Senior Year

"Fifteen minutes, Clary, that's all you have," I whisper to myself as I move through the foreign school hallway. Hell, it's like a maze in here.

Looking down at my flip phone, I hit speed dial and press the phone to my ear.

"Why are you calling me, you are on a mission," a voice hisses into the phone.

"I understand that Val, but how the fuck, do I get to the coach's office? I've never been in this frickin' school before."

"Oh yeah, should have drawn a map or something before you got out the car, that was my bad," Valentina Rosa, my best friend, mumbles to herself. "Okay, where are you right now?"

I turn a corner, peaking down the hallway making sure the coast is clear. Loud chatter is coming from behind a set of double doors and judging by the time, it's probably the cafeteria. "I'm outside the cafeteria," I whisper into the phone.

"Jesus, okay, have you seen a set of blue stairs?" At the sound I let out, she continues, "Okay, north down the hallway until you get to the blue set of stairs."

Standing there like an idiot, I twist in a circle and throw an arm in the air. "How the fuck am I supposed to know where north is Val?"

"Well you can only go two ways to the cafeteria so obviously if you didn't see the blue stairs from the way you came then just go to the other end of the hall," she huffs into the phone. "Next to the stairs is a blue door, that's where the locker rooms are and that's where the Coach's Office is."

Okay, blue stairs, blue door.

I stroll casually down the hall and pass the cafeteria doors without incident.

Blue stairs, blue door. Blue stairs, blue door. Blue stai—.

The blue stairs come into view along with the sound of voices. They're coming down the stairs and they sound like a bunch of animals. The phone is still at my ear when I see their shoes on the top steps and I whip my head around so that they can only see my back, "So I said that she was totally insane, you cannot just decide that pinstripes are in, that's just, not cool," I rattle off mindlessly.

"The fuck? Are you okay?" Valentina asks in confusion.

"Yeah, totally, I said the same thing!" I fake gasp. The few students ignore me as they walk past and head towards the cafeteria. Risking a glance over my shoulder, I notice that they're a bunch of boys wearing letterman jackets. Jocks. The one at the front looks over his shoulder for a moment and catches my eye, making me freeze in fear, mouth open. "Holy Fuck," I whisper.

He slows his walk and fully turns around so that he's walking backward, giving me his full attention while still talking to his friends around him. The rest of them are completely oblivious.

He's tall, at least 6'3, but he doesn't tower over his friends, he's slouched a bit, hands in his jeans pockets. Black shaggy hair falls over his bright green eyes  that are staring directly at me.

I almost drop the phone in a daze.

"Clary, did you fall and hit your head or something?" Valentina demands over the phone.

His lips tilt in a boyish smirk. His eyes do a quick scan of my body and then a longer scan that sets me straight. Perv. I scowl at him, seething at his blatant observation of me, and walk to the other side of the stairwell where a royal blue door is located. Bingo.

Valentina's voice is loud when I look at my phone and notice that she's still on the line. Ah, crap, my parents are going to kill me when they see how many minutes I've spent on this month's phone bill.

"Okay, I'm in the locker room hallway, which way?" I ask, looking down in each direction, only seeing a bunch of closed doors.

"Left." It scares me that she knows these hallways so well when this is supposed to be enemy territory.

This hallway is even more deserted than the last one, my footsteps echo across the floor. I walk down the entire hallway but there's no sign for the Coach's office anywhere. "I can't find it." Eleven minutes.

"Door at the end of the hallway. When you're done, we're sitting outside the gymnasium doors through the back. Meet you there." Valentina informs me. "Hurry the fuck up already, Clary!" My younger sister, Jenna, yells through the phone.

I end the call with an eye roll and stop at the end of the hallway where the Coach's Office sits next to another set of double doors that leads to the gymnasium. When I twist the handle of the office door a sigh of relief leaves me as it twists open.

"Maa," a goat's bleat sounds out and I grin. The Coach's Office is not that large and most of the space is taken up by a portable barrier that keeps the Valley High School mascot enclosed.

