Team Genesis Book 1
Chapter 4: The New Girl

The following morning, Rocco arrived in school surprisingly calm and at peace.  As he walked the hallways, classmates teased him for his "heroic outburst" and the Heaton mishap.  But as they saw Rocco´s serene attitude, the teasing diminished.  And the more it dropped, the bigger the grin on Rocco´s face.  Even Professor McArthur was surprised to see Rocco´s positive attitude, calling him and example for the class for taking the situation well.

Lunch time comes again and Damian meets up with Rocco at his locker.  Noticing his friend´s smile put him in an equally cheerful mood.

"Someone´s feeling a lot better now huh?" Damian commented

Rocco laughed.  "Yeah, it´s time to move on from yesterday´s news and on to the now."

"Great!  Now we can get down to business regarding the big dance coming up.  We´ve got 1 week and 4 days to get dates."

"And tickets."  Rocco reminded

Damian put a sly face.  "Actually,.." he started,reaching into his backpack and pulling out 4 tickets. "...we´re covered"

"Holy Shit!" Rocco exclaimed.  He quickly swiped the tickets from Damian´s hand.  "Where´d do get the money for these tickets."

"I didn't´t." Damian said, taking back 2 tickets.  "I asked out the cute chick that was selling the tickets for a double date; us two, her, and your date."

"Damn, what a score!  But we don´t even know yet if I´m going to get a date for the dance."

"Hey, don´t waste the ticket though.  Besides, I´m sure you´ll find the girl before this week is over."

"HA!"  Rocco started to laugh.  "I´ll have whatever you´re taking.  You´re crazy"

"Am I?"  Damian asked.  "You may not be as good looking as I am, but you´re good enough for any girl around here.  Trust me, you´ll find her easy."

"If looks were the only thing, I´d have had a girlfriend long ago.  I need to find someone though that won´t find me to be some wannabe...."  At that moment, Rocco crashed with someone coming into the hall.  Both of them collapsed to the floor.  Rocco quickly got up and started to help pick up the other person´s books.  "Shit, sorry about that."  He looked up to see who it was.  It was girl, but one he had never seen before.  And not just in the sense of meeting a person, but in the way she looked.  She appeared to be a bobcat, but her skin was green with slightly golden fur.  She had brown hair wrapped in a ponytail.  But what caught his attention the most was her wings, a bobcat with wings!  They were shaped in a manner he had never seen before in any winged classmate.

"No, I´m sorry." she replied.  "I wasn't´t paying attention to where I was going."  She looked up at Rocco.  Her light blue eyes fixed on Rocco´s and vice-versa.  Both of them stood still until Damian decided to break the ice.

"Ahem," he coughed.  "Nice to meet you, I´m Damian."

The girl flinched and looked up at Damian.  "Oh, sorry."  She got up and put her hand out.  "I´m Alexis, Alexis Suleman."

"Nice to meet you."  He turned to Rocco.  "Anyway, I´ll catch you later Rocco.  Gotta go check on my date."

"Sure," Rocco said, standing back up.  "Catch you later."  After a quick high five, Damian took off at high speed.

"Wow!"  Alexis said in amazement.  "He´s going really fast!"

"You have no idea," Rocco responded, chuckling to himself.  "Anyway, I´m Rocco, Rocco Milton."  He put his hand out.  Alexis responded to his handshake with a shy smile.  "Nice to meet you Rocco."

Rocco felt a bit nervous next to her.  "So, um," he stammered as they left the hallway.  "How come I haven´t seen you around?"

"Oh, my mom and I just moved here.  It´s my first day here and...... well, it´s been a little crazy."

"I know how that feels  But are you liking Emerald High?"

"Yeah, it´s fine," she sighed.  "But it´s been hard to adapt to everything and get to know anyone."

"Don´t worry.  Emerald Town´s a small town."  Rocco mentioned.  "You´ll see how easy it is to.... make....friends¨"  He started to recall yesterday´s events and questioned to himself what he just said.

"Something wrong?"  Alexis asked.  It looked like someone´s worry could become contagious.

"Yeah I´m fine," he answered.  "It´s just a lot happened yesterday I´d rather forget about."

"You want to talk about it?"  she said, looking at Rocco endearingly.  For a second, Rocco did feel like telling her what happened, but decided that it wasn't´t the moment.  "Nah, at least not here."

