Best in Class

Please note that all characters within this story are 18 years old or older, unless specified otherwise. This story takes place in high school, which means that a high school senior is typically age 18. All feedback and votes are appreciated.

*****

Oak Ridge High was a small town school nestled on the highest point in Oak Hills. The school's football field looked over a small lake, Nutton Lake. This breathtaking view not only made football games enjoyable, but it was the perfect after school hangout spot for Bryce, Carter, and Josh. The trio had been friends since their elementary school days. Bryce was a fair, level headed guy. Despite him being only 5'9" he had been a major asset to Oak Ridge's track and wrestling teams. Since taking up weight lifting both in and out of school, he had gotten himself into great shape for his senior year of sports. His dark hair had recently been cut very short for the first few days of senior year.

Carter, a laid back dirty blonde giant, stood at 6'2". He had always been the calm one in the group, but when it came to sports, he excelled. He was a two time wrestling champion and already had scholarship offers. He had failed his drivers test once and usually had Bryce drive him to school and the gym since he was on the way.

Josh was a very energetic guy. He stood at 5'11" and had his dirty blonde hair pushed back. Unlike the others, he was a basketball player, and didn't lift weights nearly as much. The three had always met at the same spot after school every day, at the top of the visiting bleachers. This had the best view of the lake and was right next to the parking lot. The view of the lake was amazing in the morning, which was a great excuse for the three to get together before and after school every day.

Football Field

"So, are we going to Wendy's? I'm starving." Bryce says.

"Yeah, i could go for a triple double right now. You in, Josh?" Carter asks.

"Sure. I'll drive, but let me pick up Ashley first." Josh says.

Ashley was Josh's girlfriend of 2 years. The blonde bombshell was extremely enthusiastic and was respected by the guys. She was always fun to have around, and often invited her large reach of friends to meet the guys.

"Catch you guys in a few. I have to go ask Mr. Aland about my schedule change.

Meet on the curb?" Bryce says.

"Yeah, but hurry cause im hungry." Josh complains.

"Will do. See you guys in a few." Bryce says, walking toward the clean school's office building. The evening sun begins to shine a dull orange and red, casting a warm, cozy feeling over the school.

Office

Mr. Aland was the school's principal. He was a very kind man, and always tried to support the school's sports teams. He would show up to almost all of the games, even on weekends and holidays.

"So, i can see your daughter has a very good volleyball record. She could be an asset to the team this year.. Her record is very impressive." He says. "What do you think, Mrs. Guerro?"

"I let Lauren make her own decisions. Do you want to play this year?" Gina Guerro asks, turning to her daughter.

"Yes, i think it'll be a good way to meet new people and i'm hoping to get a scholarship as well." Lauren says with the first real smile since moving to Oak Hills.

"If you need anything, you can always come to the office. I am available before school and after school, if you don't see me around campus, chances are i'm here. If you need anything, just ask. Welcome to Oak Ridge High. Mrs. Stush can get your schedule, down the hall." Mr. Aland says as he finishes filling out her enrollment papers.

Bryce opens the door and steps into the office. He notices the new girl immediately. She is short, tan, with black hair. She smiles nervously when she sees him, and quickly looks away as she and her mom walk down the hall. He stares a second too long, but luckily Mr. Aland didn't notice.

"Sorry to interrupt Mr. Aland. I'll wait." Bryce says apologetically.

"That's okay, Bryce. What did you need?" Mr. Aland asks.

"I wanted to see if i could get some of my classes changed on my schedule..."

Parking lot

Josh's old Chevy Malibu was at the curb, blasting music when Bryce walked up.

"Could you turn the fucking music down Josh?" Bryce yells.

"Not a chance! Hop in the back!" Josh yells back.

"Why is it that Ashley always gets the front seat when you drive?" Carter asks, playfully.

"Hey, i called permanent shotgun in this car, remember?" Ashley yells over the music.

"That is so not a thing" Bryce replies.

Josh pulls Ashley in for a quick kiss before pulling out of the empty parking lot.

Wendy's

Once the group is finished ordering their food, Bryce, Josh, Ashley, and Carter sit down in the right corner booth. It was meant to seat 6 people, but it had been claimed as their spot long ago.

"Hey, whos she? I don't recognize her." Carter asks as he sits down, nodding in Lauren's direction.

"Don't know, but she moved in across the street from me last night. My dad told me they are from California." Ashley replies as she sits down.

"I hope she goes to Oak Ridge. The guys over at Flint High won't let her breathe." Carter exclaims, jabbing Bryce in the ribs.

"Cut it out. We don't even know her." Bryce responds.

"Oh come on, i'm just saying. She seems nice." Carter says, noticing Bryce is ticked off. Usually, he joins in with the fun when talking about girls.

"Awe, look! Bryce has feelings, too, guys!" Ashley teases.

"Nope, no feelings. Just a robotic, heartless...thing." Bryce sarcastically comments.

"Oh please, you never show your emotions. That thousand yard stare is honestly pretty scary sometimes." Ashley exclaims, getting a nod of approval from the table.

"One time, i swear, i thought we were going to get kicked out of Sports Authority because we kept playing golf in the back, the worker was all mad and shit.." Josh explains.

"Then when he looks Bryce dead in the face, he gets so freaked he goes to get his manager!" Carter laughs.

"That was pretty funny, too bad we can't go back in there." Bryce adds.

"so, what is with the schedule changes this year? Chelsea told me they were hella sketchy about changing people's classes." Carter asks while sipping from his drink.

"It seems like everyone is having issues, and they are taking way longer than usual to fix." Bryce adds.

"My schedule is fixed." Josh says between bites of his huge burger.

"I just wanted to get back into theater, but i guess since it's full, I have to go talk to Mrs. Martin myself in order to get in." Ashley complains.

"Hmm, i wonder what's going on with that. You won't have an issue getting into Mrs. Martin's class, she loves you." Bryce says.

"He's right, you'll go in expecting to get into drama and you'll come out being her teacher's assistant." Carter teases.

"At least she didn't get stuck in a math class." Josh adds, earning a laugh from the table.

"You know i hate math man, not cool." Carter replies in a fake mad tone.

Well guys, sorry to break up the party, but i have a ton of spanish 3 homework." Bryce unenthusiastically comments.

"Yeah, i have to go soon, too." Ashley adds. "See you tomorrow, Bryce."

"Yeah take it easy man" Josh says, making a mental note to watch Bryce as the new girl approaches the door after him.

As Bryce walks out, he notices the short, dark haired girl is right behind him with her food in hand. He holds the door open for her.

"Thank you." She says in a nervous but nice tone.

"No problem. Hey, are you new around here? I don't recognize you." Bryce asks.

"Does everybody in this town know each other?" She half jokes. "Yes, i just moved in yesterday. My name is Lauren. I'm a senior at Oak Ridge now." She says.

"Oh, so am i. I'm Bryce by the way. If you want, i could show you around to your classes tomorrow." Bryce says nervously. He doesn't usually go out of his way to help others, but this girl felt so...trustworthy.

"That sounds great, thank you! Where should i meet you?" Lauren asks.

Bryce thinks for a second, even though he already knows the answer. "You can meet me by the entrance to the football field, i'll be there early before school."

Lauren hesitating, "That sounds great, thank you."

"So, it must be hard..moving to a new town and all. Where are you from?" Bryce asks.

"I'm from California. It's definitely a lot colder here in the winter, but i like it." She answers.

"Wow, i have never been to California. Well, i should probably go. I mean to home. I have some spanish homework." Bryce stumbles.

"Oh, well i'm fluent in spanish actually, maybe i could help you sometime." Lauren says.

Bryce looks at the window and notices Ashley and Josh looking at him talking to the new girl. Ashley gives him a playful wink and continues laughing and talking with the group.

"That would be awesome." Bryce says.

"See you tomorrow Bryce! Thanks again!" She says, as she walks towards her car. Bryce watches her as he walks to his car. Wow, she's nice, he thinks to himself as he starts up his Toyota Tacoma.

Joseph House

"How was your day Big B?" Mr. Joseph greets as Bryce closes the front door behind him.

"It was alright dad, I have a speech in english next week. Should be fun." Bryce answers boringly.

"Let's make sure you can get an A on that, honey." Mrs. Joseph exclaims while preparing dinner.

"Yeah, of course mom. Hey, I already ate with the guys so I won't eat much." Bryce explains as he begins to walk up the stairs to his room.

"Let me guess, Wendy's?" Mrs. Joseph teases.

"Maybe!" Bryce exclaims from the top of the stairs.

Football Field

"So, how about the girl? Get her number yet?" Carter asks, raising his eyebrows as he takes a bite of his apple.

"Her name is Lauren and no, she's nice. I'm going to help her find her classes today." Bryce fires back.

"Jeez, no need to get defensive about it." Carter responds.

"Quit teasing him, girls aren't Bryce's main life goal, like yours." Josh says.

"Hey, that was uncalled for." Carter complains.

"Isn't that her?" Josh points.

"Oh yeah, it is.." Bryce says, waking him from a daydream.

"Go get 'er tiger" Carter says slapping Bryce's arm as he gets up.

"Oh shut up, Carter." Josh says, hitting him.

Bryce walks over to Lauren. He guesses she is only about 5'4" or 5'5". Her long, dark hair flowed over her shoulders. She turns around and sees him walk up.

"Hey Bryce." She says, smiling.

"Hey, let me see your schedule." Bryce stumbles. Her smile is beautiful, making him hesitate. Bryce begins walking, leading them to walk down the stairs towards the main campus building.

"Oh, we have first and second period together." Bryce says, excitedly.

A few younger kids look up and notice Bryce with the new girl.

"Oh, cool. That means you can show me where they are." Lauren responds.

"You'll love Ms. Johnson's english class. We have quite a lot of history together."

The bell rings for first period, Bryce and Lauren are the first people to walk in.

English

"Oh, hey Bryce, you love my class so much you have to be the first one here eh?" Ms. Johnson teases.

"Of course, you're my favorite teacher Ms. J." Bryce replies.

More kids begin walking into Ms. Johnson's room, most looking at Lauren curiously.

Ms. Johnson turns to Lauren.

"Welcome to the class, i'm Ms. Johnson. You'll have a good time with Bryce here, me and him go way back. Make sure you fill out the course expectations, which you can find online. The school makes me do those every year." she explains sarcastically.

"Well, if you don't mind...i'll take front row seats to this show." Bryce exclaims, leaning back in his front and center desk. More students begin to find their seats from the past few days. Lauren looks around worriedly, not knowing any of the people around them. She feels stuck in an unknown world, and Bryce is the only familiar person in the room.

"Hey, Bryce, do you mind if i sit with you?" Lauren asks nervously.

"Of course. Not sure who's in this class, everyone is still changing schedules around." Bryce says.

"Remember, we will have a seating chart by the end of the week. We are still waiting for schedule changes to go through, so for now, you may still pick your seats." Ms. Johnson says to the class.

The bell rings to start first period, and a tall, black haired kid stumbles into the class a few seconds late.

"Ahh, James, you'll have to go get a tardy slip from the office." Ms. Johnson exclaims.

"Oh c'mon Ms. Johnson. I was barely ev-"

"I don't want to hear about you and Kelly's make out session in the hall. Get a tardy slip please." Ms. Johnson states.

The class starts giggling, and Bryce can't help but laugh.

"Who's that?" Lauren asks Bryce.

"Ah, that's James, captain of the football team and he's dating Kelly Sampson." says Jacob, sitting on the other side of Lauren.

"Oh, okay.." Lauren says, turning to face Jacob. "And who are you?"

"I'm Jacob Srynski, wide receiver. Hey, you know you could come sit with us at lunch if you want. Get to know some people." Jacob says daringly as he checks her out.

Lauren thinks about it, getting to know some of the popular kids seems like a good idea, but she doesn't want to be rude to Bryce. He has been nice to her and Jacob seems sketchy.

"If i see you guys, sure. My name is Lauren by the way." She says.

"Ah ok Lauren." Jacob replies.

"Are you done chatting up the new girl, Jacob? I have an english class to teach." Ms. Johnson says sternly.

"Sorry about him Ms. Johnson." James yells as he throws the late slip on her desk.

"I'll pretend like i didn't see that, young man. Go, sit." Mrs. Johnson asks in a less than respectful way.

"Aight Mrs. Johnson, jeez." James says embarrassed. "Come sit back here bro." He orders in Jacob's direction.

"See you at lunch Lauren." Jacob says as he gets up and walks to the back of the class to go sit with James.

"Ugh" Bryce lets out a sigh.

He doesn't like Jacob or James. They show off in the weight room and always act douchey. But most of all, James has a personal vendetta against Bryce. He has always had a problem with him, and the two have always seemed to cross paths.

Lauren shifts in her seat and turns to Bryce, flipping her hair.

"To be honest, i would rather sit with you at lunch. I don't even know those guys." Lauren says to Bryce.

"Well, your welcome to join my group." Bryce replies.

"Thank you, they seem-"

"douchey?" Bryce says, cutting her off, slightly too loud, granting a look from the people behind him.

"I guess so." Lauren responds. She noticed the tension between Bryce and the other two, and she can see why. They don't seem nice to the people around them, and hold themselves higher than everybody else.

Physics

"So, do you know if physics is hard?" Lauren asks.

