First Day of School is Hell
Shula and Carissa stepped onto the school grounds, leaving the truck behind in the nearby parking lot. Their bodies gleamed of sunscreen, and their shades looked dashing. They were ready for anything the system would throw at them.They also came rather early, so they had some time to get acquainted with the human kids around.
"Shu, you forgot something", Carissa remarked.
"What?"
"Ray's still in the back."
Shula shrugged and unlocked the door so Orion could get out. He stepped out of the car and slid his shades on, with a slick smile on his face.
"Thanks for making my entrance GRAND, but it was hot in the back seat." He complained.
"Can't be helped, Ray."
"Maybe next time turn on the AC?" He suggested.
"It was turned on, fucknut."
"Then turn it to a cooler temperature!"
"We need a better AC."
"Clearly, I am already sweating." He wiped his brow.
"You're always sweating", Carissa quipped.
Not too far off stood Britney, whom waved at Shula and Carissa, still unfamiliar with Orion at the present. She approached them hastily and greeted them with a happy smile.
"H-hello!"
"Brit, I didn't know you attended this place?" Shula asked.
"Oh! I-i-i transfered n-not too l-l-long ago."
"This is great. I feel more at home already", Shula said as she carefully hugged the girl.
Britney returned the kind embrace to Shula, "It is n-n-nice to see fr-friendly faces."
"True, that", Shula agreed as Carissa hugged Britney from behind.
"Group hug!"
Orion got in with the group hug as well, proceeding to essentially squeeze the life out of all of them unintentionally. Britney was a bit overcome by the sudden group hugging, she blushed and tried to struggle her way out.
"Ray, dumpass", Shula whispered through her teeth. "Let go already, I think you're turning the poor girl on or something."
Orion let go and apologized, wiping the sweat off onto his shirt, "Oh, sorry for that! I was caught up in the moment."
"I-i-its okay..."
"Britney, this doof king is my stalker Orion", Shula introduced half-jokingly.
Orion glared at Shula and protested, "I do not stalk you! And nor am I a doof KING!" He could feel himself beginning to perspire. Shula just cackled softly at him.
"Why'd Dylan not come along, Shu?" Carissa asked.
"Because he's not enrolled here, I told you earlier."
Shula gave Carissa and Britney a quick peck on the cheek, in that order, drawing the attention of some students who had missed the earlier group hug.
"D-don't do th-that! Not in public!"
"Hmm? It's just a quick one on the cheek, nothing special about that."
"B-b-but it is still y-you know...embarrassing." She shook her head, "So p-please don't."
"Britney, girl, you're just too easily embarrassed, y'know that? Loosen up a bit."
"I know..." she sighed, "I'll tr-try."
"What's this then?" a random student spoke up with a smile as he approached the girls. "Trolls harassin' the ladies?"
Britney shook her head, "N-no. Its n-not like that."
"Looked like it, though", the student insisted.
"But i-i-it wasn't. You a-are misinformed i-i'm a-afraid."
"What's the real deal here, then?"
Shula smiled. This could get delightfully awkward, she thought.
"Uhhh...w-w-well y-you see...uhm..."
"Say it, silly piggy", Shula whispered.
"M-me and her a-a-are cl-close fr-friends...?"
"And me!" Carissa helpfully interjected.
"But not the sweaty douche over there", Shula finished.
"...okay, do I want to know how that works?"
Another student approached, "I am betting you really don't."
"Aw hey girl", the first one said in greeting. "We got trolls here now."
The girl groaned in response, "Trolls? Really augh."
Shula raised an indignant eyebrow and prepared to hairflip. "Augh?"
Orion glared at the new girl, "Is there something wrong with that?"
She stepped back, "Well, I mean, yeah....sort of. Its not like we had a vote on this."
"Don't be like that, girl", the other student argued. "People get transferred here without our approval all the time, don'tcha know?"
"Well normally they aren't aliens with horns jutting out their oddly colored heads!"
The first student took a shameful step back.
"You're not one of those people who are against trolls being here, aren't ya?" Shula carefully asked. "On Earth?"
"Well I wouldn't say I am against it, but I would like a choice on whether or not I have to share my classes and rooms, even buildings, with aliens like you."
"Even though you don't get a choice, I understand, when the newcomer's human?"
"Why? Are you going to gore me with those horns of yours, like what happened to the other guy?"
By now, a fair amount of students had gathered around Shula and the other girl, anxious to see what would happen, none too willing to step forward and prevent anything. The first student, too, had stepped back into the circle.
"Why'd you bring that up?", Shula asked. "Finish the reference, girl. Tell these guys why it happened."
"Because one of you guys lost your shit!" She shouted, pointing a finger at Shula.
"Because the other guy pulled out a gun and tried to shoot my father!" Shula boomed. "While harassing an unarmed farmer!"
"Candy coat it all you want alien!" She glared and growled, "I know what happened."
"Were you there?"
"My father told me what happened! The part you mentioned was made up and spread around!"
