[ 33 ] 2013

Once Calum parked his car in the school parking lot, the three went around to the front of the school to walk in. Harley had suggested they enter through the hole in the fence, which Calum often used when he left school grounds during lunch. But Calum said that was too suspicious and that no one would notice if they went past the front door.

The only exit at St. Genevieve's went right past the adminitstration offices. Though it was a small school, the three blended into a group of third year students and got by without trouble. As they waited for the bell to ring, Harley said in a whisper, "Now the only problem will be getting her into home class. My teacher is very strict and he'll never let her stay there with me."

Calum shrugged. "Easy. Why don't the two of you come with me? My home class teacher lets us do whetever we want."

Harley knew about Calum and his home class. They were directly on the other side of the wall from Harley's class and she could hear them everyday talking and laughing, sometimes shouting, and their teacher did nothing about it. They were even once pounding on the wall they shared with Harley's class and her teacher, being as strict as he was, personally went to that classroom to scold them for being so troublesome. They still continued doing as they pleased, but they never banged their fists on the wall again. That home class was known to be the most undisciplined of the five fourth year home classes. That was because most of the populars were put into that group.

When the first bell announced the classes would be starting for the day, they headed for the maths hall, where Calum's home class was located. Harley's class was in the next hall; the history hall, where all the classrooms were used for history classes.

Their teacher was sat at her desk, flipping through a magazine. She was a young asian woman who didn't care to discilpine her home class because it was only a half hour period and she was a math teacher anyway. Letting her students do as they pleased gave her time to do whatever she wanted for a half hour. But when it came to her math students, she wasn't as permissive.

Calum led the girls to the back, where he normally sat. Niall and Andrea normally sat with him, but had informed him they had a lot to do settling into their new home. On the far edge of the classroom was Luke with his popular friends. They were talking to him, but he was too busy on his phone with a goofy smile on his face. No doubt he was talking to Hazel, who was in a different home class.

The blonde haired boy set his cellphone down on the table for a moment and furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity. There was Calum, who was in his home class. But with him were Harley and a new girl he had never seen before. As was his cutsom, he liked to date every new girl that came into their fourth year class. They didn't get many new students at St. Genevieve's, but when they did, Luke always made sure he was the first to get them. He was dating Hazel, who was the new girl, before that he had tried to date Harley, then he had previously dated Alessandra Colton, who later mysteriously moved away, and lastly Kylie who had joined their first year class near the halfway point of the school year.

Leaving his friends to their own conversations, he went over to the four person table where Calum was sitting with the two girls and sat down on the last empty chair, which was next to Phoenix.

"I didn't know we had a new student." Luke said smoothly. Phoenix turned at the sound of his words and her jaw almost dropped at how handsome he was. Back at her high school in Perth, she was of average social standing in the student world, but no popular boys like Luke ever talked to her.

Harley rolled her eyes, she knew what was coming. Calum knew it too, and he wasn't going to keep quiet. "Piss off, Barbie Boy." He said to Luke.

Phoenix shook her head quickly. "I don't mind if he sits with me."

Luke grinned victoriously. 

"Of course you don't." Harley muttered under her breath.

"So, do you have a name, or can I call you beautiful?" Luke grinned at Phoenix.

Both Calum and Harley stifled a laugh at his pitiful attempts at flirting, but not Phoebe. She was thrilled that a boy like Luke was flirting with her. It took all her will power not to freak out. To Phoebe, she knew he didn't even need to try to flirt. He merely needed to say hello and she would be all ears for him.

"My name's Phoebe, but eveyone just calls me Phoenix." She said, offering her hand for him to shake.

He took his hand in hers and gave it a shake. "I'm Luke Hemmings."

"That's a nice name." Phoenix commented.

"Why do they call you Phoenix?" Luke wondered.

"Its my first and last name combined; Phoebe Nixon." She explained with a shrug. 

Harley got up from her seat. There were at least another twenty minutes left of home class, and she didn't want to spend them listening to Luke flirt with Phoenix. "We'll leave you two alone." She said in the most polite voice she could manage. "Come on, Calum. Let's go sit somewhere else."

He nodded and followed behind her. They left the class room, the teacher said nothing to them, and went up a couple of flights of stairs, to the fourth floor where the private music classrooms and study rooms were. They were meant for the students to reserve afterschool or during lunch hour to do homework or other things, but the students hardly used them. All had either club activities or sports after school, and went home directly after. And no one went during lunch hour either because most students liked socializing with their friends.

Harley thought the private study rooms would be perfect when she didn't have the patience to deal with anyone. Most of the classrooms were locked, a student had to reserve a classroom at the administration office to get the key, and as they walked down the hall they stopped at something that looked like a trophy case. There were old trophies from very early in the previous century, when St. Genevieve's was an all-girls school. There were pictures of the graduating classes, where there were girls with smiling faces and their teachers were nuns.

While Calum continued checking each door to see if it was open, there was one photograph that caught Harley's eye. 

First Co-Ed Graduating Class. St. Genevieve's Academy, Class of 1960-61.

"Calum, look." Harley called.

And he stopped what he was doing and returned to her. Her finger pointed at the glass of the old trophy case. "A picture of a graduating class." He said in a bored tone. "Who the hell cares? We all get one taken before we graduate. Its no big deal."

"Look at the people in the picture." She told him. About a hundred students were in the picture, taken in what looked like the school gym. In it were many faces she didn't recognize, but then she saw a few familiar faces. There was a young man with thick black rimmed glasses that faintly reminded her of Luke, there was another young man which looked a lot like Calum, next to him was Claire, and to her other side was Ashton.

"First co-ed graduating class." He read off the picture. "I'm surprised they still have this junk."

"It must have been an important accomplishment to become co-ed." Harley commented in awe. Ashton wearing an old version of her current school uniform was something strange. She was already so used to seeing him in his jeans and leather jacket. He looked like a proper schoolboy.

They continued testing the doors until they found one at the end of the hall that was open. By then, there were only about five minutes of ome class left, but Harley decided she would return to the fourth floor. She thought that maybe she could find out more about Ashton from the time when he was alive and studying at St. Genevieve's.

-

as it just so happens, i suddenly became inspired with this story again. so i wrote another chapter. or maybe its just me and procrastinating ass self. im supposed to be doing some research, but instead im here. 

anyway, i posted a photo of phoenix above so you can see what she looks like. well, that's what she looks like to me. allisson lozz is such a pretty actress. but you can imagine her however you like. i hope you all like the update, you all know it means the world to me when you vote and comment and stuff. i know i dont always reply to comments, but i read them and they make me happy.

so question of the day: (my american friends) do y'all have plans for the independence holiday weekend? i don't. just gonna chill at home, watch the crazy ass neighbors blow some fireworks, and maybe write some fanfics.

and to the rest of you: when is the independence day of your country? unless of you're you're from like spain or england or something like that and you dont have an independence day bc honestly, the others were mostly getting independence from you. lol. i live in usa and we celebrate our freedom (everyday) on fourth of july in which we declared we no longer wanted to be a part of the english kingdom. even though americans are kinda known for being the land of the free. and my parents' country: mexico celebrates on september 16th in which they began a long and tiresome war against the spanish for their freedom.

have a great day!

-clary xx