Alexis smiled.  Rocco felt spellbound next to her.  Even though he had just met her, he started to feel a lot of affection for her.  It brought a smile back to his face.

"Anyway," Alexis started.  "I´d better find out where the rest of my classes are.  I hope to see you again Rocco."

"Yeah, sure," he replied.  "Hope to see you soon Alexis."

With that, she parted.  Rocco couldn't´t take his eyes off her until came a tapping upon his shoulder.  He turned around to find Samsung and five other guys from the baseball team.  Rocco felt troubled because the scene itself didn't´t look good.

"What´s happening Milton?"  Samsung asked.  "Looking to ´save´ someone else?"  the rest of the team laughed."

Rocco was annoyed by the comment, but he restrained his anger.  "Look Ricky, I´m having a good day.  If what you came to do is mess with me, you´d best turn around and take your friends."

"Quite frankly dude," Samsung replied.  "I don´t give a shit.  I´m here because you decided to enjoy some time with my girl."

Rocco jumped.  "Holly´s your girlfriend?"  He asked, believing he was talking about her.  "I had no clue; I swear."

The baseball team started to laugh.  "Nah, I ain't´t talking about Heaton."  Samsung laughed.  "I give a rat´s ass what happens with her."

"HEY!"  yelled one of the teammates who happened to be a rat.

"No offense Rodney," Samsung apologized.  He turned back to Rocco.  "Anyway, I was referring to the cute brunette you were just with."

Rocco was startled.  "What!?  Alexis?!  But she just got here.  I don´t get...."

"Well that sure didn't´t stop you from hitting on her huh?"

"Whoa!"  Rocco got defensive.  "I wasn't´t hitting on her.  I just..."

"Then what´s the problem?  She´s not with anyone, she´s hot, and I like her.  She´ll be mine, simple as that."

Rocco looked down.  For once, he wasn't´t sure what to do.  "Besides," Samsung continued.  "Aren't´t YOU involved already with Heaton."  The rest of the team went into an uproar, making "boob lift" gestures.  Rocco felt his good day turn sour quickly.  "Alright asshole," he started.  "Now´s a good time for you to leave."

"Oh yeah?" Samsung intimidated stepping forward.  "Whatcha going to do, hero?"

Rocco couldn't´t take it anymore.  He threw a punch and Samsung and started to beat him up.  The second he started to hit him, the rest of the team came to back up Samsung.  They grabbed Rocco and tossed him away from Samsung.  Then they started to kick the lynx around.  Rocco couldn't´t react to defend himself.  Suddenly, Rocco felt like he got whisked into the air and set back down away from the team.  "Are you alright Rocco?"  someone asked.  Rocco recognized the voice.  He turned around to see Alexis, the one who pulled him out of the scuffle.

"Thanks Alexis, I´m fine..." Rocco answered in pain.  "...I think."

"Hey there doll face,"  Samsung flirted as he approached Alexis.  "I think you´ve put yourself in the wrong mix-up.  How´s about...."  Before he could finish that sentence, Alexis slapped him hard.  "PIG!"  she shouted.  Samsung did not like this.  He grabbed Alexis and attempted to throw her to the ground.  But Rocco reacted quickly and kicked him away from her before he had the chance.  The rest of the team ran after Rocco.  Rocco and Alexis fought back, pushing them away from them.  Rodney attempted to punch Alexis in the face.  "GET DOWN!"  Rocco yelled, pushing Alexis down and taking the blow.  While on the floor, Alexis kicked Rodney in the groin and then on the face when he crouched down.  Rocco and Alexis got back up.  The largest of the baseball players lunged toward Rocco, but Rocco managed to grab his arm.  He started to remember his daydream from yesterday.  "The bigger they are...."  He started to flip him toward the other teammates.  "The harder they fall!"  Rocco flipped the big player toward the others, causing all of them to fall with the big guy on top of them.

"Enough of this!"  Samsung yelled, pulling out a flip-knife.  But at the exact second the blade came out, it was whisked out of his hand.  In the mist of the confusion, Samsung dropped his defense.  Then he started to cover his head.  "AHH!  MY EYE!!"  Despite the fact that there was nothing in front of Samsung, Rocco knew what was going on.  "Good one Damian!" he said, letting out a thumbs up.  Damian came out of his invisibility with a thumbs up of his own.  "Poking eyes is a lot more fun than the TV makes it look."

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"  someone yelled from behind.  Rocco, Damian, and Alexis froze as an angry Mr. Bass approached them.