Teen For Hire

Welcome To Waterford Academy

Having to go back to school after the summer break had always been the most dreaded part of the year for Reece. But transferring to a new high school on the other side of town in his Junior year was on another level of awful.

Just when he thought he would be able to settle down 2 years ago, when his family finally stopped living like nomads traveling all over the country, that hope of his got ripped apart when Mom announced that she got a new job offer in Waterford; the rich part of the town they were living in, Bellmaire. Even though Eastview High- his previous school- was barely 15 minutes away from Waterford Academy, his mom insisted on changing schools because apparently, she can afford it now.

Before Reece even got to set foot into the school, he already recognized his first mistake of the new year.

All around him, students drove in their cars; parking sloppily as if the yellow borders weren't there, leaning against the doors as they chatted with a Starbucks in their hands. Meanwhile, Reece was the only one around that actually cycled to school. He didn't want to think of how ridiculous he looked as he struggled to lock up his bicycle to the metal bar that stood alone by the sidewalk. His mom may have been able to afford to move him here, but he was still going to look like that poor underdog in the school.

Waterford Academy was the elite school in Bellmaire, sort of. Not so much because of the quality, but just because it's the only private school available around which also means that it's the least crappy place to go. Reece couldn't really deny that; as much as he got used to Eastview, he couldn't walk 10 feet into the school before smelling the sweet, sweet smell of burnt weed. Although he had registered at Waterford High last week, he hadn't really been attending until today.

And Waterford looked much better than the other schools too, though that again wasn't a very high standard to compete with. Seeing the building reminded him of sunshine and he couldn't decide if that was good or bad. The bright yellow exterior of the school traveled into the halls as well, though the walls looked more faded. Lockers aligned both sides of the halls, the checkered floors were not dirty but they didn't look like they had been cleaned recently. Students were busy chatting away, and much to his relief, hardly any of them noticed Reece as he walked through the hall as quietly as possible. They seemed normal enough, he had half-expected to be wearing designer clothes and speaking with a posh accent.

It didn't take long for him to find his assigned locker, which looked slightly darker than the others and was bent around the edges as if the door had been slammed too many times.

He unlocked it, pulling out his schedule that he had slipped into one of the yellow notebooks he had bought. Reece made a mental note to paste that piece of paper somewhere obvious before he forgot where he put it.

Of course, he'd probably forget that mental note, too.

Looking at the schedule, he felt a slight drop in his heart when he saw that he had Biology first. Great, one of the subjects that he was terrible at.

For a moment there, Reece was seriously considering skipping his first class at Waterford. Starting off the new year being completely dumb in class wasn't what he had in mind. Maybe if he just hid in the bathrooms-

"What the hell?" A voice- a very loud one- behind him made Reece jump, causing him to hit his head against the locker door. He groaned in pain; the back of his head was throbbing. "Oh, shit! You alright?"

"Yeah." Reece nodded before looking at the person standing in front of him. A boy, quite a few inches shorter than himself, with brown hair that reminded himself of the bark of an oak tree; rough and bristling with strands of hair with greyish tips. His eyes were small in comparison to the rest of his features and almost brought an imbalance to his face.