A/N

Hey y'all! This is also a different type of writing to what I'm used to, so it may be a bit weird at first. Anyway, tell me if it's a yay or nay.

The title probably won't make sense at first, but trust me, it will eventually.

Enjoy!

I walk into my new school, my head down. My auburn ponytail swishes into my face. So far, no one has questioned me. Thank goodness. I hate the spotlight, and everything that comes with it.

"Um, I'm Ella Ra, the new student. Do you have my schedule?" I ask politely. The office lady hands it over. I murmur a thanks and head to my first class. Art. I smile. My favourite subject. My father, Crayton, had taught me when I was little. My head hit something.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Hey, you're the new kid!" A girl about a year older than me exclaims. She has dark brown hair that falls on her shoulders.

"Sorry. Do you know where the art class is?" I ask.

"Right there. Mrs Meese is really nice. I'm Marina by the way," Marina says kindly. I nod.

"Thanks!" I call over my shoulder as I open the door, and snicker quietly at the teachers name. Mrs Meese?

"Hi there Ella. Welcome to Garde High. You can take the seat by Maren," the teacher points to a seat next to a girl who looks the same age as Marina. She waves jauntily. Hmm.

"Yo, I'm Maren," the girl says coolly. She is pretty. Her black hair falls past her shoulders, and her grey eyes sparkle against her olive skin.

"Ella," I reply confidently, sticking my hand out. Maren shakes it.

"Hey, new girl! You single?" A loud voice calls out across the room. I scowl and turn around. A boy with long black hair is waving at me, a taunting grin on his face.

"Yeah, you want my number? It's 023 N-E-V-E-R," I yell back. Woah, I was never like that. Maren smiles wider. The boy is actually calling the number. He winked at me, then put it on speaker. A croaky voice rings out through the room.

"Listen, sonny, stop calling this damn number! Just accept that all the girls are rejecting you!" I crack up. How many times have girls said that to him?

"Did you not get the message the first time, Stanley? Not every girl has the same number. How dumb are you?" Maren says, irritated. It was her who did it the first time? She and I exchange glances.

"I think I'm gonna like you, new girl. I think I'm gonna like you a whole lot."

After art, I have maths. I'm sitting beside a boy with blonde hair, and another blonde girl. The blondeness is overwhelming. They even have blue eyes, and look scarily similar.

"Are you two related?" I ask. They turn to me.

"He wishes," the girl says, "I'm Myra, by the way."

"John," replies the guy. Myra and John clearly hate each other. I wonder why.

"Did you two have a bad break-up or something?" I ask.

"You picked up on that, huh? It's...personal," Myra scowls.

"It's not just us. But don't worry about it, kid," John says, a whole lot more nicely than Myra.

"Whatever," Myra rolls her eyes.

"Myra, John, and Ella! Detention afterschool!" Yells our teacher. I scowl. You can bet I was pleased when that class was over. I leap out of my seat and dodge my way through the hall, into the cafeteria. I spot Marina waving me over, along with Stanley at another table. I give him a disgusted look, then walk over to Marina. Stanley's friends jeer at him.

"Hey! I see you've met Stanley..." Marina trails off, hatred in her eyes.

"Does everyone at this school hate each other or something? First Myra and John, Stanley and Maren, and now you?" I have had it with this. It's seriously irritating.

"Right. Well, there was an...incident involving nine of us. Stanley, Maren, John, Myra, Joseph, Maggie, Hannu, Cody and me. So now we all hate each other," Marina explains.

"Who's who?" I ask. Marina points to a loud table in the middle.

"We're all in different cliques, see. We were all in one, but then we split up into the others. Stanley's in the popular crowd, who you already know. Maggie's the redhead in that quiet group, aka the nerds. Cody's the dark haired boy over there. He's the outcast. Then John is just...John. He doesn't really have a clique. Myra's the scene type, though she doesn't look it, or act it really. Hannu is with the skaters, see the half-African one? Joseph is the class clown, and he hangs out with those people. He's Indian. Maren? The rebellious one. Me, well, I'm kinda like John. But not," her eyes go hard. I notice her face softening when she got to Joseph, and she seemed really...hurt, I guess, more than the others. But if Marina says she hates them, I'll take her word. I need to know what happened between them all, and it must be bad. This truth won't be easy to find. And in finding it, what will become of me? Because I sure as heck know they won't let it go that easy.

After all that heavy thinking, I head off to soccer trials. I'm obviously not trying out, but Marina's friend Jody is, and she asked me to come.

"Hey, Ella! Over here!" Liana yells, waving me over. I jog towards her.

"Hey," I say. A man walks over, looking worried.

"We don't have enough girls for our trial teams," he says. Liana frowns.

"I thought you had too many?" She asks.

"We do, but we need four different teams. Could you play, Li?" He questions. Liana shakes her head. "Sorry, Coach," So thats who he is. "I fractured my ankle. Maybe Ella could, though..." I gape at her. What? I don't even know the rules of soccer! Coach turns to me.

"Could you, Ella? We'd really appreciate it," he begs. I sigh. What they hey.

"Whatever. Sure, I'll play. But I'm warning you, I'm not very good," I tell him.

"That's what they all say," he laughs, and points to the field.

"Start warming up." Oh God. What have I done? I pull my ponytail tighter, shuck my cardigan, and jog over to the field. I recognize some of the people as the nine that Marina told me about. Maren, John, Myra, Cody...and crap, Stanley. That jerk. He says something to his friends, which they laugh at. He waves exaggeratedly. I return a not so nice gesture. His friends snicker. I head over to Maren and warm up beside her. She grins at me.

"Hey, Ella. Didn't know you played soccer," she says.

"Neither did I," I reply. Maren snorts.

"Coach actually managed to get you to play? What'd he do?"

"Offered A's in all my PE classes. God knows I need it," I reply.

"Hey, sweetheart. So I've been thinking. My place or yours?" Stanley runs up, smirking at Maren. She smiles, sickly sweet.

"Both. You go to yours, I go to mine," she responds, not looking up from her stretches.

"Were you in my class last year? I could've sworn we had chemistry," Stanley shoots. Does that guy ever give up?

"Nope. Whatever was left of your brain must of disappeared, Worthington. We didn't do chemistry last year, you dolt," Maren replies, then says something else.

"Hey Stanley, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" She asks sweetly. I actually think she's being serious. Even Stanley looks shocked.

"Why do you say that, Mar? Because I'm so beautiful?" I snort. Maren smiles maliciously.

"No, because your face is messed up," she retorts.

"Ooh, burn..." I say.

"One day, Maren Elizabeth, I will win you over! Just you wait!" Stanley calls over his shoulder.

"Alright, kiddos. Let's start this trial."

Two hours later, I'm struggling to breathe, fighting to move my muscles, and on the Garde High girls soccer team. Problem: so are Maren and Myra. And John and Stanley are both on the boys team. I think Cody pulled out halfway through. No idea why, though. Marina and Jody are walking beside me to celebrate. Jody got in too. We enter a small café and take a seat near the back. A thought hits me.

"Marina? I just realized, all of your, enemies, per say, start with M. The girls, anyway." Marina contemplates this.

"Yes. I suppose we do. Myra, Maggie, Maren and Marina," she spits out the first three names like they're poison.

"What happened between you nine?" I ask curiously, "I notice some of you get on better than others."

"I suppose you mean Stanley and Maren? He was in love with her. I don't know if he still is," Marina says.

"John and Myra seem...extremely hostile," I say carefully.

"They were two of the worst affected. But we're all mostly like that, too," Marina tells me. I can't imagine Marina hating someone. I realize I'm supposed to be at detention.

"Crud, I have to go! Detention awaits!" I call, then sprint back to the school. I burst in halfway through. The teacher, Mr Jones, looks up.

"Nice of you to join us," he drawls. I take a seat. Jonesy leaves about three minutes later.

"What're you in here for?" I turn to my left. A pale boy with black hair flopping over his eyes sits there.

"Talking during class," I reply. He was sitting at...John's table?

"Ouch. Mr Rey, right? I don't like that guy. I got busted hacking the schools database," he says. My jaw drops. Hacking the schools database? How smart was this guy? Or, really, how trustworthy?

"I know. But I'm not like that. My friend John needed to know something. I'm Adam, by the way. Adam Sutekh," he sticks out his hand. I shake it.

"Hey, Adam, do you know what happened with John and his friends?" I ask.

"Damn, you're that new kid that's always hanging out with those nine, aren't you? They did some pretty unforgivable things, from what I heard, but it's not up to me to tell you. I'm guessing you've already asked Marina. Dangerous territory. I suggest you stay out of it," he says it in a few breaths. Hmm.

"I'm Ella. And, just a question, is that actually, uh, allowed in detention?" I point at Myra, who's punching a dark haired guy in the face.

"Oh, Myra? She does anything to go against the rules. Also, that guys a jerk. Pretty dodgy, too. I suggest you stay away," Adam advises.

"Will do," I nod.

"Have you met all of them, yet? I know about John, Marina, and Myra, but anyone else?" Adam asks.

"Uh, yeah. I've talked to Maren, and Stanley. Both in the same class. It was a lovely experience, I tell you," I say. Adam laughs.

"God, really? What did you think about them?" He snorts.

"What can I say? Stanley's a complete jerk, and Maren? She's nice enough to me, but...I dunno. Something about her just scares me," I tell him.

"I get what you mean. Stanley's not actually a bad guy. He just acts the way he does to cover it up. But Maren...she's scarier than my mom when I insult her cooking, and that is something you do not want to see."