I wake up to the sound of my phone chiming rapidly. I rub my eyes and see multiple messages from Sabrina. I open up my phone and try to read them.

The Teenage Bitch:
-I'm freaking out.

-You guys better come to my meet tonight.

-I will kill you guys if you are not there.

I quickly text her back and reassure her that we are all coming to her meet and she has nothing to worry about.

Sabrina likes to portray herself as someone who is super tough and doesn't take shit from anyone. This is true, but she also has a soft spot and gets crazy insecure. It provides a little comfort to all of us knowing that she isn't some all powerful person who isn't bothered by anything.

I quickly get up out of bed and head downstairs to the kitchen. I'm surprised to see that Greyson is already up and eating a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning. Why are you already up?" I ask.

"I just wanted some peaceful time to myself before we went to school," he replies nonchalantly.

I just give him a questioning look and get on with making my breakfast. Or as much "making" of cereal you can do.

Me and Greyson just sit in silence, eating our cereal. I guess it is kind of nice having some quiet time.

I finish up my cereal and then head back up to my room to get ready for the day. I check my phone to make sure that there are no new wardrobe changes that I need to be aware of and I am thankfully greeted with no new notifications.

I quickly get dressed in a normal outfit of jeans and a tshirt. I quickly brush out my hair and pull it back so that it's not in my face.

I grab my backpack and head back downstairs to the car. As I'm walking down Greyson soon follows me, much less disheveled than he was yesterday.

We hop in my car and are on our way to school, less stressed because I don't have to pick up Allie.

"I thought mom said that she would see us in the morning?" I ask Greyson.

"I think she had to get to work early or something. I think dad needed her help with something, that's usually what it is," He replies thoughtfully.

My parents are personal trainers. They like to help people get in the best shape they can be, at least that's their claim. They actually do have a pretty successful business but it can get kind of stressful when it's only the two of them.

Greyson and I try to help out the best that we can but we aren't trained in the profession so it's kind of hard to provide any real help.

However, it is nice that my parents can kind of make their own hours so if they ever do feel like we have been neglected for too long we can always expect some kind of activity in the near future.

We soon arrive to the parking lot, in much less of a rush and me and Greyson head our separate ways.

Because I am so early I head to my groups spot which is right by the library's doors. When I get there I see Jasper already trying to calm Sabrina down.

"Listen, I've seen you swim. You can kick my butt in the 200 free. You have nothing to worry about," Jasper assures her.

"I agree with Jasper. You are going to do great and you will have a whole supports system. You just need to go out there and do your best," I tell her.

"Thanks guys. I don't know what I would do without you," Sabrina smiles.

The bell rings and the three of us head to our different classes.

Now that I am out of whatever weird mood I was in yesterday, I am much more open to paying attention in class.

In Journalism we are working on our monthly newspaper that our school makes. We don't have enough people or enough interesting events for us to have a daily newspaper.

I get put in charge of editing peoples articles, which isn't my favorite job but it does help me become a better writer.

Soon enough I'm on my way to my next classes. My next three classes are pretty boring and I don't really pay that much attention.

Finally it's lunch time and I head to my groups table. When I get there only Tony is at the table and he is sitting there doodling in a notebook.

"Hey Tony. Where is everyone else?" I ask.

He quickly looks up from his paper, startled.

"Uh I think Jasper and Allie went to get lunch. I'm not really sure where Kayla and Sabrina are," he says and then goes back to his paper.

I take a peak at what he's drawing and am amazed to see what is on the paper. He has somehow managed to perfectly draw a pair of hands holding each other. I don't know that much about drawing, but I do know that hands are usually a struggle for people.

"God Tony. When are you going to tell your dad about your art?" I ask.

"We've talked about this Nova. As long as I'm at that house, I'm not going to be an artist," he responds sadly.

