Jamie

Friday morning, Guitar Class, and I am struggling big time between being a nice person and telling John McDermott to fuck off and sit at another desk.

"Please, Jamie, please. You're so good, it'll be easy for you!" John continues pleading with me.

I roll my eyes for the tenth time this morning and put my acoustic guitar down on the desk in front of me. "John, it's not that I'm not willing to help you, you know I am. I'm just saying, it cannot be done by next Thursday!"

"I know, I know, I just thought if you showed me most of the basics again." He's really not letting this go. "or I thought maybe we could pick a song and I could learn that and rehearse it?"

I sigh and fold my arms across my chest. I don't wanna teach him how to play guitar in less than a week. I have my own life, you know? And besides, Aubrey might find John and I spending so much time together weird.

"John, what do you think Aubrey would think if I suddenly started spending all of my free time with you, huh?"

"Wh-what? Why would Aubrey..." He says nervously.

"Dude, I know you like her." I look at him seriously. "And please, let's just skip the part where you try to deny it. It's so obvious."

He blinks at me a couple of times then sighs. I smile at him, poor guy, he really is totally besotted with her.

"Please don't say anything." He says, "If she ever finds out about this, I want it to come from me, no one else."

I consider telling him to relax, because she clearly likes him too. But, I'm not meddling. They're gonna get together, I just know it. These things just takes some time, that's all.

"So you wouldn't want Aubrey getting the wrong idea about us, if we started hanging out all the time, right?" I ask him.

"She doesn't need to know!"

"Well, that sounds bad..."

"You know what I mean." He sighs again.

He looks so cut up about this. But it's his own fault. He should never have told Aubrey he'd sign up for the next open mic night. But I do feel bad for him. He really wants to impress her.

"Okay, this is what I can offer." I say, and his eyes light up. "We get a song ready for the next open mic night, not the one next week, the one after."

"Okay, so that gives us an extra week to get it down." John considers this. "Yeah, okay, awesome!"

"I think focussing on one song is the best plan. We don't have enough time for anything else. You have anything in mind?" I ask him.

"Yes, Aubrey is a huge fan of Steve Tyler, so I was thinking Aerosmith?"

If he says he wants to play I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing, I'm gonna shoot him.

"How about I Dont Wanna Miss A Thing? I know she loves that song."

Fuck my life.

"Fine, it's a crowd pleaser for sure, it'll guarantee a sing a long at least. How's your voice anyway?" I ask him.

"Not bad, I'm not worried about singing, it's the guitar part I need to focus on." He tells me. "Thank you so much for this, Jamie! You're the best."

"Yeah, well, you're buying me a latte after class." I give him a small smile and he laughs.

"Absolutely!" John agrees. "It's the least I can do."

Just then, Professor Strum addresses the class. "You guys, before we finish up for today I wanna let you know about the new student Drum teacher on the faculty this year."

I'm not taking Drum, so this really doesn't interest me. I don't know who any of the Drum teachers are, a new one doesn't concern me at all. I pick up my pencil and resume trying to think of lyrics to suit some new music I've written. I have major trouble with this. Jay always handles lyrics, this is an area I definitely wanna improve on during my time at NBU. Maybe English lit will help... ha.

"So, you may have heard that Shaun was gonna be joining the faculty this year. It is a huge deal you guys, this doesn't happen often so if anyone is taking Drum, please show him the same respect you would show any of the rest of us teachers." Professor Strum continues.

"Not much respect then?" Someone calls out, and the class laughs, professor Strum included.

"Watch your mouth, Ricky." Professor Strum throws a guitar pick at the boy, causing everyone to laugh harder. She is so fucking cool. "Shaun's gonna be along any minute now, just to introduce himself and see if he can convince anyone to pick up First Year Drum. Out of interest, who is taking Drum?"

I look around as everyone in the class, besides me, raises their hand. Even John has raised his hand, what the hell?

"You're taking Drum?" I whisper to John.

"Yeah, drummings cool, thought I'd give it a shot too." He whispers back.

"Hawkins, why's your hand not up?" Professor Strum asks me.

"I'm not taking Drum." I state. Seems obvious, but it answers her question.

