"Don't you hate that?"

"What?"

"Uncomfortable silence. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?"

"I don't know. That's a good question."

***

I didn't know what to exactly expect for my first day back in public school. I guess I imagined my first day of senior year to be like a scene from an 80s movie Dad use to make me watch with him. It all started the same away: driving with your friends in a shiny new car, rock music playing in the background while I pull into the parking lot before walking into class with the first day of senior year. I would say hi to all my friends, usually rushing to class because the class bell would ring. 

Telling people about the that happened the weekend during my party was not what I expected.

Asami gasped, "That is what happened? Why didn't you mentioning anything about that during the party? It kept going until four in the morning." She glanced quickly at me long enough to see the surprise in her eyes.

"You kept going. Everyone else finished hours ago," Annabel corrected. 

Asami rolled her eyes. "Not true." 

"You were pissing drunk at the party. Even if I told you, you wouldn't remember." I corrected.

Annabel chimed in from the back. "You should hear the voicemails Asami left-"

"Stop talking," Asami interrupted Annabel who was holding back what seemed to be a mixture of a groan and laughter. We were all walking towards the school, all coming our separate vehicles. "No one needs to hear about that. The party was amazing though. Rich people really know how to throw the best parties."

Annabel groaned. "Stop making the party sound amazing. I couldn't believe I missed it because I had to go to my grandmas house."

I saw Annabel occasionally over the years because she was close friends with Asami after I was forced to switch to private school. When I told Asami I was returning back to public school, she introduced me to Annabel.

"It's okay. France will hold another one eventually," Asami informed her.

I shook my head. "I doubt it. The clean up was not worth it. That is the first and last time I'm hosting a party."

Beyond dealing with the two boys in my room, everyone left the house a mess. There was questionable fluids everyone that I only prayed was alcohol. Some people were passed out in various rooms. I spent the entire weekend cleaning the place so the maid won't see it Monday and rat me out to my parents. Nothing was damaged luckily due to my vigilance but  when everything was cleaned, I immediately passed out.

"Let's focus on the fact that France threw something and knocked the guy out cold."

"I just threw the first thing in my hand," I responded defensively. "I didn't mean to knock him out."

"Who is this guy?" Annabel asked curiously.

Thinking back to something that I would hardly call an introduction, I reluctantly sighed. "France," I grumbled under my breath.

Annabel said, "What?"

I groaned loudly before repeating, "The asshole's name is France."

Both of their eyes widened.

"Do you mean France Santos?" Asami repeated before she started laughing.

"I don't know. I didn't ask for his last name when he was invading my room."

Asami choked back her laughter long enough to say, "That definitely has to be him."

Annabel chuckled before joining Asami in laughter, "That's amazing."

I shook my head to myself. I was not able to relax after escorting them out of the party. Part of it was my paranoia that they would return, even though that wasn't the case. It was mostly because I was angry that there were people that would violate someone's private bedroom. If the party was smaller, I would've ushered everyone out that part. Unfortunately, the party was too big and everyone was too drunk so I had to keep it going with no choice.

"Thank God I don't have to see him anymore," I said with a sigh of relief. "I can resume my normal day."

Asami and Annabel looked at each other for a moment after my sigh of relief.

"You do know he goes to this school, right?" Annabel rushed it as quickly as possible.

My stomach pained at this new information.

"He goes here?" I repeated the information in a slightly higher pitch. Annabel and Asami both nodded their heads at the same time. Asami had a small smile growing on her face while Annabel was trying to give me a look of sympathy. "Are you sure?"

"From what Devon told me, France does not remember much about that night because you apparently gave him a pretty bad concussion," Asami informed me. "They thinks it's hilarious. They all do. So do I."

They?

Asami always was a free spirit, and I really could never picture here with anyone. That was why when she started to date Devon, their personalities meshed in an interesting away. Devon was always so serious with a wry sense of humor while Asami has always been the opposite. He has a much taller stature with wide shoulders that contrasted Asami's skinny figure to the point he almost dwarfs over her.

"I just don't want to deal with France," I stressed to her. "I barely know who he is. What do I even say to him?"

Asami put a hand on my shoulder. "Just take it one day at a time. It's not your fault. They always do these stupid bets, but they all honestly mean well. They are just idiots. They can't help it."

The school bell could be heard from the outside.

"Asami is right," Annabel chimed in with a comforting smile. "I think that was the warning bell, so we should get to our first class."

In a silent agreement. We all walked through the school. Annabel and Asami were chattering about students and saying hello to old friends to introduce me to. I, on the other hand, was focusing on the school.

It appeared run down. Blue and white paint on the walls seem to be chipping while the white lockers were streaked with gray from the stripping of its paint and with dents, making it difficult to hide their old age. No one seemed to care though, as everyone were talking loudly about their summers. I felt weird walking through, not being able to recognize anyone.

