High School in Middle School

I woke up to the alarm on my phone I set last night, 5:30. I groaned and got up to take it off the charger and shush it.

I wanted to get up early so I'd be able to figure out what I want to wear, and do something with the mess of hair I had.

I went into my closet and picked out a pair of bright yellow converses, a black sports bra, blue jeans, and a big bright yellow shirt that comes off your shoulder on one side.

Once I was satisfied with how I looked, I went to the bathroom and decided I wanted to slick down my hair this week.

I brushed right through the gel, since in the end I'd just be putting more on anyway, and made it as flat as possible while still showing off my waves.

I slapped a lot of Eco gel on it to make it stay in place and then I sprayed it with hairspray and found two yellow clips, the same color as my shirt and shoes, and put it in my hair to the side.

I took a good look in the mirror and decided I looked good. My eyes were normal size and not too far away from my nose, and my nose was straight and didn't jut out. My lips were bigger than white girls my age but smaller than black girls my age, so I figured they were alright.

I put on some mascara, because I always wanted to try it, and my glasses then left my bathroom.

When I was just about to leave my room, but then didn't because I don't know where anything was, Jessie came in.

"Oh, it seems like you're already awake, Miss. Good morning. Come follow me for breakfast." Jessie gestured with her hand and I followed her.

She was an old woman. She looked frail and lovely with grayish-blonde hair and blue eyes. I was just about as tall as she was.

She led me to the dining area, where all the Manchesters except King were.

"Good morning Em." Miria greeted me as I sat down.

"Good morning, Miria. Good morning John." I greeted the couple.

John gave me an affirmative grunt and went sipping to water out of a wine glass.

It took a couple of minutes for King to come down in a red hoodie and some red and black Jordans and black ripped jeans.

"Morning Ma, morning Pa, morning Emily." King sat down without making eye contact with anyone.

"King, her name is Emmelyn," Miria said, snapping to get his eyes to look at her. They did.

"My bad, Morning Emmelyn," King said, instantly dropping his gaze back to his phone. Miria rolled her eyes and gave me an apologetic look. I just smiled at her.

We had a quick breakfast of eggs and sausage, and let me tell you once you eat this food, you can't go back.

King and I were escorted to one of their four limos and were driven to school.

After a couple of minutes in the car, King looked up from his phone and started talking to me.

"Listen, mom and dad made sure we got all the same classes so you'll be fine. No trying to 'get rid' of my female friends and if you start liking one of my male friends, just go ahead and leave. You don't have to be a girly girl and you don't have to be a tomboy. Be whatever you are but don't act fake." He said and went back down to his phone.

I had to admit, it was nice of him to stick up for his female friends like that, and it seems like he doesn't want to marry me if I like someone else, of course, we can't even get married until we're 18… I think?

That's past the point, he seems like a really nice person and as long as he's cool, we can be friends.

We arrived at the school and it didn't look much different than mines. Maybe a little bigger, cleaner perhaps?

One thing I noticed was that it made you feel like it was one of those high schools in movies, although we were still in middle school.

I followed King out of the car and through a series of hallways and to two lockers off by themselves, they also looked bigger and cleaner than the other ones.

"Here's your combo." He said, handing me a piece of paper and opening his own locker.

I opened my locker, and luckily, it already had everything I'd need, and in labels too.

I slid my phone into my back pocket, and walked after King.

We made it to our homeroom/first period and sat down. It seems class was yet to start or had already started, but since it was the ending of April, the teacher dismissed everything other than easily doable homework, as my old teacher did.

"We're sitting over there," King said and walked towards a hoard of guys and girls in the back.

"Hey," King said as we approached, they turned and looked at us.

"This is my new foster sister, Emmelyn," King said.

"You can call me Em," I added.

"Is she anything like Clara?" One of the girls asked. She was really skinny and had a milk chocolate complexion.

"No idea," King said and shrugged.

All the girls looked at each other, then at me, and attacked me in a hug. I hugged back or tried to, I don't know, I think they cut off my circulation.

"Nope, she's nothing like Clara. She would've called us all dirty whores and told us to get off." The girl chuckled.

"I'm Makayla, Kayla." She said, she and the two other girls releasing me.

"Nia." said one who was about my skin color and she had braids in her head.

"Oliva, Olli." One who was taller than everyone else there and supper dark with braids in her head said.

"I'm Deon." A boy who was dark-skinned with dreads said.

"Jaylen." A lighter boy said he had an afro. Not as high as King's.

"Jamarco, J." The last one, about as dark as the second one with a clean-cut fade, said.

"Well, Em, come on. We've gotta fill you in on the tea!" Kayla grabbed me and we girls huddled close.

"Ok, so Lira, a girl who has a crush on King because she wants his money, started dating Ty, King's ex-best friend who used him for his money also, yesterday. Some people say they're trying to make King jealous, but that's alright cause he has you now, and your way cuter than Lira." Kayla said.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, we know about the wife thing. It's chosen randomly and a girl of age from that family competes if she wants to, we know girl, we're his best friends." Nia said with a smile.

"Oh," I said. They know some of the truth but it isn't my place to fill them in.

"That's Lira and Ty, over there," Olli said, nodding to a couple sitting together and laughing. The air almost flew out of my lungs.

Lira had sandy brown long hair that was flat ironed, and she was light-skinned. Not caramel, no, basically white, just darker.

Her eyes were light brown, almost identical to mine, and she was wearing a baggy short sleeve white crop top and a pink leather skirt with 2-inch white heels. She wore pink lipgloss and I could tell she did her makeup that morning.

"That's Lira?" I asked, my voice almost sounded as if I were going to mock her, but that's not what I felt like at all.

"Yep, and I know you can up her because Clara did and she wasn't as half as cute as you are," Nia said.

If I was going to do this, I was going to do it to avenge King, and first, I needed his permission.

And he should know my supposed opponent pretty well.