2
High School
South Pine High. This was Jason Blake’s school now. As Jason entered through the main gate he instantly felt trapped and dread and uncertainty washed through him. The chain link fences were similar to those that surrounded the rainforest which should have felt familiar and safe to Jason however he knew the purposes of the fences were completely different.
The tall barbwire-topped fence that bordered the tropical rainforest was built to keep the man-eating feline creatures called Danvere out of the village however the smaller one that surrounded Jason now was to keep him in, although he could easily jumped it.
The bustling crowd of strangers around him glanced at him strangely but he was used to it. He had received those glances all of his life. The residence of South Pine Village, no, of the whole island, all had thick brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin. Jason however was pale with jet black hair and bright, deep blue eyes. Despite these differences he was well liked and had millions of friends but the sea of faces around him now were unfamiliar.
A group of teenagers Jason’s recognized as his older brother, Mitchell’s, friends were sprawled around the grass on the side of the wide path. They grinned when they saw Jason. “Welcome to hell,” one said in a deep, evil sounding voice. “Muhahaha!”
“Get a life,” Jason retorted.
“Jason!” a familiar voice called out from behind him. A smile spread across Jason’s face in relief as he turned to his best friend, Caleb. Caleb pushed through the crowd swearing at the kids who looked younger than him and apologizing to the kids who looked older and more capable of bashing him. He clapped Jason on the back and gazed up at the two storey building around them in mock awe. “This is really something, huh. A real step up from primary school.”
“Knowing you, you’ll get lost in the first five minutes,” Jason grinned.
“And knowing you, you’ll get your smart mouth pummeled in the first five minutes.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Nah. I’m a porby and if you try really hard, you’ll win. Where do we have to go?”
“This main path goes straight through the school, we take the second left, go up a flight of stairs and to our right should be the middle school admin block,” Jason repeated the instructions Mitchell had drilled into his mind. “We go in there, go up to somebody sitting behind a computer, tell them our names then they’ll print us up a timetable and a map.”
“Goody. A map,” Caleb said. As Jason had pointed out earlier, Caleb’s sense of direction was about as good as a blind man as he was especially unobservant.
The two boys followed Jason/Mitchell’s instructions and soon found themselves in an air-conditioned room full of kids their age.
“Oh, come on!” Jason muttered as they joined a cue. “These people can’t all be starting grade eight this year. There wasn’t this much people in grade seven in primary school.”
“Yeah but this is the only high school in the area. There are two or three primary school in SPV.” SPV was the abbreviation for South Pine Village. SPV was a large and modern community nestled in a valley surrounded by rainforest and rugged mountains. Jason and Caleb were standing in line for twenty minutes before the computer that was printing out timetables and maps made a loud bang and shot sparks everywhere. The two boys sighed impatiently and joined another cue.
“Jason, Caleb, up here!” to their great relief they spotted Tristan near the front of the cue and rushed up to stand behind him.
“Hey!” the beefy boy behind them complained loudly. “No pushing in! Get to the back of the line!”
“Nah, we’re good here,” Jason said before telling the fed up teacher behind the desk his name. She slapped two pieces of paper in his hand before yelling, “Next!” Jason looked down and read today’s schedule. Hurray! Jason thought sarcastically. He was up for a double dose of English then math and history.
“What class are you guys in?” he asked Caleb and Tristan.
“Eight D,” they said in unison then high-fived each other. “What about you?”
“Eight B,” Jason said dismally.
“That’s too bad, man. We’ll meet up at the canteen at lunch, ‘kay? Catch you later!”
“See ya,” Jason wheeled around and stepped out into the heat and humidity. He was late when he finally found his English classroom in the maze of concrete buildings.
Every kid worried about being separated from their friends when they went to high school but as Jason stopped at the door, not knowing if he should knock or something, he was relieved to see Phillip and Scott sitting around the classroom. He was also horrified. All of the girls from grade seven last year were there too. The teacher busy writing on the white board so he was able to slip in undetected, slapping hands with Phillip on the way in.
“I like the shorts, not sure about the shirt though, Jason,” a girl called Phoebe whispered from behind. She was one of the girls in Jason’s grade seven class last year.
