#whizzer does not. He tried it once or twice and was like. Eh. not for me. He strikes me as a guy who'd just say pot

[dogwhizzer]

falsettos characters ranked by what they call weed and how much they partake

[theopennotebook]

Skins FanFic

Chapter 1: New School, Same You

I sat, paralyzed in the passenger’s seat of our new SUV. It felt so odd to be sitting on the left side of the car and not have a steering wheel in front of me. It felt bizarre to be driving on the left side of the road. Most of all, it felt absolutely absurd to be wearing a raincoat in January instead of long underwear and a heavy down-filled coat. Where was the snow? The ice? The winter festivity? I let my head fall against the glass with a thud.

“I can come inside with you if want sweetie.” My mom placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“No, I’ll manage. I always do.” I popped open the car door, pulling my small polka dotted backpack begrudgingly over one shoulder.

“It’ll be different this time. As your dad said, this is a semi-permanent placement. This could be the last move for us.”

I slid out into the rain, stuffing ends of my ringlets into my hood.

“Different town. Same story.” I let the car door slam behind me.

I hadn’t taken two steps before I heard the car tires start to splash through the puddles. 

I sighed as I took in the school. Roundview College, it had come highly recommended by many of my dad’s colleagues. It looked like any other school to me. There were skateboarders grinding the rails of the stairs. One in particular - a dark-haired, mocha skinned boy – shook the water out of his like a puppy. I let my gaze trail along the other students milling about. They landed on a thin girl leaning against the building trying to light a cigarette. She was such a stereotypical rebel: dishevelled hair, chunky black combat boots, tights, her opened raincoat exposing a pale blue silhouette dress whose hemline classified it more as a long top. Having finally lit her cigarette she took a long drag and nonchalantly allowed her gaze to trail around the school grounds. It took me a moment to realize that her gaze stopped on me. I watched as she sized me up, not once, but twice. Then she just stared, her face indifferent and impossible to read. I began to feel uncomfortable, realizing that not only had she caught me staring but that I was still standing just paces from where my mom had dropped me off.

“Different town. Same Story.” I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and began to walk towards the entrance of the school. 

The halls reeked of damp shoes and long forgotten lunches stuffed into the backs of lockers before the Christmas break. I glanced around to see if I could find the office. No such luck. And of course, just then students began to engulf the hallway. Just what I needed. I felt myself being bumped this way and that by rowdy teenagers trying to make their way to their lockers or to meet up with friends. Without warning a particularly loud boy came booming into the hall hollering “Are you fuckers ready for round two?!” I rolled my eyes and vowed to avoid him, he did not seem like the type to attract good company. To my dismay, as he tried to make his way past me he knocked my backpack off of my shoulder.

“Hey!” I called reflexively. 

He spun on his heels, with a cocky air and a raised eyebrow. He marched over to me, standing just a bit too closely for my comfort. My body told me to step back, get him out of my personal space, but my pride told me otherwise.

“Can I help you?”

“You knocked… I mean you bumped…You can’t just - ”

“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do?” He narrowed his gaze at me. “ You’re not from here are you, princess?” 

Out of fear that I would continue to babble like an inarticulate child I remained silent but continued to hold his stare.

“A quiet one, hmm.” He seemed to be contemplating the implications of my silence. Finally, his mouth shifted from a thin line to a sly smirk “Allow me to introduce myself New Girl.” He circled me until he stood behind me, standing even closer than before. He breathed two words down the side of my neck causing me to shiver. 

“I’m Cook.”

There was an obvious arrogance about him. Cook smelled of laundry detergent, cigarettes and a hint of vodka. Part of me wanted to know him… part of me wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

“What do you think J.J., you think this American will last?” He yelled as he stepped back, to a curly-haired boy who was standing awkwardly in front of a row of lockers a few feet away. The boy searched for words but finally gave up simply nodding frantically in response to Cook.

Cook chuckled making his way back in front of me. 

“I’m not American!” I called as he started to walk away.

“See you later Princess!” He called over his shoulder as he and J.J. continued to make their way down the hall.  

“Don’t mind Cook, he’s a bit of a nob really. Is it true that you’re American?” A bubbly, knee-high striped sock wearing girl appeared in front of me.

“Um no… I’m from Canada…” I found myself answering.

“Whizzer! So you’re an immigrant!” She spoke with such vigour that her pigtails flopped around as she spoke.

