Decisions and Mayhem

Chapter One

I started the next day eating an apple in the school hallway as I watched the person who'd become my close friend in the short period of my stay here in this school go through their locker in search for their calculator.

"Come on David," I groaned, resting my back on my locker as I looked into the crowd of students that were getting ready for the first class period in the morning. I spotted Alissa in the crowd and frowned in confusion when she pointed two fingers towards her eyes and then towards me.

What's her problem? She even got a higher score than me in yesterday's math test.

"David," I called again, turning my gaze to him to find him still looking through his locker. "If you can't find your calculator we can share mine. The class is starting soon."

He looked up at me, sighing before nodding at my offer. David was a red-haired, freckled-faced boy with puppy dog features — large eyes and cheeks that screamed to be pinched. Heck, the girls did just that and harassed him with pinches.

"I have to find it later though, or my mother will have my head," he said, holding on to his books as we walked through the hall to our math class. We got into the small classroom that fitted about fifteen desks just as the bell rung. We headed for our seats on the second row before getting ready for Mrs. Cook's class. She was the math teacher we didn't want but deserved. A strict woman in her early fifties, she was all about work and no play.

I shook my head and sighed when I spotted Alissa taking the seat by the desk beside ours. I'm starting to think she's obsessed with me, and if so, I'm afraid she has poor taste. 

The class was filled in the next ten or so minutes, and Mrs. Cook had walked into the class as people settled down. She was now standing in front of the board in her green suit dress and flat black shoes. Her lips in that permanent thin line, and her eyes observing us until she turned to write on the board. The sound of pencil cases being opened and book leaflets being flipped soon filled the classroom as people started taking notes.

Class started with homework corrections and ended fifty minutes later. David and I left our math class together and went through the rest of our day. We took the exact same subjects and had the same class periods assigned to us so we spent all day together. During lunch, we sat at our regular table in the center of the cafeteria that consisted of just the two of us, and two empty chairs that had gotten used to staying empty. 

We were eating our fries and minding our business when a loud bang made the students in the cafeteria turn their heads towards the direction of the sound. 

"What's happening?" David asked, making me roll my eyes. We were sitting on the same damn table. How on earth am I supposed to know? 

I got up, noticing that the students were surrounding a scene at the corner of the cafeteria. The blue and white of the school uniforms blocking my view.

"I think it's Tim today," David sighed, making me turn to him. He was now standing on the table, earning a frown from me. He moved a bit, his shoe touching the tip of my plate.

If he steps on my plate of fries. I swear...

"Ouch!" he yelled, visibly cringing when the sound of something — someone being slammed down on a table rang through the hall.  It made me look away from David, and back to the crowd. I couldn't see anything, but I had an idea of what was going on. Jay and the rest of his friends had a thing for picking on people. The horrible thing was that that school staff and authorities didn't seem to care unless, of course, the parents of the victims were involved. I was beginning to become irritated by the people screaming, and the kitchen staff behind the serving point that were behaving like nothing was happening.

Just because his father's a senator, right?  I thought as I imagined Jay asking two of his pals to hold Tim down so he could deliver punches. I'm just happy I shut my mouth when I got to this school. Apparently, Tim and some other people didn't seem to do too well overall with hiding their disgust for Jay, and that's why they were often his targets. 

The crowd eventually thinned out and Tim slipped through and escaped the cafeteria through the exit holding his nose. 

A bloody nose? I guessed, sitting down on my seat. I turned to find that David had gotten back on his, and was eating out of his plate of fries — and mine.

"I swear to whatever's up there, David..." I groaned, making him take his hand away from my plate and raise it in mock surrender. His white shirt had a ketchup stain, and his fingers were covered in the stuff as well. I let my frown relax, sighing before I dug into my food again.

As I ate, my mind wandered to the incident I had with Jay a few weeks after I got into Calvary High. He'd jabbed at me, asking how I'd managed to get into the school. I'd been honest, telling him how my mum had won a lottery. He'd seemed shocked by my honesty as if he'd expected me to lie about it or beat around the bush. 

When I settled into the school I came to realize that most people in the school were obsessed with 'image' and weren't too friendly with people who came from 'new money' homes as they put it. The whole school was pretty much obsessed with social status — everyone from the students to the principal. The kinds of cars I saw in the parking lot, and the ridiculously expensive bags and jewelry people wore had me dizzy. I had money now, but my frugal attitude refused to leave me. 

The bell for the end of lunch break soon rung, meaning that it was time for Spanish. You could bet that I spent the whole period rolling my eyes at Alissa. She seemed so desperate to outdo me in our speaking test. I'm sure she knows that I'm a native Spanish speaker, but the adrenaline must have messed up with her common sense at that moment. 

Juana and I barely saw each other in school even if we were in the same year. She took purely art oriented subjects, while I took purely sciences, save for the compulsory religion and Spanish classes. I met up with her after the school day ended, and we talked by the school gates with David. I frowned after stumbling a bit from a push. I turned, about to throw some cuss words before I saw that it was Jay grinning at me as he brushed his brown hair. I forced myself to stop frowning and muttered an apology instead. 

"Good," he said, staring at me with his blue eyes before turning and heading to the parking lot. 

"He's desperate to get into a fight with you," Juana said, shaking her head as she tsked, her ponytail swinging from left to right. "Give it to him. Show him a lesson, Antonio!"

I shook my head, tucking my hands in my trouser pockets. Heck no. I might be strong but Jay played dirty by outnumbering everyone he attacked with his friends. Plus, my mother won't be happy. 

Juana pouted, accepting defeat. The bus came a few minutes later, and we were soon dropped off at our place. Wyatt was sitting in the living room, watching one of his Anime series as my other siblings used their gadgets while sitting at the dining table. Lucky bastards -- they went to school later than we did but got back home earlier. 

Wyatt eventually looked up at us when Juana started screaming into the house dramatically to announce that she was back before she left the living room, and disappeared into the hallway, leaving Wyatt and me to look at the space she'd been just a few seconds ago. 

Wyatt suddenly laughed, making me turn my attention to him.

"You don't have classes today?" I asked, watching him nod. 

"I only have classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays," he said, turning his gaze back to the flat screen TV in front of him. His lean legs were resting on top of the glass counter that he'd pulled closer to the couch. 

"My mum will have your head if she sees you..." I trailed, watching as he shrugged before reaching for the remote seating beside him on the couch foam to increase the volume.

I raised a brow, wondering why he would want the volume any louder. The anime wasn't even dubbed and he was reading the subtitles anyway. I shook my head, deciding not to question it before I headed to my room. 

Wyatt was just odd. That was a fact I should have been accustomed to by now.