Chapter 3(Nicole-Life at Red Rays)

Chapter-3- School Day!!!

‘Hey! You’re the new girl, right? Nicole Sherman? Rachelle’s and Megan’s Best Friend? I’m Nikki Cooper, by the way.’ I smiled. It was Nikki Cooper! ‘Yeah. Uh, Nikki, I heard your song on YouTube and stuff. You’re selected for the Singing Competition…?’ I said. She said, ‘Yep. That’s me. I heard that you are going to go through the selections today… Good Luck!’ I grinned. ‘Thanks!’ It was the first day of Red Rays. I had a tearful sendoff with Mum and Dad. I really miss them already. It was lunch now. So far, I liked all the teachers and stuff. Its pretty cool, this school. Ha! That’s a RHYME! I was interrupted in my thoughts by Rachelle. ‘I saw you talking to Nikki Cooper. She’s nice, right?’ I nodded. All of a sudden I heard a musical voice calling out, ‘Rachelle? Heyy! And Hey! to you too, Dress Dunce! Who is that blonde girl with you?’ I was pretty sure that was Sarah Janice. ‘Hey, Sarah. This is Nicole Sherman. She’s our Best Friend. And she’s new.’ Said Rachelle. Sarah smiled. ‘Hey, Nicole. You’re pretty.’ I smiled. ‘Thanks, Sarah. And not to mention, so are you!’ She looked flattered. I guess Sarah’s not really a mean kid. But just then, I saw a tall, skinny, mean looking girl approaching us. Sarah spotted her too and scurried away. So that indicates that she is Tracy Jones. She really did look mean with that pointy nose and bright eyes and menacing smirk. I mean, even though all the 11th graders are 16, there is still bullying! Huh! Tracy was about to say something to Rachelle when Harriett, Julie, Drake and Dave popped up. I grinned, ‘Heyy guys!’ I hugged them all. Harriett grinned, ‘What a joyful welcome. But, mind you, Nikki, I nearly broke my backbone.’ She joked. She is SUCH a joker. With her gray eyes, long, curly black hair and mischievous grin, you’d know it. Julie sighed, ‘Oh, Nicole, I saw a plastic bottle lying there on the road, but Harriett the Wonder Woman swooped in and pushed me over to you. Huh!’ Julie is an environment freak. She has cropped brown hair and brown eyes. Then Dave laughed. ‘Welcome to Red Rays, Nikki! Did you hear about that new Super Computer in China?’ He said.  He has wavy brown hair and ever-twinkling green eyes. I could say that he’s pretty cute. ‘Oh, shut it for a while, Dave. I’ve experienced enough technology.’ I said. Drake frowned. ‘Poor Dave. Nicole, ya heard about those new species of birds in Columbia?’ I nodded, just for the sake of it. Drake has blonde hair and serious brown eyes. Rachelle was about to say something when Tracy came over, ‘How are y’all? Techno-blah-blah, Bird-brain, Green Freak, Thinks-she’s-funny-dolt, teacher’s pet DOG, Fashion Diva and New Girl?’ I frowned. Ahem. Prett-ay mean-ay. ‘What’s YOUR name, New Girl?’ I said, ‘Nicole Sherman.’ Tracy was expressionless. ‘Oh. So… Are you going to start pestering everybody else like this bunch of idiots?’ She said, gesturing at my friends. I said, ‘Yeah. I guess so. I mean, they are my friends.. Your just some interfering little idiot. So, push OFF, Tracy Jones.’ That must’ve given her quite a verbal slap. It did! She just stalked off, muttering some really bad words. Rachelle sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. ‘Good work, Nicole. You ARE pretty much a match for her.’ She said. Harriett snorted, ‘Haha. Aha. Hahaaa. Aaahhhaaa!’ she exclaimed. ‘What in the name of the universe are you DOING, Harriett?!’ asked Dave. Harriett grinned. ‘Well, I just wanted to see which one suited me best. Ya know. Aha, Haha, Hahaaa or Aaahhhaaa? Like, when I declare that something’s not right at all. You know?’ She said. We didn’t get it. I sometimes think that she has completely LOST it. Which she has. Harriett slumped down on the cafeteria seat. ‘You know, Nicole, it’s been ages since Julie, Drake, Dave and I have talked to you. Are you in Sapphire, you guys? She asked me, Megan and Rachelle. We nodded. ‘Perfect!’ exclaimed Julie. Suddenly, a tall, blonde teacher walked over to us. She said, ‘Girls, You’d better start eating now. There’s only 20 more minutes. And, by the way, Harriett, have you finished your Biology assignment on leukemia? I hope you have, because Mrs. Ally is starting to get very disappointed in you. Oh, and you’re the new girl, Nicole Sherman, am I right?’ The last sentence was directed to me. I nodded. She smiled, ‘Oh, welcome to Red Rays, Nicole! I am Ms. Patricia Gladys, your Physics teacher.’ She said. ‘Thank you, Ms. Patricia. I am actually looking forward to studying Physics.’ I said. She smiled and walked off and Harriett gave me a ‘look’. ‘You certainly are so very polite to teachers, my dear Nikki!’ She said. I smiled in mock satisfaction. ‘Exactly. My power.’ I said. She grinned. Rachelle rubbed her stomach. ‘I’m like, STARVING. Even though the food is not exactly appetizing, can we EAT something now, you guys?!’ We all nodded and went off to the serving counter.

