Chapter 3: "New" School

"Shotgun!" yelled Brett Nilsen to his twin brother, after their friend Derek's car pulled up to the curb.

"Looks like somebody beat you to it," laughed Tom Nilsen.

"Who's in the car with him?" asked Brett.

"Damn! It's that bitch, Sandra Turner! She's been dragging him out for the past few weekends. Looks like he's going to be her school bus now." complained Tom.

"Well, at least the view is nice," observed his brother.

"True," he agreed, as the sound of Derek's horn could be heard and the Nilsen twins ran out of the door toward the car and then climbed into the back seat. The first thing that was weird was the greeting given by the person in the front passenger seat.

"Hey guys," smiled the beautiful blond.

"Hi Sandra," they kind of muttered in twin unison.

"I hope you don't mind that I'll be crashing your car pool from now on."

"No problem ... I mean ... it's Derek's car," said Tom.

"Damn straight," laughed Derek and Sandy joined in with her own.

"Well, I hope you don't mind being seen with us." said Brett.

"Why would that be a problem?" she asked.

"I mean, we..." Tom started, but stopped out of embarrassment.

Sandy laughed and looked at Derek. "Was I really that bad?"

"Yes, dear," grinned Derek.

Tom and Brett became very confused. Not only was Sandra Turner not ignoring them, but it seemed she was being nice to all of them. Then they had the same thought. There pal Derek had just called the meanest bitch in the school "dear". He would be in trouble for that.

"But that's strictly past tense," added Derek with a grin.

"Well, I guess I'll need a little PR help," she laughed. "Hey guys?"

"What?" said the twins in unison, causing Sandy to laugh.

"Do you guys always do that? It's so cute."

Again, the twins had the same thought. Sandra Turner was messing with them. The sad part was they were enjoying being messed with and it surprised them.

"Yeah, they have 'Wonder Twin' powers laughed Derek, causing everyone in the car to laugh, as Derek pulled into the student parking lot.

"Well, guys ... can you keep a secret?" asked the blond.

"Sure," they said together.

"I'm trying to be a nice person."

"Why?" asked Tom, solo.

"Because I'm trying to impress my new boyfriend, she said, as Derek pulled into a parking spot, put the car in park and turned off the ignition.

"Who's your new boyfriend?" asked Brett.

"Him!" she grinned, as she leaned over and kissed Derek.

"No way! You guys are shitting us, right?" asked Brett.

"Nope," beamed Derek, breaking the kiss.

"I'm all his," she added with a smile.

"Dude, how's that possible? Did you invent a mind control ray or something?" laughed Brett.

Sandy began to howl with laughter. She tried to reply, but she was laughing so hard that she could not stop.

"I'll have you know that I'm a catch. Right, honey?" pouted Derek

"Yeah," she managed to get out, as her laughter died down. "Look boys, Derek may be hanging out with some of my friends from time to time, but the trade off is that we'll be hanging out with you too. Is that OK with you guys?"

Tom and Brett could only nod dumbly. Then they saw their friend of five years walk around to the passenger seat, open the door, help Sandra Turner to her feet and take her hand, walking to the front entrance of the school. As the guys followed the happy couple, they saw the chaos they left in their wake. It got even weirder when they saw both Mindy Harrelleson and Maya Ramirez hugging both Derek and Sandra. Yes, Tom and Brett were watching a new world order take shape at Wilson High. The ripples of the event were soon being felt throughout the entire junior class.

It didn't take long for word of the unlikely pairing to spread. When Jon Sizemore heard that his ex was going out with Derek Carson he got really angry. Little did Derek know that Jon had sabotaged him when Jon had learned that Derek had become Sandra's lackey.

Derek was not really a jock per se, but he was a pretty good High School baseball player. While he wasn't the greatest hitter for power, he had an excellent "batting eye". He practically always made contact, so he seldom struck out. He had a good arm and was a smooth fielding shortstop. Last year, the coach often put him in games late, as a defensive replacement. This year, he had a decent chance at starting, as last year's starter had graduated. That all went by the wayside when Sandra had goaded Jon after she broke up with him.

"You're letting that little worm drive you around?" asked Jon.

"At least he has a license and wasn't dumb enough to wrap his mother's car around a telephone pole, you dufus!" Sandra had sniped at the time. "Because of your stupidity, you can't get your license until you're eighteen."

At that point, in a fit of anger, Jon had threatened to kick the crap out of Derek. Not wanting to lose her driver, Sandra promised that if he touched Derek, that Jon would never get laid by any girl at Wilson High again. As angry as he was, he knew that Sandra's threat was not an idle one, so he decided to back off attacking Derek. While Derek was saved physically, his baseball career ended when Jon threatened to quit before tryouts unless his coach cut Derek. As Jon was one of his biggest stars, the coach knuckled under.

Now Jon was shocked. It was one thing to be her chauffer, but to be her boyfriend? This made no sense. He suspected that something was going on and he decided to get to the bottom of it.

So do you think that people are staring," asked Derek, before taking a bite out of the sandwich his mother made him.

"I'm guessing, they are," smiled Sandy.

"Catch any grief yet?"

"Surprisingly, no," she said, before taking a bite of pizza.

