The Trouble-Makers

I felt a paper ball smack the back of my head, and I took in a sharp breath. I turned around slowly, already knowing who had done the crime. I lock eyes with him, my blood boiling. I wasn't one to get mad easily, but the first day of senior year is supposed to be nothing but fun and so far all it's been was stressful...and I definitely don't need the Trouble-Maker crew to add on to it.

"What's the matter, baby girl?" Jack Barakat asked, a smile forming on his face as Jaime Preciado, another Trouble-Maker, snickered beside him. We were in English class - the last class of the day - and here I was...stuck with half the Trouble-Makers. And worst of all, Jack Barakat; their "leader" you could call him. And today him and his crew seem to have made me their target.

I shot a glare at the two of them. "I don't know about you, Jack, but I think I want to pass English and actually graduate this year."

"Princess, I've got all the answers I need right here." He gestured to Jaime next to him. Typical, he would be the kind of guy to cheat.

"Real nice guy," I muttered sarcastically, turning back towards the head of the class.

"Losers bothering you?" Nicki asked, leaning towards me.

"Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that." Even though the Trouble-Makers haven't exactly been nice to me today, I wouldn't exactly resort to calling them names. I guess I was just too nice to fight.

"Don't even worry about them, they're always especially mean to the cool kids in this school." Nicki flicked her hair behind her shoulder. "And, hey, that's you this year. I think I would be grateful."

The bell rang, signalling the school day was finally over and I heaved a sigh. It was about time. I stood up, gathering my things but Jaime bumped into me as he walked towards the exit.

"Watch it, Kent," he nearly growled, and that was enough to get me to not say anything back to him.

"Go back to the hole you live in, freak," Nicki spat.

Jaime just rolled his eyes but Jack flipped us off while they slipped out of the room.

"You'll get used to them," Nicki said dismissively, inspecting her nails. "Anyways, you and Zack coming to the party tonight?" And, of course, even on the first day of school there was already a party tonight.

"I have no idea if my dad will even let me go," I said lamely. Truth be told, I didn't even want to go. We walked out of the classroom and headed towards my locker.

"Don't be such a buzz kill, what are you going to be a daddy's girl your whole life?" Nicki mocked.

I swallowed back the comeback I wanted to say and just shrugged my shoulders. I opened my locker and grabbed my bag out, stuffing it with the subjects I wanted to start studying tonight.

"Hey, guys," Kara said as she walked over to meet us. Kara was another member of the 'popular clique' and also Nicki's side-kick. Where ever Nicki went Kara was soon to follow.

"Well, text me if you decide you want to have fun tonight," Nicki said to me. "See ya." She grabbed Kara's arm and they both walked away.

"Geez," I muttered underneath my breath. It's only been a day and I was already done with this school year. Although I was honestly trying to play nice with the popular kids for Zack's sake, I didn't know if I could put up with much more of this. I used to be a loner who just stuck around teachers classrooms during lunch and stay by myself, and I didn't mind that. I actually preferred that since high school seems to just be full of drama and back stabbers.

"Being cool must be pretty tiring, huh?" I jumped as Alex Gaskarth, the right hand man Trouble-Maker, appeared next to me. I didn't realize he was there.

"Like you would care," I snapped. Kind of rude, but Alex was a Trouble-Maker too after all and today they've been just exactly that...nothing but trouble.

"Whoa, easy, I was just making conversation." Alex did the 'hair flick' to get his hair out of his eyes.

"Be careful, wouldn't want Jack hearing you say that," I warned sarcastically, but I was more of joking rather than being rude now.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't own me." He shrugged.

"Not to be rude, but why are you here?" I asked, putting my bag over my shoulder.

He motioned to the locker next to mine. "Locker change."

"Oh," I said, "how come the sudden change this year?" I shut my locker door.

"Kind of complicated." A crooked smile spread on his face.

"Yo, Gaskarth, let's go!" Jack shouted from down the hall. At that, Alex seemed to be in a hurry and quickly threw his locker door open.

"Hey Stella," I heard Zack say behind me. I turned to face him, smiling at his warm voice. Here's the thing, Zack and I knew hardly anything about each other. That was, until this summer when he bumped into me when he was feeling down. Because I'm the kind of person who doesn't like seeing people sad, I asked him what was wrong. And with that Zack started talking about some really deep stuff about his parents getting a divorce and how they've been doing nothing but fighting, and my heart went out to him. He must have been holding that stuff down for a while for him to just burst open with all that, but after that we began hanging out. And despite him being a popular kid, he really was a sweet guy.

"Hey," I replied, walking over to him. He put his arm over my shoulders, kissing my forehead and started walking me away. I turned to say goodbye to Alex, but he was already gone.

Notes

Sorry this chapter is kind of short ;c It's just an opener since I wanted to introduce most of the characters and the back stories Stella knows about them c: