The Newbies

The boy couldn’t help, but laugh. What was it with these people, now it was offensive that he was nice, what a weird world. “I’m not too good, and that was not my point, Irina.” Matteo said and now smiled warmer. “Well, If everyone is so annoyed with me being nice as you are, that is a question I would also love to be answered.” he joked. He was getting nervous, cause he was pretty sure that he was upsetting her, even if her way of showing it was weird. And honestly this was never his intention. “I - I’m sorry. If I was rude, I m - mean. Maybe all I had to say was - I’m glad that you’re ok, I was worried about you…”

 “Worried about me, huh? Carter, I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with you, but thank you.” the girl just gave up, he was making it too hard for her to be bitchy, and she was also too tired for it. “I should get going now. Thanks for the jacket...I’ll see you tomorrow.” Irina said, walking out the door.

“Neither one.” Matteo said looking down. “I - I’m only attracted to girls, but no offense not to you or Cassie.” he said looking at her again. “I’m attracted to girls who treat me the same way I treat them.” the boy shrugged. “I’m sorry if I crossed the line somehow.”

Now what was that supposed to mean? Irina wasn’t a lot of things, but she was attractive. The girl raised her eyebrow and shook her head “Oh you’re too good of a person to be attracted to people like us? How cute is that.” Obviously the boy was something else, kind of different from the other people in school, and Irina couldn’t hide her annoyence. Like nobody had just pure intentions. That was ridiculous. “You can’t even offend someone without being nice? Bloody hell, how you even stayed alive for so long?”

“Oh - Irina hi!” Matt wasn’t expecting a visit so early, but he was happy to see the brunette. She missed all the classes this week, so he was happy that she was okay. “There was a stain on it, so I washed it, I hope you don’t mind.” the boy said smiling, handing her the jacket.

“You washed my jacket? Are you gay or something?” the girl said, taking her jacket. What the hell was wrong with this boy. “Or you have some sick obsession with the lost causes in this school? Cause I saw you last night with Cassie. Not gonna happen you know that, right?”

“Dilemma of the day: how do you tell your enthusiastic-crazy-athletic-high-school-star-football-player-dad that dreams about you following his footsteps you’d rather not try out for the football team, without breaking his heart in a million tiny pieces?” Caleb and his dad had always been super close, and the sixteen year-old hated the thought of ever coming close to disappointing him. He hated it so much he was literally asking anyone for advice at this point, stranger or not.

Grace shook her head, and with the most serious face she said right away “You can always fake your death, this way you don’t have to deal with it.” Did she really just said that. Well not the best way to make a good first impresion. Her inside voice obviously had to stay her inside voice. “Oh My God, I am so sorry, I did not mean to say that. I - that was so stupid. I’m sorry.” was this the moment she had to leave. She had no idea. “Uhm...just tell him that you...I don’t know. Have other dreams or something. But give him a chocolate before that. Chocolate calms people and makes them happy.” Okay, it wasn’t getting any better, she needed to shut up like now. “I’m Grace, nice to meet you, I will fully understand if you think that I’m crazy and you run away screaming.” her cheeks turned red.

Caleb sighed when Cassie was sticking out her tongue at him. “You can be such a brat sometimes, Cass,” he mumbled, trying his best to steal back the hat from his older sister. “It was just the best thing I could find in my locker,” he responded. Didn’t she get it? He wanted people to let this pass, to pretend like nothing had happened. To not make such a big deal about this. Including his family. Caleb couldn’t help but flinch when she touched his bruises. “Be careful with that! And who says sporty guys can’t be clumsy every once in a while?” he said defensively, realizing he should’ve thought this through way better. At least his sister confronting him about it was a bit less scary than having to explain to his parents what happened. Not that he was scared of them, he really truly wasn’t, but there was nothing Caleb was more scared of than having to disappoint them. “Just… leave me alone, okay? Please. I need to go process my crushed dignity in peace.” If there was a chance for a way out of having to tell Cassie the truth, he would take it.

