Chapter Three

       “Ms. Paterson,” the principal started.

       “Dave,” I said, nodding to the man in front of me.

       I wasn’t in the principal’s office for doing anything bad, or anything good for that matter; rather to show a new student around the school. Being one of the most down to earth kids in our grade, admissions had me do this a lot. Most of the time the kids who I showed around the school had nothing in common with me.

       The principal’s office is a place very familiar to me. I’ve been here numerous times, and feel comfortable. Our principal, Mr. Gray, is one of the least intimidating people I have ever met. I started calling him by his first name in my freshman year after I had gotten on some special, national, smart kids list. I get away with calling him ‘Dave’, because he likes me.

       “Today a young man is going to be shadowing you. It’s his first day; don’t be too hard on him. He’s an incredibly bright student, and I think you’ll get along fine,” he said, fidgeting with the pens on his desk.

       “Why’s he transferring?” I asked.

       “Apparently he was at public, and didn’t really fit in too well. Also, he has a lot of friends here.”

       “Uh huh,” I said, understanding this kid was most likely going to be a total jerk. There was a knock on the glass door, and Dave motioned for the visitor to come in.

       “Umm… hi,” the guy said, standing behind me. I didn’t bother turning around, my impression on the kid already having been formulated in my mind.

       “Mr. Ross, please take a seat,” Dave said, gesturing to the chair beside me. Ross. I knew that name. I slowly turned my head to the boy sitting next to me, and my eyes widened.

       “Nick Ross!” I said in astonishment.

       “Elle Paterson,” he smiled.

       “You two know each other?” Dave asked, confused.

       “You could say that...” I said, as my eyes examined Nick. Wow. Over the past five years he had changed. A lot. I remembered a tall boy who was cocky, smart, and easy on the eyes, but didn’t try hard in school. Sitting before me was the same boy, only he was even taller, and better looking. His brown hair was shorter than I remembered, but his tanned skin hadn’t changed a bit. Despite his slight variations in appearance, he still resembled that of the preppy boy I once knew.

       “So it should be easy when I tell you that you’re in all of Elle’s classes!” Dave said, happily grinning at both of us.

       “He’s what?!” I gaped, as Nick smiled for the pure purpose of irritating me.

       “Is this a problem?” Dave questioned, raising a brow.

       “No, not at all!” Nick said, getting me even more agitated.

       “Well, Nick, lucky for you one of your best friends is also in all of my- excuse me, our classes,” I innocently said.

       “Who?” he asked suspiciously.

       “I think I’ll let you be surprised,” I smirked.

       “So, are you two all set?” Dave asked.

       “We’re great!” Nick said, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

       “I can handle him,” I said, getting up and taking my backpack.

       Once we left the office, I went straight to the library with Nick right on my heals. I had a study hall; the perfect opportunity to nail Nick for ditching us, and find out why he was here.

       During the duration of time that we were walking in the maze of countless hallways, I didn’t say a word to him. I couldn’t bring myself to. When we finally got to the library, I sat down at a table, and took my laptop out. Nick sat next to me, and for the first few minutes we were silent.

       “Why?” I asked suddenly.

       “Why what?” he inquired, even though he knew perfectly well what I was asking.

       “Why’d you leave?” I said blankly.

       “Do I really have to-”

       “Yes,” I cut him off.

       “I thought I was done with private school. I didn’t like the people, the teachers, or the school. I left because I wanted to. I felt like there was too much pressure being put on me,” he said apologetically, explaining his actions.

       “We had two more years left, you could’ve lasted. You had been with us since kindergarten. Why couldn’t you have just waited for high school?” I demanded.

       “I couldn’t wait that long. Also, I needed to get away from Gina, and all these people, something I’m sure you dream of everyday,” he said. He was right, like always. I wanted to get away from Gina... or stab her with a sharp fork; whichever worked.

       “You know she’s here, right?” I said.

       “No she isn’t!” he said, exasperated.

       “But she is,” I grinned. He gave out a long groan, and then tapped his fingers on his phone, texting someone.

       “What about you Elle, why?” he asked.

       “I wasn’t done with you. Why’d you come here?” I was determined to get a real answer.

       “In public school the kids were all pricks. Also, my parents weren’t too happy about the curriculum, and me not getting challenged enough there. Oh, and they may or may not have found some... eh... non medical narcotics hidden in a box under my bed...” he gulped.

       “Ah, so it was their decision this time,” I said, satisfied, not mentioning anything about his implication of drugs.

       “Answer my question.”

       “Elaborate on it, and I may just respond to it.”

       “Why do you put up with these people? I know you can’t stand them. In middle school, you wanted to rip their guts out. Why didn’t you leave?” he questioned, catching me slightly off guard.

       “The way I look at it is that I only have two more years with these people, and then Harvard is right around the corner,” I said. Harvard is my future college. Though I haven’t “officially” been accepted, there’s no doubt in my mind that I won’t get in.

