Life of Mike, or: The Depth of Shallowness
It is the fall of 2003. The new school year starts and everyone, especially our favorite annoying character Mike Newton, is excited. It's all about who's in your science class this semester, who has grown over the summer – and in what way, who is going to be the most popular student at Forks High School, and: whether Coach Wheeler will finally admit girls to the soccer team, whether the basketball team will eventually win at least one game this season, and the like.
However, this year something new is added to the list of cares of the small town high school students and it soon becomes the one and only matter to care about.
It's the Cullens.
A/N I've planned this as a longer fiction. So be prepared to get annoyed a little more from time to time. Needless to say, it's Mike's POV.
Disclaimer: The characters that are taken from the Twilight series belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just use them in my own story. Oh, and there are some OCs I created.
Prologue
I had a plan. One simple plan. This plan would guarantee the fulfillment of my dearest wish: Being the most popular and most gorgeous student at Forks High School. I simply had to wait till Danny Stevenson, the captain of the volleyball team, had graduated. Simple plan. But then, the Cullens arrived.
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I
The Age of Innocence
"Hey, Mike!"
"Hey, Eric. What's up?" Always surround yourself with the ugliest guy. That will emphasize your own beauty even more. "How was your summer?" But don't spend any of your precious leisure time with him.
"Oh, quite cool. You know I got this new …" Don't bother listening. Keep smiling and look good.
It was the first day of my second year at Forks High School. Danny Stevenson had gone to college and this was supposed to be the first day of my new life as Mr. Popularity and Mr. Gorgeous as my complexion had turned almost flawless over the summer. Thanks, Mom, for the tip with the zinc ointment. Thanks for nothing, Jessica Simpson!
Eric kept on talking about some computer game or role playing game or whatever while we were walking towards the school building. I greeted several people with a cute smile, if they said hello first, of course.
"Hi", that was Davy Warrington. He's a senior and he says hi to me. I am already popular. I think he is in the cheerleading squad, so possible he's gay. But he's got a nice haircut. His hair all up in a spiky way. I like that.
"Go, Spartans, go! – School Spirit! Hurray!!!" Oh, here they are; talking of evil… In front of the main entrance there was a bunch of cheerleaders jumping around, well, cheering and whatever it is cheerleaders do, welcoming us back at school. Hurray for team spirit. – Wait, did that one cheerleading girl just look me up and down and blush and giggle and hide her face at the shoulder of her friend? Hurray for Team Mike!!!
"Hey, Mike. Coming to the game on Saturday?" A tall dark-haired girl addressed me. Katherine Silverman. A cheerleader but not like cheerleader-like beautiful. She's okay. But I'd say I'm not her league.
"I'm not sure yet."
"Oh, you should so go! It's the first game of the new year." It's weird if a tall girl attempts to look cute. Anyway, keep smiling; you're a ladies man, Mike.
Next to me, Yorkie started drooling. Someone's finally reached puberty!
"We'll see." Yeah, be a charmer, wink!
When we were in the hallway, Eric started babbling: "Oh my Gah – That was Kathy Silverman. The cheerleader. Talking to you. Like – like inviting you for a date. Oh my Gah –" Where did he get this annoying "Oh my Gah" from? It's – it's annoying!
I shrugged my shoulders and smirked. "By the way, she prefers being called Katherine."
I must have looked so cool when saying this because Eric's mouth simply dropped open and his eyes looked like they would pop out every minute. Yes, be impressed. Mike's quite the ladies man.
"Did – did", he started stumbling. I thought he got rid of his stutter in fourth grade? "Did you just see that?"
"What?" I asked annoyed again and turned around to see what Eric was gasping at.
When I couldn't detect anything that may have caused the possibly permanent eerie expression on his face, I turned again to face him. Yuck! He was drooling again.
"WHAT???" I looked him straight into the eyes, somewhat annoyed. Yeah, probably also pissed off because my theoretical date with Katherine Silverman was not the cause for his distraction.