"Well, since you're the queen bee, I guess you can date who you choose."

It's good to be Queen," she laughed.

Mindy came over and sat down next to Derek. "Hey cuties. How are you guys holding up?'

"We were just commenting how easy it's been so far," said Derek.

"I just wanted to warn you that Jon has been sniffing around asking a lot of questions. I think he was surprised when Maya put him in his place about you."

"I suppose that you defended me too."

"I did. So did Traci Williams."

"Traci?!" asked Sandy in surprise.

"My guess is that she fell into the group mentality. Since you and Maya are supporting us, Traci didn't want to appear to be against you guys," observed Derek.

"Ultimately, that'll be how we will make all of this work," observed Sandy. "If it were just me, I'd be dead in the water, but with you guys supporting me, you're legitimizing my relationship with Derek ... not that it needs legitimizing, Baby," she smiled and took his hand in hers, across the table.

"Well what do we have here? 'Slutty and the Geek'," laughed Jon Sizemore, as he walked over to the table."

"Jealous much?" smirked Derek, as he looked up to ensure that Jon could see him still holding Sandy's hand.

"Jon, if I was looking for your shit, I'd have brought an extra roll," spat Sandy in Sandra mode.

"So, were you cheating with the dweeb before you broke up with me?" sneered Jon.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I broke up with you when I saw how big his dick was compared to your little guy," she laughed.

Everyone at the table and nearby tables, who heard the exchange were laughing.

Jon turned a shade of purple and stormed off biting his hand in anger.

After a moment to calm down, Derek grinned at Sandy. "Still looks like the 'Queen of Mean' can be summoned upon when needed.

"I'm sorry, but nobody calls my boyfriend a dweeb ... except for me of course," she laughed.

Derek gave a mock hurt look and then Mindy did something that surprised him. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't listen to her, Derek. I think you're amazing," she beamed, causing him to smile.

"Hey, I never said that Derek wasn't amazing," complained Sandy.

"Because he is," smiled Maya, as she walked over to the table.

"Wow! I've got three hot cheerleaders fighting over me," laughed Derek.

"Don't let it go to your head, Baby!" laughed Sandy.

"Too late," he grinned.

Derek was smiling broadly. Despite this little confrontation with Jon, He was having an amazing day. He was like a rock star with his geeky friends and cute girls who had never given him the time of day were walking up to him and saying "Hi". He looked across the cafeteria and caught Chantelle's eyes and then he felt awful. It was then that he remembered that this whole thing was not an excuse to increase his popularity. While it seemed that while Sandy, Mindy and Maya were happier than ever, Chantelle was miserable. She was in love with one man and irresistibly drawn to another. He knew he needed to figure something out to ease the situation for her.

After sneaking of before cheerleading practice to get a hand job from Chantelle, Derek sat in the bleachers watching the routines. The baseball team was practicing on a field nearby. The season was starting in a couple of weeks, but for the first time in ten years, Derek would not be playing some form of organized ball. He was surprised when his coach had told him that he had not made the team. He had a good spring training and figured out that somehow he had pissed his coach off. He saw his former teammate and current enemy, Jon Sizemore, running laps, before diverting his attention to his beautiful girls and their teammates.

Then Derek heard a voice from behind him. "Hey Derek, do you mind if I sit next to you?"

He looked over and saw Connie Martin, who was the class president and one of the more beautiful girls in the junior class. She was also one of Sandy's biggest rivals. Derek somewhat knew Connie, as she was in a couple of his AP classes, but they were not exactly friends. "Not at all Connie. What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to be on the Prom Committee."

"I'm honored that you'd ask but..."

"Come on Derek. We both know you don't have any activities this spring, with baseball falling through and all."

"I didn't know that you cared," he laughed. "Well, now that you mention it, I guess I do have some free time; though I should talk with my girlfriend first."

"Yeah ... about that..." started Connie, as if she was looking for an opening to ask about him and Sandy. "What's going on with you guys?"

"I'd been helping her with some errands and we kind of reconnected."

"Reconnected?"

"Yeah. We were kind of old childhood friends. We've had some run-ins since. Then when we cleared the air, we realized that we had some chemistry and thought we should give it a try."

"But I mean you and a girl like her?"

"Hey, I'm not so bad..."

"No, you're not. But a nice guy like you and the 'Queen of Mean'?"

"She's not as mean as people think, though I'd deny saying that if you quote me," he smiled.

Connie sighed.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing ... I guess I just wanted to see if it was true,"

"You seem disappointed?"

"Yeah, but I'll deny saying that if you quote me," she smiled, got up and walked away.

"Hey, Babe," grinned Sandy, as she ran over to the stands and gave Derek a hug.

"Wow! You smell great."

"Are you kidding? I'm all sweaty and need a quick shower before we leave."

"OK, but despite that, you still smell great."

"You're sweet," she said, before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss. "So, what did 'Miss Prim and Proper' want with my boyfriend?"

"You saw that?"

"I spent so much time watching you, I almost blew a routine," she laughed.

"Connie asked me to be on the Prom Committee."

"What did you say?"

"That I wanted to talk it over with you first."

"Smart boy," she smiled. "Well, it's your decision. If you want to, go ahead."