Blood, Love & Fear

There’s nothing better than starting halfway through the semester. Let alone the fact that it’s junior year. Danielle thinks to herself as she fails the sixth attempt at opening her locker. “You have to pull it toward you a bit before pushing it up, these stupid things are older than my gramma” the deep voice comes from behind her and she just about jumps out of her skin. “Oh, uh thanks.” she nervously replies as she turns toward the person standing behind her. He’s tall, broad shouldered; especially for a high schooler. Dark brown hair that’s styled out of his face in that early 2000’s slick back style. His eyes are piercingly green and stand out against his chiseled features and bronze skin. “No problem; although you probably won’t even need to use it, the textbooks are all kept in the classrooms... Unless you have something you need to stash then by all means. I won’t tell a soul.” He says with a smirk. The deep baritone sends a chill up her spine, the goosebumps are almost enough to distract her from the most amazing pair of eyes she had ever seen. “And what makes you think I’ll trust you? I mean you’re already assuming I have something to hide and you don’t even know me.” she wit-fully replies. The bell rings and he walks off, not before flashing another smirk, this time with a shoulder shrug. What the hell was that. s**t I should’ve asked where the office is. Oh well I’m sure it can’t be too far. Danielle thinks to herself as she shuts her still empty locker and heads down the hall trying to figure out how this small of a high school can even exist. Sure enough just three doors down on the left the sounds of a phone ringing, a keyboard clacking and the smell of fresh coffee come pouring out. “Hi, is this where I get my schedule?” she asks the woman behind the desk as she steps inside the room. If she didn’t know any better she would’ve sworn this lady was straight out of an 80’s sitcom with her blonde curls and shoulder pads, not to mention the neon lipstick with smudges on her teeth. “Oh sweetie you must be Ms. Brown!” the southern twang is a surprising addition to the hot pink ensemble coming her way with a stack of papers. “Not too many new kids around here I guess.” Danielle replies with a slight blush to her face, she hates the attention. “Well honestly sweetie you’re the first newbie we’ve had in quite a few years. My name is Mrs. Williams, but please call me Jackie, I’m nothing like my mother in law.” She says with a cackle. “This here is your schedule for the remainder of the year and lucky for you honey your credits transferred over so you’re not behind at all. These will need to be filled out by your parents and returned to yours truly tomorrow. Mrs. Crawford is ready to see you, then you’ll be free to get on down to class.” Danielle takes the paperwork and steps toward the open door that Jackie is motioning toward thanking her. “Yes Danielle please come in! No need to be nervous I just want to introduce myself!” she hears from the other room. “It’s not everyday we get a new student here, as you’ve already heard. Please have a seat and relax, I don’t bite” Mrs. Crawford jokes as she walks into the office. Danielle shakes the woman’s hand completely stunned at how young this principle looks, with gorgeous long black hair, the perfect Arizona tanned complexion, deep brown eyes and figure most women would kill for. “Jackie please call for Ezra, it may be a small school but we can’t have our friend here getting lost” she calls out before closing the door. “So Ms. Brown as I said I just wanted to introduce myself and reassure you that even though our school is small it’s just as serious as any other, especially for your junior year.” She states as she sits across the desk from you. She pulls up a few windows on her monitor while adding “with your credits transferring over it looks like you’re at the top of your class already. I know you’ll do great here and please remember my door is always open.” “That’s not always a good thing” the sound of his voice so much louder in the small space. “Oh Ezra, maybe you could learn something from Ms. Brown here.” Mrs. Crawford states as he comes and sits next to Danielle. “We’ll just have to see about that then” he looks at her with the same smirk she’s now received for the third time. “Ezra be nice. It’s not easy being the new kid, especially in a town as small as ours.” Mrs. Crawford says with a look that’s more warning than playful. “Sorry ma” Ezra says with a tone that’s a lot more serious than anything Danielle has heard so far. “No need to worry about me Mrs. Crawford. I’m tougher than I look. But thank you” Danielle speaks up with a small smile. “I’m sure you are Danielle. Doesn’t mean my son can act like an animal” She says with a pointed look at Ezra. “Now, even though it’s a small campus I still want to make sure you know your way around and are comfortable. You two have the same schedule so I’m going to have Ezra make sure you get to the right place and show you around. Before you try to protest; I know it’s not necessary, just want to make your first day a little easier. Want you to feel comfortable. I know Ezra will make sure your transition into our school easy, and make meeting some more classmates easier.” Her demeanor has changed a bit and there’s a palpable tension in the room. It’s not uncomfortable just heavy. “Thank you. It is unnecessary but I can tell there’s no talking you out of it.” Danielle says with a slight chuckle. Ezra snickers from the doorway he hasn’t moved from and Mrs. Crawford has a slight smirk on her face. “Off to class you two. And don’t forget, door is always open.” Danielle stands bringing her bag up over her shoulder and follows Ezra out of the office. They walk together in silence for a moment then Ezra breaks the silence. “Sorry about all this. She can be a lot sometimes.” Danielle snickers at his words. “Nothing to apologize for. It’s nice to see she cares about the students.” “She makes sure it’s a safe place. There’s zero tolerance policies for basically everything. She’s very… adamant, about everyone’s safety and comfort in school.” Ezra states carefully as they approach their class. He walks in, Danielle follows behind feeling all eyes on her as she walks into the classroom of about 12 people including the teacher and now herself. Everyone stops and their gaze lands on Danielle who’s suddenly frozen in the doorway, feeling the weight of all the eyes on her. “You must be Danielle; Welcome to Physics. I’m Mr. Roberts, have a seat, if you need notes or anything at the end of class just let me know.” He looks almost too young to be a teacher, short golden hair, steel grey eyes behind thin framed glasses and a jawline full of stubble barely darker than the hair on his head. Danielle nods with a polite smile. “Thanks” She makes her way to the open seat by the window trying to ignore the eyes following her across the room. Mr. Roberts falls back into the lesson he was in the middle of about thermodynamics. The rest of the class struggles to keep their focus on the lesson rather than Danielle. Thankfully he doesn’t bring attention to it just continues the lesson. When the bell rings Danielle gathers her things and tucks them away in her bag. Ezra is waiting outside the door talking to a couple other students. When Danielle starts to leave he cuts the conversation and gestures to her with a nod of his head. As they fall into step heading to the next class he asks as he stuffs his hands into the pocket on his hoodie “So where did you move here from?” “Michigan. My mom got a job offer at the hospital I guess so here we are.” She states a bit too flatly. “Touchy subject I take it” He retorts with a smirk. “That obvious huh?” Danielle asks. “It’s not that bad here. Small towns aren’t always lame. You’ll fit in just fine” he says bumping her with his elbow. “Oh I can tell already. The way everyone’s staring” she says tucking a strand of her long caramel honey colored hair behind her ear as she follows him into the next classroom. There’s a middle aged woman with silver hair up in a bun wearing a pant suit at the front of the room with a look that could kill as she watches the students file in. “Miss Brown I presume” she says flatly when her eyes land on Danielle. “Yes, Danielle Brown.” The bell rings and the teacher nods curtly as she walks to her desk. Danielle turns on her heel to go sit and the only open seat is next to Ezra. He leans over as Danielle sits down. “Thats Mrs. Hawthorn. If you know your history she’s not that scary. She’s tough though.” He states as he sits back up. Mrs. Hawthorn begins class, her tone is flat and harsh. Exactly the type you wouldn’t want for a topic like this. The bell rings at the end of class, Mrs. Hawthorn calls Danielle to her desk. “Miss Brown I don’t offer make ups or extra credit. Don’t let the nerves of new surroundings effect your course work.” She says coldly. “I won’t. Thank you for the heads up” Danielle says politely before turning to leave. She walks out the door and sees Ezra talking to a few other people, nervously approaching the group with a small smile. Ezra straightens up when he sees her coming. “Danielle! This is Marcus, Aubrey, Joe and Cameron” Marcus is tall, built like he plays sports every minute of his life making his t-shirt look almost too small. Dark chocolate eyes, with the hair to match that’s cut short and sun-kissed skin. Joe is just as tall but more toned rather than muscular like Ezra and Marcus. Soft golden hair wrapped up in a bun with light blue eyes hiding behind thin framed sunglasses. His fair skin is tastefully scattered with tattoos. Aubrey and Cameron seemingly related are the type of naturally beautiful that makes any woman jealous. Their hazel eyes perfectly contrasting their olive skin and raven black hair flowing in soft curls. “Hi guys” Danielle says shyly and tries to swallow the small lump in her throat, meeting new people has never gone over well for her. She feels their eyes sizing her up as she tries not to focus on anyone specifically as the silence seems to stretch too far.