That damn Rafaello bloody Ferreira and his stupid feet! Nora thought as she headed to lunch.
She could feel the asymmetry of her feet, the crinkle on her right leather shoe, not to mention the horrible urge to step on someone's foot. She tried not to think about it as she headed to the school canteen, flooded with the school's uniform colours of grey and blue.
Nora filled her tray with pasta and salad, then followed the lanky frame of her best friend, Benny to their usual modest corner where they could enjoy a complete view of the school's central nervous system.
When she first moved here a little over a year ago, she didn't know anyone and hadn't bothered to get to know anyone. She came here to heal and focus on her studies. She didn't need friends. She knew how fickle and shallow friendships in schools were.
Until Benjamin - or Benny as he'd introduced himself. They sat together in English Literature and she enjoyed his quiet demeanour. He didn't pry into her life or give her weird looks like everyone else did. In fact, in the first month, they only talked about literature. Benny did throw her a curve ball when out of the blue, he asked her to be his girlfriend. It was then she had her eyes opened to the bullying and snide remarks he got for being gay.
Knowing she couldn't go through high school with her head buried only in books, she agreed to be his girlfriend and allowed Benny into her life and into her heart. The fake relationship facade didn't last and didn't fool anyone, but she got a devoted friend out of it instead.
"I can't believe we're not in the same class for English this year," Benny whined, taking a seat opposite her.
"At least you don't have that obnoxious Italian brat in your class," Nora said, pointing her thumb behind her, gesturing to Rafe. Benny's eyes landed on the boy who'd bumped into Nora, surrounded at his table by newfound friends.
"Oh yeah, everyone has been talking about him around here. That's a seriously good-looking guy".
The guys he was with were mostly the school's football team, unsurprisingly, the popular crowd. He didn't look as miserable as he had this morning, but sat sprawled on a chair, oozing confidence in front of the self-entitled 'it' girls. It was hard not to notice him. With his good looks and the air of confidence and smugness around him, he was the object of observation of the entire school. Plus, he was the only new kid around here. Rarely did someone transfer schools in the middle of their A Levels.
"Hey, at least you and I have History together," Nora said.
"Let's get to class earlier so we can get a desk together."
"Mr Grant brought up the university applications," Nora said. "Have you started planning yours?"
"Pretty much. I've already drawn up my top five list, with some backups. I don't really mind which it is as long as we're both in London." He said London in a sing-a-song voice.
Nora smiled. "It's not that great. London, I mean."
"London will be different this time because you'll have me," Benny pressed a hand to his chest like he was the gift of the gods.
"Yes, I suppose."
"I swear you are the only teenager who likes being stuck in this small, boring town," Benny said.
Nora, having lived most of her life in London, couldn't deny her soft spot for Berk. "London is loud and full of touristsâ"
"It's diverse, cultural and beautiful," Benny cut through. "Hello pride!"
"The traffic and noise pollution are out of this worldâ"
"The choice of bars, museums and restaurantsâ"
"Costly enough to leave you without an arm and a leg," Nora said and Benny couldn't argue with that. They both have been saving for their life in London. They had already begun looking for apartments to live together.
More people poured in. A lot of girls were giggling and looking at Rafe. Benny blew the long side of his fringe away from his eyes. "I bet that Rafe guy will hate it here. He is all people can talk about this morning. Seriously, there hasn't been this much hype in school since Jonah defecated on the tennis courts."
It was sad how little excitement there was in school. Jonah Parkinson had made the local news for taking a dump on the brand-new tennis courts in retaliation to the school's decision to close the basketball courts, cancel curry on Fridays and ban hoodies. He was suspended for three days but came back a hero. It was weird how high school branded you as a hero or a total moron depending on who you hung out with. And it was not hard to guess that Jonah was part of the popular crowd.
"Rafe obliterated my foot," she complained, showing him the dirty patch on the stark white material. She filled in the details of their brief but unpleasant encounter this morning before class.
"Oh my god, you didn't," Benny said, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.
"I did. Who the heck does he think he is?" Nora said, becoming annoyed all over again. "And I didn't get to step on his foot and now it's just killing me."
"Oh your OCD is playing up againâ"
"Not OCD. Superstition."
"Right, superstition..." Benny said with sarcasm. "So, I take it you didn't get to return the favour?"
Nora sighed with frustration. Her right foot felt crumpled and uncomfortable. She had a superstition. Well, several of them. One of them was that if someone stepped on her foot, she must do the same to the other person, or her luck will be jinxed.
She was busy telling him off, so she couldn't exactly return the favour. Nora scolded herself for not protecting her luck on such an important year in school before the final exams.
"I didn't, and it's really killing me. What if because of that, I won't get into uni?"
"You'll be fine," Benny said.
"I don't get what's the big deal about him. Yes, okay he's good looking but he's also an asshole."
"Most rich and good-looking people are 'an asshole.' Bet I would be if I were him," Benny grinned.
"Look, he even managed to crinkle the leather on my shoes. They're new," Nora muttered.
Benny didn't have a single mean bone in his body, so she found that statement hard to believe.
"Why didn't you just tell him about your OCâ habits, sorry, habits," he corrected after a glare, "and ask if you could step on his foot?"
"You know how weird that would look and sound?" Benny shrugged. "Didn't stop you from doing a tap dance on Fred's foot last year."
"That was a totally different situation.." Nora defended, because Fred, knowing about these...quirks, tried to get on Nora's nerves on purpose. "It would've led to a full-blown argument."
"Yes, and I'm sure sending him to the janitor's closet will make you friends now." Nora looked proud of herself.
"He's the closest thing we'll have to a celebrity in this town," Benny said, scrolling through his phone and showing some news articles about Rafe and his family's empire.
"Yep, Jonah's celebrity status has been usurped," she said drily. Forking the remains of her pasta she let out a noise of frustration. "What kind of an idiot with that much money and influence ends up here anyway?"
Nora, who had lost so many of her privileges by a twist of unfair fate, couldn't fathom how someone could just blatantly disregard what they had.
Benny shrugged. "This one tabloid says that he's banished because he got into a fight in a nightclub and apparently, his dad is teaching him a lesson. Don't know which is trueâoh my god he's looking this way. Quick, pretend you're telling me something funny otherwise, he'll think we're talking about him," Benny got flustered and began scarfing down his lunch, hiding his eyes behind his long bangs.
"But we are talking about him," Nora said, unfazed.
She turned around and sure enough, Rafe looked directly at her. Well, actually, he was glaring. She held his gaze, and, with nonchalance, went back to eating her food.
"I think they're talking about us," Benny said nervously, looking down at his own food.
"Let them talk. It's not like it's the first or the last time they do it."
Nora couldn't stop Benny from being self-conscious. She genuinely didn't give a crap about not being in the popular crowd or not being invited to their parties or being liked. But she wished Benny wouldn't be so hung up on it.