The Insiders

Leigh surveyed her work and smiled. She had successfully covered up every inch of her dusty pink walls with posters and stickers. She had also managed to knock the rest of her new room into shape as well; with her new black bedspread, already cluttered desk and somewhat organized drawers she was ready to go. She even managed to sneak a photo of her dad onto the desk without her mom noticing. Although she would never admit it, she missed him sometimes. But it wouldn't do to dwell on those things; new state, new life, right?
She took one last look at her room before bounding down the slightly creaky staircase.
"FOOD!"
Her mom, Olivia, grinned at her daughters eagerness. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what Leigh would think of the new house or move in general, but she still seemed like the same old crazy Leigh.
But she knew her daughter had a tendancy, liked her father, to hide things and hide them well. A tendancy that scared the living crap out of her.
"So what's for dinner I'm starving!" the short sixteen-year-old plunked herself down on the ground in front of some big boxes otherwise known as the current dining room table.
"Well I can't really cook anything so I'm feeling Chinese."
Leigh and Ryan both groaned. The past two days had been nothing but Chinese. Leigh was afraid that she would wake up one morning to find out that she had turned into a Chiese takeout box.
"How about pizza instead?" She suggested. Olivia looked to Ryan, who was back tapping away at his phone. He grunted a response. Olivia rolled her eyes.
"I think that's a yes, and you have my vote as well. How does Pizza Hut sound?"
***
Leigh was happily munching away on her cheese pizza and halfway through an episode of Sherlock when her nerves started to click in. They had barely arrived in New Jersey, but it was already time to go to school.
"B-but we just got here! Why not give me a little time to adjust!" she had pleaded with Olivia, who only shook her head.
"And the best way for you to adjust is to go to school on the first day. I can't have you missing your first week of education in a brand new town!" Although she was loose on some things, Olivia was serious about her children's education. Leigh was too, in a manner of speaking. Her current school strategy was to get in, get out, and deal with as little bull as possible.
She looked to her brother, once again, for support and for once she got it.
"I'm actually kinda with Leigh on this one," and that was it. Well, kind of support anyway. Ryan never seemed to care about anything except for his video games. Typical thirteen-year-old boy.
She finished her pizza relatively fast and headed up to bed. She had a long day ahead of her.
***
"I've got more wit,
A better kiss,
A hotter touch,
A better fu-"
Leigh managed to slam the off button on her alarm just in time. If her mom heard her of her songs curse, she knew it would be the death of her. She groaned as she rolled out of bed. New state, maybe. New sleeping habits? Oh hell no. It didn't matter if she went to sleep at seven or one in the morning, six AM was always six AM, aka pure torture.
But wait.
Why did her clock say six-thirty?
"CRAAAAP! Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" She practically flew out of bed, throwing on a Green Day shirt and pair of black skinny jeans. She ran a brush through her shoulder length, choppy brown hair, slid on a pair of red converse and practically sprinted downstairs.
"Breakfast..." Olivia started.
"No time," Leigh panted, grabbing a granola bar left over from the drive (they always snacked during car rides) out of the near-bare pantry. She scooped up her school supplies and dumped them into her bookbag. She grabbed an apple off the counter for lunch, stuck her phone into her back pocket, and was out the door faster than lightning.
"Hey Leigh, wait up!" Ryan called after her. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had a late start.
Running to school in Belleville was a whole different expearince from PA. The houses were more beat up, their lawns more overgrown and chocked out with weeds. She thought she felt a pair of eyes staring at her from behind a moth eaten curtain.
But maybe it was just her.
Eventually Ryan caught up with her and they made their way into the school building together. It was a fairly average looking brick building, though maybe a bid run down. Ivy creeped up one wall, and the windows were so grime covered you could barely see out of them.
Like I said, average.
The halls were bustling with people; old friends catching up, girls already scoping out the new crop of boys, deciding on their next victims, jocks already preying on unsuspecting freshman. Ryan looked at his sister apprehensively. Leigh put aside her own worries and gave him what she hoped was a calming smile. It seemed to work, because his nervousness seemed to lift just slightly.
"Oh and kid," she called after him as he headed out to find his locker, "Try not to get pantsed, kay?"
He laughed.
"Kay."
And Leigh was on her own.
***
She hadn't walked five steps until some stupid jock jostled into her, knocking her backpack off her back and spilling her book everywhere. She sighed, gathered them into a giant heap, and scooped them up; there was no time to put them back and she still had to find her locker.
"323...323,323" she mumbled to herself, peering over her large pile of books and scanning the wall of lockers trying desperately to locate her own.
"Dance, dance, we're falling apart at halftime"
Leigh grunted and shifted the pile of books to one hand, while awkwardly clutching for her phone in her back pocket with the other. Finally, she managed to grab ahold of it and wondered who the heck was calling her at this time of day when they knew she's be in school.
Just then, as if in slow motion, the delicately balanced pile of books in one arm spilled over as Leigh crashed into an unknown person, her phone slipping for her grasp and landed on his foot.

Notes

Yay chapter two! So apparently someone subscribed after the first chapter - thank you so, so much! Hope you enjoy, and feedback is much appreciated! ^.^