Tony didn't discover his talent with art until he got to high school, but when he did, it's like he finally found himself. However when he told his dad what he wanted to do with his life, things didn't really go how he wanted. Tony's dad is a traditionalist and believes that in order for him to be successful he needs to go to business school and work up the business ladder.

Pulling me out of thought, Sabrina and Kayla come walking over and sit down rather loudly.

"Why do teachers insist on testing us on the most ridiculous things? When will I ever need to know the quadratic formula in my future?" Kayla rants.

Jasper and Allie soon sit down and join in on the conversation. We discuss all of the stupid things that we have to learn in high school and end our rant with the realization that there is nothing we can do about it.

The bell rings dismissing us to our next classes. Usually I am very eager to get to my next class but now that I know that Connor Sullivan is going to be there I am much less apt to going.

When I get to the classroom Connor is already sitting in his desk that is unfortunately still next to mine. I sit down and grab my notebook out of my backpack. I put my earbuds in with the hope that the music will tune out the rest of the world.

I get to work on my poem, trying to find the perfect word that accurately describes the emotions I am trying to show, which is a lot harder than I thought.

After about fifteen minutes in class I feel a tap on my shoulder. I glance over and see that Connor is turned, facing me. I just ignore him and go back to my poem. After another five minutes he tries to get my attention, this time jabbing me in the arm.

I take out both of my earbuds and whip my body toward him angrily, "What do you want?"

He is taken aback and quietly says, " I was wondering what you were working on."

"I'm writing a poem," I sigh, "Is that all you wanted?"

"Yes-well no. I don't know what to write. Every time I come in here you are always working so hard on something. I was wondering if you could give me any ideas or advice."

"The only advice I could give you is to write from your heart. Don't try to write what you think other people need to hear but what you want people to know," I advise.

"Thanks. Could I read what you have written?" He asks leaning over to my desk.

I immediately close my notebook and slide it to the corner of my desk.

"Absolutely not," I reply sharply.

He looks like he wants to ask more, but thinks better of it and goes back to his notebook.

The rest of class goes pretty smoothly after that and soon enough the bell rings.

Connor gets up from his desk and starts to walk out of class. Then against my better judgement, I call out his name.

He turns and looks at me, "Yes Nova?"

I sigh and walk toward him, "Did you start writing anything?"

He smiles and says, "Yes I did, thanks to you."

"Good. I'll see you in Calc?"

"Actually I've got a guidance counselor meeting that hour. I'll see you in History though, we have a project to work on."

With that, he turns and walks away. I start walking to my next class thinking about my short conversation with Connor.

What was I thinking?

***

By the time I get to history I am not too eager to do any work. Calc was way harder than I had anticipated and neither Sabrina nor I knew what we were doing.

I go and sit down at my desk and see that on the board it says to get started on your projects right away.

I sigh and look around the room and eventually lock eyes with Connor. He gives a short nod and I grab my things and move over to sit next to him.

"Did I miss much in Calc?" He asks.

"You probably did but I wouldn't really be able to tell you what it was. Let's just say that I am not going to be doing well in that class," I say.

He gives a short laugh and grabs a laptop out of his backpack.

"Do you have any ideas yet on what we could talk about in our project?" I ask.

"Not really. It's kind of hard to find something super important that affects my life a lot," he responds.

I nod my head and grab a notebook from my backpack. I open it up to where we were supposed to start thinking of ideas last class, but we didn't get anything.

This project is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

Connor and I spend the rest of class bouncing ideas off of each other and by the end of class we have a good idea on the direction we want to take.

I tried to be tolerable with Connor today and I did have a little success. The bell eventually rings and school is now dismissed.

"Hey I was wondering if you wanted to maybe work on our project some more after school today?" Connor asks.

I look over by the door and see Kayla and Tony waiting for me patiently, "Sorry I can't tonight my friend Sabrina has a swim meet. Maybe another time?"

"Sure," He starts to walk towards the door and then turns back towards me, "A swim meet?"

"Yeah it starts at six. I would invite you to come but I'm not sure if you're quite ready to support our school," I say a little too harshly.

"I think you don't have much faith in me."

"You're right, I don't."

***

I quickly get home and rush to my room to try to find all of the neon clothing that I have. Usually I have more time but all of us, excluding Sabrina, are getting together at Kayla's house before the meet to make some signs for her.

Knowing that it will be hot in the pool, I change out of the top that I had on and put on a neon pink tank top on. I grab a sweatshirt for the time being, throw my hair up in a ponytail, and head to Kayla's house.

When I get there Kayla and Jasper are already there and decked out in way more neon than me.

Jasper is covered head to toe in neon yellow and Kayla is covered in lime green.

The two of them already have white poster board and are starting to work on some catchy things to write.

Tony and Allie arrive shortly after I do and all of us get to work on the posters.  We get them all done by five and quickly eat some food before we head to the meet.

We get to the school a little early to find good seats in the bleachers. It's not really that hard because swim is not really one of our schools most popular sports.

The five of us all sit down and make sure to keep our eyes peeled for Sabrina.

"What are the events that she's swimming tonight?" Allie asks.

"Her usuals, the 200 free, 100 back, and the 200 medley relay," Jasper answers.

We all look around the pool, waiting for Sabrina to make her appearance. While I'm looking around the pool, my eyes catch on a blonde headed figure.

I am surprised to see that my gaze is met by the eyes of Connor Sullivan. He waves at me and starts to walk towards my group.

As I watch him walk over, my friends suddenly leap out of their seats and start cheering like crazy. I quickly stand up and try to see what they're looking at.

My eyes land on Sabrina who is walking very seriously to where the rest of her team is. Right before she has to compete is definitely not a time to mess with her but we have to show our love and support.

When the five of us finally calm down from seeing our friend, we all sit down and turn our attention towards the meet.

I look down towards the bottom of the bleachers and see Connor still making his way towards us. Everyone near us, including my friends, now have our attention on the apparent imposter that has come to this meet.

He finally makes his way up the stairs and sits right next to me. All of my friends can't seem to turn their attention away from the two of us.

I look over at him and am once again surprised to see that he is watching the meet, seemingly very interested.

"You showed up," I say shocked.

"I had to prove myself," he replies, still watching the meet.

"Well to do that you better cheer for the right team, especially for my friend."

"Sabrina, right? She's in our Calc class, I don't think she likes me very much," he says now looking towards me.

"She doesn't really like a lot of people, but she does like support," I say turning my attention to the meet.

"That must be what all of the posters are for? And I also assume it's the same with the neon," he says looking at our group.

"That's Sabrina for you, she doesn't seem like she does, but she loves a little attention once in a while," I shrug.

Everyone has seemingly lost interest in Connor or at least they are more concerned about Sabrina. Like I should be, considering she's going up next.

We all wait in silence as the swimmers stand on their blocks, waiting for the whistle. When it blows, they all dive off in perfect blocks and swim their hearts out.

Sabrina is currently in the lead for her heat but the 200 is a longer race so anything could change.

As she gets to the last length of her race, the girl in the lane next to her is starting to catch up to her. Everyone in the crowd is now up on their feet, cheering for who they want to win.

Pulling just a little bit ahead, Sabrina touches the wall first and wins her heat and the event.

All of us start cheering and yelling super loud in celebration for her win. I hug Allie who is sitting next to me and I turn towards Connor.

I am happy and surprised to see that he too is on his feet and just as excited as we are.

He turns towards me and stops cheering for a second. I just give him a small smile and turn my focus back towards my friends who are now running down the bleachers to congratulate Sabrina.

I look back at Connor and give a short wave and then join my friends in the celebration.

***

Thank you so much for reading! This was one of my favorite chapters to write so far.

Hope you guys enjoyed it as well and make sure to tell me what you think about Nova and Connor. What's going to happen next?

Love you all! ❤️