"Dammit." 

I said under my breath. The paper jammed in the printer again, I had already asked Mr. Hobbs how to fix it once and I didn't want to ask him again, fearing that I would look like a complete idiot.

I opened the compartment that held the paper and I could see the where the white sheet was stuck between the teeth of the printer. I tried my best to pull it through without getting ink on my fingers.

"Having trouble?" I turned to find Thomas standing behind me. His uniform was back to its sloppy state. Shirt wrinkled and unbuttoned at the top. With sneakers, instead of classic dress shoes or loafers. I found that I liked his spin on the East Chapel uniform, I'd noticed that some of the other students had made small personal alterations to their uniforms as well.

Lavender usually sticks with the uniform but she'll add a small pin to the lapel of her blazer. Usually with some cheeky saying. And sometimes she'd wear sneakers with it.

Stacy wore boots instead of flats with hers. Unless you consider the smudges of paint that you'll find on her sleeves, she doesn't do much else to her uniform.

Unlike Crystal and Whitney, who's uniform looked nothing like anyone else's. Their skirts were inches shorter, and the never wore the classic white button up. Choosing to wear blouses that cost more than my whole uniform put together. They both wore high heels every day.

Maybe I should change up my uniform. But I don't know what I would do.

Thomas came around to the side of the printer next to where I was standing. I had removed my hand from it. Successfully, keeping my hands clean.

"It hates me," I said looking at the dumb machine. Ugh, I've never wanted to kick something so much in my life. "Every time I try to print something it jams."

Thomas chuckled surveying the machine. "Don't worry it doesn't just hate you, it hates all of us." He pulled the sheet out, and hit the reset button on the front of the machine. The printer started up again, printing out my cheerleading reference sheet that I had been trying to print for so long.

"Thank you," I said pulling it from the tray.

"Oh, anytime," he smiled, fixing his glasses. "It's an unpredictable machine."

"Tell me about it."

"I liked your article about the art show," he said following behind me as I went back to my desk. "Stacy's portrait was beautiful, it was of her moms, right?"

"Yes, it was." I taped my reference sheet to the side of my desk, this would come in handy if I had to keep writing for the sports column. Thankfully, East Chapel had more sports than just football, so I had a lot to choose from. I'd chosen cheerleading this week, because if being thrown several feet in the air and coming back down again while keeping a smile on your face isn't a sport then I don't know what is.

He sat at his own desk, catching a marker that threatened to roll off the edge. He pulled out a small stack of papers that had been stapled to resemble a magazine out of his backpack.

"Oh my God, you finished it!" The Mall People. I recognized the inside of the comic book store, the Pac Man machine in the back. A boy, who was obviously supposed to be Thomas leaned against the old Pac Man machine and there was another character too.

"Is that...is that me?" If it wasn't then she just looked just like me. Braids. Brown skin. Amazing taste in clothes, but that's just my opinion.

"It is," said Thomas. "Do you like it?"

"It's awesome, Thomas." I flipped through the brightly colored pages. "The Mall People" were zombies and we had to fight them off and the only way to kill them was to stab them with fifty percent off sale signs. "It's great, Thomas, really."

I tried to give it back but he stopped me. "You can keep it."

"Are you sure? I know you worked so hard on it."

He nodded. "Consider it a first edition. I want you to have it."

"Okay," I smiled at him. "Thank you."

"Your welcome," he smiled bashfully. "So do you want to see what I have for this week's layout so far."

"Sure."

The rest of class went by in a blur, with Marcus and I texting on and off throughout class. He'd sent me a few cute videos of E.J. while they were at the grocery store. They are by far the cutest brother duo that I've ever seen.

Tasha and Maya were parked out in the parking lot with Lavender.

"Hey, I was looking for you," I said to Lavender who was laughing at whatever Maya had said.

"Hey, look who it is!" Tasha exclaimed, grinning. "Mrs. Vanilla Ice."

"See, I knew you would get used to calling him that," Maya said to her.

Tasha shrugged. "What can I say it's catchy. But congratulations on finally getting a man."

Maya rolled her eyes at Tasha. "You already know that I think all women should find happiness within themselves before they try finding it with a man, but congratulations, Nia."

"Thank you," I smiled.

Lavender gave me a playful nudge. "So tell us all about you and Marcus' romantic hide away."

"Okay, but where is Stacy?" I asked looking around the parking lot. "I know she would want to hear about it too."

"Her and Crystal ran away somewhere," said Lavender, "Apparently, Whitney's out of the country or something, so they're soaking up their time together."

Okay, I guess I'll just tell her tomorrow.

"Alright, girl spill it," Tasha said crossing her legs on the hood of Maya's car.

