Spike it to the Ants Chapter One

                                                Chapter One

         Opening the doors Kelly could tell that everything was going to be the same.  She hadn't even seen the inside of the school yet, but she could smell it.  There was always a certain smell that seemed to stay with a school.  It was a mixture of cleaners, bad school lunches, and hair spray.  The essence hung in the air so much that nobody around the school would notice them, even if they were trying to pick them out, but Kelly always noticed them, and with one whiff from the inside of the door she could tell that this school was going to be just like all the rest, and she knew she would hate it.
         This would be Kelly's third high school.  If she counted all the schools she'd been in before high school she got confused, especially about her fifth grade year.  She could never remember if she had been to four or five schools that year, and she'd stopped caring.  This time she had been told that they would stay awhile, although the last time she had been told that she had stayed a grand total of three weeks.  She wasn't going to get too comfortable.
         Kelly knew the drill by now.  Her mom got her registered for classes, and then she was led to her class where she would be introduced, and then she would have to come up with something to say about herself.  Then she would either be stared at by most of the class, or she would become the unending project of the one perky overachiever.  They would invite her to everything for a couple of weeks until they realized that they had absolutely nothing in common with the underachiever that Kelly was.  After that they would slowly stop inviting her, and become progressively less excited to greet her in the hallways.  As always Kelly would end up alone until the next move, when her mother would make overenthusiastic speeches about the chance she would have to reinvent herself, and make tons of new friends.  This was the routine of Kelly's life—an ongoing cycle that was starting once again, and Kelly was tired.
         Kelly stumbled out of the counselor’s office with her mother and the counselor.  Mr. Patterson, Kelly's new counselor, was on the short side, on the bald side, and definitely getting on Kelly's bad side.  He was waiting to show Kelly to her history class.  Kelly turned to her mom.  Maggie Markham had that familiar “make the best of it” smile on her face.
         "Have a wonderful day Kelly!  Just think, this could be the start of a whole new life.  You can completely reinvent yourself here."   
         "Yeah, this time I think I want to be a light bulb," Kelly mumbled.
         "What?" her mom asked.
         "Nothing."
         "Have a great day!"  With that Maggie gave her daughter a great big smile and then made her way down the hall toward the front doors.  Kelly knew her mom meant well.  She could tell that all the moving wasn't the easiest thing for her either.  She knew that her mom felt guilty for putting Kelly through it all, and so she was always trying to find the bright side and a way to make it all worth it.  For Kelly there was no bright side, though, and none of it was worth it.
         Kelly followed the man down the hall.  She saw little of what was around her.  It was all the same anyways.  Doors of classrooms and lockers would line the halls, along with shows of the school colors, school banners and various trophies, as if to show their school was better, or at least different, than any other school.
         They finally came to a door at the end of one hallway and then stopped.  Mr. Patterson gave Kelly a fake smile.
         “Ready?”
         Kelly gave him back a dose of his own fakeness.  “I sure am,” she replied through clenched teeth. 
         “Great!” he beamed back at her.  He opened the door and walked into the room.
         “Ms. Wilson?”
         Kelly could see through the door into the room.  Standing in front of the room was a woman in her twenties.  She was tall and pretty and seemed to hold a strange grace that didn’t really fit in a high school. 
         “Yes Mr. Patterson?”  Kelly’s eyebrows shot upward.  Ms. Wilson had a distinct British accent.
         “We have a new student to add to your class.”  He turned and motioned for Kelly to come into the room.  “This is Kelly Markham.”
         Kelly slumped through the door and bit down on her lip as she looked around at the kids in the room.  This was the part she hated.  Here was where she had to stand alone in front of a sea of high school students who were just aching to find something wrong with her.  She wished that just once she could sneak into a new school like a cat burglar and just mix in with the crowd, instead of having to have her arrival announced.   
         “Welcome to European history Kelly.  I’m so pleased to meet you.”
         Kelly turned to look at Ms. Wilson.  She was smiling at Kelly, and for just a moment Kelly could see her in the middle of a British court in the days of King Arthur, bowing and being charming to everybody.  She could see that this was definitely the right pick for a European history teacher.  Kelly gave her a weak smile.
         Kelly and Ms. Wilson seemed to both turn at the same time and look at Mr. Patterson, who was standing there with a giant grin on his face.
         “Why don’t you tell the class something about yourself?” Mr. Patterson suggested.  Kelly rolled her eyes.  Of course, here we go again.
         Ms. Wilson cleared her throat.  “Mr. Patterson, I believe we can handle things from here.  Thank you so much for bringing Kelly.  I’m sure you have many important things to be doing right now, am I right?”
         Mr. Patterson looked a little surprised.  “Uh, well, yeah,” was all he could think of to say.
         “Good Afternoon, then.”
         “Uhh, good afternoon.”  Mr. Patterson left the room scratching his head and looking a little defeated.  Ms. Wilson closed the door after him and then turned back to Kelly.
         “Why don’t you pick a seat Kelly.”
         Kelly was a little surprised, but she found a seat in the back and then sat down, expecting still to have to rattle off stupid, useless facts about herself in a feeble attempt to make everyone acquainted with her.
         “I suppose that I should tell you a little about our class.  I know you’ve come in somewhat in the middle of things, but be assured that I will help in any way I can so that you can catch up.”
         Kelly just nodded.
         “I suppose introductions are in order, but I find them to be a little useless, don’t you think?  It’s rather silly to think that someone could really get to know you after you’ve only said a few things about yourself.  I’m sure that with time we will get to know each other.”
         Kelly was stunned.  She didn’t have to introduce herself?  Oh thank goodness! She sighed inwardly. 
         “One thing that you should know about me, is that to me history is not a chronological line that you run across in order and understand everything that there was.  History is a living creature that was never born, and will never die.  It is so expansive that you will never be able to see its full shape.  We may understand certain aspects of its character, but like a human being, you will never know everything there is to know because there are an infinite number of different faces that it could show you.  Therefore, I do not pretend in any way to give you the entire picture of history.  This class is too short and there are only a certain number of hours to a day.  I only pretend to be giving you a small taste of many different parts of history in the hopes that you will become enticed, and will want the entire meal.”
         Kelly stared at her.  This was a strange teacher.
         “We are just finishing our unit on governments throughout European History.  I’m sure you are very sad to have missed the bloodbath that was the French revolution, but this is something that you will have to study on your own.  We will finish things up today, and then tomorrow we will start a new unit.  I will let all of you live in anticipation until then.”
         Kelly was still staring at the woman in shock.
         “She’s a little different, isn’t she?”
         Kelly turned to see who had spoken.  It was the boy that was sitting up and diagonal from her.  He was twisted in his chair so that he could face her.  Kelly’s eyes opened wider.  Hello she thought.  Kelly had never seen a cuter boy in her life.  She knew he probably wasn’t the type that would be Mr. Everything in the school, since he didn’t have that dumb jock Romeo look, but she couldn’t imagine someone more her type than him.  He was tall and thin, though not scrawny.  She could tell just by looking at him that he was into sports, but she could also tell he was no dumb jock.  His dirty blond hair was a little long, and his green eyes were wide and intelligent.  His smile was warm and friendly as he grinned at her now.
         “Hey, I’m Keith.  Welcome to Maple High School.”
         “Thanks.”  Kelly smiled.  She suddenly felt welcome.