Nya's POV

I sit in class, ready to present, long before the bell rings. I can see my old lunch table from where I sit under the tree, and sometimes it's torture. Harumi finally filled my spot after two years with the new girl, which I don't mind, but I hope she can survive.

Sometimes, Cole watches me during lunch. I see him. When I'm working in my notebook, he'll stare at me. As soon as I look up, he looks away. It's unnerving. That's why I never let go of a chance to get out of there a bit early. If I had another place to sit, I happily would sit there, but since Harumi turned me into a member of the "do not talk to" list, no one lets me talk to them, let alone sit near them.

That's why a small smile appears on my face when Jay walks into the room. I don't know if he simply doesn't know, which would be a shocker because everyone knows, or doesn't care that Harumi wants to socially exile me as some punishment for me leaving her group. He talked to me like an actual person, not like some gross creature.

Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical of Jay at first. He stuttered at least twice a sentence and could barely get any words out at first. Once I got him warmed up to talking to me, he actually seemed like a really cool guy.

"Looks like someone's early," I tease as he walks in before the bell rings.

"You're earlier," he responds, setting his backpack down at his desk before sitting down.

"I had to get away from the stares from my ex who won't leave me alone. What's your excuse?"

He looks at me with his bright blue eyes,"I finished my lunch and got bored." I've never had a friend with blue eyes. All of the girls in cheer either had hazel, brown, or green eyes, and all of the guys Kai hung out with at the time had brown eyes. I wouldn't say Jay is my friend, but he's the closest thing I have right now, even only after one conversation.

"You ready to present?" I ask him. After I ask that, I notice how nervous he is. It's obvious in his demeanor. He's fidgeting with his fingers, and I can see his chest rising and falling at a quick pace.

"Not really," he admits.

"Want to know my secret for how to present well?" I offer. He immediately nods. "Think, how many people in the crowd can you name? How many of those people do you actually talk to?"

"None," he answers.

"So that's how many people's opinions actually matter. If you won't talk to them, why does it matter what they think? This class is all about improving," I inform him.

He sits there, thinking about it. Finally, he lets out a sigh,"You're right. It's just...hard."

"It takes a while to get use to, but when you have that mentality, the stress goes down," I speak from personal experience.

For a long time, I genuinely hated myself. Everyone told me I should for leaving the group. They told me I was a terrible person, but I have my reasons, and I stand behind them to this day. Initially, their glares and whispers caused me to lie in my room, crying at night. Slowly, I've learnt to roll my eyes and keep going with my day. They don't matter to me anymore.

Immediately after I say that, the bell rings. Students flood into the room, filling their seats. They chat with their friends, and several panic after remembering  about thenspeech that's due today. Once the bell rings again, everyone goes quiet.

"We're going to get started. Who would like to volunteer?" I look over to Jay, and he shakes his head side to side, signaling for me to not. As predicted, Zane is the first one to raise his hand. "Good enthusiasm Zane."

Both Zane and his partner, who happens to be his girlfriend PIXAL, go up. The two of them present each other casually, already knowing all the information about each other. However, PIXAL has a far away look in her eyes.

Once they're done, the teacher asks for more volunteers, but no one does. He starts to go down the list alphabetically, and near the end of the class, he calls my name, signaling for myself and my partner to head up

We walk up, and I decide to go first,"This is my partner, Jay. He's a senior. His favorite color is blue, and he is an only child. In ten years, he wants to have a job at Borg Industries. His favorite element is lightning because 'it looks cool.'" The class gives a lazy clap once I finish up. Now, it's Jay's turn.

"Th-this is my partner, Nya," he lets a stutter come out, and I can notice his hands are shaking, so he puts them in his pockets. "She's a junior. H-her favorite color is blue, and she has two siblings." He starts to talk faster in attempt to finish his speech faster. "In ten years, she wants to have made a positive impact on the world, and her favorite element is water because it's adaptable." Before the applause finishes, he's already walking back to his seat. Once he gets back, he puts his head in his hands.

"It's a slow process. If I'm being honest, that was better than I expected. You got the whole thing out," I try to encourage him. He looks up at me.

"Yeah, I guess it could've been worse."

"Next time, it'll be even better."

