My Salad Days ch 1

[sinful-teddy.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. I have been a member of this lovely comm for a while but I sadly haven't posted anything to it yet, even though I've written a fair bit of WL fic in my time. Thought it was about time I posted something, so here!



Title: 'My Salad Days (Green In Judgement, Cold In Blood)' Chapter 1 of probably lots.
Author: sinful_teddy
Rating: G (will rise later)
Pairing: Suggested RyCol that will become the main pairing. Also currently involves GregOC and WayneOC, but these may be subject to change in later chapters, depending on my mood at the time, haha.
Summary: It's senior student Colin's first day at a new high school in America. He never made any good friends at his last school - will this one be different? Of course it will, stupid. Colin meets some new people he feels like he could fit in with. He is intrigued by Ryan, the shy and awkward junior. WHERE WILL IT LEAD. /lame summary orz
Warnings: High school AU. Some self-inserts of me and my sister that are purely for our amusement. (I won't focus very much attention on those relationships, to save you all the pain.) Also, Colin with hair. o: wtf.
Notes: I FAIL with proof-reading, so if you spot any mistakes or inconsistencies, would you would point them out to me! c: I also wanna request an author tag and a series tag plz C:

NOTES ON GRADES AND AGES

Sophomores
Wayne, 16
Rowan, 16

Juniors
Brad, 16
Chip, 16
Ryan, 17
Greg, 17

Seniors
Sinead, 18
Drew, 18
Colin, 18

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CHAPTER ONE: Chemistry in Drama

Colin brushed his fringe away from his eyes and took a solemn look around. He wasn’t exactly going to miss his last school, but it felt strange to be starting at a new one halfway through twelfth grade. (Senior year, he supposed, now that he was in America.) He consoled himself with the fact that the schooling system wasn’t much different here than in Canada, and besides, maybe he would make more friends in this place. Back home, high school had been a slightly crushing experience, and he was actually glad to be leaving, if truth be told, though starting here made him feel very nervous and out of place.

His gaze settled on the tall school gates, only one of them open, as if somewhat reluctant to let him in. He steeled his nerves and walked through them with his head down, avoiding eye contact with the other students in the increasing crowd around him as he neared the office building.

It was warmer inside. He glanced around, taking in the pink overtones on the walls, the plastic-looking pot plants, the notice board, and finally the woman at the desk. He stepped towards her and was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of her perfume. He blinked twice in surprise, twitched his nose briefly, and waited quietly for the receptionist to notice him, too shy to try and get her attention.

After a moment she looked up and saw Colin. “Oh, hello, what can I do for you?” she asked with a grating Brooklyn accent.

Colin smiled meekly. “It’s my first day here. I was told to pick up my timetable and map at the start of the day.”

She offered him the briefest of small smiles. “What’s your name,” she stated, rather than asked. He sighed inwardly with relief, and a touch of gratefulness; at least she was trying to be polite and friendly. Their exchange was an odd cross between casual and formal, and only slightly stiff and awkward. It made Colin feel much more comfortable as he received his timetable and map, but as soon as he walked out of the office and into the school, the hollow feeling of dread swelled and settled again at the bottom of his stomach.

He glanced at his timetable. He had English before homeroom, and Drama after that. Drama was a promising prospect, and he hoped that in a private school such as this one, the kids in the class would be enthusiastic and friendly – the way Drama students were supposed to be.

In English, the teacher gave him a copy of the curriculum framework and quietly explained which parts the other students had already covered. The whole period was spent in this way and thus Colin became another lesson behind.

Homeroom was uneventful. Past the teacher making him introduce himself, nobody looked at him or asked him to join them, so he sat alone, feeling left out and quite introspective. At one point he made eye contact with a dark-haired girl. Colin smiled at her. She offered him a twitch of a smirk or a sneer and looked away. Colin stared at his feet. Was everyone here determined to ignore him? Why should people dislike someone they’d never talked to?

As he walked to Drama he felt less than optimistic. English and homeroom had drained him of the enthusiasm he’d had for this period. He didn’t expect any more attention or kindness than he’d already received.

That was why, when he entered the classroom, he was quietly surprised at the amount of smiles he received from the other students; almost a third of the class had taken the time to show him a friendly gesture. He smiled back nervously and went to sit down with everyone else, but the teacher – a tall, skinny woman with short, dark hair – tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to introduce himself.

Colin hated this part, but almost everyone was looking at him attentively and it seemed silly to be difficult about it. He brushed his hair away from his face in an effort to look more confident (he was in a Drama class, after all) and spoke:

“Uh I’m Colin Mochrie, I just moved from Montreal because my dad took a job here, but I was born in Scotland. I live with my mum and dad… I don’t have any brothers or sisters… I’m 18. I love to act and…well… I’m looking forward to this class the most.” Colin smiled, brushing his hair away from his face again, as it had fallen back in front of his eyes.

