CASSANDRA
This isn't so bad. I already have the reputation as a bitch. I am good with that. I don't really see the twins until lunch. We all take a table together to kind of touch base. I sit next to Calab and Bret and Brittney sit next to each other. Only they aren't holding hands, which I find odd. "How is your day going?" I ask all of them at the table.
Brittney smiles. "I think I am going to like it here. Everyone seems so nice. I was only nervous for like the first class, then I was fine. I have all my classes with Bret so that makes it easier too. I was asked to go to the cheerleading tryouts after school. Can I go Cassy? Please?" She uses the puppy dog eyes on me. This is what she does when she is begging.
I groan. "If you must." But I smile too, because this is better than I thought. No one seems to be freaking out. There are no mental breakdowns in the future. I don't have to worry about anyone crying all night long.
Bret smiles too. "Then I can stay for football tryouts?"
"Me too?" Calab grins.
"Oh, God you are all converting. You will all be hillbilly jocks in no time." We all start laughing. That is until someone sits next to me. It's that guy in most of my classes that has been trying to conversate all day. He is sitting sideways on the bench with his legs kind of around me. That is how close he is. I do not like people in my bubble so I move a little closer to Calab.
"Hey, Cass, want to introduce me to your fam?"
I look at him like he is insane. "Why?"
Brittney scolds me a little. "Cassy, don't be so rude. We are going to make friends here. Maybe you should too."
I groan again. "This is Trey, he is a senior, he's in a lot of my classes. This is Calab, he's a junior and the twins, Bret and Brittney, are sophomores." I point to each person in turn.
The guy smiles. "So I hear that you guys might try out for football today?" My brothers both smile and nod. "Cool, we could use new bodies. I'm captain of the team. I can tell you that we could use you." He leans in like he has a secret. "Honestly tryouts are just a formality. Everyone makes it, we hardly have the numbers. But the better you play the more time on the field you will get."
My brothers don't seem to care. It sounds good to them. Brittney lights up. "Is cheerleading like that too?"
Trey loses his smile. "It's a little harder. Kelly is head cheerleader and she is a bit of a bitch. But the coach she's pretty cool. You convince her and you are in."
Brittney sits a little higher. She did four years of dance and six years of gymnastics, we both did. She has got this. There is no way that coach is going to turn her away.
Trey looks at me. "So, what about you? Are you trying out for anything?"
"I am not really a joiner." I look away, but he leans into my space and whispers in my ear.
"Too bad I would have liked to see you jumping around the field." I am pretty sure my cheeks can not get any redder. Guys do not talk to me like this. At least they never have before. Like I told him before, I keep to myself.
Thankfully we are saved when some blond bimbo, not the one from Biology, a different one comes up behind Trey. "Hey baby, I think you sat at the wrong table."
Trey turns and looks at her. "No, Kelly, I am at the table I want to be at. Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?"
She looks at him shocked. "Baby, let's talk about this in private."
"Uh, no. I am talking with my new friends here. You can go to the other table." He waves her off.
Now the chick turns her attention to me. "You better watch your back bitch." She has this ugly sneer on her face.
For the first time ever I see Calab stand up for me. "What did you just call my sister?"
She glares. "I called her a bitch. And you are just a dick standing up for her. She is trying to take my man."
I stand up to block Calab. "Don't Calab. She is just a two bit hussy and doesn't like people better than her around, so she has to put them down. Besides, you don't hit girls. That doesn't mean I don't." I turn and punch her in the gut.
She bows over holding her stomach. "Don't you dare ever talk crap to my family again. You got that hussy?" I pushed her away. I see a couple of teachers coming our way, but that's fine. I don't care, I was defending myself from her bullying.
Dr. Martin stands next to us. "What is going on here?"
I open my mouth to say something but Trey is the one to answer. "Kelly came over here to bully the new kids. She called them vulgar names. Cass defended her family."
I am not sure this would fly, but Dr. Martin nods and takes Kelly's arm. "Let's see what your dad has to say about this." A few people cheer even as Kelly is pulled out of here.
I am stunned. Not only me but my brothers and sister too. "What just happened?" I sit before I fall over.
Trey smiles. "Things are a little different here. We don't tolerate people putting down others. It's like family honor and shit. So defending your family was a totally acceptable course of action, it happens all the time. Family is a big deal here. Kelly was in the wrong according to our rules. She bullies a lot of people, but not many people stand up to her."
A few other people joined our table now. What the hell is going on? Did we cross over into the twilight zone? Since when is it ok to hit someone else at school? Then it makes me instantly a famous person. I am not sure this is a good thing. I see this coming back to bite me in the ass.