New Kid In School

• Sophie Tsokas
• Short Story
• 2009

This is the sequel to Smile.


“Hey Stan.” I call from the kitchen of my mum’s house.
“Hi.” Says Stanley coming in, “Please don’t call me that,” he stops in front of me frowning. “it makes me feel old.”
I laugh. “As if you aren’t Mr. 15-in-one-week.”
“Don’t mock me. Remember you’re only four weeks away from your fifteenth.”
That wipes the grin off my face. Have I mentioned that I absolutely hate birthday parties? Especially my own ones. All that nagging of: ‘So, what do you want for your birthday?’ over and over again. Now that over everything else makes me go loony. Every year I just wish I can yell back: ‘I don’t care what you get me! Just buy something and be done with it!’ but instead I smile politely and say: I don’t know what I want yet. I’ll get back to you if I have any ideas.’
Now it’s Stanley’s turn to smile. “So what excuse are you using to get out of your birthday party this time?”
He knows me too well.
“Oh I don’t know,” There’s no point in lying. “I’ve got a few ideas.”
“I bet you do.” His smile widens.
I sigh, in desperate need of a topic change.
He senses my mood and (thank God) changes it. “So am I picking you up for school tomorrow Mary-Anne?”
“Yep. So, you excited about your first day?”
“Well, yes,” He admits. “I really thought I’d be scared shitless...but I’m not.”
“How poetic.” I mutter.
“You know what I mean” He says
The crazy thing is that I do know what he means. But I don’t tell him that...just to annoy him.
“Explain it to me.”
“Well, if I was at any other school I’d probably be nervous.”
“And why aren’t you?” I ask.
“Because you’re going to be there. And how bad can going to a new school be, if you’ve got your best friend there?”
“Touché.”
Ahhh school, how I’ve missed you over the summer holidays. Not. But having Stanley there is going to be fun. ‘Maybe he can stop those girls from ragging on my hair.’ I think. My eyes run over Stanley as my heads comes up with its usual insane thoughts. He’s tall (though lots of people tower over me, after all I’m only five foot three.) and slim, with a head of hair that’s dead black and has lots of volume to it. I realize that his intelligent green eyes are staring back at me, with a questioning look in them.
“What are you looking at?”
“Oh I’m just wondering, is that grey I see in your hair, or are my eyes just playing tricks on me? It looks so authentic.” I say grinning slyly.
He glares at me.
I smirk back.

***
“Wakey wakey.” Stanley sing-songs coming into my room.
“Go away.” I grumble into my pillow. If you can’t already tell, I’m not a morning person.
“Oh this just won’t do.” He mumbles. Then I feel his breath against my ear. “Mary-Anne get up! We’re going to be late for school!” He yells.
I put the pillow over my ear, and squeeze my eyes shut. “Are you trying to deafen me?” I scream back.
I gasp in surprise as the duvet is taken off of me. “Hey!”
Next to be taken is my pillow. I cling helplessly onto it until it is finally ripped from my grasp.
Scrambling to my feet, I look around the room and spot him standing next to my ficus in the corner. Target Acquired.
“I’m going to kill you.” I say threateningly, stalking towards him.
“Good morning Sunshine.” He says beaming.
“I’m going to kill you!”I shriek.
“Now let’s not be hasty,” He says in a reasonable tone. “shouldn’t you be getting dressed?”
He’s laughing at me as I chase him around the room. I jump onto his back and he fights me off and drops me on the bed.
He runs back to my door and, holding it, says: “Oh by the way,” He starts, stopping to grin at me. “it’s only 6:45.”
He slams the door shut before the pillow I throw can hit him.


***
It’s 8:45 in the morning. Stanley and I are standing in front of the entrance to our school.
“We should probably get inside.” I mumble.
“Yep.”
Neither of us move.
“Wouldn’t want to be late on the first day.”
He nods, looking thoughtfully at the school.
I sigh, and, taking his hand, drag him across the threshold. “C’mon ,” When he hesitates I add: “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Remember you’ve still got me.” I say giving him a reassuring smile, like he always does for me.
“Okay,” He smiles back weakly. “let’s go.”

