Meet 2 (Third Pillar/Open)

Tara Ganon grumbled inside as she walked down the halls of Public High School 552. The fit looking freshman with daring green eyes and short dyed blond hair was a bit disappointed to say the least. She had arrived here in New York City over the weekend and other than one night out she was going to school like she could have been doing back in Dallas...if she were still allowed to attend school in the Dallas ISD. 'Oh well' thought Tara, 'at least I still have the weekends'. Then a horrifying thought crossed her mind, what if Mr. MacPherson found some sort of "character building" activity for her that would eat into her free time.

From the moment she had met him, Tara found Mr. MacPherson to be overly complicated and annoyingly diligent in his duties as her Foster Care officer/legal guardian. Back in Texas, Tara had been shuffled between State Foster Care officials like a hot potato so she had seen all types. On the one end you had the 'I am doing this to get a paycheck and don't give too sh*ts what you do so long as you don't get me in trouble' types who Tara preferred for the freedom they granted. On the opposite end of the spectrum where the naive but well-meaning types who tried to stick with Tara and asked her dumb questions about her feelings and why she took that purse from the store without paying for it. Mr. Macpherson however seemed to fall into a different category, at least based on how he had acted in the two days Tara had known him. At first he seemed like the diligent well-meaning type but he did not respond to Tara's provocations and had proven to be very clever and diligent, as if Tara was the only thing in the world he had to worry about.

It was because of Mr. MacPherson's diligence that Tara was getting leered out by most every boy she passed as she made her way down the crowded hallways. Tara had awoken to find only one outfit hanging up in her closet. It was not one she would have ever voluntarily worn under normal circumstances but when she sent a text to Mr. MacPherson, Tara learned that the foster care worker had taken possession of her normal attire and intended to leave her clothes for the day in her room. With nothing else to wear and no Mr. MacPherson to argue with, Tara conceeded defeat, at least for the moment and went to school wearing the outfit.

The text from Mr. MacPherson said the outfit would help mer to make a good first impression on her first full-day of school at Public High School 552 and Tara got the impression the outfit was helping her to make an impression alright, especially on the boys in the hallway. Her long legs, partially covered by knee-length pleated skirt attracted many a male eye, while the long-sleeved white button-up blouse hid her toned muscles from view making her look like an easy target.

Tara kept walking but stealthily glanced behind her using the pretense of stretching as a cover. She was sure of it now, those same two boys she had passed earlier were following her. They looked older than her, Juniors or maybe even Seniors. Their attire suggested they either belonged to a gang or at least wanted to give the impression that they did. Neither looked overly smart but then if they were they wouldn't have been following her like this. Tara momentarily considered finding a sparsely populated corner of the school just to see if the boys would jump her. If they didn't then perhaps they
were more intelligent than they looked. If they did jump her then Tara could entertain herself with a good fight and then take the boys' wallets as "payment" for her trouble.

As she mulled her choice, Tara found her way to the school's entryway. There only a handful of students were milling about. Right in front of her was nerdy looking boy who couldn't help but stare at her. Tara offered a friendly smile back at the boy as she passed which seemed to make him flustered. It was a harmless tease, she knew how nerds worked, they were harmless. She didn't really care if they stared at her and elected to remain ignorant about what their minds were up to while they stared. In a best case scenario one of them might offer to do some schoolwork for her. At the very least though it was fun to watch them dream.

Less than a minute after she had walked past the nerd she heard a ruckus coming from behind her. Turning, Tara saw the two gangster looking boys who had been following her were shoving the nerd around and one of them finally tripped him. As he fell to the ground, the boys taunted him and starting kicking him. Seeing this Tara felt a tinge of an emotion she tried hard to avoid, guilt. Based on what the gangster boys were saying it was clear that in their tiny brains (or whatever they were thinking with) they had already deemed Tara to belong to them or at the very least wanted to make sure this nerd didn't get any wild ideas to the contrary. The nerd was being beaten up because Tara had given him a friendly smile and the gangster boys had seen this and misinterpreted it. Tara tried to tell herself that it wasn't her fault, after all she can't be held accountable for what some idiot boys do. No matter how sensible this line of thought was, Tara realized that the world, and especially places like this school, didn't follow such ideal rules and in a crazy round about way it was at least partially her fault...kinda.

Tara stopped to watch the bullying and noticed other students trying to pretend like they didn't see it, fleeing the entryway as if they had somewhere important to be in the next few seconds, really just wanting to be somewhere else. The young freshman figured that she might have to intervene on the nerd's behalf when she heard someone shout.


Tara turned towards the voice to see an angry-looking dark haired boy who looked about her age calling out to the gangster boys beating up on the poor nerd. Tara grinned, good a hero appears to have stepped in saving her the trouble.

The taller gangster boy stopping kicking the nerd for a moment to look up at his challenger.


"Wes jus teachin dis loser a lesson, after all dis is skool aight?" he said in what was probably meant to be English. "If yo like wes can teach yo a lesson too shrimp."


The taunt was clearly meant to provoke the dark-haired boy and Tara edged her way back to the wall to avoid being too conspicuous. As she leaned back against the wall she did her best to hide a grin. If all went well the dark-haired boy and the gangster boys would beat each other up and then she could step in and take their wallets. It was entertaining and lucrative. Tara crossed her arms over her chest and watched to see what would happen next.

Tara stood back and watched the show, it was more entertaining than she had thought it might be. The short boy with the scowl and the dark hair looked more than capable as he kicked the gangster boys in the ass...jaw, face and other parts of their bodies too. When it was all over the leader who had taunted the boy was out cold while his friend tried to flee down the hallway past where Tara was waiting. The girl waited for her moment and then quickly stuck a leg out causing him to trip and face plant onto the floor, now he too was out cold. Tara knelt down and started to help herself to the boy's walled which based on the picture inside likely didn't belong to him anyway.

The Freshman placed her "winnings" in her skirt pocket, out of view, and made her way back over to where the other gangster boy lay on the ground. The nerd nearby was cringing in pain and was still on the floor. For the moment though Tara ignored him, her green eyes fixed on the dark-haired boys own emerald eyes. A perplexing bright smile appeared on Tara's face.

"That was so cool the way you stepped in and saved that boy, and without using your hands no less."

She played the role of the helpless bystander well, making full use of that accursed outfit MacPherson left for her which at the very least served to make her seem more feminine.

"My name is Tara, I just transferred here so I don't really know how things work around here yet. Are you like some sort of student monitor or something like that? Most of the other students just walked away. I was about to go and find a teacher before you showed up to save the day." 

Tara lied through her teeth but it would be very hard to detect that she was lying, the girl prided herself in being skilled when it came to deception. What she really wanted was to find out who the dark-haired boy was and then help herself to the other gangster boy's wallet when he walked off and then maybe take the nerd to the nurse's office to build up a bit of good will that she could cash in later.