"And why not? I thought you of all people would take as many musical classes as possible?" She asks me with interest.

"I am, but I'm no Drummer, so I don't see the point learning how." I say, shrugging my shoulders. It's true.

"Right." Professor Strum smiles at me. "But wouldn't you just love to show Patrick what you got?"

The class laugh again, seems my band are more well known than I thought, or they wouldn't have got the Professor's joke just now. Or maybe it's just Patrick that's well known, there are a lot of girls in this class.

"How come Shaun Campbell is allowed to teach anyway?" Someone asks. "Isn't he still a student?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm just that awesome."

Just then, Shaun Campbell enters the class. He's so confident, and he looks good today. Very good. He's nicely dressed in a button down shirt and a tie, I guess because he's teaching now. He's styled his dark brown hair up, I prefer it messy, like it gets after he's been drumming, but whatever.

"Shut up, Shaun." Professor Strum laughs at him. "You were never awesome with a guitar, remember?"

"Doesn't matter, I prefer to hit things with a pair of drum sticks." He smiles back at her playfully.

"Well, class, this is Shaun Campbell. He'll be splitting First Year Drum with Professor Carlton, so anyone who's in Carlton's class, you can expect to see a lot more of Shaun." Professor Strum informs us.

Shaun is looking out at the class and smiling at us. I catch his eye for a moment, he smiles at me, then continues scanning the room. I've never really talked to him, but he seems nice.

"Is everyone taking Drum?" He asks Professor Strum.

"All bar one." She replies. "Seems my star guitarist isn't interested in hitting things with drum sticks."

Professor Strum winks at me, and I can see John smiling at me from the corner of my eye. Star guitarist? Christ, I didn't ask for that label. I hope Shaun doesn't enquire further.

I'm not attracting any attention to myself, I'm looking at the Professor, just like everyone else in the class. But for some reason, Shaun's looking at me. It's like he knows. And now he's smirking at me.

"And who is this star guitarist?" He asks, his eyes never leaving mine. Shit.

"Jamie Hawkins." Professor Strum gestures toward me. Thanks, girl.

"So, if you're such a superstar, why don't you wanna take Drum?" Shaun asks me with an insincere smile. Superstar? Really?

"I'm not a drummer and I don't wanna be one, that's all." I reply, hoping this answer will kill the conversation.

"Fair enough." Shaun says, before turning his attention back to the rest of the class. "Well, whoever's in Carlton's class, I'll be working with you from next week. See you guys then."

"Thanks, Shaun." Professor Strum says, as he makes his way towards the open door.

But before he leaves, he turns around and looks me dead in the end. He smirks at me again then says "hope you change your mind, Superstar." Then he's gone.

"Well, Ms Hawkins, that sounded like a challenge to me." Professor Strum says with a smile.

I don't say anything, I just shrug my shoulders. I'm not picking up Drum, end of discussion. If I ever wanted to learn how to drum, I would ask Patrick to teach me. But that's not gonna happen, so it's pointless taking the class.

The bell rings and everyone starts packing up their shit.

"You wanna head to Symposium now? I'll buy you that latte?" John says as we stand up.

"Sure, I'll take it to go if that's okay? I have fucking Social Studies next period."

"Ugh, I had that class yesterday. It's such a waste of time." John says as we walk out of the guitar class. "At least we only have it once a week, though."

"Yeah." I completely agree with him. It's a core class option, and the way my schedule worked out for the semester, I had to take it. It's like English Literature, I'm not interested in it at all. But at least English Literature might help me with my lyric writing abilities. Social Studies will help me with nothing, I'm fucking social enough.

After I grab a coffee courtesy of John, I head to the Sports building. I've never been in here, my only class in here is Social Studies. It's pretty cool, there's a rock climbing wall and a swimming pool as soon as you walk into the building, but I'm looking around for the stairs because surely to fuck you don't climb up the rock climbing wall to get to the upper floors of this building? No, you don't, the stairs are right over there. Thank god.

I find my classroom and take a seat near the back of the room. There's still five minutes to go, and in another hour and half I'll be done for the day. The sun is shining, I'm going out with my friends tonight, and it's Friday. It's a good day.

