Chapter Seven
"So where are you from?” Rhonda asked. She and Aradia shuffled to the end of the cafeteria line.
"Arizona," Aradia replied as she placed $2.75 in the cashier's outstretched hand.
"Wow," said Rhonda. "That’s a way’s away. What's it like there?"
"Boring, hence why we left," Aradia said.
"Mmm," Rhonda replied. After a pause, she raised an inquisitive eyebrow and asked, “We?”
"My parents and I," Aradia explained. “No siblings.”
Rhonda nodded.
The pair slowly made their way through the mass of tables crowded into the lunchroom. Even with that many tables, there was still hardly an empty seat, and Aradia wondered how the area stacked up against Salem fire codes.
“Geez,” she muttered, “it’s packed.”
“It’ll be less jammed when the weather is nicer out. You should have seen it before they split it up into two lunches,” Rhonda replied.
“With all the talking and shoving, it feels less like a school and more like a Nine Inch Nails concert,” Aradia quipped.
“Nine Inch Nails? Is that an Arizona band?”
“And I thought I was sheltered,” Aradia replied.
Soon, Rhonda had led them to a table a bit more isolated from the rest. Aradia had a feeling she was at what would be known in school TV dramas as "the loser table."
She glanced at Rhonda who was already joining the others seated at the table. She struggled with herself over whether this was the direction she wanted to take her social standing. Rhonda looked over and, braces sparkling, asked, "So you sitting down or what?"
Realizing that just one day prior she had been encouraging her dad not to worry what others thought, Aradia decided to practice what she preached. With a mental shrug, she took a seat next to Rhonda. Besides, Rhonda seems like a good, honest person. Her friends are probably real friends to her.
“Everyone, this is Aradia. She’s new. Aradia, meet everyone. This is Everett,” she introduced, and gestured to a large, friendly-looking boy who seemed a bit bashful. When Rhonda gestured toward him, he gave an awkward grunt and fidgeted with his glasses.
“This is Felix,” Rhonda went on. Felix had wispy, blonde hair, which looked a bit like he’d given himself a good static charge with a balloon just moments earlier. Aradia suspected it always looked that way. He was short, but not too short. She could tell his height because when Rhonda introduced him, he stood and shook her hand. Aradia later learned that his pointy nose and eyes were pretty much permanently glued to a comic book, so she took it as quite a compliment that he greeted her so politely.
“And last but not least, meet Calvin,” Rhonda finished up. Calvin wore his jet black hair in spikes and had a white, rodent-like face. Aradia thought his hair looked amazing, but that he wasn’t doing himself any favors with his sneering attitude.
Everybody was reading. Everett had a gaming magazine with a picture of a Mechwarrior in combat on the front cover. Felix was engrossed in a Green Lantern comic. Calvin had a large pile of books on the table, and was currently reading a particularly huge one.
“Calvin’s family is one of the richest in Salem,” Everett leaned over the table and loudly whispered to Aradia.
“Can it,” Calvin replied. “I can hear you.”
“That’s really neat,” Aradia said to Calvin, as if she hadn’t heard his protest. “I hope if my family were that rich I’d still wear normal clothes, not pretentious silk shirts like… some people might.”
Without looking up, Felix said, “I think the name you were looking for was Tristan.”
Aradia blushed. She realized there had been a lot of blushing, lately.
“So what does your family do?” Aradia asked.
“Er…” Calvin grumbled, mood seeming to turn even more foul at the question. “We uh, they… sell plumbing equipment.”
Without missing a beat, Aradia replied, “Well, there’s always a market for it.”
Aradia was thrilled by how accepting this motley crew was of her, an outsider. As they were all discussing their experiences on their first day and a half of school, Aradia heard a warm, familiar voice from behind her. "Hey speedy, 'sup?"
Aradia grinned wide as she turned to look at Roy and replied, "Hey there yourself."
“I’m sorry I missed you for lunch yesterday,” he apologized. “My family had a thing.”
She waved it off. “You’re here now.”
With a glance around the table, Roy asked, "Do you want to sit with me and my crew?”
Aradia didn’t quite like the implication in Roy’s voice, and her enthusiasm at seeing him again suddenly vanished, as did her big smile. Benefit of the doubt, Rai, she reminded herself.
In an edged tone, she asked, "What’s that supposed to mean?"
Roy shrugged, careful not to spill his tray in the process. "I’m just saying..." he began, but trailed off as if the rest of the thought were clear enough that it did not need to be spoken aloud.
Aradia scowled. Rhonda interjected, "You know, we'd understand if you want to sit with him, Aradia."
Aradia glanced around at the others with whom she had just been happily chatting.
Turning back to Roy, she said, "No thanks, Roy. I am perfectly happy sitting here."
"Are you sure?" he asked, obviously doubtful.
“You’re welcome to join us,” Aradia ignored his question.
He seemed taken aback by the suggestion. “Thanks, but I have people waiting for me.”
Aradia just nodded in response.
He seemed to search for the right words. Apparently not finding them, Roy walked off.
"That was pretty cool of you," said Everett.
Aradia smiled at him as a show of thanks.
"I think it's only fair to warn you," Rhonda pointed out, "that sitting with us on a regular basis will lower your Popularity Quotient at this school several points."
Aradia shrugged, and with a gentle smile replied, "Yeah, well, if I want to be popular, I can audition for American Idol or something."
“Oh, can you sing?” Rhonda asked.
Aradia replied, “Hell no, but I don’t think that’s actually a requirement to audition for American Idol.”
Everyone gave Aradia a polite laugh. Even Calvin allowed his dour mood to lighten a bit. It seemed that the tension created by Roy’s proposal had been successfully dissipated, and Aradia took the good humor to symbolize her acceptance into the group.
After some friendly chatting and hungry munching, Everett put down his magazine and turned his head to look to and fro curiously.
"What's up, Everett?" asked Felix, noticing his odd behavior.
Everett shook his head and very unconvincingly said, "Nothing."
"No seriously, Everett, spill," Rhonda instructed, now curious herself.
"It’s just that people are staring at us," said Everett.
"Dude," interjected Calvin, rolling his eyes and rubbing his lip stud, "they always stare at us."
Everett shook his head. "No, it's more than usual today. It's more intense. It’s weird."
Aradia glanced over her shoulder and got a feeling of déjà vu. It was just like she’d noticed in the hallways. Mostly, people ignored her, but certain heads in the crowd would pause on her and her group for just a moment. And all those heads belonged to people who seemed too beautiful to be real.
Aradia shook off the feeling of uneasiness. Still, she knew that whatever the reason was, it was somehow about her, not her new friends.
Turning her back on the crowd, she said, "Forget 'em. It's no big deal."
"Still," Everett continued, "it’s just weird how they keep staring."
"Maybe they forgot to take their medication," Aradia grumbled.
Everett’s face and tone turned cold as he replied, "I take medication. Anti-depressants to be exact."
Embarrassed, Aradia tried to turn the conversation around. Deadpan, she said, "Oh, I didn’t mean depressio
n medication."
Everett took stock of the situation, not sure where she was going yet, and still a little offended.
"Anti-depression meds are for the cool kids, like us," Aradia explained. "The weirdos are probably taking anti-psychotics and stimulants and stuff. Plus, those are just medications for the mind. I bet the starers are also taking other medications, the kind that improve, you know, other parts of the body." She added a wicked grin to drive the punchline home.
After a brief silence, everyone at the table burst out laughing. Aradia stretched her arms behind her head, completely satisfied.
Aradia lay in bed, cozy and happy. Her first week at Salem High proved long and tiring, but she felt good about her time there nonetheless. She had made four probable friends, which was three more than she’d ever really had before, and one whom she hoped would become a friend despite a rocky turn of events. She liked her classes and teachers, finding them generally stimulating. In spite of finding one enemy, Tristan, the student body seemed generally accepting and at worst neutral. This simple lack of animosity towards her was a huge and pleasant contrast to Arizona.
Then there were The Starers. They were inexplicable on several levels, and they bothered her greatly. Aradia had noticed early on that much of the student body of Salem High was ridiculously attractive. She was now certain that the people staring at her were all members of the Too Pretty to be Real Students crowd. Rather, they were members of the Too Pretty to be Real Students crowds, with an “s” on the end.
These gorgeous people flocked together in close circles, and seemed to be completely isolated from the rest of the school. They were always whispering or nodding to each other as if they shared some sort of code.
“It’s totally suspicious,” she whispered with a silly grin on her face as she drifted to sleep. “Pretty people who maintain exclusive cliques. Especially in high school. I smell something strange afoot.”
Still, try though she did to talk herself out of it, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something big. She felt surrounded by a "perfect" race of people who were a little too interested in her. She had troubling dreams of dangerous groups who all shared a deep, dark secret.