First Day

First Day

Laura fidgeted with her tie as she stared into the car’s overhead vanity mirror.  While she *was* trying to get it straight, there was also a lot of nervous energy behind her motions.  She wasn’t even sure *why* she was nervous considering she had walked fearlessly into much more difficult situations than this over the past few years.  Maybe it was because when she at least knew the rules in the underground fighting scene; beat the other guy senseless before he does the same to you.  Simple.  But this?  This is something she hadn’t done in a *long* time and what she could remember it wasn’t easy or entertaining in anyway.  And all the movies she had been able to watch over the years on the subject did nothing to easy her nerves.  

“It looks fine,” the older woman next to her reassured.  

The teenager sighed then flipped the sunblocker containing the mirror back up.  She laid her head on the back of the seat before she rolled it slightly towards the woman who had taken her in several weeks ago; Jessie Sterling.  One of the most prominent public figures in Hope City and one of the most richest people in the world.  She was also the one that changed Laura’s life in many ways.  From providing her a stable home for the first time in years to training her to help put her fighting spirit to good use, she had done more to help her than anyone else she could remember.  

Unfortunately, one of those things had been to enroll her in the Hope City Girl’s Academy.  A prospect that intimidated her more than when Jessie had revealed she was really the vigilante Nitehawk and offered Laura the chance to be her sidekick Crow.  

“Are you *sure* I have to do this?” she almost pleaded.  

“Yes.  Trust me it’s not that bad,” Jessie tried to reassure her.  “I went here and had a...few good times.”

“That doesn’t really instill me with confidence,” Laura remarked.  

“It’s nothing to do with the school,” the brunette clarified in a solemn tone.  “It was more my...personal reasons.”

“Oh.  Right,” the girl muttered, feeling ashamed of herself.  “Sorry I didn’t...”

“It’s fine,” the woman waved off then offered a surprisingly comforting smile.  “Look you’ll do fine.  After everything you’ve been through I think you’ll be able to handle high school.”

“Maybe a *normal* high school, but I’m just not sure I’ll fit in with all these uptight rich girls.”

“Trust me, high school is high school.  And after all the strings my mom had to pull as an alumni here, and a sizable donation to their library, you’re pretty much obligated to go at this point.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Laura sighed a she opened the car door.  She took a moment to look back at her guardian before she exited the vehicle.  “Still not sure why *you* had to drive me here though.  Don’t you have CEO business to do or something?”

“Good thing about being the one with your name on the building is you can make them wait for you when you need to,” she joked before her face turned stern again.  “Besides I wanted to make absolutely sure you go into that school.”

Laura shook her head with a slight chuckle as she got out of the car.  She turned around and leaned into the open window for one last word.

“Where’s the trust partner?” she teased.  

“Hey I trust you out there,” Jessie pointed toward downtown, “you still need to earn your trust for there,” she finished by turning her finger towards the school.  

“Okay, got it, don’t mess up!” the raven haired girl replied with an “OK” finger motion then turned towards the massive structure.  

“And have a good day!”

Laura gave a wave over her shoulder as she continued towards the school.  It wasn’t until she had her hand on the door handle that she heard the car drive off.  She paused a moment to take a look at her transparent reflection in the glass door.  She still wasn’t too comfortable with the HCGA uniform.  Especially since it looked like almost every fetishistic schoolgirl outfit she had seen in movies and Halloween stores over the years.  It included the practically standard white shirt and black tie but with a tan sweater vest over them and sporting the school’s emblem over her right breast.  Of course it also included a dark grey skirt that seemed a bit too short for something that was supposed to be a “modest” uniform topped off with black knee socks and white shoes.  Not really a look she liked sporting but she had to admit the skirt was pretty cute.  Though she was definitely going to have to be careful in how she moved in it.

“Alright,” she said then took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “Let’s get this over with.”  

She pulled open the door and stepped into start her new life for better or worse.  

( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )

After a stop by the headmistress’ office to get her schedule, a map of the school and her books in the official HCGA book bag, as well as a “Don’t screw around” speech, Laura set out to find her locker.  Thankfully there were enough helpful students around to guide her towards it that she barely needed to use the map.  Still she checked it a few times to make sure she had the right locker before she started to use the combination she had been given.  Fortunately she got them both right and soon enough she was sorting through her books and schedule to make sure she was putting the right ones in her bag and the others she didn’t need for now in her locker.  As she did so could hear the murmurs behind her and feel the eyes looking her over.  While she knew they were just trying to get a bead on “the new girl”, she still couldn’t help but tense up just a bit out of habit.  She took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself but a light tap on her left shoulder set her off and on instinct brought her up her right fist in preparation knock out whoever it was.