       “Fair enough, but, in the meantime, how do you stand them? That was one of the many reasons I was apprehensive about coming back to private school,” he said, typing something into his Blackberry.

       “I don’t know, I guess when you stay around long enough, you learn to deal,” I sighed.

       “Whatever,” he said, putting aside his deep self, and plastering on that distant mask he wore to hide his true emotions.

       Then, I heard it. Payback. Nick going to be pissed.

       “Nick? Nick Ross!” John yelled across the library, getting shushed by the librarian. He stumbled over to our table, and took the seat beside me.

       “Kent,” Nick said, trying his hardest to be polite.

       When Nick was with us, at our old school, John and he weren’t exactly the best of friends. John annoyed the hell out of Nick and Nick always outdid John. There was a bit of a rivalry between the two, and neither one was overly fond of the other.

       “What are you doing here?” John asked curiously.

       “What are you talking about John, I’ve been going here since freshman year!” Nick joked.  

       “Right,” John rolled his eyes.

       The rest of the day pretty much continued as expected. I was still pissed at Nick, and Nick was still equally as pissed at John. Nick went along with John and I to all our normal classes, and attracted girls’ attention as per usual.

       During lunch, we ate with Phillip, who apparently all ready knew about Nick coming, but wanted to keep it a “surprise”, and not tell us. Well played Phillip, well played. 

       “Who’s the new kid?” Gina asked, coming up to our table, and standing behind Nick, so his face wasn’t visible to her.

       “Gina, I’m hurt you would forget such a hot guy's name!” Nick said in the cocky manner that he so often possessed, turning around. The voice registered in her head, and she slapped his cheek.

       “I’ve missed you too, Gina,” Nick said, rubbing the side of his face.

       “I hate you!” she said, trailing off.

       “I hate you too,” Nick mumbled, not audible for her to hear.

       “Nick Ross?” Kara said, sitting down next to me.

       “Kara,” Nick said.

       “Why are you here?” she questioned, looking at him in disgust.

       “I transferred,” he informed her.

       “Here?”

       “No, to WDA. Yes here,” he said, referring to our rival school.

       “Oh, you’re in all of Elle’s classes, aren’t you?” she said in delight of my misfortune.

       “Yes, I am.”

       “Lucky you!” she elbowed me in the ribcage.

       “Anderson, why didn’t you tell us?” John asked, still not understanding the logic behind Phillip’s decision to keep Nick’s coming back from us.

       “Because I didn’t want you guys to be even more mad at Nick before he came,” Phillip said. Nick smirked, fully knowing that we all still kept various forms of resentment towards him.

       Nick left our perfect little private school after 6th grade. We were in middle school at the time, and had all been together since kindergarten. We had two more years of that school to endure before high school, but Nick couldn’t last. He shouldn’t have left us. After he left, he didn’t talk to anyone from our grade except for Phillip. It’s hard to forgive someone who chose to ignore you for no good reason at all.

       The remainder of the day went smoothly, with the occasional encounter of people from Nick’s past. People weren’t too happy to see him at first, but for some reason wanted to accept him. Nick has this influence about him that draws people in... kind of like a magnet in a way.

       At the end of the day, I was getting into my car, about to drive off when I was stopped by a laugh that I hadn’t heard in years. It was Nick.

       “You always did say that you were going to get a Smart Car,” he laughed at my impractical car choice.

       “I always wanted one,” I justified, not the slightest bit ashamed of my cute vehicle.

       “How’d you convince your parents?”

       “Getting straight A pluses, for the past three years is something. Convincing my parents to get me a car because of my grades is nothing.” He continued to laugh, smiling at me.

       “Oh, I ran into Rosie,” he said, once he had sobered up.

       “What was her reaction to seeing you?”

       “She laughed in my face, and then suggested that we should go out.”

       “Did Phillip tell you about Gina?” I inquired lightly, unsure if he had been caught up on everything going on yet.

       “You mean how she’s been fixated on destroying his life? Yeah, he may have mentioned it,” he shrugged.

       “Glad you’re in the loop,” I said.

       “You’ve changed, Elle,” he said, switching topics.

       “As have you. You’re taller,” I said, avoiding the upcoming conversation that was sure to occur.

       “Elle, you know what I mean. Five years ago you would have never even talked to a boy, let alone sit next to one. What happened?”

       “I grew up.” 

       “Yes, but why?”

       “Because I finally figured out that being friends with guys involved so much less drama, than girls.” It was something I learned towards the beginning of freshman year. With boys, if they have an argument, they resolve it and it’s done with; while with girls there’s always the aspect of revenge that I’ve never truly understood. Why dwell on the past when you could simply go on with you’re life? Being friends with boys is much easier than having to deal with all the drama and crap that comes along with girls.

       “That’s true, I guess,” he said.

       “Yeah, well I have to go, and hopefully tomorrow I’ll wake up from this nightmare, and you won’t be here!” I said, closing my car door, and driving off.