~untitled~

Disclaimers in first entry.

Lori hefted her bag over her shoulder and looked up to see a group of girls practically surrounding Karen like a pack of hunting dogs. Two seemed to stand out, making her eye each of them warily. Everyone with common sense knew that "fresh meat" either meant freshman, or new kid. Either counted as open season for teasking, mockery, and humiliation. The last bit she didn't really worry about, as she had yet to make friends here, or even decide if she wanted to accept being thrown into a new school and home to make friends... so humiliation wasn't a big worry. The one that she watched most was the taller blonde girl practically on top of her tour-guide, with a maelevolent, hungry smile on her face. The other looked annoyed, and seemed to watch Karen with something akin to sorrow and pity. Karen, for her own worth, was merely leaning against the lockers casually, arms folded, with that smirk still on her lips. Lori felt herself staring at that smirk a second or two longer than she intended.

"Hey, Bri-bri." Karen's tone was sweet, and friendly, but something that Lori couldn't put her finger on, some minute little thing that she could barely sense, made that one phrase more condesending than she'd ever heard spoken. "Just a new girl. Lori."

The blonde bristled, much more obvious in her emotions and reactions than Karen, and turned to glare at Lori... for the first time taking a good look at her. The other one, her attention drawn as well, looked over, and smiled suddenly. "Hi." The blonde was grumpy as she said it, but her brows were raised curiously. "You would be..."

"Lori, just like she said." She smiled, offered a hand in a friendly manner, and tilted her head slightly. "And you are?"

"Oh, don't mind her. Brittany's just a... well, she's Brittany." The other girl finally said, stepping forward to shake hands. "I'm Ashley. We're the co-captains of the varsity Cheer squad."

Brittany seemed to bristle again at the mention of being "co-" captains. However, she nodded, shrugging, and forced a sweet, and obviously fake, smile onto her face. Karen just stayed where she was, grinning even wider. "I was on Cheer back home." Lori grinned again, nodding to the more friendly Ashley. "Do you have tryouts posted for next year's team yet?"

"Not really... but we can talk about that later." Brittany's eyes were now shining with that same light she'd looked at Karen with. Predatory, and mean. Her smile, creepy as it was, was genuine though. "I..." Ashley elbowed her. "I mean 'we' wouldn't mind you sitting with us at lunch. Wouldn't want to start off being associated with the wrong types, after all." That last bit was said with strange purpose, and she glanced over her shoulder at Karen... but the girl just mock-threw a kiss at her.

"Lunch..." one of the other, formerly quiet, girls said suddenly, and everyone's eyes widened. "Britt, the line's are gonna be to forever by now!"

Lori watched in a bit of surprise as the group of preppy girls turned abruptly and rushed down the hallway, the other students actually parting in their path to make way. Very odd. "Eh, at least I was right." Lori turned a questioning gaze on Karen now, though she couldn't help a small smile as well. "Cheer-girl. Pegged you for one."

"After meeting Brittany, I'm not sure if I should take that as an insult or not." Karen laughed in response. "That was... interesting."

"Ah, don't worry. You're what, a Freshman? Sophomore? Britt's a senior, she'll be gone by next year, and Ashley'll take over." Karen shrugged and smiled, pushing off of the lockers and leading the way. Lori watched her closely, hiding her smile now, and nodded. "So yeah, they'll take care of you after lunch, since you'll sit with 'em."

"I might." Lori shrugged, grinning. "Speaking of trying out for stuff... or not speaking of it but being reminded of it... does this school have girls' wrestling or fencing?"

Karen actually stopped mid-step in the hall and looked at her, surprised. Lori looked into the other girl's crisp, green eyes and blushed a little. "You're kidding?" Lori shook her head, smirking as she caught up, walking beside Karen once again. "Eh, no. No fencing team..." She shook her head at that, seeming to smile wryly and chuckle, then got back on topic. "And, um, there's a wrestling team, but I don't think there're any girls on it. Eh, something you should probably know about this place, Lori. Cliques, stereotypes... they're... well, let's just say that the highschool has considered sueing Hollywood for identity theft. Imagine the stereotype, it's here. The cheerleaders are preppy, and at least half of them snobby... no offense. The jocks are burly, muscle-bound, and can actually be quite dumb at times. Those two types, they run the school. The cheer-girls are the queens, the jocks the kings, and things go as they dictate. Other than that there's bad-boys, musicians, goths, geeks, the whole nine yards... and everyone stays in their respective category." She frowned, shaking her head at the girl.

"And I suppose that to go against it is strictly and utterly taboo. 'Oh no-no-no, we cannot do that my dear' type of stuff." Lori grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I kinda get it. I mean, things were pretty cliquish at my last school... and we had a few of the stereotypes... but come on, the quarterback and line-backer were dating, the head cheerleader was going out with the mascott, and li'l ol me? I did just fine in fencing, wrestling, and cheer." She smiled proudly, eyeing the cafeteria doors as they approached.

