Chapter Thirty Eight

"A new student? It's the middle of April, it's a little late for that don't you think?" Ross said as we walked down the halls to our first class.

I had only missed a few days and yet it seems like so much was happening. Rumors about a new student had spread like wildfire throughout our small school and everyone in our grade was particularly excited to meet them. I'm glad that I came in earlier since school had only just started and that I hadn't missed but a few weeks.

"Well maybe their situation calls for it, you never know" Hayden said with a shrug of his shoulders.

We entered our classroom and took our seats at our desks.

"Well, if it isn't a cute girl then what's the point for excitement?" Ross said and Diana glared at him.

"You're such a dog" she said with a huff and Ross grinned.

"Aw, it's okay D. I'll always have time for you~" He said throwing a wink at Diana who simply frowned at him.

"Instead of making time for girls, you should be making time to study. If you fail another test, you're going to end up in summer school" Hayden said with a sigh at the end of his words and Ross just chuckled while Diana shook her head.

"It's all good. I'll just turn in a bunch of homework and my grade will go sky high" he said with a dismissing wave of his hand and we all just shook our heads at him.

A little later, our teacher had finally come in but he wasn't alone. Trailing behind him was a boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes that were looking around at all the students in the classroom. When our eyes met, his seemed to widen a fraction but I thought nothing of it as I just waited for him to avert his eyes.

"Okay, class. I'm sure you've already heard but today we have a new student. Please introduce yourself young man" the teacher said and the boy stepped up.

"Hello, it's nice to meet everyone. I'm Will" he said with a polite smile and it was an instant effect as all the girls swooned over his smile.

"Pshh. Pretty boy" Ross whispered and Diana let out a small chuckle.

"You can take the seat between Hayden and Diana. Would you two raise your hands?" The teacher said and the both of them raised their hands as asked.

Once Will had gone to his seat, the lesson began and even though people were supposed to be paying attention, they were instead giggling and whispering about whatever.

"Okay before you start your group work, I just want to take a few seconds to tell you guys that we will be going on a field trip to the museum next week. At the end of class, please come and pick up a permission slip from me" The teacher said.

"The museum? How lame" Ross said as he slumped over his chair when turning to us.

I wasn't sure which museum we'd be going to but I secretly hoped it was the one Riki worked at. I couldn't help but smile when thinking of how surprised he'd be if we see each other. I didn't count on it though since he would probably be pretty busy.

"You only say it's lame because you have the attention span of a fly" Hayden said and Ross frowned.

"I do not!" He said and I just smiled at the two's banter.

The feeling of a tap on my shoulder had scared the living daylights out of me and when I turned to see who the culprit was, it was Will who was just smiling at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just have a couple of questions since I'm new and you guys are pretty well into this subject" he said and I felt the uneasy feeling that I always felt whenever talking to someone new begin to creep it's way back into my heart.

However, I tried to push it down as I made an attempt to answer him.

"U-Uh...what do you need help with?" I asked.

"I just wanted a second opinion on what I wrote" he said as he moved his seat closer to mine so that I could read what he had wrote.

After reading it and telling him that it was fine, I thought that would be our last interaction but throughout the period Will would occasionally ask me questions but at the most inconvenient times. Such as when Diana and the others would start to talk again, he would ask me a question and I would have to leave out of the conversation to help Will.

I didn't mind since I was helping but I just hoped that after a week of being here, he'll be able to get the hang of everything on his own.

Once class ended, I headed off to my next class that I didn't have with the others. While I was walking, Will had caught up to me and stopped us near the lockers.

"Sorry to bother you again, I was just wondering where this room is?" He said as he showed me his schedule.

"Oh...I have that class too" I said and Will's eyes seemed to brighten at that.

"Then I hope you don't mind but I will be following you" he said and I nodded.

I didn't really try to make any conversation as we walked and thankfully neither did Will. It put my nerves more at ease knowing that I wasn't going to be bombarded with any sudden questions.

Though that relief was short lived when Will opened his mouth.

"You know...I didn't think I'd ever see you again. You left so abruptly, it was really unexpected" Will said and I frowned deeply when hearing his words. He was speaking to me as if we knew each other before, which I am pretty sure we didn't since I have never met this guy before in my life.

"What?" I said but Will dismisses my question with a wave of his hand.

"Let's talk more after class, yes?" His sentence was formed as a question but with the way he walked into the classroom without waiting for my answer told me that it was more of a demand.

Just who was this guy?

Throughout the entire class period, I tried to think long and hard about where I could possibly know him from but nothing was turning up. I have absolutely no memory of ever talking to him let alone meeting Will in the past.

But then again if you were to ask me to name at least one kid from my old school, I wouldn't be able to do it. I hardly ever paid attention to those kids, they were rude and mean. I didn't want to surround myself with negative thoughts that would surely be brought on by their jeers and staring.

Once class was over, the next period was gym and I headed to the locker room without even waiting for Will. Honestly because I didn't know him and because I wasn't sure if I was ready to hear whatever he had to say to me.

"I totally think coach is going to make us play dodgeball today..." Diana said with a sigh as we were changing in the locker room.

"Hopefully not. I can still feel the last time I got hit with a ball" I said and Diana nodded.

"Yeah, I think I still have a bruise from when Francis threw the ball too hard" she said as she rubbed her left side.

When we were finished changing we headed outside. Even though it was the middle of April, there was still a cool breeze that blew around and the only thing keeping me relatively warm was the beaming sun.

"Who's ready for some dodgeball?!" Coach yelled but none of us responded to him as we all looked at him in distaste.

"Wow, you guys may be even more excited than I am! Hayden! You and the new kid can get the balls" Coach said and Hayden nodded before motioning for Will to follow him to the shed where all the sports equipment was kept.

"Just as I suspected...today is not going to be fun" Diana said.

"Well, I don't know about you but I've got a bone to pick with Brandon. That guy is going to get what's coming to him" Ross said as he glared at a boy who was on the other side.

"That's if you two don't end up on the same team" Diana said and Ross grimaced.

"Well...he might just have to take one for the team" Ross said.

Hayden and Will had eventually came back from the shed but Hayden's face expression was very troubled while Will was still wearing that normal polite smile he's had on all day.

"What's wrong with you man?" Ross asked as Hayden joined us. I noticed him glance over at me before shaking his head.

"Nothing" Hayden said and he remained silent for the remainder of the time as our teams got chosen.

Once we were separated in teams, I quickly noticed that I was on the team opposite of Diana, Ross, and Hayden. I knew that this wasn't going to be a very good time for me as I was horrible at dodgeball. I would usually just stand around and wait until someone hit me with a ball so that I could sit down.

I did try to dodge though since I was well aware of how strong of an arm these people have. It wasn't easy but I managed pretty well for myself.

At least that's what I thought until I got hit in the head and went falling to the ground. I groaned as the pain was intensified since I was still recovering from my first injury.

I swear I was going to start losing more brain cells than I had to offer if this kept happening to me.

"Oh god, are you alright?!" Diana asked as she rushed over to me and I wanted to answer but the pounding pain in my head was overwhelming me.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was throwing" I looked up and saw Will and even though he was apologizing, it didn't look like there was any remorse in his face. Or maybe that was just because my head was hurting?

"Coach, I'll take her to the nurse since I was the one who hurt her" Will said and Coach nodded.

"Alright, but make sure she gets there in one piece" Coach said and the next thing I knew, I was being lifted up into Will's arms which startled me.

"Y-You don't have to do this, I can walk..." I said as Will began to walk away from the crowd of students. When looking at my friends, I saw all of their worried faces but Hayden seemed to be glaring instead.

"No, it's quite alright. You're as light as a feather" he said and I just kept my mouth shut as I allowed him to carry me to the nurse. My head was hurting too much to sit here and argue with him when his mind was already made up.

"Oh, Miss Ceres, not you again. I hope that this won't become a regular thing" the nurse, Ray, said as we came into the infirmary.

"Again?" Will said and Nurse Ray looked at Will curiously.

"I've never seen you around here before. Are you new?" He asked and Will nodded.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm not supposed to divulge private matters of my patients to others but if Miss Ceres has no problems with telling you what happened to her, then that's her own decision. Now, I believe that there is a free bed in the back that you guys can use" Nurse Ray said as he pointed to the back.

Will thanked him before taking me to the bed and setting me down gently.

It was quiet for a moment while we waited for Nurse Ray to come and give me an ice pack. I didn't say anything because not only did I have nothing to say, but my head was also hurting too much.

"Thank you..." I muttered once getting the ice pack from Nurse Ray.

"No problem. Would you like me to call one of your family members and let them know what happened?" He asked and I shook my head.

"No...that's okay" I said and Nurse Ray nodded.

"Young man...?" Nurse Ray said and Will looked to him.

"My name is Will" he said and Nurse Ray nodded.

"Will, you can leave her here and head back to class" Nurse Ray said before going back his paper filled desk.

I was expecting Will to get up and leave me but he remained in his seat unmoving.

"You should go back...I don't want you to get in trouble" I said and Will gave me a smile that didn't reach his eyes all the way.

"This kindness of yours is very stunning to me" he said and I furrowed my brows at his sentence.

"Back then, you wouldn't spare anyone so much as a glance. You were the lone wolf that everyone was too afraid to approach yet here you are worrying about me" Will said.

"You're speaking about me as if you know me" I said and Will nodded.

"Well, I do. You never liked gym, you wouldn't even show up to the class. You never talked to anyone either, so why is it that it seems so many things about you has changed?" Will asked and when I didn't answer he continued to talk.

"If it isn't clear by now, then I'll make it clear. We went to the same school before you up and transferred" Will said and my eyes widened.

"I'm a little hurt that you don't remember me, especially when I was the one who stood up for you so often. Although I must admit it is my own fault as I never did it in front of you. Only when others would talk about you behind your back" he said.

"I see..." I muttered and Will seemed to draw in closer as he continued to speak.

"I wanted to talk to you. To ask to be friends with you, but you made that a very difficult process with how easily you ignored people" he said and I couldn't help but feel bad. There was someone out there, even so long ago, that wanted to be my friend and I had ruined that chance.

"And just when I had gathered up the courage to talk to you, you slipped away from me...why is that?" Just as those last words left Will's lips, the door to the office opened and I was surprised when I saw Max walking in.

"Ah, kid one day you're gonna end up in the hospital with how reckless you've been" he said upon seeing me but when he saw Will who was still lent in a little too close to me, his eyes narrowed.

"Who the fuck are you?" Max asked and I internally sighed at his use of profane language on his first meeting with someone.

Will pulled away and offered up that same polite smile he has kept up all day.

"I'm Will. I brought Ceres here because of the injury I caused her" he said and Max's glare stayed in place as he spoke out his next words.

"Well, you did what you were supposed to now get the hell out of here" Max said and despite Max's less than nice words, Will nodded and kept up his smile.

"Sure. See you later, Ceres" he said waving to me before heading out of the room.

"Nasty little pest" Max grumbled as he took the seat that Will had previously occupied.

"What are you doing here?" I asked and Max held up his phone.

"Your buddies texted me telling me what happened so I said I had to use the bathroom and came here. How are you feeling?" Max asked.

"It hurts but the ice is helping" I said and Max nodded.

"Who was that kid?" Max asked referring to Will.

"He's a new student but apparently we went to the same school before..." I said and Max's eyes widened a fraction.

"You guys went to the same school? This really is a small world" he said with a chuckle.

"You were pretty rude to him" I said and Max rolled his eyes.

"He was too close to you for my liking. How did this happen anyways?" He asked as he watched me lift up the ice pack before putting it in a new spot.

"We were playing dodgeball and I guess I wasn't paying attention" I said and Max sighed.

"Well, please be more careful next time. I don't want to have to think about you getting hurt again y'know?" Max said and I nodded.

I didn't like getting hurt either but it just seems that I have become prone to accidents like these.

"Alright, well, I'm gonna head back to class. If you want we can ditch school at lunch" Max said and I frowned.

"That sounds like something you want" I said and Max gave me a grin.

"Smart kid. I'll see you in a few" he said before leaving the room. I sighed after he was gone and shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed.

As I laid there, I couldn't help but think back to my conversation with Will. Had he truly wanted to be friends with me? If he had told me that when we were still in our old school, I wouldn't have believed him at all. But with everything I've gone through and the many realizations I've come to, I found myself more accepting of the idea of having friends.

Maybe I could also try to be friends with Will? It seemed like he truly wanted to but there was this dull nagging in the back of my mind trying to tell me something. I didn't know what it was though.

With another sigh, I just closed my eyes and tried to relax and think about something other than the pain in my head.

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