High School Horror

It didn’t matter if it was an accident or not, Mom divorced my best friend.

I don’t know how, but Daddy got off on his manslaughter charges. He was driving drunk one night in the rain and wound up in a car wreck. Cops decided he was the one at fault because he was intoxicated, only for his defense attorneys to prove he was actually hit by them and it was the force of the collision that had driven the other car into the guard rail. Mom didn’t care and wound up getting sole custody of me and Geneva.

Mom, being a natural born English woman with dual citizenship, insisted we move to her home town so Geneva and I could be raised around our “heritage”. More like “we’re moving out of the country to piss your dad off.” I got back at her by making a long distance call to him every other day.

Trees flickered by as I drove to the high school Geneva and I would be going to, a place called Westchester Academy. Mom was an alumni so of course we had to go. Despite having my license by the time I turned 16 over the summer, it still felt weird driving on the left in this country. Geneva didn’t give a shit though. She just whined about not having Starbucks.

“You’re a basic white girl, you know that?” I questioned, turning down the Sisters of Mercy that blared through my stereo.

“No, you just don’t know what it’s like to be pregnant and have...cravings”, Geneva purred.

“Don’t say that”, I groaned. Mom felt let down her husband was arrested for DUI. I felt like I was let down because my little sister was knocked up.

“C-R-A-V-I-N-G-S. Craaavings.” I shifted and gunned the gas pedal, hoping if we got to the school sooner, she’d shut up. Eventually, the historic building was peeking through the trees at us in all of its stoney glory. I tried finding a parking spot by the front of the school for Geneva’s sake but before I’d even turned off the ignition, she was jumping out of the car.

“Neva!” I wailed. I ripped out my keys and grabbed all of our stuff, from her beat up camo messenger bag to my latex bat shaped purse. She was walking away from the school, into the sea of cars in the parking lot towards something. I chased after her, seeing she was walking to a pretty brown haired girl and a boy.

“Pick that the fuck up!” Geneva snarled at the girl. The boy blushed furiously as the girl spun around to stare at her.

“And just who the bloody Hell are you?” the girl demanded.

“The bitch that’s gonna kick your ass if I see you do that again. What’s he ever done to you?”

“Geneva”, I whined. The boy’s books were all over the ground and he was scrambling to gather them. I helped him, knowing the first day was a very awkward day for everyone when the girl stepped on a notebook I was reaching for.

“Is this your dog?” she asked in a cold English voice.

“That’s my sister”, I corrected gently.

The girl kicked the notebook away from me, causing the cover to come off and a few loose pages to fly out. “Keep your dog on a tighter leash if you know what’s good for it.” The boy and I watched her strut away, tossing her perfect hair over her perfect shoulders.

“Come back here and fucking fight me!” Geneva wailed. “Or are you the same kinda pussy you got between your legs?!” The girl never answered and Geneva thrust herself forward a step. “That’s what I thought! Skank.”

“Tha...thank you.” I looked up, meeting the brown eyes of the boy. “You didn’t have to jump in, you know”, he explained. “I’d hate to see someone else face Emma on my behalf.”

“I’m not letting a cunt push people around”, Geneva scoffed, offering a hand to the boy. “Geneva. This is my sister, Ginger.”

“Liam”, he replied. “I’m guessing you’re the Americans we were expecting?”

After carefully handing Liam his books to straighten, I stared. “You were expecting us?” I asked.

Liam nodded. “Yeah, apparently your mum was a close friend of Trisha Malik. She’s the one in charge of student affairs and was quite excited to tell her kids. Don’t be surprised if Zayn insists on being your best friend.”

“I’m guessing this Zayn guy likes to gossip?” I laughed.

He laughed too and nodded. “Zayn knows everything about everyone”, Liam explained. “He’s like...you know that Gretchen girl in Mean Girls? The one whose hair is so big because it’s full of secrets? That’s Zayn Malik for you.”

Geneva laughed at the Mean Girls comparison. “Dude, you’re cool.”

“Glad someone thinks so”, Liam smiled. “Um, I didn’t see either of you at orientation. Would you like a tour?”

“Oh my tarot cards, yes!” I gasped. Liam chuckled before heading for the front door. He looked over our “sheduelles” and “time tables” so he could show us where each classroom was. I was pleasantly surprised to see we a few classes together. We walked Geneva to her “maths” class before Liam brought me to my drawing class.