No one from the last school texted me since I left.

Of course they didn't. They all are mad at you, remember?

It was the same thought that haunted me since the summer. It was scabbing over all the pain and agony, and I couldn't leave it alone to heal. Instead, I keep accidentally picking on it until it festers into something I couldn't imagine.

Asami and Annabel soon led me to the first class of the day that we all have together. When we entered the classroom, half of the seats were empty in the small room. Asami made a noise of excitement before a grin blossomed on her face as she walked quickly across the room.

One person yelled something in a foreign language, which caused Asami to head over and hug the stranger.

Asami walked to a group of people that are clustered around the tables at the corner of the classroom.

"Hey everyone. I just want you all to meet France. She is new to this school," she dropped her shoulder bag at the seat next to her boyfriend. She pointed to him. "You already know Devon."

He gave me a wave and a familiar smile that made me feel easy.

"Welcome," he greeted shortly after he touched Asami's arm affectionately.

Asami then pointed the guy that was sitting in front of Devon, who is just plain attractive.

"That over there is Archy. I'm going to say it to you before he tries anything," Asami glared at the guy before looking at me with a charming smile. "He just became one of the captains of the football team this summer, and is currently being fought over by some big recruiters. You will definitely hear about this soon enough."

His hair was short on the sides but gelled to spread in different directions. His sharp eyes looked at me when an embarrassed smile grew on his face.

"This is all pretty true," he agreed sheepishly.

"You know what else is true? He lost a bet and had to wax his chest hair," another guy to Archy's right started to laugh. Archy glared at the guy before he reached over and punched the guy on the shoulder, who yelped.

"And that is Alex," Asami chimed in.

Alex stood up and stuck out his hand. Like the other boys, he also appeared put together. His hair appeared slightly slick from hair gel, making his tan skin and brown eyes look fresh from a shower. Unlike Archy's muscular figure,  Alex has a lanky stature, his arms peeping from his short black t-shirt showing some muscle but almost nothing compared to Archy.

Before Asami could introduce the next person, my eyes fell on the next guy that was sitting on the table.

My eyes narrowed, and I pointed at him.

"I met you before. You were trying to steal something from my house," I accused him.

The stranger put his hands up.

"I never stole anything from you. I was trying to be a good friend for my buddy...who was trying to steal something from your house," the stranger attempted to reason before giving a sheepish smile. "But I do want to say knocking him out was incredible. My name is Aktio by the way."

I nodded slowly, unsure what to do with that introduction. My eye wanted to twitch from the events that left me stressed all weekend, but he seemed so...nice. I almost wanted to believe the words Asami and Annabel told me, but I just couldn't let my guard down in front of him. If I have not had already interacted with Aktio at my party, I probably would be more excited about the idea of being around him.

Archy stroked his chin. "Huh, there are going to be two Frances now. How are going to separate them apart if we are talking about one France?"

I took one of the empty seats next to Asami, and dropped my bag on the side.

"My full name is Francesca. You can call me that," I suggested nicely.

Archy wrinkled his nose. "Nah. That's no fun."

"What about boy France and girl France?" Akito suggested.

"That's better," Archy agreed. "Creative solution." 

"Is it though?" Devon objected. "You literally just added their gender. No effort was put into it."

"Can you think of something better?" Akito challenged Devon. Devon glared at him before sitting down.

Before anyone could add to the conversation of what to call me, the bell rang. At this point, the classroom was all filled with students, still remained talking with no regards. The door opened an older man walked into the room.

"Okay class lets settle down," an older Indian man walked into the room. He was on the shorter side, wearing large glasses that fit on his slightly crooked nose. His hair was primarily black that was peppered with white colors. "This is not a party, Akito. Sit in your seat, please. I'm even surprise you came on time today. Let's settle down and get started."

I settled more comfortably into my desk, pulling out an empty notebook while the man wrote AP Literature on the board with chalk.

"Hello class. Welcome to AP Literature," he introduced, turning to face the full classroom. He was wearing a faint blue button down that was tucked into a high waisted beige pants with a black belt. He turned around to start writing again.

"Just want to introduce myself in case none of you had me before as a teacher. My name is Mr. Vishwakarma but you can call me Mr. V-"

He stopped talking at the sound of the door creaking. The teacher adjusted his glasses and glared. I followed the direction of the noise, and my heart stopped.

It was him.

The boy who tried to steal from my house.

It was him, but it was different. The first time I saw him it was dark so I was unable to get a look at him. Under these strong fluorescent lights though, I was able to capture every detail of him.

The first thing I noticed was his relaxed figure. It didn't seem cocky but more exhaustion from the way he had a hand over his mouth to stifle a yawn. There were slight bags under his brown eyes. My eyes fell on the large bump that appeared on the side of his head. A dark black and blue mark was a blemish on his almost flawless skin besides the cut over the eyebrow.