***
I lead him to the school court yard, and he looks around, clearly confused.
“Why is everyone split into two big groups?” He asks.
“Because,” I say indicating the smaller group on my right, “They’re the cool kids,” I point to the group on my left that is almost double the other group’s size. “and they’re not.” I explain matter-of-factly. “It’s been that way since I came here, but I’m guessing it’s been like this for much longer.”
“And there’s never been a middle to it?”
“Well people have tried to create one, but that’s why most of the popular kids end up on the left side.”
“So, which side are you on Mary-Anne?” He asks looking at me carefully.
I look at the ground. “I don’t know anymore.” I say quietly.
I’m saved by the bell.
Composing my features, I grin up at Stanley. “Ready for your first class?”
He groans. “Kill me now.”

***
Walking through the court yard at lunch is difficult because: A) I have no idea where we’re meant to sit and B) It’s hard to ignore the curious looks we get and the not-so-quiet whispers. As we walk I hear bits and pieces of conversations: “...that guy with LMHG?” “What’s Mary-Anne doing with New Guy?” “...believe she still hasn’t changed her hair!” “Oh my god! How cute is New Guy? But what could he see in LMHG?”
Okay, you may have noticed that some people are calling me LMHG. Let me explain: It’s just a stupid nickname the popular kids came up with. It stands for Last Month’s Hair Girl. Creative huh? The unpopular kids are the only ones that call me by name.
Despite our earlier conversation there is a middle in the court yard, it’s just that nobody sits there. Now here I sit, across from Stanley, almost every pair of eyes on us as we eat our lunches. I hate being the centre of attention, so I look at the table and concentrate on trying not to blush. Stanley does the same.
A few minutes later Stanley gets up to go to the bathroom. Three boys follow him. As soon as the boys toilet door swings shut, a dozen girls are at my side. Questions are coming at me so fast, until they all blend together into some strange language.
“Hey!” I yell. The girls fall silent. “One question at a time please! You’re giving me a migraine.” I know there’s no point in ignoring them, they’ll just keep coming. But in bigger packs.
“Mary-Anne!” I recognize the girl from my English class. “Are you two going out?”
“No.” I say.
“So how do you know New Guy?” another girl asks.
“First of all his name is Stanley.
“Stanley.” I repeat slowly. “And we’ve been best friends since kindergarten, and...” I stop short. One of the girls moves her head and I can see that the door of the boys’ toilets is wide open, and just about every boy on the campus is either in there or pushing someone out of the way to get in there.
‘Poor Stanley...’
“Excuse me.....” I pushed my way between the girls. When I finally break through the crowd, I make my way over to the boys’ toilets, ignoring everything. The group of girls calling me back. The wind, blowing my hair in my face. Only focusing on the most important thing:
Protecting my best friend.







***
“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask outraged.
Seeing Stanley cornered and red-faced really isn’t good for me.
Joshua Hayes, the most popular guy in school, finally realizes I’m talking to him.
“We’re just getting to know Stanley here. A few friendly questions never hurt anybody, right Stan?”
“My name is Stanley.” Stanley says quietly.
“‘A few friendly questions’ my ass.” I retort. “Seriously Josh, leave Stanley alone or I swear to God I will make you pay.”
“Make me pay how?” He challenges.
I clench my fist and hold it up so he can see it. “You see this? This is going to make your whole face black and blue!”
He goes very pale. He knows I’m not bluffing. He turns to go.
“Come on guys let’s get out of here. This chick’s psychotic.”
But I’m not done yet. “Hold on,” Joshua turns around.
“Just because you’re popular, that doesn’t mean you have the right to terrorise new kids.”
“You mean like the girls did to you?” I flinch and a smile forms on Josh’s face. He leaves the bathroom.
“Let’s go.” I say turning to Stanley.
“Are you okay?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
I turn to leave. “Uh Mary-Anne?” I turn around. “You do realize that you’re in the boys’ toilets, right?”
“Don’t worry Stanley,” I crinkle my nose, pinching it with my thumb and fore-finger. “I know where I am.”
He laughs, clearly relieved that my mood has picked up.
“Do you know the smell gets worse over here?” I walk towards a toilet cubicle.
“Shut-up!” He’s trying to put on an angry voice, but he’s laughing too hard.
We walk out together and sit at our table. Not on the popular side. Not on the unpopular side.
But smack bang in the middle.

Over the next few days, we continue to sit in the middle. I realize that what I said in the boys’ toilets, had had a greater effect on people than I had thought. Because now kids both on the left and right sit with us too.
“Well would ‘ya look at that,” Stanley says one day. “I guess there is a middle to this place after all.”