Shout out to KamyIsabel for commenting! I finally updated woo!

***

"Alright, class. You have ten minutes until we start our next topic, so whenever you're ready please submit your homework." The teacher's voice fills the room.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Hunter visibly gulp, typing into the document I sent him earlier in the lesson. Good, he's changing it.

I lean to the side, my chair balancing on its two left legs, to read over his shoulder. "Not bad, pretty boy. You write good."

A soft pink stains his ears as he glares at me. "Pretty boy? Write good? What is wrong with you?"

I shrug as I right my chair. "Nobody knows."

He snorts. "Sounds about right."

"Oi, let's not forget who's the saint here."

"Saint, huh?"

"Yes. So do your work." I gesture towards his laptop and shoot a quick glare at him, which shuts him up pretty quickly. A roll of his eyes and a badly concealed nervous glance in my direction and he goes back to typing.

I smirk, clicking onto our school program to submit my completed homework, then switch over to a word document to work on an assignment I received the other day.

A few minutes later a relieved sigh catches my attention and I watch from the corner of my eye as Hunter submits his - now existing - homework.

I smile to myself as his expression relaxes and he slumps in his seat. A few minutes later, the teacher calls out for all work to be submitted and we start our next topic.

"Alright, quiet down, kids. We gotta get a start on poetry."

A soft groan ripples through the class, but I sit up straighter in my seat, ears perked.

The rest of the lesson passes quickly as I lose myself in the rhythmic lull of rhyming words and flowing sentences.

Hunter spends much of the hour with his head planted firmly on his table, shoulders heaving with each exaggerated breath.

At one point during the lesson, when pretending to be choking himself out one boredom, I reached out and swiftly knocked the leg of his chair with my left foot. After nearly flipping backwards into the wall, he stopped all attempts at fake dying.

I chuckle at the memory. The look of horror on his face when he thought he'd fall backwards was priceless. And familiar.

So very, very familiar... God, chairs are scary.

I'm jolted out of the thought by the bell screaming at us that it's time for lunch. The class floods out the doors in record time and I find myself wondering how everyone always packs up and leaves so quickly.

Must be magic.

I leave the room behind Hunter and Trent, but pause in the doorway when Mr Ephimus calls my name.

"Julie?"

I walk to stand in front of his desk at the front of the classroom. "Hi, Mr E. Anything wrong?"

"No, no. I just saw how involved you were with the poetry today. You've been almost always that attentive in English so far, and I just wanted to say good job."

"Oh, well, I like English."

He chuckled. "I could tell. It's good."

"Thanks." I look towards the door.

"I won't keep you much longer. But we have a poet coming in next week for all the English classes, and I'm asking him to to perhaps meet up with a few students during lunch. You'll see him during the lesson, but I thought perhaps you'd like to stick around? Ask some questions?"

After a brief pause, I nod. "That sounds interesting. I'll be there."

"That's wonderful. You've definitely become more involved in English this year, which is wonderful. We need more students that actually care about their language."

I smile with genuine appreciation. I've been trying in English more than ever, and it's nice to have that noticed. "Thanks, Mr E. Have a good lunch."

"You too."

I head into the cafeteria and despite being only a few minutes late, it's packed.

"Bloody sardines, they are." I mutter under my breath, weaving my way to the table where Hunter and Trent sit with their unimportant friends. Like, no offense to them or anything.

On my way over, my arm is grabbed from behind and I let out an embarrassingly high pitched squeal at the contact. I spin to face Brenda.

"Holy moly, B. You scared the crap outta me!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, if you don't come by our table soon, the girls are gonna beat the crap outta me with their desperation."

"They can't be that bad, Bren."

"You wanna bet? Come see for yourself."

With a sigh, I follow behind my friend back to our usual table. I'm barely a step away when I'm literally pounced on by a - reasonably small, yet vicious - horde of excited females.

Maybe fun if you're a guy, but not when you're a girl who bruises easily.

"JULIE!"

"Oh-em-geeee, Julie, I'm so happy to see you!"

"It's been for-ev-AH!"

I let out a strained chuckle. "Hey, girls. What's new?" They reluctantly peel themselves from me, babbling away, and I sit down, noting the only girl who didn't attack me - aside from Brenda - was Whitney, who sits sipping on the straw to her strawberry milk. She shoots me a smile, which I return, then goes back to daydreaming.

Lisa, Karrin, and Nakarli are nearly buzzing in their seats, and I attempt to smile, though it probably looks more like a pained grimace.

I'm saved, however, when a guy from Hunter's table saunters over to lean down and peck Whitney's cheek.

“Hey, darl.”

A small, collective gasp runs through our table.

"Whitneeey." I elongate her name while raising my eyebrow, and she ducks her head. "You work fast."

"Guyyysss." She pouts. "It's not a big deal."

The boy - her boy - lets out an exaggerated gasp and slaps a hand to his chest. "Not... A big... Deal?" Slowly, he allows his knees to give way beneath him, until he's kneeling on the floor, head against the edge of the table.

Whitney rolls her eyes. "Get up, Charlie."

A dramatic cry is all that is heard from the slumped boy.  Whitney sticks her leg from under the table and kicks him gently.

"If you don't get up and go back to your friends right now, I swear to all that is holy that this relationship is over."

And with that, the sad boy becomes hasty boy, and after another quick peck on Whitney's cheek, is gone. A second later he pops back. "Lisa, Karrin. Damen said he wants to see you," he points at Lisa, "by the stairwell. Ray said he wants to see you," he points at Karrin, "by his locker." He starts walking backwards, keeping a wary eye on his girlfriend. "Make haste." He heads off.

Lisa and Karrin are up and on their way with only a quick goodbye, overly excited at the idea of being called by their boyfriends.

I roll my eyes at all the lovebirds around me as I sit next to Whitney, Brenda sitting on my other side. Girls and guys are so pathetic. But, like, in a cute way.

I'm just about to take a bite of my sandwich when a pair of hands on my shoulders send my body into freak mode and I nearly jump to the ceiling. I turn to glare angrily at Charlie. Whitney, sitting on my right, also turns to glare at him, and he holds his hand up in surrender.

"I leave, promise." Charlie speaks slowly, like talking to a wild animal, and Whitney raises her eyebrow. Charlie sighs, ignoring her, and turns to me. "You're wanted in the hallway. Don't know which one. Wander around till you find him."

"What? Because that's not vague." I mutter to myself, Charlie already gone to hide from Whitney. I stare longingly at my lunch before I stand and shove it in front of Brenda. "Eat. I don't wanna waste it. I'm gonna go find whoever."

"Whoever, huh? I think we both know who it is."

I turn to my left to look at Brenda. "One can only hope." I sigh, holding a dramatic hand to my chest. "Because I really care."

Brenda just smiled secretively.

"What?"

She shakes her head, smile still irking me.

Ooh, irking. I'm getting good at this.

I look back at Brenda's currently irritating face and roll my eyes. "Whatever. Bye."

As I reluctantly stalk out the cafeteria to find 'whoever' - though, let's be real, there's a limited number of people he could really be - I'm accompanied by the sound of Brenda and Whitney giggling at my retreating back.

Ugh. Whatever.

***

Oops, long A/N *laughs awkwardly*

Thanks to everyone who's ever commented, voted, or added my story to their reading list! It honestly makes me so happy.

If you ever comment on any of my books, add them to your reading list, or vote, I will give you a shout out. I keep track, I swear! For those who already have done any of the above, I will get to it eventually, promise!

- AliKat