Jason glanced down at his clothes as a few giggles went round the room. That morning he’d pulled on his new uniform, (that wasn’t actually new because it used to belong to Mitchell), to discover it was several sizes too big. His mother assured him he’d grow into it and Mitchell said it was the fashion at South Pine High to wear your pants half way down your arse so he’d fit in just fine. Jason didn’t care what they said, he looked like a retard and Ollie, his little brother, agreed.
Jason had switched the navy blue school pants for his black, chlorine-stained, cargo shorts. That was better, but there was nothing he could do about the shirt.
Jason found the girls in his class irritating. They were always giggling, especially when Jason was in trouble. When Jason complained, Caleb just laughed and said it was because they liked him. Jason wished they liked Caleb so he could see why Jason got so pissed.
Jason glanced at the person next to him. His first thoughts were crap, it was a girl. His second thoughts were cool, she was hot. But a second look at her immaculate uniform, neat writing, hair tied back in a severe bun, books wrapped in plastic to protect them and colored pencils arranged in the order of the rainbow all pointed to one thing; she was a teacher’s pet. A goody-goody two-shoes. A nerd.
“So you’re the infamous Jason,” the girl said, “I’ve heard about you.”
Jason raised his eyebrows thinking, what the hell does infamous mean? “And you are...?” he asked.
“Kim,” the girl smiled, showing all of her sparkly white, perfectly straight teeth.
The teacher turned around and adjusted his glasses. He looked at Jason. “Were you here before…?” the teacher was old, maybe sixty or so. His eyesight and memory probably weren’t all that good.
Jason gulped and tried his luck. “Yes.”
“Oh…” the teacher said. “Ok.” He turned back to the board.
Jason grinned and pulled a work book out of his bag as more giggles went around the classroom. With a teacher like this he could get away with murder. Unfortunately halfway through the lesson another teacher came in and said that the first guy they had was a substitute teacher.
“Good afternoon grade eight. I am Mrs Sullivan, your English teacher,” the teacher said joyfully. “I’m sorry for being late, I’m sure it’s all very new and confusing for you, being your first day of high school and all. Today I will be getting to know each and every one of you. I will hand out some sheets that ask questions about yourself. I expect you to answer them truthfully. This is just a fun activity for your first day of grade eight.”
“Yeah, sounds like heaps of fun,” Jason muttered.
Mrs Sullivan handed out the sheets. Jason dug in his pocket for a pen and began.
Name; Jason Blake Date; 23/1/08 Teacher; Mrs Sulivan
Q1. What is your preferred name/nickname?
That was easy.
Jason
Q2. What is your current age?
Also easy. Jason was just counting down the days until his birthday only weeks away.
Twelve and eleven months.
Q3. What is your favorite school subject?
That was a hard one. Jason hated every subject.
P.E Jason finally wrote.
Q4. What are your hobbies?
Another hard one. Jason didn’t really have any proper hobbies.
X-box, Hanging out
Q5. Where do you see yourself in five years?
The teacher must really hate Jason. He was a twelve year old boy, how the heck was he meant to know what he wants to do with his life? In the end Jason wrote the one thing he was good at.
Playing soccer in the world finals.
Q6. What is your favourite…
Colour - Black
Band – My Chemical Romance
Sport - Soccer
Movie – Saw 5
Animal – Wolf
Q7. Do you have any pets?
A dog
Q8. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Two brothers
If yes, do you get along with them?
No.
Q9. What do you expect to achieve this year at South Pine High?
Jason hated questions like this. He’d done a few things like this and decided on the answer that would most please his teacher.
I expect to learn something new.
Jason looked across to Kim’s paper. Her full name was Kim Isabella Cook and she had a twin brother and a little sister who she got along with. She liked all the school subjects apart from sport and her hobbies were bike riding, playing piano and hanging out with her siblings. Her favorite color was blue and she had a dog called Milo. When she was older she wanted to be a journalist. She liked the band Short Stack and she loved cats. Urgh, cats, Jason shuddered. He hated anything remotely feline.