"Well, good luck... but it's harder to break here." Karen opened the doors and looked around. Lori followed suit, and was surprised. Just as Karen had been trying to explain, people seemed to be sectioned off. Jocks sat together with the Cheerleaders, and the goths were sequestered in their own little dark corner, the black making them seem like a strange blob. There were few other groups there, but what there was, seemed to be segregated into categories. "The artsy types like to lunch on the Yard, and the geeks and most of the upperclassmen tend toward the Commons. Other groups have their own favored spots. The Cheer girls and Jocks dominate the places nearest the food and best kept. Only a few other groups managed to make it actually into the Caf." She looked around, and smiled again, brightly this time, as she saw something. "But, uh, another thing you should probably know about. You know how there're different types of geeks? Like, you know, the smart nerds, gamers, etc. etc. etc. Well, here's one type that isn't really common in most other schools. See that guy over there?" She pointed.

Lori looked first at her, then followed her gesture to see a tall, slightly lanky, boy walking past the jock table. He wasn't poorly dressed, or even particularly dorky looking... but she could easily see how he wasn't going to be seen as one of the popular kids. It was expected when the jocks singled him out to start harassing. Lori realized that she should probably get used to seeing that type of stuff on a daily basis. However, the boy just stood there, taking it, and seemed to actually be getting angry, instead of submissive. When he weant to slam his tray down and start something, which she didn't expect at all, another of the jocks actually hit the one harassing him over the head and made a lame excuse about things only being a joke. The surrounding tables were watching if discreetly, and the noise had gone down. She was still assaulted by the mixture of smells, primarily over-cooked meat and cheese, but she could actually hear part of the conversation. When the "geek" picked up his things and stalked away, things went back to normal. Her brows were raised, surprised and impressed. "He's what's known as a RenGeek."

Karen was looking at her now, instead of the crowd, and casually leaning against the wall again. "Huh?"

"They don't really get messed with, not as much as the other geeks. It's considered to be dangerous to. A year or two ago, the football team was harassing one of them, and he beat the shit out of them with only a mop stick to help him... the entire team. Then he smiled and took his punishment happily, grinning madly at them the entire time. Other stuff's happened, a few scuffs here and there, but the jocks pretty much learned that if you pick a fight with one of them, then you get the stuffing beat out of you. If the one geek can't, there's at least ten waiting to when he looses." Karen shrugged, a strange smile on her face again. "So, as long as they remain in their geek-place, letting the rest of the school ignore them... and take at least a bit of harassment, they aren't kicked around as much. It's not like they're trying to be popular."

"So why are they geeks and not, I don't know, badasses or something?" Lori sidled a little closer, looking over where the 'geek' had sat down and began chatting with his friends.

"Cause the 'Ren' part of RenGeek is short for Renaissance Faire Geek. They dress up in funky costumes, talk in weird accents, have different names, and fight with big, shiny swords and such. It's basically dress-up, acting, and Dungeons & Dagons all mixed together, but more intense because they really get into character. Pretty Geeky." She shrugged. "But, because they get into character, they learn to fight and weild the weapons they hold, cause that's part of the character... and thus when they're at school, if they need to, they can use that ability to kick ass."

"Huh... doesn't sound too bad." Lori smiled again and shrugged, watching as Karen pushed off of the wall.

"And thus ends the lesson and the tour. Fair warning, don't mess with the RenGeeks, you'll figure out which ones are what easily enough, cause even the girls usually know how to fight at least a little. It looks like Ashley saved you a seat. See ya round, pom-pom."

"Hey, wait." Lori purposefully stepped into her way, catching her eyes again. Karen raised both brows. "Um... but... I figured I could sit with you. I mean, you were the first person I met here and..."

"That's funny. Cute." Karen scoffed, chuckling. "Go sit with the cheerleaders, Lorelei. Have your fun, make some friends, earn some popularity. Besides," as she walked off, she turned over her shoulder to say one last thing, "you wouldn't really fit in at my table."

Lori sighed and watched her walk away. The girl, athletic, slender, and beautiful, didn't even seem to notice the eyes on her, or look back. With another almost dramatic sigh, she resigned herself to enduring a lunch with Brittany, and trotted over to the cheerleaders. Just as they greeted her, or rather Ashley and one or two others did, she sat down and turned to see where Karen had gone. Her eyes widened and she stared, whispering out a shocked, "Karen's a RenGeek?" The girl had sat down with the guy she'd pointed out before, and was chatting along with everyone else at that table.


TBC

Author's Note
Remember to review, keeps the updates coming. As well, I'm still open to any character ideas anyone wants to volunteer. I can't assure that they'll be used, but if they are, I promise that credit will be given, along with praise and love.
So... laters.