"Mr. Santos. You are late," the professor chided him.

"Sorry about that," he apologized with a slight smile. Exhaustion was present from the slight hoarse tone in his voice, but it was appealing to the sound.

The professor raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. He pointed towards our direction. "There's an empty seat over there, so just sit there."

My eyes widened when I realized he pointed to the only empty seat in the room that was right next to me. Like the rest of the class, I watched him smoothly weave between the different students, watching him slightly smile when he sees a familiar student.

He took a seat, tossing his bag on the desk and taking the seat next to me. His eyes briefly looked into mine, something flashing behind them. Feeling uncomfortable, I turned my head back on the board, ignoring the feeling of his eyes on me.

"Before I was rudely interrupted," the teacher look at France one more time before shaking his head to himself. He looked at the notepad in his hands. "You guys can call me Mr. V. I was also told we have a new student. Is she here?"

Now the eyes fell on me. I raised my hand slowly.

"That is me."

"Do you want to give a brief introduction of yourself to the class?" the professor asked.

Despite it being a question of whether I wanted to do it, I knew from the stern look on his face that he expected me to say yes. Trying to focus on the board, I nodded and stood up, formulating a brief introduction in my head. Tilting my head, I could see the eyes of everyone in the class staring at me. I glanced and saw France was watching me too.

I felt a soft panic that can grow or fade depending on what I do next. I took a deep breath.

"Hey. My name is Francesca, but I go by France. I am from New Jersey and transferred from Alberta High School," I quickly rushed before quickly sitting back in my seat.

The teacher smiled. "Great. Let's continue on with the class."

The teacher started to walk about who knew what. I started to listen to the lecture...only I couldn't.

Because a voice interrupted my train of thought.

"Do you have a pencil I can borrow?"

I turned my head slowly to the boy next to me, staring at me with a serious look on his face.

My eyes widened.

Is he kidding me?

My mouth was dry of any response that could come.

"Are you serious?" I couldn't help but ask.

He couldn't be possibly serious about asking me that after what he did?

His eyes widened, clearly taken aback by my comment.

"Uh...sorry. I thought you had one," he mumbled quietly pulling back to his seat. He looked at me one more time, and he returned his focus on the teacher.

I frowned at the interaction, trying to speculate why he thought it was okay until something clicked. Then, it all made sense.

He doesn't recognize me.

Didn't Asami mention he might not know what exactly happened?

I looked at him one more time.

Does that include not recognizing me?

I reached into my pencil case to pull out a sharpened pencil I prepared before I left for school. I reached over and tapped France on the arm, and stuck out the pencil in his direction.

"Here," I whispered.

He looked at the pencil. He frowned and his eyebrows furrowed. He looked at me for a brief moment, and he reached out to take the pencil.

"Thanks. By the way, my name is also France," he introduced himself.

Yep, he definitely does not recognize me.

"Nice to meet you," I rushed out quickly before focusing back on the teacher. I started to listen to the lecture...only I couldn't. My mind was wandering, unable to focus from the person next to me. I peeked at the side to watch France use my pencil to take notes which he deemed important. Occasionally he would stifle a yawn before running his fingers through his black hair with a sigh before continuing to write.

I ended up focusing on that for most of the class. I couldn't focus on the words coming out of Mr. V's mouth and on the fact that the boy who tried to rob me was sitting next to me, and I was not sure how to confront it. I only started to tune into class near the end when he talked about what was going to happen next.

"Throughout the year, we are going to be doing a series of group essays and classical novels that will be assigned to you on the website. I will break you guys will break up into your writing pairs now before I dismiss you guys," the teacher continued.

"I don't want to do group projects," a girl complained to him.

"Yeah. This is AP Literature," another guy groaned with mild disgust.

The teacher shrugged.

"It's better to discuss thoughts and ideas and review each other's works instead of writing alone and bothering me for help. That will help you be better prepared for the test in May. Anyways, I am going to break you two off into groups," he said. He walked to the side closest to me, and started to breaking out into two.

"You two will be a group," he started to Asami and Annabel. He started to break off the people around me into groups before he looked at me.

"You," he said pointing to me. "And you."

His finger pointed at the person next to me. I did not have to look to realize he meant the other France.

Oh no. This can't be happening...

"Us?" I squeaked out loud. I turned to look at France, who nodded before his eyes fell on me. My head snapped back in the direction of the teacher, who looked between us.

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" he asked, arms crossed.

I turned to look at France. He gave me a quizzical look, his eyes slightly widen and his eye brows are shot up.

"Well-" I began before I was cut off.

"Not my problem. You guys are working together. End of story." 

Author's Note: And we we have begun! I know both the Frances working on a project together against their will is cliche but I couldn't help it!

What do you think of their interactions?

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