Or it was. It's not a good day anymore. Because fucking Will Archibald just walked in here, and he's looking right at me. God damnit, I'm in a class with Will? This cannot be happening. He won't sit next to me, he's not that dumb, he values his testicles, I'm sure.

He is that dumb, he's walking over to me, he looks kinda nervous. Oh, fuck no.

I dump my bag down into the seat next to me, sending a very clear message: there is no way in hell you are sitting next to me, Will. but he's still walking over here. Oh for god sake, just fuck off.

"Hey, Hawkins. Fancy seeing you here." He says, and he does sound nervous. He's wearing a fucking letterman jacket, for god sake. What did I ever see in him?

"Can I sit?" No you most certainly fucking cannot.

"There are plenty of other free seats." I don't look at him, I focus on the chipped black nail varnish on my fingernails.

"Um, there aren't." I look up, and fuck, he's right. The teacher has just walked in too, he needs to sit down. God damnit!

I reluctantly haul my bag off of the chair and dump it down onto the floor at my feet, laptop be damned. I am so not happy about this.

"Who'd have thought we'd be in a class together, huh?" He says, while setting his own laptop down on the desk in front of him. I feel like shoving it onto the floor. I don't though. Man I'm a good person.

"Welcome Freshman, to your first Social Studies class." The teacher addresses us, and I'm extremely happy that I don't need to pretend I can't hear Will talking anymore, because he won't be talking, the teacher will.

"I'm Professor Orb, and I'll be taking this class on alternating weeks. Now, I'm sure you guys are wondering what the schedule is for this semester, I didn't upload anything online, and the explanation for that is simple. We're here to do whatever you want to do. We can focus on your personal lives, sex, relationships, financial issues, employability, whatever you want. This is about you guys figuring your shit out. You're teenagers, you're quickly becoming adults, and it's a lot. Well, this is your outlet for everything. This is your space for discussion about whatever you wanna discuss."

Is this for real?

"This week is gonna be us getting to know each other. And next week you get to use this time for self study. Every second week, I won't be here. But there's still a register to sign. This is college, guys, I expect you to use your time wisely."

This has to be a joke.

"How is this class graded?" Someone up front asks.

"It isn't " Professor Orb smiles warmly at us all. She has the best job in the world. She gets to sit around listening to teenagers talk about their sex lives, and she doesn't have to grade anything? What a fucking waste of everybodys time.

We go around the room introducing ourselves, and I feel like I'm in fucking kindergarten again. We have to say a fun fact about ourselves, so I decide to say I'm in a band called the Middle. What a fun fact! But my plan is foiled after the first kids fun fact is that they're a song writer. Professor Orb stipulates that our fun fact can't relate to music, or our hopes and dreams for the future. It has to be something interesting and unique about us. Christ. There's nothing interesting or unique about me.

Professor Orb goes around the room, and some of the fun facts are pretty interesting, one boy only has 3 toes on his left foot, he lost his big toe and pinky toe in an accident when he was little, for which he was handsomely compensated. One girls tells us that she's still a virgin, which causes some of the boys to cough and sit up a little in their seats to get a better look at her. Boys. Another girls tells us that she can speak French and Spanish, as well as English, but she tells us this in French, then again in Spanish, we have to work it out for ourselves. How. Fun.

By the time Professor Orb gets to me and Will, I still don't know what I'm gonna say. I think I'll just say that my best friend is also called Jamie, and our moms argued over this when we were babies. Not overly interesting, but it'll do I guess. Who cares, anyway?

"I'm William Archibald, but I prefer Will." Since when did he ever bother saying his full name?

"Hi Will." Professor Orb beams at him. "And your fun fact?"

"Well, it's not so much fun, but it's interesting. I got accepted into Harvard Law." This earns some ooohs from the rest of the class. Who gives a shit? It's not like he went.

"But I decided not to go to Harvard, because of this girl sitting next to me."

What the fuck?

"Oh, that is interesting!" Professor Orb smiles at me. "And what's your name?"

"Jamie Hawkins." I mumble, avoiding looking at Will at all costs.

"So why did Jamie make you decide against Harvard, Will?" Professor Orb asks him. She's expecting some romantic story here. Not happening.