“Zayn probably has this first period”, Liam shrugged. “He’s nice, one on one I guess. But don’t think you’ll ever out draw him. He’s easily the best artist in the whole school.”

“Duly noted”, I said, though I wasn’t sure why that was significant. “Well, I’ll see you in a bit for history, huh?”

“Of course.” Liam waved bye so I walked in the room and found a seat. We were given assigned seats which screamed “no fun” and “we’re not here to be creative” to me. Apparently, I was sitting next to Zayn Malik, an attractive olive skinned guy with perfect dark hair and the most fashionable clothes I’d seen all day.

“Zayn Malik. Future talent agent”, he said quickly. “Darling, you’ll need bigger breasts if you expect to ever make it into the movies.”

“Ginger Rose. Unknowing aspiring actress, apparently”, I replied quickly. Zayn smirked and shoved his sketch book under my nose. He had a charcoal sketch of my face.

“Pretty good, huh?” he boasted. “Me mum and your mum go way back evidently. This is a welcoming present, courtesy of Mum leaving her new student files unattended in the dining room.”

I stared at it, from the messy lines that made up my hair to the thick charcoal lines that created my typical eyeliner style. “Can you do a still portrait?” I mused.

“We’ll find out this semester. Steinsbringer always likes assigning those. We should be partners...assuming you’re good enough to get my cheekbones right.” I shrugged. I didn’t think I was a bad artist though I definitely did have a different style than Zayn did. A sudden hush fell over the girls in the room and I looked to Zayn for answers. According to Liam, he knew everything so he’d know this. All Zayn did was point to the attractive brunette boy who’d just walked in.

“Harold Edward Styles. 17. 12th year”, Zayn informed in a whisper. “All the girls want him. He’s a sweetheart. Mama’s boy. Loves home ec, rubbish at chemistry. He’s dating Emma Lannister. Have you met her? Best to keep away.” Harold sat down across from us and threw his bag into the table. “Vas happening, Harry?”

Harry glanced up, green eyes looking but not really focusing on Zayn. “I’m awake so that’s something, isn’t it?” he wondered. He shot a glance to me. “Who’s this?”

“One of our new yankee friends!” Zayn beamed, throwing an arm over my shoulders. “Ginger, Harry. Harry, Ginger.”

“You’re not a ginger”, Harry scoffed. It was a pretty worn out joke but I found myself giggling.

“You’re right”, I agreed. “I’m a brunette.”

“You’re not that either”, Harry mumbled. I shifted next to Zayn who just shrugged. “What do you think of England so far, Gingey?”

Zayn seemed interested in my answer though so far I didn’t really have one. I’d only been here for two weeks, just enough time to put our town house together and become acquainted with the 7/11 down the street. “It’s pretty”, I nodded.

“There are lots of pretty things around England”, Harry smiled. “Have you gone to London yet?”

“No?”

Zayn clapped his hands, startling me. “Then that’s it!” he announced. “We make a day trip to London some time! What about this weekend? Are you free?”

“Assuming we have no homework-”

“We’ll give it to Liam Payne”, Harry said casually. “That kid’s a bloody nerd.”

“Brown haired guy?” I asked. “Brown eyes?”

“How’d you know?” Harry asked.

I shifted. “Met him in the parking lot”, I shrugged. “He’s nice.”

“He’s a freaking swot”, Zayn corrected. “It’s alright, Ginge. We’ll help you learn Westchester. I don’t think we have any goth kids around here. It’d be cool changing up the fashion norms around here. Hang out with us and you’ll never go wrong!” I nodded. This made two friends already today and from the sounds of it, one friend didn’t like the other. High School Drama 101- there’s never a lack of drama.

“You’ll be one of the most popular girls in school in no time!” Zayn continued.

“She’s already buff”, Harry chuckled. “It’s a start.”

“Now if we can just get you to-”

“Good morning class.” I looked up, happy to see something I recognized. A teacher. As Mr. Steinsbringer began teaching, Zayn sent me a smile and leaned over my shoulder some.

“We’ll continue our talk some time later”, he whispered. “Happy 11th year, Ginger.”

Yeah, happy junior year, Ginge.

Notes

Yes, yes this is a reboot.

I'll add characters either tonight or tomorrow