"So we met in the romance section of the library, and he had decorated it, with some help from Sam and Crystal."

"Sam, like as in the guy that tried to kiss you yesterday," Maya asked.

I cleared my throat, "Yes, that is the one."

"And Crystal, your new boyfriend's ex's best friend," Lavender asked. She took a deep breath. "That's a mouthful."

"Yep, her too," I said. They all looked at me like I was crazy. "But everything's fine, Sam and Marcus aren't fighting anymore. And Crystal isn't going to tell Whitney about it."

She said, "For her sake, I hope she doesn't. Whitney would go full psycho bitch."

"Thanks for reminding me, Lavender," I said sarcastically. "So Marcus had snacks for us, and we talked."

"You just talked?" Maya asked with a raised brow.

"We might have kissed—a lot."

Tasha squealed.

"You little whore," Lavender laughed. "Making out in the library. I didn't think you had it in you."

I flipped my hair, cockily, "Thank you. Thank you. Save all applause for the end please."

They all laughed and allowed me to finish.

"Wow, you're dating Marcus Garret," Lavender repeated once I had finished. "Talk about flipping the social hierarchy upside down."

Tasha groaned. "Have I mentioned how jealous I am that you go here. I bet the drama is so much more entertaining than at Jefferson."

"How are things there?" I asked interested.

"Oh, you know typical shit," Maya sighed. "A drug bust here..."

"A fight there," Tasha added on. "It's all so boring. How many times do you have to get busted before you realize that you don't keep your stash in your locker."

"It's not very interesting here either," Lavender told them. "There's never any fights, well until yesterday, and there haven't been any drug busts. But God knows there's plenty of drugs hidden around here. Everything's psychological here, you know girls icing each other out, shit like that."

"You just described every episode of Gossip Girl, and now I want to go here even more," said Tasha.

Maya shook her head at her. "If you're done drooling over your private school daydream. We need to get going I picked up an extra shift at the record store today."

"But you always have to take an extra shift at the record store."

Maya hopped off the hood of the car. "That apartment isn't going to pay for itself."

"I guess you're right," Tasha sighed slipping off the hood. "I need to clean my makeup brushes any way. And no one's home right now, so that means no one to take up the bathroom."

I turned to face Lavender. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You sure you're not going to ditch me for your more popular friends?" she asked.

"Never," I replied. Lavender is one of my only friends here, I'm not going to ditch her for anyone else. "You're stuck with me."

"Don't worry, we're stuck with her too," said Tasha.

"And you love it."

****

"Nia! Are you home?" my grandmother yelled from the entry way.

"I'm in the kitchen, Grandma!" I put the finishing touches on the pasta I had cooked for us. I had just placed the bowl on the table along with the bread and glasses, when Grandma came into the kitchen.

"Oh, you didn't have to make dinner, Baby," she said as she looked at the spread I had placed on the table.

I told her, "I know, but I wanted to."

When I got home, I just couldn't seem to sit still. After I had finished my homework, I begun cleaning and after that I figured I would cook something.

She looked at me funny, as she sat down at the table. "You look different."

"Do I?" I hadn't changed anything. Except I had been using some of the skincare stuff Lavender's parents had given me. It lives up to the hype.

"You look happy, did something happen at school today?"

"Yes," I smiled taking a bite of garlic bread.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Fill me in."

"Marcus and I are dating now," I grinned.

"Really? That's great, sweetheart," she said, putting her hand over her mouth to keep any pasta from spilling out. "I'm so happy for you. Does this mean you're going to prom?"

"Uh, I'm not sure." I wasn't even sure if he was going. They signs all around school advertising it. "He didn't ask me."

"Hm," she hummed. "Well, he needs to get on it if you want to get a prom dress. All the girls at the store are already talking about theirs."

"I'll talk to him about it." I always imagined that whoever I went with would ask me, but maybe I'll ask him. It's 2018, I'm a feminist, it might be cute.

"We don't need to talk about birth control or anything?" she asked worried.

I laughed uncomfortably, "No, we don't. There's no need for that discussion." Not yet anyway. We just started dating, and we won't be having sex anytime soon.

"Okay, good," she sighed. "But you'll tell me when we do need to talk about it, right?"

"Of course," I assured her. I tell my grandmother everything, well almost everything.

She smiled. "You're such a smart girl, Nia, just like your mother."

Blushing, I said, "Thanks, Grandma."

"I can't wait to meet him."

"Oh, Grandma, you're going to love him. He's amazing." I continued to gush on about him through dinner. I could already feel myself getting excited to see him tomorrow, but I couldn't help but be a little nervous. Would people really react the way Lavender said they would?