Being Andy

Chapter 3: Cosmo High School

Chapter 3

Cosmo High School

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Looks didn’t really matter much to me. I mean, I was the kind of girl who would judge someone based on their actions, not whether they looked good or not. That trait wasn’t in a lot of people nowadays, and I was aware of that, which was part of the reason why I didn’t get asked out a lot. Guys didn’t exactly like a girl who was more intimidating than them and always hid her body in jeans and t-shirts. But that didn’t mean I didn’t appreciate someone gorgeous every once in a while. And one of these exceptions was the person I was going to have to live with for the next year.

    My mind was blanked out there for a second. I mean, can you blame me? Anyone’s mind would have been if a hot guy was standing there in the middle of the room half-naked.

    “Hey, are you okay?” he snapped me out of my reverie, making me blush even more that he’d been aware that I'd been staring. “You look a little red.”

    “Fine!” that came out too squeaky even to my own ears, so I cleared my throat, and in my practiced deep voice, I tried again. “I'm fine. Just a little tired from the whole ride here, jetlag and all.”

    “I know, I hate moving into a new place too,” he shrugged. “But you shouldn’t worry, stuff aren’t that bad around here.”

    “Not anymore, anyway,” I muttered under my breath, biting my lip when my face turned even redder as I inspected his raw jaw line.

    “What was that?” he asked, frowning.

    “Nothing!” I grinned innocently. “Um, anyways, I'm Andy.”

    “Nice to meet you,” he said, grinning. After standing there for a few moments awkwardly, him scratching the back of his neck and me trying not to let my eyes wander lower that his mouth, he cleared his throat and said, “Um, I'll go change now.”

    “Oh, right, of course,” I said as nonchalantly as I could. “I gotta go get settled in anyway.”

    “Okay,” and with that, he casually walked over to his room and closed the door. I sighed in relief. The first person I had to trick into thinking that I was a boy totally bought it.

    Lugging my bag along, I walked over to my room. It was about half the size of my old room, but I didn’t mind. There was a bed pushed at the corner, a small closet, and a desk. There were plain white curtains at the window. I realized that the bedspreads and the walls were of a boring white color, and the bed and desk were brown. I wrinkled my nose at the lack of color, and decided that some shopping had to be done to make this room a bit more my style.

    I placed my bags onto the bed.

    I liked it here already.

Walking down the halls as a new student with an unfamiliar face is one thing. Running through the halls as a new student carrying a bag filled to its limits, your too-big-books and schedule lifted in your arms, your face flushed and a little too feminine and your body so small, is a completely different thing. Usually new students just walk with their head bowed, thinking that all eyes were on them when it fact none were, but I had to get stuck with being the new weird freak of the school. Since Cosmo was an all-boys school, there wasn't a lot of drama in this place. You get mad, you punch, you get even, end of story.

    Still. I was a bit overwhelmed when almost every eye trailed behind me as I ran towards Biology 101 in - I rechecked my schedule - Room 43. I was still a little taken aback by everything I saw, constantly comparing it to every school I'd ever been to. Due to my rebelliousness, I'd gotten kicked out of a few shares of schools - Henderson High, I'd been busted smuggling a few frogs out of the biology lab; Jefferson High, I'd tricked a dumb jock into thinking I'd sleep with him if he helped me lead the farm animals the school was exhibiting on a trip to an animal conservation project leader - Adam Davidson was not happy when he found out that, a. I was lying, and b. he was also getting expelled for taking part in my plan; St. Helen's Catholic School - don't ask - I'd held a protest outside its gates protesting the inhumane way they'd kill the animals once done with their projects; Preston High School for Troubled Teenagers - that was basically when my parents hit rock bottom with me - I'd gotten caught sneaking out in the middle of the night from the school - mainly the reason I was in the situation I was in. I'd seen different scenarios - one of them was private, another was public - how my parents shuddered upon that one - one was catholic, another was an institute for the troubled; but they all had one thing in common: it was high school. No matter what school I was in, there were always football players, dumb cheerleaders, and the rest of the status quo. The longest I'd stayed at any school was Preston, because I'd made a good group of friends, and because Preston wasn't really into the animal dissection thing. Well, they were, but it wasn't so bad that I'd have to get myself expelled - until recently anyway.