"Well, she helped me see that I should be my own person, not the person my parents expect me to be. I don't wanna be a lawyer, so Harvard Law was a dumb idea. And I decided to come here."

I chance a glance at Will, and he's smiling. What the hell? He never said anything about me playing any part in his decision to ditch Harvard. He never even told me he rejected Harvard until last night. What the hell is he doing?

"Very interesting indeed." Professor Orb says to Will before turning her attention back to me. "And Jamie, what's your fun or interesting fact about yourself?"

I got this. "Will and I dated for a few months in High School, but it ended when he decided to block me on every social media platform, stop talking to me, and pretty much pretend I didn't exist around school, for reasons unknown. I didn't even know he went to NBU until he told me last night. I thought he was at Harvard. So, however I managed to inspire him against going off to Harvard, I didn't even know about it until now."

I say this perfectly evenly, and finish by smiling up at Professor Orb like I just said something perfectly normal. I know everyone's mouths are hanging open right now, but I don't care.

"Well, it seems like you two have some talking to do." Professor Orb says, concern spreading across her features. "I'm glad you're both in this class, this will be good for you. Now go on, get out of here."

"Excuse me?" Will says in disbelief.

"I'm setting the two of you an assignment. Leave this classroom, go get a coffee or something, and talk to each other. Just talk. Until the end of the period."

Clearly, Professor Orb enjoys a drink along with breakfast.

"Hey, I hate her, can we go somewhere and talk too?" One of the other boys says, pointing at the virgin girl.

"Jamie, Will, I'll see you both in two weeks. Go on, now." Professor Orb says to us before walking back to the front of the class, she is actually serious.

Well, you don't have to tell me to leave this class twice. I pick up my bag and my half empty latte and get the fuck out of there, before the Professor has time to change her mind. Worst. Class. Ever.

"Hawkins, wait up!" He's actually following me down the hall. He actually thinks we're gonna go somewhere together to talk? He's actually insane. I ignore him and continue walking. 

"Hawkins!" Nope, I'm not talking to you Archibald. Maybe you could try using my first name for a change, you ass. 

I'm down the stairs and out the front door into the sunshine. Thank god. I dart around the corner and find myself at the edge of the running track and football field. I didn't even know this school had a running track or football field. Go figure. I make a beeline for the bleachers, they look perfect. I can hide from Will under them. 

"Hey, Jamie." John's friend Zach is walking past me, but I don't have time for pleasantries. I nod my head at him and continue walking quickly towards the football field. 

Once I'm through the gate and into the football field, I head directly for the bleachers and duck underneath them. There are some jock looking guys tossing a ball around out on the field, and there are some people reading and playing acoustic guitar up on the bleachers. I'll just stay under here. This is fine. 

"My eyes do work you know, even if your ears apparently don't." Will's here, fuck. 

"Will, please just leave me alone." I don't turn to face him, "obviously I was trying to get away from you, so it would be good if you could just respect my wishes and stay away from me. You owe me that, at least, don't you think?"

"Jamie, I tried to apologise to you last night, and I'm trying again now. Please just let me do this, things will be much easier for both of us if we can get past any ill feelings we have towards each other." Okay, what?

I spin around to face him. "Ill feelings? Toward each other?  What the fuck did I ever do to you? You're the one that completely blew me off! And you wouldn't even tell me why! Why should I ever listen to anything you have to say, ever again?!"

"Because I want to explain myself now." He sighs. "Can we please get out from underneath these bleachers? People will talk." 

"Oh, right, I forgot how concerned you were with the opinions of sheep." I say spitefully. 

"I don't care about what other people think, you know that. But we're hiding out under here, the minute we leave together, everyone's gonna think we were fooling around. You don't want people thinking that, do you?" He eyes me carefully.

"Of course not!" I spit at him. As if I would ever fool around with him. Again.

I storm past him and march back out onto the football field, and he follows me. 

"Can I give you a ride home please? We can talk in the car?" He asks.

"Fuck no, I don't wanna talk to you, what aren't you getting about that?" I yell over my shoulder at him. 

"Hawkins, come on --"

"Will, it's a fucking fifteen minute walk. I do not want a ride from