|I SWEAR ON BURRITO|

"So you mean to say that you met some guy –who potentially can be a girl– who was very rude to you early in the morning?" Sierra repeated once I narrated the encounter I had with that dude to Sierra and Zeta, as we moved out of the English class together.

Sierra Smarson was a bubbly and jolly girl, who says how she's bisexual. Her straight blonde hair covered her round face as bright pink spectacles hid her baby blue eyes, which always seemed to glitter with excitement and happiness.

Her eyes wandered around the hallway as we motioned towards our lockers where we would keep our bags and then move towards the place where the "scandalous" had their lunch.

Zeta looked lost in her trail of thoughts before she stopped walking midway, her eyes wide as she turned to stand in front of us. Her arms extended as if she wished to declare something very important. Sierra looked rather anxious with how serious Zeta looked.

"Siri, who is that one person who would be confused as a guy or a girl, and who would act like a fucking furnace at the start of the day and use sophisticated words when low on coffee?" Sierra's eyes widened comically too as Zeta explained the person I had encountered earlier.

"That's McRae, ain't it?" Came a voice from behind us, making both of me and Sierra jump wildly as we turned around swiftly. A boy around our age, with messy brown hair, dark brown eyes and dimples visible as he kept smirking at us. His red sweatshirt was very creased as if he sat on it for fifteen hours to make it look like that.

"Asshole, never in a million years do that ever again!" Zeta screamed out of utter frustration while he nonchalantly rolled his eyes. Sierra hit him lightly on his shoulder, laughing at Zeta's reaction as she took deep breaths.

"I swear to god Nick– you should probably stop doin' its buds." I squinted my eyes a bit, realizing how the supposed Nick was on friendly terms as he was one of the Scandalous. Almost as if he heard what I was thinking, his brown head turned towards me as he scanned with his gaze, before Zeta coughed loudly.

"Kaia, this is Nicholas Purke, an absolute crackhead and an idiot, and one of us too, " she rolled her eyes at him while he just showed her a middle finger back.

"You are Kirlia Hemmings, right? Felix told me about you, it's an honor to meet you," he dramatically bowed in front of me, taking my right hand lightly and kissing the back of it.

I looked at Zeta apprehensively while Sierra was enjoying the moment thoroughly. Finally, after getting a lot of weird looks from those around us, he stood straight, carelessly brushing off invisible dust off his pants and grinning like a total maniac, showing off his dimples on both cheeks.

Zeta rolled her eyes, as she spanked Nick's elbow while Sierra burst out laughing, successfully earning stares from many others who stood around us and were potentially ignoring us.

"Back to the topic before Nick's stupid ass thought it was courteous to poke his nose everywhere. I'm sure you bumped into–"

"–Addison McRae. The furnace," Nick said before Zeta could complete her sentence, which left her in a very irritated mood. Sierra nodded and realizing how both Nick and Zeta are too busy having a silent battle, did the explanation for me.

"Addison McRae is probably the rudest when she is deprived of her caffeine levels. She says that caffeine manages her level of sanity and she's more than anything addicted to it and she acts like a furnace when she doesn't drink coffee," Sierra explained, as Zeta was busy glaring at Nick, who was enjoying it nonetheless.

I nodded, trying to remember her but I couldn't recall her face. Just her voice was all I could recall. A high-pitched voice strong yet underlying soft note. It was a voice different from those I'd heard before, and despite how rude she was, her voice was something that I registered.

"It's break time, what exactly are you guys doing here?" Felix emerged in front of us, whom I didn't notice until now. He swung his arm around Nick and punched him on the shoulder while he just grunted in return.

"Just Nick being an arse and Zeta and him arguing. The usual," Sierra explained, as she held me by my wrist and started walking ahead. Others followed her, as Nick and Felix got busy talking about what Nick had done before school started, while Zeta was busy scrolling through her phone. Many students stood around us, on their way outside or towards the cafeteria, their eyes looking shamelessly over us as we walked in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

For me, it was easy to ignore such stares and lay low, but here I'm the bait who has to stay strong. Even one moment of weakness and I'd be pulled down hard, and I'd probably be able to get up on my feet anymore with the confidence I've now.

Sierra looked at me as to how I was being conscious and almost on edge and softly squeezed my hand, pulling me out of my prison of thoughts. She smiled meekly as if she had committed a crime but she was unaware of how grateful I was to have her on the first day over here, and all others, who had shunned the random students who were rude to me.

It wasn't even one whole day of me being there, and they had succeeded in making me comfortable over here, and that was everything I could bargain for.

"You good, Kaia?"

"I'm good. Just thinking about–"

"–Everyone around you?" Zeta promptly answered, pocketing her phone and walking by my other side. I sighed, slightly amazed as to how well she had judged my demeanor.

"It's pretty nerve-wracking for me, to be honest. But it's good that I've you all with me," I beamed at both of them genuinely, squeezing Sierra's hand which was still in mine.

"You still haven't met Lucas and Addison," Felix piped in, who looked relieved as he wouldn't have to listen to Nick talking about how he got to make out with a guy in Hawaii.

"Yeah, and the cafeteria food packets," Nick remarked as he grinned widely. "And the first to reach there get all the french fries!" He suddenly screamed and sprinted in front of us.

Felix, whose eyes widened and he started chasing him with all his might as he shouted to stop him from running like a wild dog on the loose while Zeta ran after both of them saying something along the lines of "it's a bullfight" and "barking dog can just bark" and leaving both Sierra and me laughing at their foolery, as we sprinted to catch up with them.

The greenhouse stood with its foliage glory as we exited the school building and now stood in the backyard of the school. It was barren and not like the garden of flowers that blossomed around the main gates of the school.

The stairs led towards the greenhouse whose walls were covered with climbers all around. Potted plants of various kinds stood lined up around the greenhouse as the glass walls shone with the sun rays falling upon it from above.

The glass doors in the corridor where we have our lockers opened up to a couple of stairs that led us towards the greenhouse, and at the end of those stairs, stood two people with a lot of paper bags in their bags.

Nick jumped over the grey stairs in two steps, snatching the paper bags from one of them, while Felix took hold of the remaining two and saved them from falling. Zeta almost fell on the stairs, trying to catch her breath as both I and Sierra sat beside her, not giving a second thought to the fact that the stairs were dirty and cladded with dirt and whatnot.

"Did you leave your manners back in Hawaii, Nick? Or shall I knock you some sense in my way?" Someone said in front of us, and it didn't take much time for me to recognize who it was with the same voice I had encountered early in the morning.

Her blonde hair was shabbily tied in a crooked ponytail, even though her hair was too short to be tied into one. Her white shirt was creased and slightly torn at the edges while her pants were faded. Her green eyes were the most captivating shade of green I had ever seen as they pierced through Nick's head, while he meekly looked down.

"I've my manners–"

"I'm sorry but you don't know what that word means," The guy next to Addison perked up, and for some reason, he felt oddly familiar. His brown curls covered almost half of his forehead, and his brown eyes were fixated on Nick, while Felix walked up to stand beside him.

"Please, I know what manners mean," Nick retorted while Zeta snorted pretty loudly, making them look at the three of us, their eyes on me now.

"And you are–?" She started while I clumsily stood up before I could be a source of embarrassment.

"Kirlia Hemmings, the one I told y'all about in the group chats," Felix started even before I could say anything.

The guy's green eyes were directly looking at me and he was familiar. I was sure that I know him but I really couldn't put a name to it.

"Didn't you read the chats?" Zeta asked Addison, who looked confused but shrugged lightly. Zeta just facepalmed in return while Sierra muttered something along the lines of "she does this every time".

"You are Kaia, right?" The unknown guy popped in again, catching me off guard lightly.

"You know her?" Felix looked back at him with confusion while he just grinned.

"Of course, she knows me too. Don't you remember Lucas Livingston?" He grinned at me, motioning to stand in front of me. And something within me clicked.

"Lucas Livingston?" Saying his name out loud was a funny feeling. Suddenly it struck me.

He used to be in my history class. Lucas was probably the only person friendly enough for me to handle because  he'd use the same cologne my Dad had designed.

He grinned, as he motioned to hug me but we settled for shaking each other's hands. The strong smell of his cologne infiltrated my nose, the same mint perfume which can only be brought from the "Flavour De Food", the fashion store where Dad worked and made essentially weird perfume products. What's weirder is the fact that people do buy it.

