New Kids

Nova had turned 16 just before school and had started working as a waitress at a diner called Flora's Diner. The owner, Sophia, had named it after her Grandmother. It was a cute little place and Nova got good tips out of it. Of course, Nova had decided to save all of the money to take an online course or two.

Between school, the online course, and fake partying Nova had a bit less time to run but she still had plenty of time to herself. Even when Kelly and Blake came for the holidays, Nova found herself with way too much alone time.

Today was the first day back to school after the Holidays and Nova was ready for this new semester. Something told her it would be a good one, or at least she hoped it would. She decided to wear a tight red and black plaid skirt with a red turtle neck sweater. Cute yet warm and comfy.

Nova headed downstairs to see her brother pouring some cereal. "Yo Carter! Can you give me a ride today?" Nova asked as she got herself some cereal. Her brother simply nodded and sat down to eat his food. She smiled and then followed suit. As soon as they both finished, they grabbed their bags and then headed to school.

Once she got out of the car and took a breath as she looked to the front doors already being swarmed by students. 'You got this Nova! Only three more semesters and then you are free,' Dawn encouraged her and with a nod, she plastered on a smile and sauntered into the building like she owned the place.

The voice of the cheer captain was easily heard over the noise of students and Nova quickly navigated to her side. As she walked, people threw her looks. Some were of admiration, some of disgust, and others of lust. Nova was used to all of these looks, in fact, she used these looks to keep up the facade she presented each day.

"Nova! There you are. How were your holidays? You know what, mine was amazing..." Olivia, the cheer captain, started speaking the second her eyes landed on Nova. The only response Nova was able to give was a smile. The two walked to their first class, English, and quickly sat down in the back row. Olivia told Nova of her Holidays and the boy she had met who had asked her out. He was apparently hot and romantic, but he went to another high school.

Class started, but Olivia never stopped in her monologue. Nova only nodded, smiled, and inputted a handful of comments. Man, how much can one girl talk? Eventually, Olivia's phone dinged and she pulled it out to check. It is funny, the teachers had completely given up on trying to get Olivia to pay attention in classes.

Everything seemed normal until she caught a whiff of something. She glanced around confused, where was it coming from? 'Hey Dawn, do you know what that smell is?' Nova asked as she tried to figure out the source.

'I have no clue. It doesn't smell human, but it doesn't smell like any animal I have smelled,' Came her confused response. The bell went off before she could figure it out though and she stood up next to Olivia and left the class. She'll just figure it out later. Olivia and Nova met up with another cheerleader who walked with them a bit before she and Olivia parted from Nova to go to their next class.

Nova quickly moved to her next class, lovely Algebra 2. There she met up with another cheerleader who chatted with her for a good amount of the class. For the rest of the class, Nova pretended to just look at her phone. The smell wasn't in this class, so maybe it was just something in the English classroom. Nova shrugged it off and soon found herself going to her third period, dance class.

Dance was one of her favorite classes. Nova may not have been an actual party girl, but she still loved dance and cheer. Sometimes she found herself being able to show her true personality and emotions in dance and it felt really nice. A good amount of the girls in the dance class were also in cheer, so there was a bit of chatter. After class Nova walked with the cheerleaders to the cafeteria and to their normal table in the very center.

She hadn't been sitting at the table long when she smelled the smell from before, but this time it was a lot stronger. Her eyes scanned the room until they landed on a table in the back left corner of the cafeteria. It was normally empty, but today it was full of about 20 kids. They were all new. "Who are they?" Nova asked Olivia who was sitting next to her.

Olivia looked up and followed her eyes to the group, "Oh! They are all new, I don't really know who they all are. Kind of hard to connect with them as they all seem to like keeping to themselves a bit. The only thing I do know, is those guys are hot!"

Nova nodded, "Kind of weird don't ya think? They all seem to have known each other for a while, so they must be childhood friends. Did their families all just decide to move to a new school in the middle of the year together?"

"Who knows. It is weird though. Oh! Maybe they are in a gang or something." Olivia responded. The two of them laughed at the notion before turning back to their food. Olivia started to chat with a girl on her left and the girl across from Nova started talking with her.

Nova couldn't push them out of her mind though. The new kids all had the same weird smell and neither she nor Dawn could figure it out. Another smell had caught her attention though and this One was stronger and almost sweeter, but she couldn't figure out what the scents meant.

Despite the strange new kids, the rest of the day went by smoothly. She had two of the new kids in her 4th-period Spanish class. She noticed a few of them glancing around in confusion as well, but she never sat next to them or spoke to them. Cheer practice went really well and the team was most certainly looking strong for the second-semester competitions. Olivia dropped her back at home.

Nova sighed as she walked into her house, empty of course, and whispered, "Just another normal day. Maybe I was wrong in hoping this semester would be different."