“Don’t hit me!” the frightened girl shrieked and held her own book bag up in front of her face for protection.  

Laura’s pupils seemed to widen just a bit a she snapped out of her “attack mode” and quickly lowered her arm.  

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-just don’t sneak up on me like that, okay?” she quickly apologized.

“O-okay,” the other girl replied timidly as she slowly lowered her bag.  “I just wanted to say ‘hi’.”  

“Oh.  Uh hi.  My name’s Laura Sterling,” she introduced herself, holding out her hand.  

Even after she lowered her bag, the other girl’s face was still partially obscured by her long black bangs that hung in front of her face.  She brushed one aside with her right hand to reveal a uniquely maroon colored eye before she took Laura’s offered hand and lightly shook it.  

“Wendy,” she said softly.  “Wendy Wilson.”  

“Pleased to meet you Wendy,” Laura greeted again with a friendly smile.  “Sorry again I just get kind..twitchy when people sneak up on me.”

“No it’s my fault.  I should have thought about what I was doing first.  I just wanted to say hello because I didn’t know if anyone else was going to.”

“Yeah I heard them muttered back there,” she tilted her head towards the crowd she knew was still watching them.  “I met a couple of nice girls who helped me find my way here but I guess the curse of being the new girl is that people aren’t sure what to make of you.”

“Well no one here’s really *that* bad and I’m sure they’ll get to you know soon enough you just have to be careful to stay away from-”

“Wilson!” a shrill voice called out that caused the timid girl to let out a terrified squeak and shrink back.  

Laura gave her a curious look before she turned towards the direction of the voice to see who else could scare the girl so much.  Somehow she wasn’t surprised to see a stuck up looking blonde flanked by two other girls walking their way.  Or sashaying their way was more like it.  Like Wendy the blonde had halve her face obscured by one long, thick bang that went down past her chin while the rest of her hair was tied up into a high pony tail that still went down to her mid back and swayed behind her with ever self important step she made.  The girl to her right featured bright pink hair down to her shoulder blades and a scowl that somehow perfectly matched the smirk on the blonde’s face.  The last girl also had long hair but her light brown hair was tied up into pigtails that Laura was sure she though looked just adorable despite her smug looking face.  

The sense of dread and danger Laura felt before returned in spades and once again her body tensed up as the trio came to a stop in front of them.  The regarded her for barely a second before they glared at Wendy.  

“I *thought* I told you to stay out of this hallway so I wouldn’t have to run the chance of seeing your wormy little face to ruin my day,” the blonde sneered.  

“I’m-I’m-I’m sorry Brittany, I-I-I-was...was...” Wendy stammered out in absolute terror.  

“Just *what* Withering Wendy?’ Brittany growled as she placed her hands on her hips in annoyance, an action repeated by the other two girls.

“Just talking to me,” Laura spoke up as she stepped between the two.  “You got a problem with that Blondie?”  

“It’s *Brittany*,” the girl corrected in an overly obnoxious way.  

“Oh of course it is,” the raven haired girl muttered with a roll of her eyes.

“Hey don’t you do that to *me*! *I’m* the one who does that to *you* new girl!” Brittany corrected as she jabbed a finger into Laura’s chest.  

Laura glared down at the finger currently pushed on the crest of her sweater vest and for the briefest of seconds thought of simply reaching up and breaking it back to teach this uppity bitch a lesson she’d never forget but knew that’s not what Jessie would want her to do.  So instead she just closed her eyes and took another controlling breath.  As she did so, it finally hit her where she had seen this scenario before and she couldn’t help but smirk as she opened her eyes again.

“And what’s so funny?” Brittany demanded as she pulled her hand back and crossed her arms over her amble sized chest.  

“You are,” Laura said surprisingly calmly.  

“What?!” the blonde shrieked in disbelief, her arms falling limply at her sides.  

“Yeah because you’re living up to every single high school rich girl cliche, like, ever!  Let me guess, you’re the Alpha Bitch who runs this school with an iron fist and there’s *nothing* that goes on around here with you say so or knowing about it, right?”

“Well...I...” Brittany stammered, completely taken off guard.  

“Thought so,” Laura nodded then looked at the other two.  “And I’m guessing you two follow her around like her attack dogs out of some sense of either misplaced loyalty or desire to be popular cause you just don’t know how else to make it in high school while secretly you really hate or.  Or maybe you *are* just as bad as her and you call really enjoy being in this bitchy clique.  Don’t really know you enough to make that call right now, just guessing.”

The pink head and brunette looked just as confused and insulted as Brittany and were about to offer rebuttals of their own when a raised hand form their leader cut them off.  Brittany took a step closer to Laura, her brow furrowed and light green eyes practically glowing in anger.