Carissa had been looking around the crowd for a while and finally spoke up. "Everyone who believes there are people who shoot what they don't know, to the gate!" she boomed. "Everybody else, to the other side!"
A group of students, fairly decent in amount headed over to the other side, a small group, headed to the gate, this included Britney and Orion.
"No, you two stay here in the center", Carissa called out. "You're biased."
"O-oh..." Britney stuttered as she grabbed Orion's hand and went back to the center.
Another cluster of students huddled together in the middle, uncertain of what to believe.
"What are you trying to prove here, alien?" The girl asked impatiently.
Shula glared back at the girl. "There's nothing to prove. Believe what you want, it doesn't change what factually happened. I think Car's just trying to intimidate with numbers, but I dunno. And what if most of these guys believe the jackass -did- shoot? What -if- they believe uncle Tav attacked him in self-defense or something? You gon' pull a weapon on -me-, too?"
The girl had a hand on her pocket, her finger twitched, "And if I do? Are you going to just kill me and pass it off as 'self-defense'. Or say I deserved it?"
"There's fifty students here. If you attack me now, there's no just and righteous court in the state that wouldn't call it self defense if I did kill you in reply."
The student reached into her pocket and slowly pulled out a switchblade. She held it up and flipped the blade out. "Unless of course you attacked first."
Shula remained silent and motionless, arms folded in front of her. A switchblade, she considered. What a coincidence. It was exactly the same weapon Dylan used, and they had a lot of practice together. The girl took a step forward, the blade aimed at Shula. Shula still didn't move. She had practice.
"Whats the matter? Too scared to run?"
"Do I look scared to you? To be honest, you're the one sweating here. Besides Orion, ofcourse."
Orion was admittably sweating, he was getting nervous and worked up. As was the girl across from Shula, she stepped closer to Shula and held the blade close to her chest.
"Don't make me."
Shula was on a roll. Her instincts guided her mouth as she continued to rile up her opponent. "Make you do what?"
"Cut you."
Shula said nothing in reply. She merely let the littlest smirk appear on her face. Carissa was holding onto Britney at a safe distance, confident in her girlfriend's skill.
"I will...don't tempt me!"
"Try me", Shula mouthed. There was no sound, but the message was clear.
The girl pulled her arm back and tried to stab Shula right in the gut. In one smooth motion, Shula pulled her cue stick out of her specibus and shoved her attacker away with its superior length. The girl groaned and pushed the cue stick out of the way.
"Coward."
"Why am I the coward here?"
"Because you won't fight back."
"Is that an invitation, girl?"
"Come at me."
"K" was all Shula said as she quickly drubbed the girl upside the head with the cue stick, taking care not to cause lasting damage.
The girl on the other hand, had no intent of not bruising or harming. She took the drubbings till she could find the opportunity to lunge at Shula for yet another stab attempt.
Shula considered letting the little bitch rip her shirt. It'd look good in the story and she had more anyway. When she let her opponent close in, she miscalculated and got a shallow, rusty gash across the stomach. The girl reeled back as the blood splattered upon her arm and switchblade. Carissa and Britney gasped.
"H-hah! See! Thats what you get!"
Shula ignored the superficial wound and grinned. I get to legally hurt you now, she thought to herself.
Before the girl knew what happened, she had a tooth knocked out by a cue to the side of her head. She fell flat onto the ground and wiped the blood from her mouth. A few of the students gasped at what was going down, nary a teacher in sight.
Shula took off her sunglasses and stared down at her opponent.
"Guess you..."
She put them back on.
"...just got trolled."
A few students who recognized the joke shouted "yeah". It was actually rather horrible.
That first student had absconded to an edge of the school grounds and was considering what he ever saw in the girl. Britney had covered her eyes since the fight had began. Orion on the other hand was shaking mad and sweating like a pig. Carissa had to hold him back by the shoulders, an experience she didn't feel like repeating.
Shula knelt besides the girl and took her switchblade. "If your dad and his dunkass cronies want a private little war, he's even stupider than you..."
The girl spit blood at Shula, "Go back to your own planet."
The image of a man in a silly black costume with little pointy ears on the sides and a cape slapping a boy in primary colors came to Shula's mind. She had no idea who these people were, but didn't care.
"My whole universe is gone, girl. This place is all we've got."
Shula planted her cue stick right in front of the girl's face. "Deal with it."
She turned around and gestured the others to come along, her belly still lightly bleeding. "Let's go home and try again tomorrow, guys."
Carissa grabbed Britney by the hand as an unspoken invitation. She nodded and went along with Carissa. Britney whistled to Orion, who proceeded to follow them as well.
As far as going to school was concerned, the day was a bust.
Just as Shula's truck was revving up, a teacher finally came out to see why there were fifty late students. He asked what had happened, and fifty students told a story that didn't match the single one the beaten girl had to tell.
Later, during lunch break, that first student broke up with the girl. It was not her day at all. She would plot to get back at Shula for it, someday, even though that would only cause her life to spiral down. When she got home, she told her father all about why she was missing a tooth and being bruised. He too plotted.