Chapter 11- Nia

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Hello, Everyone! Sorry for the late upload, I was really with school last week, and I went on a weekend getaway with my best friend this weekend and I had no internet. But I'm back with a new chapter and I hope it won't disappoint you. Don't forget to vote and comment, and I'm trying to get my followers up so give me a follow to stay updated. And if I get enough followers I might even post the first chapter of a new story I've been working on.

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When I said, I wanted to get to school early, I didn't mean this early. Mya picked me up early, as promised, and Tasha did her makeup in the car, how she's able to get a sharp wing in a moving car, I'll never know. She picked me up at six, and I was at school by six forty-five.

We beat traffic by an hour, because there were barely any cars on the road on our way to East Chapel.

I thought when I got here there would at least be a few people here, but no, it was completely deserted. No other students in sight, so I did the only thing I could do. Explore.

Armed with my map and backpack full of books, I began roaming the halls of East Chapel Academy. This turned out to be the best time to find my way around, since I had the whole place to myself. I didn't feel weird about looking at my map, and no one was staring at me.

I don't know what Whitney was talking about when she said that this place feels small, now that I've explored a little bit more, it feels bigger than ever. So far I've found a few computer labs, a lot of classrooms, a game room, and the cafeteria. Now I stood outside a large set of double doors, and above them it said, "Martha's Library."

How romantic is that? If someone dedicated a library to me, I think I would have to marry them.

Pushing the heavy doors open, I stepped into the most beautiful library I had ever seen.

It was huge. Two stories, rows upon rows of books spanned the top and bottom floor. It smelled like worn paper and lemon floor polisher. Groups of wooden tables spread across the first floor, and an old lady sat at an expansive desk on the other side of the room. She paid me no mind as I walked in, but maybe she didn't hear me.

After looking around downstairs for a little bit, I went up the large staircase that led to the top floor. The library at my old school was practically non-existent, there were only a few bookcases with a few torn copies of Twilight and required school reading. I made my way through the whole thing in a school year, I had to start making my way through the public library. But I think it would take me years, centuries even, to read every book and volume in this library.

I was looking through the romance section, I went to pull a book off the shelf when a few toppled over and fell on the ground.

"Shit." I am so clumsy. Bending down, I began to pick up the books. Someone kneeled in front of me, and began picking up the books. I stilled, I thought I was alone.

I looked up to see who it was. "Marcus!"

"Hi," he said, picking up the rest of the books. I stood, placing the books back on the shelf.

"I'm so clumsy," I laughed, awkwardly. "I was just looking, and they fell. What are you doing here, so early, I mean? I thought I was the only one here." God, could I ramble, anymore?

"I couldn't sleep, and I had a paper to work on, so I figured why not get a head start and come to school early," he explained. "What about you? I thought I was alone too."

"Oh, I live across town, so to beat traffic I have to get here early. I didn't realize no one was going to be here."

"You drove?" he asked.

"No, I don't have a car, yet. My best friend drives me to school." I'm saving for one, and I almost have enough, just a few more months and I should have my own set of wheels.

"Oh," he nodded. "I think I saw them in the parking lot yesterday."

"They're kind of hard to miss." I said. "It's the no uniform thing." And the black thing. They were the only other black girls here besides myself.

"I'm jealous," he admitted. "I wish I didn't have to wear a uniform."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief. "I like the uniform." I don't have to worry about if I'm repeating an outfit, because I wear the same outfit every day. It's faster, and I think I look cute in it, if I do say so myself. Marcus looks cute in his uniform too. He fills it out so well, like it was made especially for him.

"I've never not had to wear a uniform," he said, leaning against the book case.

"You're not missing much," I shrugged. "It's fun, but it's not that great. They're just clothes."

"So what have you been doing since you got here?"

"I've just been walking around. Trying to find my way around, get the lay of the land"

He held his hand out. "Let me see your map."

I handed him my map from my blazer pocket.

"How far did you get?" he asked staring down at the page.

"I got to the entrance to here," I explained. I've only gone through half the school, there's just so much to see. "I still have a long way to go."

"Mind if I tag along?" he asked. "I could help you around."

"Yes," I said eagerly. "That'd be great." When he looked at me I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. He is perfection personified.

"Okay," he smiled down at me. I sighed. Gorgeous.

Marcus and I went to the other side of the school. He showed me all the secret spots that weren't on the map.

