"You alright?"
I woke up to a rough boyish voice that sounded like someone had just been smoking. I felt a slight headache at the side of my head but it was nothing to worry about.
Did I pass-out?
I looked around the room; a school nurse's room, it looked like, with a table filled with medical stuff and other things I didn't know.
I sat up straight on the bed and finally looked at the boy who had asked me a question; my eyes opened like a saucers at how eerily hot he looked. A definition of a bad boy, he had jet-black hair with a black hoodie over it, icy blue eyes, and he was dressed in all black, with a leather jacket to top it up. He had a nose and ear piercing too, and he was standing right next to the bed, hands folded over each other, looking straight at me.
Definitely not a sight you want to meet after minutes of unconsciousness.
"Yeah, I hit you with my car."
Okay...hold up! Hold up! What? That's not the voice I expected.
His voice was squeky, I actually snorted trying to retain a laugh. His accent was the worst, it was a mixture of a British accent and American accent. Nothing I had heard before.
"Somethin funny?" he asked when I didn't say anything.
"No, nothing...so you were the one driving and you hit me?"
"Nah, nah, you was not lookin' where you was going. At least I didn't hit you that hard so you alright," he waved his hands in dismissal. "You new or something?"
"Yeah, it's my first day and you just ruined it," I touched my head to feel a slight bump.
"Pfft," he waved the dismissal hand again. His whole personality was still a surprise to me. "You're already screwed for being here, this don't look like your type of place. Don't worry though, you can hang out with us. We are one, fam."
Why was everyone so free when talking about family with me? I did not need a family.
"Who's us?" I asked.
"My gang," he gave a smug look while I looked horrified. I didn't want to join a gang. "Not like that, I mean gang, as in squad, as in the family," he smiled cockly.
I was skeptical of this guy; first of all, his bad boy demeanor was a total contrast to how he talked and now he was talking about me being like him and his 'gang'. Was it because of how I looked, as in, my cheap clothes and shabby look? Or was it because I was light-skinned? This was him trying to have some blackness to his squad.
"Oh, okay...I guess I have no option since I'm new and you offered," I said, taking his offer.
So maybe I didn't want to be lonely, besides he offered.
"We have to get to class now, I'm assuming you are also in senior year. The nurse gave me your schedule and you are in my class. Ah, look at me being an ass, what's your name pretty thing?" He asked as he went to take my bag by a chair.
"Don't call me that," I snapped as I got off the bed. "Or do you want me to call you pretty boy too? That fits you."
"Look at you, I though you were quiet," he laughed, and I was about to take my bag when he said he would hold it for me. "Feisty," he did a little count of fingers, "check, you are officially in our gang," he smiled as we got out of the nurse's room into the empty hallway.
I waited as he closed the door only to hear him scream like a little girl. "Ouuuch!"
"What's wrong? I panicked as I moved closer to him and he pulled his hand from the door to suck on his thumb finger.
"I slammed the door on my finger," he said while sucking on it.
I broke into laughter. I couldn't help it. It was too much. I had never met someone with a contrasting personality like his. A clumsy, dramatic bad boy? That's a first.
"What? It hurts like shit," he finally stopped sucking on it. "What's your problem meany? Stop laughing," he whined
"Stop giving me your stupid nicknames, my name is Riley." I slapped his arm.
"It doesn't fit you though, I'm Dre, that's my nickname, my real name is Peter but that's too lame so no one calls me that."
"Dre? That's ridiculous," I laughed again as we walked to our first lesson, Physics.
"So is Riley, so I'm gonna stick to pretty thing."
"If you do that, I will call you Peter, so you better not try.
I warned him, thinking this was the funniest conversation I had in forever. Maybe this school would not be such a bad place after all.
The rest of the day went pretty well I guess... The classes were boring, with the rich kids being typically disrespectful to the teachers.
Lunch came later and I finally got to meet the squad, which consisted of 3 other guys and a girl who looked just like Peter, or Dre as he liked to be called. The girl's nickname was Red though she never told me her real name. The rest were Rio, Dusty and Ricky...yep just like that, they never told me their real name either.
What had I gotten myself into?
As it turned out, Timothy was a popular guy, nothing surprising about that. He sat with the popular crowd right in the middle of the cafeteria while we sat at a table far from other students like outcasts. I guess I had really found the perfect group for me.
My eyes were so glued on whatever was happening at Timothy's table that he must have gotten that feeling, you know, the one you get when you feel like someone is staring at you. All of a sudden, he turned around, his eyes falling on me, as far as I was from his table.
"Don't tell me you are already crushing on those jocks, mostly Baker, the one you are staring at, the one with dark blonde hair." Red moved closer to whisper to me.
"I'm not," I laughed, "But what's wrong with Timothy?" I asked.
"How do you know his name?" She asked, surprised.
Oops! I could have easily told her I stayed with him but, Timothy didn't want anyone knowing and neither did I.
"Oh, I heard some girls talking about him." I lied.
"Timothy Baker is a player." She simply said.