Like he was going to offend her, did he even know her. ”That’s my charm, baby bro.” she put the hat on her head and shrugged “Hey, hey, stop it. I’ll give it back to you only when I feel like it.” Why was he being so stubborn, would it kill him to share with her, it’s not like she was going to tell anyone, it was not her style. Sure she wasn’t the nicest of them all, but secrets are secrets, especially when it comes to family. And if he had some kind of problems, she could help, but he obviously didn’t have the same opinion, but Cassie was not a one to give up easily, or at all. When he flinched she moved her hand “I’m sorry, does it hurt like...a lot?” the girl asked and then rolled her eyes, seeing that he wasn’t letting go of his fake story. “So...you’re saying...that you fell and hit your head against the pavement? Your wounds don’t look this way. If you were telling the truth your forehead would have been wounded, not your eye.” she explained, expecting him to finally crack and tell her everything. “Oh my god Caleb, forget it! I’m not leaving you alone!” she said, a little annoyed this time. ‘You’re being a moron right now and if you think mom and dad won’t notice that huge messy face of yours, you’re delusional, you’ll need help, and I can help you, but first I need to know what you got yourself into. Please.”

”I really hope that you’re aware of the things you’re saying, cause otherwise it would be so embarassing.”

The girl tripped and almost fell on the floor, but the boy she was talking with, catched her, without saying anything, so Cassie continued having an argument in which she asked and answered her own questions ”I have no idea who are you and why are you talking to me, but everything that comes out of that pretty mouth of mine is smart, and it makes as much sense as it can. So excuse you.” maybe having an argument while drunk, wasn’t her best decision, but oh boy she never missed an opportunity to have a fight. Even more with a stranger. It was fun. “So you think I’m embarassing, Michelangelo?”

“I would suggest you to try the nicer way, next time.”

Cassie sighed at bit her lip. “I don’t have a nicer way, Clara. I’m just so sick and tired of you being around all the time, I need 5 minutes without you, is that too much to ask? Why can’t you go be all happy and smart somewhere else?” the girl asked, trying to keep her calm. She wanted a little time for herself and it wasn’t possible with her sister around. She was always so happy and perfect that Cassie just couldn’t stand it. Being happy all the time was not mental health, it was crap.

”I’m as nice as one can be.” the blonde said with a bow. “And it’s not Goldilocks, it’s Amelia. Thank you very much.” oh bloody hell, this place was even worse than Manchester.

Why were all the freshmans such an egocentric assholes. ”Seems like your manners are the same as your scary attitude...non existent. But it was a good try, honestly. I’m impressed.” Cassie said, trying to bring the girl back to the Earth, cause it seemes like she was way up in the clouds. What was she trying to be, some lame impresonator of Regina George or what. “It’s Cassie, nice to meet you. Just a quick advice Andrea...I’m sorry it was Amelia, next time when someone is being nice to you, try not to forget that you’re not a teen comedy star and at least introduce yourself in a decent way.”

Darn it. His mission of avoiding his sisters for the day was already ruined when Cassie noticed him walking by. Why did he think wearing one of his dad’s old baseball hats was going to cover up his black eye and bruised nose? To Cassie, nothing went unnoticed. “Stop staring at me,” Caleb said with an agitated voice. He knew his sister probably would never worry about him, at least not as much as Clara would. But still, there was always the small chance she was going to use this against him one day. “Nothing happened, okay? I fell and hit my head against the pavement. It was a stupid accident. You know how clumsy I get,” Caleb lied, trying to avoid looking in Cassie’s eyes.

She liked teasing him and she took off his hat, sticking out her tongue “Daddy’s hat? He will be proud. And for the record I’m not staring at you, I’m just not an asshole who avoids family at all costs.” Cassie laughed and touched his face, and looked at him kind of disgused with the whole bloody situation, like she wasn’t touching her brother’s face, but some disgusting frog. "Oh my god, you really think I’m so dumb that I will believe this?” she said, now crossing her arms and shooking her head. “Clumsy? Weren’t you the sporty one? Come on, you’re not an idiot, you can figure out on your own that someone will notice this, you could have at least came up with a decent lie.” the blonde girl said, meaning every word of it. But she wasn’t as mean as he thought, and the fact that he didn’t want to talk about it, made her question it even more and she actually got a bit worried this time. Her face became serious and once again she tried to catch his look. “Come on Caleb...what happen?”