"Hello, Billy," I whisper in a soothing tone. The goat stares at me as it chews a mouthful of hay. "Okay, Billy, we're going to go for a little joy ride," I continue to speak in a calming tone as I grab handfuls of hay and shove them into my hoodie pockets under my leather jacket, before reaching for his leash to attach to his collar.

He moves willingly as I clip on the leash in the direction of the coach's door so that I can move through the—hopefully—empty gym and out to my getaway car. As I shut the door behind me a voice clears its throat.

My feet feel stuck to the floor. I suck in a breath and slowly turn around, still holding tightly to the leash as Billy stands idle, trying to eat my hoodie pockets to get to the hay inside.

The black-haired letterman jacket-wearing boy stands at the end of the hallway with a skeptical look on his face. "What are you doing with Nana?"

"Nana? I've been calling him—her, Billy. It's a girl?" I ask bending down so that I can get a closer look at the goat. Yup, that's a girl alright.

His head tilts, eyebrows puckering in confusion the longer he stares, "Everyone knows Nana is a girl... do you even go here?" At that moment the door behind him opens and reveals the group of boys that he was walking with earlier. Fuck.

His friends stop talking as they take in the scene before them.

"I was just taking her for a little walk, you know, fresh air and all that," I ramble, slowly backing towards the gym doors, subtly tugging on Nana—not Billy—'s leash.

Nana tugs on my hoodie, letting the leather jacket pull to the side. The black-haired jock's eyes widen as he notices the green Jefferson printed on the chest of the hoodie underneath. Double fuck.

"Well as fun as this has been I've got to head out," I jerk my thumb in the direction of the gym doors with wide eyes. It all happens so fast that before anyone can get another word out, I've already shoved open the doors and am pulling Nana along with me as fast as I can.

"Hey! Stop!" Someone yells and their pounding footsteps tell me that I need to pick up the pace.

"Come on, Nana, work with me here," a groan escapes me as I tug her leash trying to get her to move faster. I'm halfway across the gym when the double doors burst open and the jocks come through, sights immediately setting on me.

"Get her Pete!" I hear them yell and risk a glance over my shoulder to see the black-haired one running after me. Pete, that's a cute name.

"Now is not the time, Clary," I scold myself as I open the double doors leading to the back of the school and spot Jenna and Valentina in the front seats. "Start the engine, start the engine!" I yell, scrambling to the backseat of the car and opening the door to get in.

I freeze for a second, staring at Nana the goat. She's still in relaxation mode as she chews on my hoodie and I let out a hysterical squeal. "Help me, Val!"

Valentina jumps out of the car and helps me push Nana into the back seat. Once she's safely in, I jump in the back seat and Valentina climbs into the passenger. The doors open and the jock—Pete runs out staring straight at me. "Drive Jen!"

A teasing grin graces my face as I realize what just happened and I find myself rolling down the window and sticking my head out waving at Pete. "Sorry for stealing the goat, it's tradition!" I smack Valentina's hand when she holds up a middle finger out the window. Jenna's foot punches on the gas and I almost hit my head on the roof of the car. "You're really hot by the way!"

He stares at me with a slack jaw before that boyish grin lights up his face, "You're not so bad yourself," he yells out as we speed out of the school parking lot and back towards our school.

Valentina turns around in her seat and looks at the goat and then at me with a slight smirk on her face, "Well that was fun."

I grin back at her, "You're telling me." I look back one last time at the school and see a group of people standing outside the back of the school, staring in our direction. One gaze in particular catches my eye and I let out a disbelieving laugh, turning back to face the front of the car with a blush.

|| 📚 ||

Hi! Welcome Welcome!

I originally started this book YEARS ago but stopped to focus on Maddie's book and finally decided to revisit it 3 years later. Please please read the Welcome Page as it has important information regarding this book.

I hope you enjoy it x

Until next time,

Sammipott xx