‘Please! Guys, I don’t WANT TO audition. I KNOW that I’ll just start blubbering like some mental idiot!’ I said. Megan and Rachelle were steering me towards the audition room for Singing. Megan said, ‘Nicole, you know very well that you won’t. What is so wrong with auditioning, huh?! you have the jitters, eh?’ I nodded. ‘Oh come on!’ Said Rachelle. ‘EVERYONE gets the jitters before auditioning.’ She added. We stopped in front of the auditions room for singing. I walked in and held my breath. The room was HUGE. And scary. For me. It had microphones and headphones and this big television kind of thing with about a million tiny levers and buttons and screens. There was a space in the front of the room where the mike and headphones were. A bald man, wearing a black shirt stood in that space, shouting orders at the men walking around and plugging stuff into mikes and all. A blonde haired woman, maybe a teacher, was sitting over in the corner of the room, on a stool. She saw me and beamed. ‘Hello! I believe that you are here for the audition?’ She said. I nodded. She continued, ‘Great! Would you please stand behind that mike?’ I went and stood behind a mike. The bald man came over and stuck a headphone thing-y over my head and said, ‘What are you going to be singing today?’ I said, ‘I’m going to be singing ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus and If It Was A Movie by Taylor Swift.’ He smiled. ‘You ready?’ He asked. I nodded. He said, ‘Okay, 1, 2, 3, START!’ I started singing, going soft on the first stanza, a bit more louder and bolder in the second, and moderate on the third for The Climb. The teacher and the man clapped and grinned. “EXCELLENT!’ He practically shrieked. ‘Now, your next song.’ He said. I took a deep breath and started singing in a low voice at first and then a bit more higher later. And then, when it came to the chorus, I sang in a soft, high, melodic voice, so that it suited the meaning perfectly. They clapped again and said lots of praises. I blushed. Then, just as I was about to exit, the teacher said, by the way, you’re selected. Your name, please.’ I stifled a scream and said, ‘Nicole Sherman.’ She said thank you and I went out, practically jumping. I announced my so-called ‘victory’ to them and the next thing I knew, I was at the dorm, Sapphire, where Julie, Harriett, Rachelle and Megan and some other girls, including Nikki Cooper were congratulating me. I smiled and nodded and blushed and thanked and so on.

‘AAAAAHHHH! HELP!’ screamed Rachelle from the corner of our dorm. ‘WHAT?!’ everyone ran over to her. ‘A-a SPIDER on my new Pirtz Motive NAIL POLISH!’ I rolled my eyes. I wiped it off with a waste cloth(or somebody’s hanky) that was lying on the floor and turned to look at Rachelle meaningfully, my head tilted. She just bit her lip. ‘Thanks.’ She mumbled, embarrassed. Megan grinned, ‘Come on, guys. Lets go for dinner. Its pizza night, remember?’ she said. Rachelle nodded. We headed down towards the dining hall. When we reached there, the hall was filled, but Nikki Cooper had saved a seat for me. Only me! I thought that was kinda weird and stuff, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.. SO I had to spend my first dinner at Red Rays, without my Bffs and with some girl that I barely know…