---

Skylor's POV

"Late on the first day?" Harumi asks me as I walk into cheer practice. All of the girls are already stretching in a circle. I set my backpack down.

I look up at the clock, which says 2:55,"You told me that practice starts at three."

"Whoops, my bad. Come join the stretching circle," she pats the spot next to her. Although I don't really want to, I take the spot next to her. "Girls, this is Skylor. She's joining the squad." The rest of the girls wave at me. "She's behind all of us right now because she doesn't know any of our things, but she might catch up to the rest of us."

"I can help teach her the routines," a girl with black hair and very pale skin offers. She has a slight accent, but I don't know where it's from.

"It's fine Faith. As captain," she puts significant emphasis on the word captain,"I'll take the responsibility."

We keep stretching for five more minutes before Harumi decides it's time to practice jumps. Although a warm up should consist of actually getting your muscles warm instead of just stretching cold muscles, I let Harumi do her thing.

"Okay so first we're going to do our toe touches. Skylor, you can go next to Faith in the back row since you don't know what we're doing," Harumi banishes me to the back, even though I've practiced toe touches before.

I let her do what she wants. Most of the things she says to me are backhanded compliments. I don't know what I did to frustrate her, but I'm hoping I can find a way to her good side.

It's weird that she's including me when she clearly doesn't like me. Today at lunch she had me sit next to her, but then she also told me to sit back and watch because I don't understand the group dynamic. I'm not going to leave though, because I don't want to be trash talked as much as they trash talk Nya.

"We're going to count to 3 and then do two in a row. We'll do that three times," she announces. The girls groan as if that's terrible. "Ready, one, two, three!" I whip my legs up above my hips as I'm in the air, land, then do the same thing again. Everyone else looks like they're doing happy stars, their feet barely getting inches off the ground. Everyone except Harumi's, whose are decent. After Harumi sees my jumps, she looks me up and down. "I thought you said you only practiced tumbling."

"I also did jumps when I was bored," I tell her.

We move on to other things. She makes me watch during the stunts because I'm "inexperienced". She also has me watch as they practice cheers. I try to take in as many as possible, seeing as I don't know any of their cheers. After that, practice wraps up.

"Sleepover at my place tomorrow. Everyone is invited. Skylor needs her initiation," all of the girls cheer after Harumi makes the announcement.

I turn to Mackenzie,"Should I be scared?"

She contemplates my question,"Only a little. We all had to do it. It's a pre-Harumi tradition."

"Starts at 7 PM and ends at noon," Harumi gives the details as people pack up their stuff.

As everyone starts to leave, the door opens. A girl with silver hair tied up in a bun and green eyes smiles at us. She's dressed in exercise shorts and a tank top, like the rest of us.

"I came to join the squad," she announces.

Harumi steps forward, baffled,"You think we're letting anyone in these days, PIXAL? It's a joke you think we'd let you in. Separate yourself from your loser boyfriend, then we'll talk." Harumi walks out of the room, and the rest of the squad follows. PIXAL stands there with her head down, a sad look on her face. I walk over to her.

"I'm sorry. That was rude of her," I place a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me, taking in my appearance.

"Thank you, for apologizing. People usually just stand by and don't care," she gives me a genuine smile, even though there's still sadness in her eyes.

"It's nothing. I need to go now. I hope you feel better," I sling my bag over my shoulder. I push open the doors to the gym and walk out of the school through the halls. All of the lockers are chained off, so no one uses them, but they're still there. Apparently kids hid drugs in them several years back, so now no one can use them.

I take a sharp turn left around the corner and run into someone, causing me to drop my water bottle. It cracks and water splashes all over the ground, drenching my white shoes.

"Oh my gosh Skylor, I'm so sorry," Kai tells me. His eyes are wide, and he picks up the broken water bottle. He's drenched in sweat and has a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

"It's fine. I got it from the dollar store anyways. Did you just get out of practice?"

He looks down at his appearance,"Is it that obvious?"

"Just a little," I smile. I go to walk away, but he stops me.

"I was actually looking for you. I was hoping you hadn't left yet," he admits.

I raise an eyebrow,"Is something wrong?"