"The – the – the -" Jeez, the stutter is back! "There – there" Oh come on! Patience is none of my many abilities. Okay, patience is not an ability in the narrow sense, but –
"There was this girl, just turning around the corner over there, and she was so – she looked so – Oh my Gah! –"
"Right." I rolled my eyes. Yorkie and his hormones.
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On the way to my first class, alone - Thank God no hormone-driven Eric Yorkie drooling at the table next to me in this class -, I heard a shrill voice from like the other end of the building calling my name and the noisy trampling of little feet approaching me quickly. I didn't turn round, pretending not to have heard anything Damn, I should have taken my iPod to school. Yet, Mom wouldn't allow me to. But the feet were still coming closer.
"MI-IKE!!!"
I shuddered. I felt like everyone was looking at me. So I turned round, putting on a fake, but no doubt cute smile, "Hey, Jessica –"
But before I could start with the usual small talk or even properly greet Angela whom she must have dragged all the way along with her and who just smiled shyly at me, barely looking up, actually looking down to meet my eyes - Gosh. She has grown. But not in the sense of She Has Grown, if you know what I mean. She's just tall. At least 5 inches taller than me. –, Jessica, whom I supposed to be completely out of breath from that run, started babbling as if she didn't need breathing anyways.
"Have you seen them? Angela has. Right, Angie? It's a pity I haven't yet. But everyone's already talking about them. I've just met Lauren. She hasn't seen them. She – by the way her new hair color looks so like fake – she only knows from Tobias who knows from Chelsea who knows from Tiffany. But Angela has actually seen them. Right, Angie?"
She stopped for a moment, looking up at her tall friend who was obviously puzzled for a moment and looked quite ashamed. Then she simply nodded and Jessica continued with her prattle.
"Yes, she has seen them. But she hasn't talked to them yet. No one has. I could still be the first doing that -" That last statement was probably Jessica thinking aloud without noticing it. And from the look on Angela's face, she was thinking the same as me.
"And they're all like super good-looking. Well, that has just to be testified. Angela, didn't say such a thing. Huh, Angie? They weren't anything like looking unusual as Lauren claims Tobias has says Tiffany has says Chelsea has says, eh? Well, doesn't matter. Anyway, they seem to have just arrived coming from – where did they come from, Angie? – Oh, you probably don't know, not having actually talked to them. Okay, that's something to ask. I wonder if one of them is in my Spanish class. –"
"For Christ's sake! WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!" Crap, my dad doesn't like me swearing in public. Or using incorrect grammar.
"Well, the Cullens." Jessica looked up at me, all innocence in her expression.
"And who are 'the Cullens'?" For Heaven's sake! But I kept my voice calm.
"Well, they are the new family. They've just moved to Forks. The father is a doctor. Works at the hospital. They are like five children. – The doctor must be quite a machine. –" Jessica giggled but I did not get the joke.
So a new family. This was all the fuss was about. Well, Forks is a small town and small town folks (oh a pun!) don't have much else to worry about than who their new neighbors are. But why should I care?
"Okay", was all I replied. Not too impolite, just sounding mildly annoyed, in a cute way. I hope she doesn't interpret that as an encouragement to continue her prattle.
"Oh! That was the warning bell. We'd better go off to our classes. Don't want to be late on the first day, eh?" Saved by the bell. How cliché is that?
I put on my gorgeous smile and slid past Jessica and Angela into the classroom. My first period. Humanities with Mrs. Prince. First lesson of my new life. Why does that sound ambiguous?
A/N Please review and tell me if you enjoyed it or got annoyed or bored to death.
BTW, I could need a beta who can also help me with all that American high school stuff. As I'm from Europe I don't know much about the U.S. school system. I only know these things from the films or teen dramas I watch, from wiki and from the Forks High School website. Go Spartans! :)
Another BTW, I use titles of literary works as, erm, titles for the individual chapters. So don't you wonder about that Age of Innocence thing.
The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton