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Chapter 31

The rest of my day went by uneventfully. A lot of getting lost. A lot of new books and homework packets. I kept on adding all my homework packets to a binder to keep them organized, and now the binder prongs were threatening to come apart —and I still needed the second half of the day. I was coming to terms with the fact that I would not sleep a full 8 hours tonight—or any night this year.

Finally, lunch came around. I walked into a courtyard filled with tables and surrounded by ivy-covered walls and more rose bushes. Rich people sure do love their rose bushes.

"Lia!" a familiar voice called out.

I turned and saw Lana waving at me. Maria and Jesse sat next to her.

I grinned; I hadn't been able to see them all day.

"Hey," I said, putting my bag down on the stone bench and sitting down next to it.

"How's your day been?" Maria asked, opening up a tea bottle.

"Alright. A little hectic."

"Yea, this place is a maze. I remember it being overwhelming my first day here." Lana said. "It gets better." She added optimistically.

I nodded and took out the sandwich I packed this morning.

"Chris!" She said, looking up. I turned around and saw Chris and Robbie walking towards us.

"Hallelujah, my prayers were answered!" Chris said, grabbing my shoulders and kissing the top of my head with a loud smack.

Maria looked at him, quizzically.

"I have this little math genius next to me for calculus," He started explaining. "I was so worried I would have to disappoint my father this year."

"You're good at math, Lia?" Lana asked.

"She's amazing. She answered the bonus question in the first hour of class. No one ever gets those. Well, except Robbie, and it usually takes him the entire week," Chris said, tousling my hair.

I saw Robbie frown, and I felt myself blush.

"I'm sure it was an easy question," I muttered, taking the crust off my PBJ while very aware that the studying gaze Robbie gave me earlier in Chemistry was back.

"Don't be so modest Lia, it just makes me feel dumber," Chris said jokingly.

"Oh, that reminds me we have the last block together," Lana said, chuckling at her cousin's self-deprecating humor.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I have office aid first block and looked you guys up. You, me, and Maria all have Art History with Mr. Nielson last period."

"Yay!" Maria exclaimed, hugging me.

"I was hoping we would at least have one class together," I said, smiling.

"Mhm," Maria said. "He is a snooze cruise, but he eventually falls asleep on himself, and it's almost a free period."

"Sounds nice," I said, eyeing my stuffed binder and looking forward to being able to use a class as a catch-up period.

"You know you can leave that binder in your locker," Jesse said.

"I don't know where my locker is," I said, embarrassed to be lugging around my belongings.

"We both have rec now if you want me to show you," Maria offered to get up.

"Sure," I said, picking up my lunch tray.

"Nah, leave the tray. Someone will come by and clean it up." She said, and started walking back into the building. I hesitated at the idea of not picking up after myself, but before I could think about it too much, Lana took my tray and stacked it on top of Maria's.

I got up and bumped into Robbie, who was still standing with Chris. He grabbed my elbow with one hand to steady me and caught my purse that almost slipped off my shoulder.

"Thank—"

"You should join the physics club," He said suddenly.

There was an undertone of nervousness in his voice that normally wasn't there. I looked up to see his green eyes looking down at me through his long lashes. He had that intense look in his eyes again. I felt my heartbeat quicken.

"I'll think about it," I said.

"Come on, Lia," Maria called out, and I tore my eyes away from his suddenly aware of how light-headed I had become.

Maria and I walked down a hallway lined with tall lockers.

"This is the hallway with the most spacious lockers; they're reserved for athletes since we tend to carry more things. What's your locker number?"

"127."

"Okay, should be riiiight here." She said, stopping in front of a teal locker that was almost my height.

I opened up the locker using the combination they sent me through email.

"Roomy."

Maria nodded.

"Yeah, they are a lot nicer than the ones everyone else gets, and it also in the middle of the school, so it's pretty convenient."

I stuffed my duffle bag in my locker and placed my binder on one of the shelves.When I closed it, I was met with Abigail pulling some books out of her locker. Great. She has the locker next to mine.

"Hi, Abigail."

She scoffed and closed her locker. "Bye." She said, walking off with a flip of her blonde hair. Maria and I looked at each other.

"Anyways. Let's go. Rec is usually assigned to you based on the sport you play. We have to meet with the coach. Sometimes it's a quick meeting to touch bases. Sometimes we do a quick practice."

"Right after lunch?" I asked.

"Yeah, it sucks we got lunch hour right before. Chris had a similar schedule last year. He barfed after gorging on deviled eggs before a grueling lacrosse practice."

I made a disgusted face, and she laughed, "Usually I just have light lunch and then will eat during rec."

Rec meeting was quick. Our coach went over the schedule for the year. After practice, we went to our next class. I had Robbie yet again. Luckily, I didn't have to sit next to him this time since he sat towards the back of the room.

Unfortunately, I was sat right next to Abigail. She pretended I did not exist the entire time, which was fine by me. The classes went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was the last period.

I liked having a class with Maria and Lana. We were able to sit with each other, and we spent the entire last half of class planning the first charity gala and trying to decode what Jessie's text to Maria meant.

Soon, the day was over. I picked up my bags from my locker and made my way to the bus stop. Maria and Robbie were walking toward the student parking lot. I waved bye at them and made a motion to Maria that I would text her. I sat down on the bench and closed my eyes to wait for the bus to take me home.

"Is this seat taken?" A male voice asked.

I looked up to see Liam standing next to me.

"Liam!" I said, jumping up and hugging him. "I hadn't heard from you since last week! Did you not get my text on Sunday?" I texted Liam on Sunday after Maria dropped me off to see if he wanted to get ice cream as a closer to the summer.

He looked suddenly uncomfortable. "Oh. No. Must have missed it."

I frowned. Weird.

"It's okay. I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out before the summer was officially over. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"My school is nearby. Just waiting to take the bus home as well. Want to do something now?" He asked, running a hand through his blonde hair.

"Well, I have a lot of homework," I said, looking at my stuffed binder.

"Oh, jeez, I remember the workload at Trinity. It is one of the things I don't miss." He looked around.

"Well, maybe we can go that coffee shop on the corner and work on homework together; there might be some classes you are taking that I took last year when I was still there. I might have some old study guides that can help you."

"Okay, sounds good," I said and picked up my duffle bag.

"Here, let me carry that for you." He said, grabbing my bag and placing it on his shoulder.

"Okay, thanks, Liam, you're such a gentleman," I said and smiled.

He smiled back at me and put his arm around my shoulder, a cocky expression on his face.

Suddenly I saw a white Aston Martin whiz by next to us. I could see Robbie in the reflection of the rear-view mirror.

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A/N

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