Page 8 of Under the Influence

"You gotta be a senior to be out here," a girl says, hopping off the wall. Her hair is long and dyed silver, and her black clothes match her sassy attitude. Lucky for her, she's met her match. I don't feel like taking any crap today.

"How do you know I'm not a senior? I just walked through the door of this hell-hole today, so?"

I sling my backpack down and use my arms to pull myself up to the wall to sit. Like it or not, I'm not going anywhere.

One of the guys pulls a cigarette up to his lips, "Damn, where did she come from?"

The guy next to him, with black hair and a lip ring, smiles, "Who cares? She's feisty, and she can stay."

The girl huffs, "You guys know she's sitting right here, right? She can hear you, morons."

She turns to me, "I'm Lainey. I'm a junior."

I laugh, remembering she just scolded me about this patio belonging to seniors only, "I'm Cori, also a junior and I came from Chicago."

She winks, "Welcome to Legacy."

"Everyone is so welcoming," I cringe.

"It's all fake. Everyone is, but you seem smart enough to know that."

I roll my eyes, pulling my water bottle from the side pocket of my backpack. I glance back into the cafeteria through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Tall, dark, and handsome's eyes are still trained on me as he leans back in his chair.

I turn away quickly, not wanting to make eye contact. Lainey rolls her eyes, "Looks like you've already become prey. That didn't take long."

"Prey?" I question, the bell filling the silence.

"Yeah, the sharks." She nods toward the table full of privilege and athletes.

"Most girls would die for a glance from Carson, and here he is staring at the new girl through the window, his eyes all dark like he's hunting."

Lip-ring laughs, "You are so morbid, Lainey."

"Shut up, Madden. You are one of them! We only let you hang around because you don't buy into the bullshit."

He rolls his eyes, picking up his backpack. Legacy Baseball is perfectly stitched across the back. "See you around, new girl."

"It's Cori," I jump from the wall, dusting off the back of my jean shorts. "See ya."

He smirks, taking off in the opposite direction as everyone else.

Lainey walks next to me, "What class you got next?"

I sigh, yanking the pale yellow schedule from my bag, "Uh, Chemistry."

"So you're a genius? Figures."

I growl, "No, just dumb enough to retake Chemistry."

The truth is, I've probably taken all of these classes already, at an accelerated level.

"Well, you are headed in the wrong direction. I think Madden has Chem too."

She points across the breezeway in the direction Madden is walking.

"See ya later," I offer, and she grins, taking off in the opposite direction.

"Bet. Don't take any shit from anyone!" She yells, making me giggle. I think I made my first friend.