“No listen here you little tramp!” she hissed venomously.  “No one and I mean *no one* in this school talks to me like *that*!”

“Then it pleases me to be the first,” the short haired girl smirked.  

Brittany gaffed and took a step back in utter surprise.  She clenched her fists tightly as her faced scrunched a bit more and started to turn red.

“You know if you keep doing that to your face it’s gonna age really quickly,” Laura joked.

“Shut up!  Just shut!  UP!” the girl screamed, drawing even more attention to the confrontation.  “If you don’t shut up right now I swear to by all that is holy I will do *everything* in my power to make sure that your next four years here are a living hell scape of nightmares!”

“Three actually,” she pointed out.

“What?!”

“I’m a sophomore so it’d only be three years.”

For some reason that seemed to calm Brittany down and her usual smirk of superiority returned as she crossed her arms over her chest again to purposely push it up.  

“Well I was just guessing you were a freshman because you certainly don’t seem *developed* enough to be a sophomore to me.”

“Oh dang you’re right.  Guess I just keep myself in shape too much to have big lumps of fat to be hanging off my chest,” Laura retorted.

Again the insult left Brittany speechless with a horrified look on her face which actually caused Wendy to laugh a bit.  
“Don’t YOU dare laugh at me Withering Wendy!” she snapped in a shrill voice that caused a few of the girls around them to hold their ears.  

“Why not, it was funny,” Laura countered, earning her another heated glare from the quickly unraveling girl.  “Look before you embarrass yourself even further, let’s just settle this now.  Nothing you can say or do can intimidate me in any way.  I’ve been through so much stuff out on the streets where it *really* matters that all this high school drama crap doesn’t mean a thing to me.  Plus as far as physical intimidation goes, I’ve taken down guys four times your size so I wouldn’t even break a sweat knocking you own your prissy little ass!”

Brittany suddenly seemed like she was going to make another snide comment but Laura was quick to cut her off.

“‘What but getting down on your knees’?” she asked mockingly.  “That’s what you were going to say, right?”

The other girl stammered a bit.  “No!”

“Sure...” the black haired girl smirked before she turned back to her new friend.  “Come on Wendy let’s get go.  We’re done here.”

“Um...okay,” the surprised girl quickly agreed and started to walk away with her.

“Yeah you better walk away” Brittany shouted in a desperate attempt to save her reputation.  “You sure talk a big game but I bet you don’t even know *how* to fight!”  

Laura sighed then handed Wendy her bag.  She cast a glance over her shoulder to see that Brittany had been brave enough to take a few steps toward them.  That would prove to be a huge mistake.  Without another word, Laura spun on her right heel and in one quick motion brought her left foot right up to the annoying girl’s face.  There was a slight breeze that told her she didn’t want to try to do anything like that again in this uniform but the look on Brittany’s face as her heel stopped just half an inch away from the frightened blonde’s face was totally worth it.  She smirked then slowly lowered her leg.  

“That’s what I thought,” she replied amid the snickers and excited murmurs of the other girls.

Brittany looked around at the crowd and could already catch a few whispers about how the new girl had “owned” her just now.  She growled before letting out one last frustrated shriek then blew the bang hanging in front her face upwards a bit before she turned on her own heel towards the two girls behind her.

“Let’s go!  We have more important things to do!” she ordered with a snap of her fingers.  

The two girls looked at each other than towards Laura before they followed behind Brittany once again.  Laura beamed just a bit as she looked towards Wendy again.
“And thaaaat’s how you do that!” she remarked.  

“I’ve never seen anyone stand up to Brittany like that before!” Wendy exclaimed.  

“Somehow I’m not surprised.  Seems like people like that always seem to worm their way into power.  But my guardian gave me the best piece of advice to deal with a bully.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t be afraid of them.  In fact turn that fear on them and they’ll lose their power.  Hell look around right now,” she pointed to the groups of other girls talking amongst themselves.  “Guarantee what I just did is gonna make it around school today and before the day is over half the people that *were* afraid of her won’t be anymore.  I mean even *you* started laughing at her.  I’m guessing that hadn’t happen before, right?”

Wendy just shook her head.  

“See?” Laura said as she place an arm around the girl’s shoulders.  “Stick with me and I’ll show you how to stand up to a stuck up bitch like that.”

“Okay!” she said excitedly.  “And...um...thanks.”

“No problem.  Thanks for being my first real friend here.  Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.”

“I’ll do my best..”

“I know you will.”  

Two continued to talk as they walked the hallways towards their respective classes, full of promise of just what the day may bring.  


The End