A hand rose near the front of the class. It belonged to a blond boy wearing big glasses, who had a grin on his face that looked only a little smug. The teacher nodded to him and he said, “You lived in Montreal, d’you speak French?”

Colin inclined his head. “Oui,” he said, earning a small but collective chuckle from the class. The blond kid looked satisfied with this, and as the teacher motioned for Colin to sit down, he patted the spot next to him. Colin sat down quickly, feeling a thrill of happiness and gratitude.

“Hey Colin,” said the boy. “I’m Drew.”

“Hi Drew,” said Colin, shaking the hand that Drew proffered him. A sweet-faced, dark-haired boy to Drew’s right was peering over at Colin and seemed about to introduce himself when the teacher interrupted their meeting.

“At your last school, did you do much improvisation, Colin?” asked the teacher. Colin was suddenly aware that he couldn’t remember her name, but refrained from reaching for his timetable to check it.

“Yes, miss, it’s my favourite part,” said Colin earnestly.

“Good.” Then she addressed the whole class. “We’ll be taking a break from rehearsals today and doing some simple improv exercises to give Colin a chance to settle in. Everyone find your own space.” Colin followed the leads of the others and migrated to the large, empty area of carpet, standing amongst Drew and his friends. “Take a moment to stretch and warm up,” said the teacher, who was sitting down now to watch them.

Drew and his friends started to warm up. Colin tapped Drew on the shoulder. “Um…sorry… What’s the teacher’s name?”

Drew smiled friendlily. “Miss Collins. Coincidence, eh?” He remarked, stressing the ‘eh’, as if poking gentle fun at Colin’s Canadianism. Colin grinned back graciously, taking the jibe well, and in fact feeling more at ease for it. He looked up as Drew started to stretch again and stared at the other people standing around him.

There was only one female in Drew’s friendship group, a stocky but attractively curvy girl who carried herself well, and had thick, dark, wavy hair and glasses. His eyes wandered from her to the boy next to her, whose equally thick, dark locks were well kept and longer at the front than the back, but were swept away from his face. He also wore glasses, and had a dapper air to him. He stood closer to the girl than the others, so Colin figured their relationship was more than friendly.

A way behind them was the dimple-faced boy who had tried to greet Colin before. He caught Colin’s gaze and gave him a brief wink. Colin looked away quickly, startled and a little embarrassed at being caught out.

On Colin’s other side was a broad-shouldered boy with his dark hair gelled into spikes. He was rotating his hips repeatedly as if twirling a hula-hoop around his waist. The boy next to him was chuckling under his breath at the amusing display. Colin’s eyes shifted to the boy who had laughed. He was very tall and gangly, with floppy, wavy honey-coloured hair and a muppet smile. He seemed not yet to have grown into his head, hands or feet, and he had an endearingly large nose. Colin felt instantly warm to him.

The tall boy looked up and saw Colin watching him. They both blushed and looked away again very quickly, Colin embarrassed once again to be caught staring, the tall boy embarrassed to be stared at.

Having observed all this, Colin was just about to starting stretching when Mrs. Collins announced it was time to get into groups of three or four. Colin realised he must have spent a longer time staring than he’d thought.

“Wanna work with me?” Drew asked, and Colin nodded with a smile. The spiky-haired boy had walked over to the girl and her glasses-clad friend, so Drew led Colin over to the dimple-faced boy and the tall boy. The two groups stood not far from each other. “This is Chip,” said Drew, indicating the boy who had winked before. Chip waved and inclined his head. He seemed unable to stop grinning toothily. Colin grinned back; it was infectious. “This is Ryan,” said Drew, directing Colin’s attention to the tall boy. Colin’s grin faded into a sheepish smile. Ryan was still blushing lightly. He mouthed “Hi”, but no sound accompanied the action. He cleared his throat and tried again: “H-hi.”

“Hey,” said Colin shyly. He shook both boys’ hands, and found that his own hand fit comfortably in Ryan’s. His cheeks felt warm again at the thought and he pulled his hand away, though he thoroughly doubted Ryan could read his mind.

“That’s Brad over there,” said Drew, distracting Colin, who tore his gaze away from Ryan to see the spiky-haired boy again. “And that’s Greg in the glasses, and Sinead…in…the glasses.” He laughed at himself. Colin chuckled too, and looked back around, pleased to see that Ryan was smiling that big, muppet smile again.

“Hey,” Colin began, though he wasn’t sure whom he was directing his words to and so he kept his eyes ambiguously on the wall, “What did Miss Collins mean about rehearsals?”

“We’re doing a play,” Ryan said, and Colin now looked to him. He had the air of someone who was trying not to seem as socially awkward as he really was, and as a result had been a little uninformative in his choice of words.