"Thanks for showing me around," I said to him. We stood outside of my class, I was a bit nervous, because I wasn't here yesterday. I don't want the teacher to think I ditched on purpose. I would hate for her to think I'm a slacker, because I'm the furthest thing from it. "I had fun."

"It's no big deal. I'm glad I could show you around," he replied. He rocked back and forth on his heels. "I had fun hanging out with you."

A surge of giddiness went through me. He likes hanging out with me.

"Garret!" Nick grinned, walking up to us. He clapped a hand on Marcus's shoulder. "We were looking for you. Where have you been?" Sam came to stand next to Marcus. He looked better, he wasn't staring at me like I'm an alien.

"I was showing Nia around," Marcus told him.

"Oh," Nick said. He turned toward me. "Hi, Nia."

"Hi, Nick," I replied. I looked at Sam, who stood behind closer to the wall. Maybe he would talk to me today. "Hi, Sam."

"Hi, Nia," he said back, surprising me. Maybe he was just shy yesterday, I can understand why, meeting new people can be hard.

Nick and Marcus exchanged a knowing look between each other. I wonder what that was about. The bell rang out, and people started to scramble around us, in a rush to get to class.

"Well, looks like I've got to head to Chemistry," Nick said. "I'll see you guys later. Nia, will you be eating lunch with us again?"

"Uh, no. I told Lavender I would sit with her today." Not a complete lie, I did tell her that.

"We scared you away," Sam said.

"No—no—it wasn't that. I just promised that I would is all." Another partial lie. Understanding, Nick said, "I understand a promise is a promise. I'm sure I'll see you another time, bye." He started walking towards the stairs to get to his class, leaving just me, Sam, and Marcus.

"I'll see you next period, Marcus," I said, staring into his green eyes. They were like two shining emeralds, deep and intense.

He replied, "See you next period." It looked like he was going to say something else, but he just shook his head and went to class.

I opened the door to trig with Sam following closely behind me. While he sat in his desk, I went to the front of the class to talk to the portly woman in the ill-fitting Hilary Clinton style pants suit. I explained what happened, and thankfully, she didn't go too hard on me. She gave me an extra day to the homework assignment that I missed, and gave me a print out of the notes.

Apparently, Marge had already talked to her about it. Oh, Marge, she's always got my back.

"Nia! Nia! Sit over here," Sam whispered waving his hands over his head in the back of the classroom. He pointed to the empty desk next to him. His curly brown hair fell right above his thick brows. He had big brown eyes, not dark like mine, but lighter, more like caramel.

Setting my backpack down, I sat in the desk next to Sam.

"Hey," he said to me, turning in his desk to face me. "I just want to say I'm sorry for the way I treated you at lunch yesterday. I don't know what came over me, I'm not usually like that."

"It's okay, Sam," I said. "No hard feelings."

"Really. I was such an idiot," he said, apologetically.

I laughed. "It's fine. Let's forget that it ever happened."

"Okay," he nodded. "I have the notes from yesterday if you need them."

"Thank you, but she already gave me a copy of the notes from yesterday."

"Oh, okay. Just let me know if you need any help, I'm pretty good at trig."

"I'm probably going to need it." Math is not my thing. I get by, English is my strong suit. I understand words more than numbers. The numbers just whirl around in my head, but the words, they click.

During class I tried my best to get caught up, and soak in the numbers, but it was hard. We didn't have Trigonometry at my old school, there was only a thin chapter of it in the back of our math textbook. Which I did, because I'm an overachiever, and have no life. But it was nothing as intense as this. I'm going to have to take Sam up on his offer to help me this semester.

"What's your next class?" Sam asked as we walked down the hallway.

"I have Chemistry," I replied.

"Oh, with Marcus."

"Yeah," I replied. "He's my lab partner."

"Cool," he said. "He's a good partner, we were lab partners last year. Every year except this year, really."

"Oh, why aren't you in the same class this year." Not that I'm complaining, now I get to be his lab partner.

"We were all in the same class, me, Nick, and Marcus. But they separated us, because they said we were a distraction to the class when we were together." He rolled his eyes.

"You were a trouble maker, I can't believe it," I laughed.

"It was Nick, mostly." I can see that. "Marcus and I were just collateral damage."

"I'm sure you were." We stopped in front of my chemistry classroom. Peeking inside, I could see Marcus with his head down reading. It wasn't 1984, he must have finished it already.

