** This is my first story, inspired by a lot of the great work here and on other forums. It follows a new girl at school, Val Donovan, as she slowly discovers the school's social hierarchy, with the bratty queen bee at the top who holds the entire school under her thumb. It features humiliation, bullying, foot worship, and some lesbian themes. I have plans for the story which I will continue if there is interest. Hope you enjoy **
It was a hot, humid day and the sun was shining on Clover High, but Val Donovan was not in good spirits. It was her first day at school and she was the new girl, starting her senior year in unfamiliar hallways, surrounded by faces she didn't recognize. She didn't belong here, but her dad had landed a lucrative position as marketing manager in a new firm that had opened up near the town of Clover, and her family decided that they would have to move so that he could be closer to his work. It was a bittersweet stroke of fortune that left Val with no choice but to leave her friends behind and start her last year of high school at Clover High. So far, she was hating it.
It all started with Mr. Perth, her biology teacher, who was middle-aged, short and balding, and who had a seemingly permanent look of disapproval etched onto his gaunt face. It was first period and Mr. Perth had just begun outlining the day's lecture to the class when Val rushed into the room, panting and sweaty, a full five minutes late. She had gotten lost in the apparently endless hallways and stairwells of Clover High, a much larger school than the one she had spent the previous four years in. She was usually never late to class and hated getting in trouble, but despite her best efforts it had been unavoidable on her first day. She didn't know anything about Mr. Perth but she hoped that he would be understanding. Standing at the front of the room, Val was aware that all of the students in the classroom were now focused on her. Mr. Perth stopped in mid-sentence and turned slowly to face her, his ever-present grimace twitching slightly in annoyance.
"And who are you?" he snapped, his voice an unpleasant combination of shrill and guttural. It made the hair on Val's neck stand up.
"I'm Valerie, I just moved here. Sorry I'm late, I had trouble finding the room."
Mr. Perth looked her up and down, sizing her up like she was a piece of meat. His eyes lingered on her smooth, toned legs and full breast, and Val felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. She heard a few kids in the back snicker.
"Do you think you can find yourself a seat? Or will that also prove too difficult?" sneered Mr. Perth, his face now contorted into an ugly grimace. This caused full-out laughter from some of the students, while the more sympathetic ones gave Val apologetic glances and shook their heads.
"I'm trying to teach a class here. Come late again and you can explain your faulty sense of direction to the principal."
Val nodded, a lump forming in her throat, as she desperately scanned the room for a place to sit. She noticed that there was an empty seat in the second row, but at this point she wanted to be as far away from Mr. Perth and the mocking eyes of her peers as possible, so with her head down she made her way to a seat near the back window of the classroom. She felt shocked and humiliated at how Mr. Perth had treated her in front of the whole class. She longed for her old school where all the teachers had loved her and never disrespected her like that. It was clearly going to be an uphill battle in Clover. With a sigh, she reached down to pull her books out of her bag. As she did so she noticed the girl sitting next to her, who had a blemished and somewhat pudgy face but who looked at her with a compassionate expression.
"Don't worry about it, he's always like that," the girl whispered. "I'm Cass by the way."
Val smiled. "Nice to meet you. I'm Val," she said, stretching out her hand, careful not to be seen by the prying eyes of Mr. Perth. "Thank you," Val added, truly grateful for the girl's friendliness. Cass smiled shyly and turned to face the front of the room. Pleased that she had met at least one decent person that day, Val pulled out her pen and did her best to take notes. As Mr. Perth droned on about the functions of various organelles Val avoided his gaze and tried to forget about what had happened, but the scene kept playing over and over in her head. She wanted desperately for the class to be over so that she could get out of there. Time crept by ever so slowly, and soon Val became lost in her own thoughts, giving up all attempts at following Mr. Perth's monotonous voice through the mysteries of the cell. It was about twenty minutes into the lecture when the sound of a door opening broke Val out of her reverie. Someone had come into the classroom, causing Mr. Perth to stop speaking and the grimace on his face to ease up slightly. Beside Val, Cass sat up in her seat, a look of fear in her eyes that she tried to hide but could not. Val raised her head to see better over the rows of kids sitting in front of her. Standing at the front of the room was a tall, athletic-looking girl in tight shorts and a tank-top that struggled to contain her ample breasts. She had long, shiny black hair and a strange look in her eyes that to Val seemed like a smug playfulness. Val was into boys, but she couldn't deny the sex appeal of this gorgeous girl. A sudden burning feeling of inadequacy filled Val's chest and she looked away from the girl, instead focusing her gaze on Mr. Perth, who was still silently staring at the newcomer.
"What's up Mr. Perth?" said the girl easily as she made towards the empty seat that Val had noticed earlier. She moved with confidence and sat down at the desk, smiling at the friends sitting on either side of her. Val held her breath as she waited for the inevitable verbal thrashing this girl was going to get from Mr. Perth for coming to his class so late. She felt a slight guilty relief at the fact that she wasn't going to be the only one berated that morning for not coming in on time. To her surprise, Mr. Perth addressed her with what seemed to Val like his best attempt at a smile.
"Hi Michelle, nice to see you this morning."
Michelle smiled and maintained eye contact with Mr. Perth, who after a few seconds looked away and turned towards the board. Michelle gave the girl next to her a grin and rolled her eyes, which made the girl chuckle quietly.
Val couldn't believe it. Her five-minute transgression had earned her a public chastisement and a threat of being sent to the principal's office. This Michelle girl had sauntered in twenty minutes late and didn't even apologize! Why did she not get called out like Val had been? Anger started to bubble in her chest at the injustice of it all. She frowned and turned to look at Cass, who was staring straight down at her notes, apparently not noticing anything that was going on. Mr. Perth continued his droning lecture, purposefully, it seemed to Val, avoiding eye-contact with Michelle, who was smiling and chatting away in a low voice to the girls sitting on either side of her. Val tried to focus on the lecture but she couldn't keep herself from staring at the gorgeous, dark-haired girl and wondering what she was saying to her friends.