“…I guess…”

“Have you been to the office yet? You have to meet Doug! He’ll tell you everythin’ you need to know about everythin’!”

Before I could answer, her hand grabbed mine and was pulling me rather enthusiastically down a hall going on about how I was the most exotic person she had ever met aside from her ex-boyfriend who came from Africa or something like that.

“Here we are, the office!” She said finally letting go of my hand. “ Well go on then, he won’t bite.” She said, not giving me a chance to knock before doing it herself and then opening the door.

The office was very typical of a school. A desk across from the door with two wooden chairs on one side and a leather, authoritative looking chair on the other. Off to the left were multitudes of filing cabinets which I assumed contained the information of all of the students and faculty. To the right was a wooden door marked “Principal”. A suited, balding man sat in the leather chair reading a magazine

“Hey there Doug, look who I found just standin’ in the hall all by herself! Well, she wasn’t really all by herself, she was talking to Cook. Isn’t that right?” She said turning to me. “Well, anyways she’s new! She’s from Canada! How exotic is that?”

“Yes. Thank you, Pandora. You may head to homeroom now.”

Pandora smiled and then bubbled out of the office, closing the door behind her.

“I’m assuming that you are Miss Eastwood? Please, sit.” Doug rose from his chair, indicating for me to take a seat.

I slipped onto the chair, resting my backpack on the chair beside me.

“Welcome to England Miss Eastwood. Oggy Oggy Oggy!”

I couldn’t manage to conceal the look of confusion on my face. Doug seemed to shrug off my reaction.

“How long have you been in this beautiful country of ours?”

“We get here a week ago. The jetlag finally seems to be wearing off.”

Doug smiled, a bit too enthusiastically, and then proceeded to give me a copy of my schedule and explain the workings of Roundview to me. I couldn’t help but space out and think about all my friends back home starting to pick out prom dresses… I was missing my own prom…  By no means did plucking a twelfth grader out of school in the middle of the school year only to plunk her in Bristol seem like a good idea to me… 

“Well Miss Eastwood, let’s get you to homeroom. We wouldn’t want you being too late on your first day.” Doug smiled and he indicated for me to stand.

As we walked through the hall he tried to make conversation by telling me about events I had missed before the Christmas break: sports events and dances and bake sales and other various regular school excursions.

“Ah, here we are. Your homeroom. You’re in luck, your Psychology professor, one of our finest, has recently taken her job back. She’ll make sure to get you settled in quite well.”

I shimmied out of my rain jacket and tousled my hair a bit as he knocked on the door.

“Excuse me, Angie? Ah, yes, I have a new addition for you today.”

“Come in, come in and introduce yourself, we won’t bite.”

I found myself making my way slowly over to an empty chair at an empty table in the middle of the classroom… Right beside Cook. 

“Well then, come on up and introduce yourself!” Angie said smiling at me.

I dropped my things on the chair. I found myself fidgeting with the bracelets that ran midway up my forearm as I made my way up to the front of the class.

“Well, my name is Zyeleika Eastwood,” I began. “ I’m from a city called Ottawa in Canada.”

“Canadian, eh?!” Someone called from the back. The class erupted into giggles.

“Well, ya..”

“Lovely, how long have you been here Zyeleika?” Angie asked me.

“Um, about a week?”

“Good, so you’ve had time to adjust to the time change. What brought you across the pond to our side?”

“My dad is a British Ambassador. We were stationed in Canada for the past 4 years at the Embassy there, but recently he got transferred back here.”

“Sounds like quite the adventurous life! Does that mean you’ve travelled a lot?”

“Ya, my family and I have lived pretty much all over the world.”

“Well, that’s fascinating Zyeleika, welcome to - ”

 The door swung open and in walked the dark-haired boy I saw skateboarding, the girl who was smoking and Pandora. What the three of them could possibly have in common I would never guess.

 “Well, I suppose you all have a very good reason for interrupting my class.”

“Sorry, Angie.” The boy muttered and settled into a seat just behind mine.

“Well then Zyeleika, thank you and I hope you enjoy your time here at Roundview. Oh, Freddie? As punishment for interrupting my class today, you’ll be showing our new student around, yeah?” Both the dark-haired boy – Freddie – and I looked up at Angie in equal confusion. I didn’t want to be stuck with some ragamuffin skateboarder all day and from the looks of it, he wasn’t too keen on being stuck with me either. “You can take a seat now Zyeleika.”

 As I began to make my way back to my seat Freddie and I locked eyes. His didn’t suit his rough demeanour. Though they were dark, they were childlike, playful. He held my gaze until I sat in my seat. Cook had already taken my things off of my chair and set them on the desk in front of me… and was going through my day planner.

“That’s personal property.” I hissed at him as Angie started the lesson.

“Then you shouldn’t’ve left it lyin’ ‘round.”

“It was in my backpack. It wasn’t just lying around. Now give it back.”

“Y’know I could just listen to you talk all day, your accent just makes everything you say sound adorable.” He rested his head on his hand and let out an exaggerated sigh. “We in love yet princess?”

“Ew.”

“What’s the matter? Afraid of a real man?”

“I don’t know, all I see are little boys,” I said taking a sip of my water. This guy was turning into a problem.

“That’s ‘cause you haven’t seen what I can do with my cock.” 

I choked on my water, sputtering and gasping for air. Cook just sat, staring at me and smiling.

“That’s enough Cook, leave her alone.” I heard from behind me.

“Calm down Freds, we was just having a laugh. Weren’t we princess?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Well then Freddie, it seems that you’re keen on interrupting my class today. Would you be so kind as to share whatever it is that you and Mr Cook find so interesting?” Angie said from the front of the classroom. 

I glanced over my shoulder to see his reaction. His face had grown harder than before. 

“Well then, Mr McClair?”

“Sorry, Angie.”

“Holidays are over boys, time to focus. Now, where were we?” Angie said, turning her attention back to the rest of the class.

 I shifted so that my back was to Cook. As I tried to take notes, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that someone was watching me. The feeling kept getting more and more intense. I did a quick scan of the room and quickly found the culprit: the rebellious-looking girl from this morning.

Time flew by. Before I knew it, the bell rang and I began to pack up my things. I wasn’t even halfway through my first day of school and already I longed to be back in Canada, with normal people. As Cook got up to leave his arm brushed across the area of my back that my dress left exposed. I shivered, not knowing why. I waited until he was about 10 steps away before pulling on my coat.

“Hi, I’m Freddie,” I heard from behind me “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Zyeleika, but most people just call me Zye.”  

“Beautiful name. Did they assign you a locker?” 

“Oh, thanks. And no, they didn’t.”

“There’s an empty one beside mine. D’you have a lock?” 

“Ya, it’s somewhere in my bag.”

“Alright. It’s this way.”

I followed Freddie through the hallway in silence… admiring him… there was something about the way that he moved – so fluid and light – it didn’t seem to suit him at all. 

“Here it is.” He said opening the locker for me.

“Thank you,” I said sliding off my coat.

“So, let’s see your schedule then.”

Embarrassed I reached into the pocket of my coat and handed him an origami swan. I couldn’t quite decipher the look on his face as he took it and began to unfold it.

“I make swans when I’m anxious…” I said too quickly, trying to break the awkward silence.

He nodded and smiled faintly. “It’s cool. It’s not as uncommon as you think.” He cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his hair as if wiping out the words that were going to come out next. “Your next class is Chemistry. My friend J.J.’s in that class. I’ll see if he can walk you there. I would do it myself, but I have Calc upstairs and I really can’t be late.”

“You really don’t have to do that Freddie.”

“I promised Angie I’d help you get around today, I’m going to keep that promise.”

I smiled, then turned back to putting my things in my locker. 

“What took you so long mate?” Freddie called over my shoulder.

“Sorry, I got distracted. I was in the library looking at pictures of the solar system. What a magnificent planet we live on. Don’t usually remember it because of all the shit going on but it is beautiful.”

I giggled, he was like a babbling child.

“Oh, sorry. Where are my manners? I’m J.J. You’re an American, aren’t you?”

“I’m Canadian. My name’s Zye.”

“Nice to meet you. Freddie’s text says that we have Chemistry together.”

I smiled at J.J. I liked his energy.

“Not that type of Chemistry of course. I mean, we hardly know each other. Though I mean you are a rather attractive young lady but then there are so many other variables associated with two people being attracted to each other like whether or not you actually find me attractive and what your preferences are - ”

“J.J!” Freddie yelled.

“Oh, sorry. I got locked on, didn’t I?”

Freddie nodded.

“Sorry Zye, I just get over-stimulated sometimes. What were we talking about again?

“Chemistry.”

“Right, Chemistry. Right, this way my good lady!” J.J. exclaimed with a grin. 

The entire walk to class, all I could think about was wanting to ruffle his beautiful hair.