awkward trying to add to the conversation.

  Jill must have sensed my nerves because she turned to me.

  “Sorry,” she laughed. “We’re a little crazy. Seriously, if you want, just jump in. Be crazy with us. It’s more fun in a group.”

  “I think she’s just a little nervous about the whole first day thing,” Becca said with a warm smile. “But we have to go to biology,” she said, turning to me. “You remember how the first day of school goes, right?”

  “All rules and syllabus-reading?”

  “Yep,” Becca affirmed. “We’ll meet up again in Lit, and then again at lunch, so we’ll have time to get you completely integrated.”

  “Like riding a bike,” Jill assured, nudging me gently with her elbow. “You’ll fall right into place. It won’t be an issue.”

  Becca bid Jill goodbye and led me to our first class together. Biology was going to be simple for me. I had taken Honors Biology at my previous school, but had not passed the test well enough to avoid taking it again. Looking over the syllabus, it was clear I already knew almost everything for the class.

  When I told Becca, she declared that she was going to be borrowing my brain for the class, since she was not strong in science.

  After the first class, I did fall into the routine easily. Becca told me where my next class was after looking at my schedule and pointing out the classroom on the map. She also told me where the third period Lit class was going to be before sending me on my way.

  My nervousness ebbed away as I realized the school was really no different than my old one. Since I did not have the map glued to my face, the other students could not immediately tell that I was new. I was sure that not everyone knew one another in the large student body, so I was temporarily safe from scrutiny.

  My second class was English, another subject in which I had always done well. My teacher, Mrs. Booth, was a small, soft-spoken woman, which made me glad that I had chosen to sit close to the front of the room.

  After I left Mrs. Booth’s class, I made my way to the room Becca had pointed out earlier. I was excited for that class, mostly because I was going to be in it with my new friends, but also because the teacher was said to be one of the best in the school.

  I saw Becca waving to me from one side of the classroom as I walked in the door. I sat down next to her and diagonal to Jill, offering a tired smile to the both of them.

  “So, how’s it been so far?” Jill asked.

  “I’m still alive.” I shrugged. “And…for the most part, sane.”

  “That’s the spirit!” Jill laughed.

  “I am so happy we all have this class together!” Becca grinned. “It will make things so much easier.”

  “No kidding,” Jill agreed. “We’re reading J.A.N.E. now, too, which is supposed to be pretty difficult.”

&n
bsp; “That’s the only book we’re reading, though,” Becca pointed out.

  “Which just means that the tests and quizzes are going to be about every minute detail,” Jill groaned. “And Mr. Garth has at least twenty books for us to read in his English class,” she whined, flopping back in her chair, dramatically lamenting her fate.

  “There’s Taylor!” Becca announced as she waved the other girl toward us.

  Taylor looked exactly the same as she had in the pictures I had seen at Becca’s house, albeit a little heavier than I expected.

  “Hey there,” Taylor greeted, sitting in front of me and smiling at Jill and Becca. She reached over and placed her hand on Becca’s. “How are you, girl? I missed you on the trip.”

  “I know, I missed you, too,” Becca pouted. “I’m alright now, though. How about you?”

  “Fine.”

  “Taylor, this is Lily,” Jill introduced me. “She’s our adopted child.”

  “Oh, hey, nice to meet you,” Taylor greeted. “Are you Lily Sandover?” she asked. When I nodded, her smile broadened. “I thought so. My mom’s been talking about your dad. She came over and helped you guys move in, or something like that,” Taylor explained. “She said that you were really nice, but kinda quiet.”

  “Naw,” Becca assured, winking at me. “You just gotta get her loosened up.”

  “Good morning, class,” the teacher started at the front of the room. I blinked in shock, not expecting Mr. McDermott to be so young. I had passed him off as a student or assistant at first. But when I saw that he was the only one at the front of the room, I realized he was the famous Mr. McDermott. “How was the trip?”

  The class answered with a chorus of answers and cheers and the teacher smiled.

  “Good, good, glad to hear it,” he said. “How many of you got sunburned?”

  Several members of the class raised their hands enthusiastically and Mr. McDermott laughed. “Yeah…I went to Fiji this summer, and I got pretty sunburned myself, but…I can’t show you where because I could lose my job.”

  I laughed with the rest of the class.

  “Yeah, that’s what happens when you go to Fiji and your friends insist on going to a nudist beach,” Mr. McDermott nodded, turning to grab a tablet off his desk. “Learn from my mistakes, don’t give in to peer pressure. It causes skin irritation and a whole slew of other problems.”