Sam cleared his throat. "So I'll see you later."

I turned back to him. "Yeah—yes—I'll see you later." I thought he was going to walk away, but instead he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Have a great day," he said giving my shoulder a squeeze.

"Uh, thank you," I said awkwardly. "You too." He must have sensed the awkwardness, because he quickly took his hand off my shoulder.

He gave me a quick nod, before rushing down the hallway. That was weird.

I shook it off, and walked into class. Marcus didn't notice I was there, he flipped to another page, absent mindedly clicking his pen.

I tapped on the counter top, making him look at me. "Hi," I smiled at him.

He smiled back. "Hi."

"What are you reading?" I asked taking my seat.

He turned his book over. "Oh, it's just a book for class. Fahrenheit 451."

"I don't think I've ever read it before—is it good?"

"It's not bad," he explained. "I have a test over it at the end of the week, so I'm trying to get through it."

"How many pages do you have left?" I asked, flipping to a clean page in my notebook.

He sighed. "About a hundred. It shouldn't take me long to finish it."

"Let me know when you finish it," I said.

"I will." He said, closing the book. "How was Trig?"

"It was awful," I admitted. "I'm terrible at math. I have no idea what's going on."

"I wish I could help, but I'm not very good at math either," said Marcus.

"Sam offered to help me," I told him. "I might have to take him up on it if I want to pass this semester."

"You should," he encouraged. "He's brilliant when it comes to math."

Mr. Cooper walked into class. He wore a colorful bow tie and a bright smile. "Good morning, Marcus—Nia."

"Good morning, Mr. Cooper," we said in unison.

"Nia, I hope your second day is going well," said Mr. Cooper.

"It's going great, Mr. Cooper," I replied.

He said, "I'm glad to hear it. I hope you brought your textbook today, you're going to need it."

I kept sneaking glances at Marcus throughout Chemistry. I had to stop myself from running my hand over his small, it looked so soft and smooth. I couldn't help but wonder what kissing him would be like. Would he be more assertive or shy? I bet the perfect mix of both, firm enough, but still taking his time. What a dream?

"Don't forget we have a big test next Friday, it's worth a big portion of your grade, so don't put off studying until the night before. You won't be able to cram for this," Mr. Cooper announced as the class began to pack up and leave.

"Hey," Marcus said catching up to me.

"Hey," I responded. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to study for the chemistry test with me," he asked. "I mean, since you don't have the notes from earlier in the semester," he explained.

"That would be great," I said, elated.

"Really—I mean, okay, yeah, awesome," he rambled. "Is this weekend good for you?"

"This weekend is good. I don't have to work on Saturday, is that a good day for you?"

A boy ran smack into Marcus's chest. Marcus put his arms out to steady the boy who looked visibly shaken as he realized who he ran into. "Are you okay?" Marcus asked, looking down at him.

The boy nodded his head vigorously. When Marcus took his hands off his shoulders, the boy bolted down the hallway. You would think Marcus was going to beat him up with the way he hurried away from us.

Marcus turned back to me. "Anyway, Saturday is good for me too."

"Great," I smiled, screaming internally. Oh, my God! I am so excited, that I could die. "I'll bring my notes." I'll bring my notes; how fucking lame was that?

"Great," he answered. "I'll see you later."

"See you later." I watched him walk down the hallway.

"You cannot be serious," Lavender said from behind me.

I jumped. I hadn't even noticed she was there. "God, Lavender, don't do that. You scared me."

"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your drooling over Marcus Garret?" she asked, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"I was not drooling." I was. I mean how could I not.

She laughed, "Who are you trying to fool? Of course, you were. I've seen that look on almost every girl in this school's face."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Mhmm," she said, not believing me one bit. "Whatever." I walked into the gym, where some people were already stretching on yoga mats.

Lavender groaned. "We're doing yoga today, that means Ms. Peppy Wilson is here." This should be fun, I've never done yoga before. "Should I be on my period today or should I say that my parents think it should be illegal to force physical education?"

"Neither," I responded. "Yu should participate with me today. "I've never done yoga before."

She gave me a tightlipped smile. "I don't think so."

"Please," I pouted, dragging out the word. "We can experience it together. We can sit in the back."

"Fine," she said under her breath.

"What was that?" I said putting my hand behind my ear.

"I said, fine!" she laughed. She rolled her eyes. "I'll do the damn yoga."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." I chanted as we walked into the locker room.

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