Baby Steps

17

School wasn't that bad. I managed to survive the first week without any struggles and even became pretty close with Jamie, Mikey, Kit and Cory. They were pretty cool, always cheerful. Wait, scratch that. Kit was a bloodthirsty teenager 80% of the time, mostly on Mondays and Thursdays and all the time except lunchtime. She was on the path of war today, as usual, and the Hots chose this day to corner us during recess.

"Oh, look." Jezebel grinned as she and her two minions closed in on us, "New girl part of the losers now? How utterly sad."

"Jealous much, Jezebel?" Kit asked mockingly, "That we have a strikingly hot and beautiful blonde on our side and you don't? Blondes are always so, what's that exotic word? Ah, yes, popular."

The tan brunette crossed her arms over her 34DD sized breasts and pursed her lips, "You done talking idiot?"

"I don't know. Do you understand other languages?"

I smiled and hid my face behind Cory's back since he was standing right next to me. Seeing Kit putting the queen bee on her place made me feel proud and victorious. I've never been fond of bullies and always found pleasure when justice took place.

Jezebel sneered, "If you can't speak basic English with me, try speaking French, lovey. And you," She glared at me, "You're new, meaning you haven't been initiated yet."

This time Jamie slammed her locker door shut, causing all of us to jump, "Don't you have somewhere else to be, Jezebel? Like, at cheerleader practise maybe? Because it's starting to look like you take more interest in a group of nerds than your precious spot as captain. You want to be in our group, fine. We'll get you and your two tone-deaf boxes matching nerd T-shirts, we'll have comic book clubs, we'll watch Star Wars together and share tissues when we fangirl every time Darth Vader speaks. How does that sound?"

Jezebel's eyes narrowed and I thought she was going to spit fire or grow creepy scales, but instead, she flipped her hair and strutted away, with Brit and Evelyn on her four-inch Gucci heels. Kit was thinking of yelling more insults after them, but Cory clasped his hand over her mouth just in time. Mikey coughed to draw attention and signalled us to follow him. Coincidentally, we all had French the next period, and coincidentally, we all sat close to each other.

"What initiation?" I asked curiously as we took our seats.

"The type of initiation where Jezebel would humiliate you to the point where you'll need therapy. She scars you for life." Mikey answered, "She did that with Cory and that had cost him his semi-popularity."

Cory frowned, "I was in the school band, I was respected and even almost had a girlfriend. After the initiation, I was kicked out and my dreams of becoming the school rock star were, you know, gone."

"We were all part of a clique once." Jamie explained, "If it wasn't obvious at first, I'm a hippie. Tree hugger, weed smoker - okay, not smoker, but weed, yes, I wear weed, but only the brand. Kit's a delinquent slash skater. Also obvious. Mikey's in the computer nerd slash gamer slash hacker group but doesn't have any real friends there, because of his bad spoiler habit. There's a reason we don't take him to the movies on Fridays."

"I heard that," Mikey complained.

"You were supposed to."

I felt at home with my group of friends. They're all unique and special in their own weird ways and trust me, I know weird. Jasper making me happy when I'm sad definitely counted as weird. Do you know how it feels to be angry then suddenly happy? Talk about freaky. Edward reading my thoughts from a mile away was 100% weird. My dialogues in my head I had with myself got 300% more interesting with him yelling a response to my questions. Alice seeing when my next period will start wasn't weird, it was right down creepy. And don't even get me started on Demetri's ability to find me at random times when I'm at the store or someplace far from home.

"What about you?" Cory asked, "You have more or less an idea what we're like, so what are you interested in?"

I smiled as I thought about my variety of hobbies and activities, "Well, there's piano that my uncle taught me since I was six. Every Thursday I have dance lessons, ballet to be precise. The occasional art class, as well as cooking, writing and a little blogging."

At the end of my incredibly long list of hobbies, their jaws were literally on the floor. Yes, mom and dad had me doing a lot of things, but I didn't complain. I loved all of them.

"Is there anything you don't do?" Kit joked.

Mikey seemed to remember what I said three seconds ago and sat upright, "Wait, you blog? I actually have a blog as well that I update weekly. Speaking of the blog, this week's subject is supernaturals. I was thinking of doing a page about vampires, how they burn in the sun, all the ways they could be killed, like the garlic and stake to the heart. And the way they sleep in coffins is killing me!"

I frowned, "Vampires don't burn in the sun and they so don't sleep in coffins."

Their eyes narrowed and Mikey seemed crushed, "And how do you know? I wouldn't take you for the supernatural kind of girl."

Shoot, I've said too much. Think, Grace, think...

"I actually did an entire assignment on vampires once and became obsessed with them." I lied, "They don't burn in the sun, but it does irritate them half to death since being in direct sunlight makes them sparkle. Technically, they can't be killed with anything except fire. They're very flammable. And they don't sleep. At all."

"Whoa." Jamie replied in awe, "You know more?"

"A lot more, but too much to tell you in two minutes," I said quickly.

"Then you should come over Friday after school." Kit said, "We usually meet up at one of our houses just to hang out. This week it's Cory's turn. Then you can share all your knowledge with us."

"You want me there?" I asked surprised, "You've only known me for a week."

"You're one of us now." Cory smiled, "Whether you like it or not."

"That's what friends do." Jamie agreed, "We hang out."

I looked at each of the Nots in front of me and realized I just made my first human friends. Hanging out could be nice to try.

I smiled, "Sure, why not?"

"How was school?" Mom asked when I got home.

"Great." I smiled and grabbed an apple from the bowl, "I actually made a few good friends and they invited me to hang out Friday. If that's alright?"

She nodded, "Fine by me, as long as you catch up on homework later."

Demetri entered the kitchen and froze when seeing me. He was probably too deep in thought to sense my presence.

"Hi." I waved and successfully snapped him out of his thoughts.

"H-hey." He replied and quickly turned his back, and left the kitchen in a hurry.

I turned back to mom with a frown, "That was weird. Usually, Demetri can't wait to hang out."

Mom only shrugged, "He's a tracker, sweetheart. Maybe he had to go track something."