Bambi

1

Being the new girl was never fun. I felt like everyone was staring and whispering about me, and so far, I had made zero friends. Unless you count the girl who was now sat opposite me.

Her name was Amanda and she had been assigned by the principal to guide me around for the first week and basically be my friend. The only problem was that she seemed to be bullied; an outcast of sorts.

I had immediately spotted the bitchy popular girls who everyone seemed to fear and admire at the same time. They had given Amanda a scoff and an eye roll as we passed them in the hallway.

"Watch out for them," she'd told me, "they're not the kind of crowd you want to mix with".

While I ate my apple in peace, ignoring the rest of the students who were chattering in other tables, another girl sat down at our lunch table.

I lifted my head to look at this girl and found myself in a mixture of shock and confusion as my eyes landed on the main popular mean girl, as it seemed.

She was smiling brightly at me, but I had no idea if it was fake or not. Amanda looked rather frightened.

"Hey," the girl spoke, her voice high and confident.

"Hi," I replied, still very confused. Whoever she was, she was completely disregarding the fact that Amanda was there.

"I'm Stacey. You're new, right?" She piped up happily, extending her hand over the round lunch table. I shook her hand hesitantly.

"I'm Bambi. And yes, I'm new,"  I told her, managing a small smile.

"Bambi? Oh my God! I love that name," she gushed, "how are you liking the school?"

"It's alright, I haven't really seen a lot of it," I shrugged.

"Don't worry, you can hang with me and my friends, we'll show you the best make-out spots and who to hang with – also who to not hang with," she told me and, while she said the last part, sent a small disapproving look at Amanda who looked away in defeat.

"Maybe after lunch?" I suggested awkwardly. I had never been in any kind of contact with people like Stacey in my previous school, so I had no idea how to act.

"Sure babe," Stacey replied, turning her body to look over at another table in the middle of the canteen.

"Girls!" She called, not minding the attention, "come here!"

I watched in amusement as four girls - who were wearing the exact same top as Stacey - stood up with their lunch trays and made their way towards the table where we were sitting at now.

Stacey turned back around with her wide smile, "my girls and I'll eat with you, babe. Amy, you can leave."

"My name is actually Amanda–" Amanda tried to speak up, but Stacey brushed her off rudely.

"Bye!" She dismissed Amanda, not even bothering to look at her.

"No, it's fine she can stay here. There's plenty of room," I told her calmly and ignored the small look that crossed Stacey's face.

"Fine," she sighed dramatically as the other four girls arrived at our table.

They looked cold and mean but then smiled widely at me. "Hey!"

Each of them introduced themselves to me as they sat down at the round table. I felt very weird now with everyone in the lunch hall looking over at us.

"Where did you move from?" A girl called Stephanie asked.

"New York," I told her.

"Oh my God! New York is so amazing," Olivia gushed, "I order all my dresses from there."

"Nice," I let out a small giggle.

"You should come to a party with us on Friday," Stacey then told me.

"What party?" I asked, curious.

"Elijah Brown's party, of course," Sam, one of the girls, said, "he's the hottest guy in school and Stacey's boyfriend!"

Obviously. Even Stevie Wonder could have seen that coming. "Oh, that's cool."

"You're definitely coming, you fit in with us so well," Stacey said with the widest smile.

"Alright, sure," I let out a small laugh, finding this situation amusing, "is there a dress code?"

Stacey giggled, "well there's hot guys, so minimal clothing is preferred. Just stay away from Elijah because he's mine."

She added a wink, but I had a feeling something very ugly would happen if I stepped too close to whoever this Elijah guy was.

"Of course," I replied with a smile.