The Geek Revolution ✓

08 | queen

NOW THAT I KNOW DREW, I thankfully have a reason to stop sitting with Terrence on the school bus.

Last week, I didn't have too many options. Empty seats were scarce on the bus, and everyone gave me odd looks associated with being the weird new girl. Or, somehow my interactions with the Monarchy got around to them. Considering the rapid-fire spread of gossip that Madison demonstrated for me on the first day, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the care.

"Dinner was great last night," Drew tells me.

"Mom will be happy to hear that." I smile. "She's fixated on you and Sasha coming over more."

I omit the part about her arranging relationships. She's probably just eager for me to form new connections in Carsonville. The seat Drew and I sit in is markedly shabbier than Terrence's seat. It has patches of dried gum trampled into it, and pales when compared to the untouched condition of Terrence's row. Understandably so, considering he commands that seat like his own home.

In the doorway halfway down the bus, a sign is nailed up warning people not to stand there, since doors are liable to open at random times. Yet in the doorway, there are three people standing there. Back here is wilder, and keeps me on edge — which is why I find myself ducking every time something flies through the air. Most times, it's just spit-balls and paper scraps, but I know worse things have been and can be thrown.

Terrence hardly acknowledges me, or lack thereof, this morning. I barely catch a veiled look of hurt, before he reclaims his beloved window seat. Terrence doesn't look back once. I'm hardly affected, as I'm preoccupied trying to teach Drew how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock. It's quite messy, since I forget the order, and Drew keeps telling me, "Machine gun beats them all, anyway."

Ugh, gamers.

Morning classes and lunchtime pass as smoothly as anything to do with high school can happen. With one period left of school, I find myself walking to my last class alone. As we walk, more students stream out of the classes that have just ended, merging seamlessly into one rippling mass of heads.

A shift in the crowd sends students pushing into my sides, as they scramble to make a gap in the middle of the hall. Not everyone is running amok, fear-stricken, but most do have an element of caution in their eyes.

Terrence, Madison, Reece and Derek shuffle along behind the girl who herds them like sheep. She seems like the core of the group. It's the same girl who looked at me in disgust. The same way she is looking at me now.

From her haughty glances at everyone, I almost expect a spotlight and wind machine to come in. If that happened to me, my hair would probably blow straight into my mouth. She's definitely a ten on the glamour scale.

When she approaches me, I raise my chin stubbornly and arch my eyebrow. What now? I just want to go to class. Her brown eyes flicker over me meticulously, like a laser scanner. "You're Sophie, right?"

"Yes." Everyone seems to know that. "And you are?"

"Brittany—"

A loud voice calls through the crowd. 

"Bitch, did you say?" 

A few students yelp as a blur of limbs push them aside, and then Delaney is standing beside me. Her eyes are alight with fury. 

"New girl doesn't need to be shown around, introduced to anyone or given advice. Just fuck off, yeah?"

One part of me is stunned at her rapid-fire expletives, the other is relieved Delaney is beside me. We've taken to sitting together in AP English; every day she impresses me more and more. Plus, Callum finds her hilarious. From one band geek to another, I just his judgment.