"My friend Frank took it last year and said it was fairly hard, but as long as you do all of the homework, you'll be ready for tests. Mrs. Hugh is a fair grader." Bryce explains.

Carter yells, "Hey big guy!" hitting Bryce in the arm.

"Hey Carter, you in here?" Bryce asks rhetorically.

Bryce wants to be Lauren's partner, but he doesn't want to disappoint Carter. They were lab partners in chemistry and did a great job at ruining the grading curve. Science seemed to be the only class Carter got As in.

"Good morning, class. Today we will pick lab partners. You can't change partners, so be smart about who you decide to work with." Mrs. Hugh explains.

"Hey Bryce, i think i'm going to partner up with Rachel. Sorry man." Carter says.

"Are you sure? I could find another partner." Lauren asks him.

She doesn't know anybody, and everybody else seems to know who their partner is. She really does want to be Bryce's partner, but is mindful of their friendship.

"Oh, no its ok Lauren. I think Rachel needs a partner. See you guys." Carter says.

He is hurt that Bryce isn't his partner, but he really wants to talk to Rachel, so it's ok with him. Besides, Lauren seems like a nice girl and Bryce is seeming to like her already.

Hallway

"So, should i meet you at the stairs?" Bryce asks Lauren.

"Sure. I think i can find my classes from here. Thank you, for everything." Lauren says.

"No problem. We usually eat lunch by the field, i'll introduce you to everybody. See you later." Bryce says.

"Bye." Lauren replies, looking back and checking out Bryce. She begins daydreaming about him and catches herself. You're being ridiculous, she tells herself as she turns towards her next class.

Lunch

The bleachers are nearly empty, since most of the students sit in the cafeteria or beside the main buildings. A few random congregations of all different types of people sit against the fence or on the bleachers around them.

"I will bet you 10 bucks that Rachel and Carter become a thing by the end of the week." Bryce states, waving a $10.

"Deal." Says Carter, with a wicked smile on his face.

The bleachers creak slightly as Grace walks up, brown bag in hand.

"What are you two meatheads betting on this time?" asks the tall, brown haired girl.

Bryce had met Grace in middle school, and they had become good friends. She has always been the social one in the group and was very outspoken. She never hid her feelings, and was friends with just about everybody.

"I don't think it's safe to tell you, Grace, it might become a school wide game of matchmaker by the end of the day." Josh teases.

"Hey, Bryce, i think Lauren is looking for you." Ashley says as Josh gives her a piece of his brownie. "You may want to save her from James, rumor has it he has his eye on her." she adds.

"How disgusting, she has been here for like one day. I have to tell Kelly, she won't like that." Grace jokes.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Let me go talk to her. Maybe she will sit with our group of misfits." Bryce states, as he begins stepping down the bleachers.

"We ain't misfits man, just a fun bunch!" Carter fires back as Bryce shuffles down the bleachers.

"Hey Lauren, if you want to come sit with us, i could introduce you to everybody." Bryce invites as he eats his turkey sandwich.

Lauren looks up to the bleachers and sees the group laughing, and sharing food. "Okay. I can't say no to that offer. I just can't shake you, can i?" She teases, before climbing the steps up.

This is "Grace, Carter, Josh, Ashley.." he says, nodding to each person. This is Lauren."

"Nice to meet you, Lauren." Ashley says excitedly.

"I think we have 5th period art together?" Grace asks.

"Yeah, i think she does. We have an empty seat at our table, if you want to join us."

Ashley offers.

"Of course, that sounds fun. Grace, aren't you also on the volleyball team?" Lauren asks.

"Yes, i'm the captain, actually. This year's team is going to be pretty good." The tall brunette replies.

"Oh, i thought you looked familiar." Lauren replies, walking up one step to be on the same level as Grace.

"Hey Lau- oh." Bryce stumbles, noticing her drifting towards Grace.

"You're so funny, Bryce." Ashley jokes. "Looks like she found another friend."

James and Jacob's table

"Yo, Jacob, you see that fiery latina chick?" James comments.

"Of course, she's a new girl right?" Jacob asks.

"Yeah, i heard she's from California. Hot piece of ass if you ask me."

Says Patrick, a junior on the football team.

"She's my piece of ass. I've noticed that punk Bryce has his little group on her already." James quips.

"You wanna put that little bitch in his place eh?" Jacob suggests.

"Yeah...well, if i can get into Rachel's pants too while we're at it." James exclaims, radiating crudeness.

"Think i could have some of that too?" Jacob asks with a wide grin.