I stood in the gate and looked up at my new school, I flinched as I was shoved and jostled by kids pushing past me in their haste to get in and meet their old buddies. Lucky them, this was all new to me, a seventeen year old girl's worst nightmare. What were the kids going to be like? I had the usual worries about bullying, drugs and boys, did my uniform look at least a little bit sexy and had I smudged my makeup? I smoothed down my tartan miniskirt, ok, it looked like all the other girls, ultra short with navy blue pantyhose that made my legs look twice as long, shoes with just enough heel to make my ass look good but not so much as to upset the teachers. Blouse neat and pressed, blazer crisp, just right, yep, I'd pass on that. I lurched forward, damn, another push into my back. Bastards.
"Hey, sorry about that, you're new aren't you?"
I looked around to see a true high school goddess, legs up to her armpits descending from a cheerleading dress that barely hid her navel, long, artfully styled highlighted hair in a rumpled California surfer look, creamy skin, looks to die for.
"Er, yeah, I guess I am. I'm Sarah Walsh."
"Great, nice to meet you, I'm Alexis Eisenberg, I guess it's obvious what I get up to around here."
She grinned and spread the skirt of her dress. "I'm head cheerleader by the way, we're always looking for pretty new talent to come and join us, you interested?"
Maybe, just maybe, I thought, but not yet, let's see how it goes first. But Christ, she was so damned gorgeous. I realized I was gawking at her like.
Which I was I realized, a schoolgirl that is, not the other thing. Yeah, Sarah Walsh, sweet twenty two, virgin, never been kissed. Well ok, I'd been kissed more than a few times, but so far I'd never got much further.
"I've got to look around a bit, but I'll think on it."
She gave a smile that lit up the area like a flare. "Ok, great, I'll show you to the administrator's office if you like."
"Yeah, great, thanks."
We walked through the crowds of kids hurrying into school and she left me with a dour faced woman who looked about a hundred years old but maybe I'd have looked as bad if I'd worked in this place for a few years. I handed her my documents and she glanced at them quickly and tossed them into a tray.
"Here's a copy of the school rules, yourlocker's in the hallway." She handed me a key. "Classes start in twelve minutes, make sure you're not late. Room two six seven, third floor."
She turned away and that was it. Welcome to Fleming Senior High School, Jackson, Mississippi.
I found my locker and dumped my stuff and walked up the stairs through more crowds of kids to find my class. When I walked into the room it was already full, the teacher was handing out printed sheets to the kids.
"And you are?" he asked me.
"Sarah Walsh, it's my first day."
"Ok, find a chair and sit down, Sarah, we're about to start. I'm Grant Newman, welcome to Fleming."
He was the typical teacher, almost a caricature in his rumpled tweed jacket,button down shirt, narrow tie and cord pants. Hair overdue for a cut and a face that looked weary of the unending struggle with kids who wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible and move on with their agendas. I looked around the class, Alexis was there sitting with another cheerleader, another babe. She gave me a small wave and I smiled back. There was a chair empty next to an African American girl on the left of the room, I went over to her.
"Do you mind?" I asked her.
"Sure, it's not taken," she smiled. "I'm Julia Kelly."
She was not very pretty, but reasonably attractive in the way that some girls can be when they take what they have and make the best of it. Her skin was almost jet black, her hair cut short in a Halle Berry cut that suited her.