"I didn't know I'd meet you here, Lucas. You disappeared from Bridgeton High after the sophomore year," I whispered as I pulled myself out of the hqndshake and rejuvenated our days back in our sophomore year.

Back in Bridgeton, except for Claire, Lucas was the only one who would talk to me. Being in the same history class as he was the most refreshing thing for he was always too easy to talk with. His casual flirting was not as nagging as I pretended it to be. His humorous demeanor and his efforts to make me feel at ease were very comforting.

I never got to know why and my ignorance was the prime reason that I didn't try to find out why he disappeared suddenly. I looked into the ever so familiar green eyes, the same warmth and sense of comfort radiating from him, as his huge smile exposed his white teeth.

"How did you end up here though, Kaia?" I froze at the question asked to me by Lucas, his eye piercing into my skull like always. The red locker danced in front of my eyes, as rainbow-colored streamers fell from it, the laughter of the rest of the student body surrounding me echoing in my ears like I was pulled back into Bridgeton, just a lonely weirdo, a queer's daughter.

"Charles pulled a prank and–" I took a deep breath to stop the sudden tears from falling for I didn't want to lose my shit in front of all of them, not this soon.

"You don't have to tell me now. You don't have to explain, I can imagine the extent to which he can go," Lucas said for he too knew how malicious Charles Smith could be, as he had saved me from his numerous 'pranks'.

I nodded in relief and Sierra clapped her hands to divert everyone's attention from me and Lucas toward her. "We can now eat, I hope–"

"What the heck, Nicholas Purke!" Zeta suddenly shouted, jumping at him so that the brown bags fell from his grasp. The packets were torn, and Nick was busy stuffing his mouth with the rest of the french fries that he was holding.

"Did you eat all the french fries packets?" Addison said in a menacingly low voice, her threat making even my skin crawl. Sweat trickled down from Nick's forehead as he nervously gulped. "No, just five of them–"

"You're a headache, Nick. An honest pain in everyone's ass," Felix stated as he motioned to pick up the rest of the bags as Sierra stepped down to give him a hand.

"We'll just eat what remains. Calm down, Addison," Lucas negotiated as he went towards Nick, talking to him slowly. Addison sighed before she looked at me. Her green eyes looked confused as she looked at me. "Have we met before–"

"Totally. You were rude to her early this morning, remember?" Zeta piped in, as she stood right next to me. Addison's expression morphed into one of recognition and she looked back meekly at me.

"Then I'm sort of sorry as it wasn't your fault. I wasn't in a good mood myself and I took it out on you," Her apology sounded genuine, as she rubbed the back of her head.

"It happens, don't worry about that. I'm Kirlia, but I go with Kaia," I started, extending my hand for a handshake, while he returned. Her hand was very warm, and the skin felt very soft. Her grip was strong, but something about it was very serene and comforting.

"Addison," She gave me a small smile, which looked very uncomfortable and I let go of her hand, even though I didn't want to. She clumsily sat down on one of the stairs and I sat on the step behind her Zeta jumped back towards me with two brown packets, swiftly handing me one.

"Eat up, Kaia. We have a long day ahead," Zeta said, as Sierra too motioned and sat beside Addison. Felix, Nick, and Lucas sat together, dividing the French fries equally among themselves.

The packet handed over to me wasn't open yet and I pulled off the cello tape which was sealed in close. The smell of burgers coming from it intrigued me the most, as I took a look at its contents. A burger wrapped carefully in plastic, with an airtight smoothie cup, and a spare straw was all it had with a packet of French fries.

"Let's divide it among us all," I offered, taking out the french fries and showing them to the girls sitting around me. "Eat it for yourself, before he does," Sierra whispered, pointing meekly at Nick, who looked dreamily at the French fries which Felix was currently eating. I stifled a laugh as Zeta shouted at him to focus on his food.

My phone vibrated and I pulled it out. It was a text from Pa.

The Coolest Pa:
Your Dad's gonna be the death of me

He's worried about u

And he called me three times when I was with a patient.

Just tell ur Dad to calm his ass off about u.

Also, how r u?

I took a big bite of the burger as I typed in my response. Zeta peeked in as I typed, and it was nothing I should be hiding from them.