"No," he leans against the chained up lockers next to him,"I was just curious how your practice went. Harumi wasn't too mean, was she?"

"Only a little, but oh well. She told me the wrong practice time."

"Typically Harumi. I honestly think she's threatened by you," he informs me.

My eyes widen, "But I've only been here all of two days! I haven't done anything."

"But all of the boys are captivated by you and not her, you're better than her at cheer by a long shot, and you're making people realize she's not as great as she claims to be," at this news, I sigh.

"I don't want that. Besides, if she's so threatened by me, why include me in everything?"

"She has this saying that she tells me at least once every week,'Keep your friends close, enemies closer, and exes the closest.' Right now, I'd say you're in the enemy zone," he stands up from against the locker and gestures for me to walk with him. I oblige.

"What can I do to get out of the enemy territory?" I ask him. He shrugs.

"Maybe try to act like you're not a threat," he comes up with an idea from the top of his head.

"But I'm not one," I tell him.

He gives an "are you serious?" look before we reach his truck. "Where's your car?"

"I don't have one. I never learnt how to drive because I was on that island. My dad is going to pick me up in," I glance down at my phone to where my dad sent me a text,"two hours because there was a shipping problem at his work."

Kai opens the door of his car that I'm standing next to,"Get in. I'm driving you home."

"My dad wouldn't be happy with a guy I just met yesterday driving me home," I from him.

He shrugs,"and I wouldn't be happy leaving you alone here for some creeper to take you. Just tell him Harumi drove you home after inviting you to a sleepover."

I raise my eyebrows,"How did you..."

"There's always an initiation sleepover after someone joins the squad. I've picked up on the pattern," he interrupts me, jogging around to get into the drivers side of the car. With a sigh, I get in the car, typing my address into the GPS on his phone.

His car rumbles to a start before he starts to drive. It's obviously a used car. There's no radio, and the air conditioning doesn't seem to work. The windows manually roll down, so you need to crank the handle to move them.

"Do you not drive your sister home?" I ask him. He shakes his head.

"I have practice right now, so I can't, but even when I don't she won't let me. She says that she'd rather walk home for over an hour than be stuck in a car with me," he sighs, turning on his blinker to switch lanes.

"Ouch."

"You're telling me. She doesn't have any friends though, so she's naturally grumpy a lot of the time," he lets out a big sigh.

I take the time to really take in his features. He's lean, but still muscular. His nose is fairly small, like a little slope. His eyes are a warm shade of brown.

"Is she as bad as Harumi says?" I ask him. Quickly, he shakes his head.

"Not at all. Harumi's just upset someone went against her," he grumbles. We ride more of the way in silence. His eyes are set on the road, and I let my dad know I got a ride home with a friend.

"What...happened to her?" I ask while we're at a stoplight.

He sighs,"It's not my place to tell. The gist of it is just that she was at a party and bad stuff happened, and she wanted to leave the group because of it, and that pissed Harumi off." The light turns green, so we start driving again. Soon, we enter my neighborhood. "I just wish Harumi could stop being a jerk and actually let her have some friends and be happy."

"Why don't you tell her to stop then?" I ask the honest question that I've been wondering.

He cocks his head to the side,"What do you mean?"

"From what I've seen, you're the only one that has enough power to stand up against her. She might stop if you ask her to," I suggest.

"I've tried. She doesn't care," he tells me. With a right turn, we reach my house. It's not as big as our house on the island, but it's still a fairly big house. Kai's eyes widen. "Your house is huge."

"Thank you for driving me home, even if I didn't want you to at first," I thank him, grabbing my backpack.

"It's nothing. Tell me if you ever need a ride again," he puts his sunglasses on. I walk to the door and unlock it. Looking back, I see he hasn't left yet. Once I open the door, I give him a wave, and he waves back before driving off. I flop down on the couch and decide to take a nap, falling into unconsciousness knowing that the queen of the school sees me as a threat.

A/N: another chapter down

I worked out yesterday and now my hips and calves are so sore it's insane, but oh well

For plot purposes, the only main characters who aren't seniors are Lloyd and Nya who are juniors (I know Harumi is younger but I'm going to ignore that)

The only main character who hasn't made an appearance is coming next chapter

Thank you guys for reading 💞