“It’s an entire class production,” Chip explained, patting Ryan’s shoulder absent-mindedly as Ryan seemed to realise he hadn’t been very helpful and fell quiet again. “We’re doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“Greg chose it,” said Drew, with a smile that said ‘as only Greg would’.

“We only got our scripts last week,” said Chip.

“Oh,” said Colin. He was about to open his mouth again, and decide on what to say as he said it, when Miss Collins spoke again and the class became quiet in order to hear her.

They played a game called 90 Second Alphabet. Colin had never played it before, but it was similar to some he had. It took him a moment to get into it, but once he did he was quick and funny, often taking the others by surprise with outrageous comments.

Colin felt comfortable acting. He could be so much more daring and confident when he was someone else – the mask, not the man. It seemed that Ryan, too, dropped all of his shyness when he was performing. He became cheeky and witty, and they worked well together, he and Colin. Their chemistry onstage was the best Colin had experienced with another actor. They left Chip and Drew behind at times, and had the other students laughing at their exchanges.

When it was over, however, although they grinned and shook hands, their initial meekness had returned. Colin played with his ring finger habitually and Ryan shuffled his feet, looking at the floor, as the class applauded their group. They wandered back to their seats to watch another group perform. Ryan chose a seat on the opposite side of Chip to where Colin sat, which somehow disappointed Colin. He had had such fun acting with Ryan that he needed to find out if they would make as excellent friends as they had fellow performers.

Later the bell rang, signalling the start of recess. Everyone stood up and made for the door. Chip waited at the door for Colin to remember where he’d put his bag and catch up. As Colin walked out the door, Chip asked, “Coming to sit with us?”

Colin paused in the doorway and nodded eagerly. “Yeah, yeah, if you’ll let me.” Chip just smiled warmly at him and led him away from the Drama room. They met Drew and Brad as they passed a water fountain, and the two joined them as they walked.

Colin stayed quiet, content to listen to the others talk. They were talking about some things he didn’t understand – inside jokes, obviously – but the subject soon changed to their last class.

“That was cool, Colin, you’re really funny,” said Drew. Brad pulled a face, mimicking one Colin had put on in the scene, and the three laughed. Colin smiled along with them, feeling his heart tingle warmly at the acceptance these people were showing him.

His new friends, it turned out, sat by a water tank at the outskirts of the huge oval. Further along the stretch of grass other boys played football while girls sat watching them. Colin thought he recognised the rude brunette from his homeroom, though it was hard to tell from far away.

Everyone he’d been introduced to in Drama hung out at this particular spot, in addition to a boy and a girl he hadn’t met. The boy had dark skin, very short black hair, and friendly features. His name was Wayne. The girl, whose fingers were interlaced with Wayne’s, was called Rowan. She had curly red hair, glasses, and an abundance of freckles. She turned out to be Sinead’s younger sister.

“By two years,” Sinead explained, trying to look at Colin over the shoulder of Greg, who was perched daintily atop her lap eating crackers.

“She’s a sophomore?” asked Colin interestedly.

Sinead nodded. “Wayne, too.”

“How come they hang out with a bunch of seniors?” Colin said, trying not to seem rude.

“Actually, Chip, Ryan, Brad and I are all juniors,” said Greg, wiping crumbs from the corner of his mouth with a fingertip.

“Our Drama class is mixed because there aren’t enough students in one year to fill it,” Sinead said.

“Do Wayne and Rowan do Drama, too?” asked Colin.

Greg nodded. “We’re all big Drama geeks here,” said Sinead. With a satisfying warm and fuzzy feeling, Colin started thinking that he’d found the right bunch of people to hang around with.

Suddenly, to his right, Chip, Brad and Wayne burst into song. Colin looked around and saw that they were dancing, too; a second later Chip had leapt up onto the bench that Colin, Greg and Sinead were sitting at. Colin jumped in surprise and sat back out of the way as Wayne and Brad leapt up alongside him and started to shimmy. It was such a ridiculous sight that Colin couldn’t help laughing.

“Is this usual?” he asked Drew, who had just sat down beside him. Ryan and Rowan stood by the water tank, watching the dancers and amusement.

“For us? Yeah, pretty much,” Drew said, chuckling.

Colin didn’t know whether to clap or laugh as the three boys finished their act and got down off the table, so he did both. Wayne was laughing uncontrollably and said something to Greg that Colin didn’t quite catch. Subsequently Greg burst out laughing too, and had to slide off Sinead’s lap to avoid doing her injury.

Colin, bemused, got up from the table in time to see Ryan excuse himself to Rowan and wander off towards the drink fountain.

“Where you going?” asked Drew nonchalantly, sifting through his bag for food.

“Drink fountain,” said Colin absently, and then headed off before anyone could elect to go with him – and it was lucky for Ryan that he did.