You
Pa, just tell ur, husband that I'm doing great. Got new friends. There r a total of six of them. I'm fine, relax. I'll text him too to get him off your hair, alright?

I sighed, pocketing my phone and eating the rest of the food, sharing the french fries with everyone. I picked up the now empty brown bag and shoved it into my bag, to dump it later.

"I think you should text your dad that you are fine. He's pretty worried, I suppose," Zeta perked up, as she stood up and stretched her hand in front of me to stand up too. I swiftly took her hand, nodding in agreement.

"That'd be good. He fusses a lot, over everything."

I took back my phone, and we started walking toward our classes. Taking out my phone again, I typed out a concise message. I knew completely well that they would ask me everything about the whole day, so there would be no reason to tell him anything now.

I'm doin' good, don't worry. Focus on your work. Bring the butterscotch ice cream, please. I wanna celebrate my first day here;)
Oh and don't disturb Pa :/

"Don't you like using emojis?" Nick asked from behind me, catching me off guard, as I almost ran into someone who was walking in front of me. Addison turned back, slightly annoyed for I had bumped into her for the second time the same day.

"And you love scaring everyone," Felix said, who was walking right next to him, shooting me a guilty look. "We didn't want to scare you, but all four of us have the next class together."

"You know, I guess I know why Zeta is so annoyed with Nick almost always. This habit–" I started, pointing at Nick "–of yours can kill someone one day."

"Agreed," Addison perked up, as she now walked next to me, looking at her phone screen from time to time. Nick just rolled his eyes, now walking ahead of us with Felix next to him, while I and Addison walked just behind them. "History?"

I just nodded, looking around for Zeta or Sierra, or even Lucas, but none of the three was anywhere near us. "The rest of the three are in Physics AP class, do you wanna join them?" Addison questioned as she saw how I was looking around.

"No! But I just don't know why I even opted for it, but I guess I'll make it work somehow. It won't be that tough–right?" I almost stuttered, for being around Addison was very intimidating somehow. She wasn't very tall to me, but her presence was brooding and lowkey scary. But that'd be something I won't be telling her right to her her face.

"Are you afraid of me?" She looked mildly hurt, despite how carelessly she had said that.

"Pfft- No, why should I be scared around you? We are on cool terms, right? R-right?" Her eyes narrowed down on me, as she looked at her her phone screen and then back at me.

"You are–"

"I swear on fucking burritos I'm not scared of you!" She looked at me completely taken aback, while my heartbeat was competing with itself. Her eyes widened but then she blinked rather fast. But then the unexpected happened.

She was grinning –almost laughing– her eyes crinkling at the edges, as some loose strands of blonde hair covered her forehead. This side of her wasn't scary, nothing near to the word scary.

"I wasn't talking about that. Gosh, you don't swear on burritos," She stood grimacing through a shadow of a smile visible on her face.

I blinked again at her, realizing how she was trying to make fun of me. I pulled her to the side by holding her elbow, as she stood in front of me leaning into the wall behind her, enjoying having me flustered completely.

"You aren't going to tell this to anyone," I said, in a dangerously low voice.

"Do you want me to swear on burritos too?" She retorted, completely enjoying herself.

"Yes, swear on it."

"I won't tell anyone this, after all, it'd be our thing." She winked and started to walk back into the class but then stopped midway, "This is gonna be one heck of a year."

And I couldn't help but agree with her.

I did it, it's an update.

It's the longest chapter I've ever written and I'm happy that it's long. Sue me for not updating it for the past many weeks.

A lot of drama had decided to graze my life and enlightened me of its glory. From having my granny dead cuz of covid-19 to getting my exams canceled with a lot of time to draft all the chapters, life changed for me in May.

I had lost all motivation in midst of all of this, simultaneously having existential crises, so imma be back on board for those who have been reading this story and are intrigued by it this far (thanks for reading this!!!!!!)

I hope y'all luck and a big, fat, and happy pride month to everyone!

Do comment and share it with those who'd like it (kinda) and do not forget to vote on it and all the other chapters too, if ya haven't voted on it yet (please).

Peace out,
shreya

P. S.: Fun fact, Kirlia has been named so after a pokemon, sue me.