The surprise probably came from the fact that this face was the last she expected to see entering a class that she was enrolled in. Mostly because she was a grade ahead, and while she had been in classes with older students, she never really got used to actually being the older student. From the look on his face, it was safe to say that he was just as surprised as she was. Their eyes were momentarily locked, and when she tried to speak, she realized her lips had surrendered to the same curse. He was so much…different than last year. He was definitely taller, he had several inches over her, and he was more sculpted. She was sure that he had been hanging out with the varsity soccer players, being his brother was on the team, which probably meant that he had been lifting with them over the summer as well. He had the glow of summer still on his freckled cheeks, and his smile, it was full of a happiness she had never remembered seeing. While she was almost certain her face reflected a sudden panic, his seemed to be perfectly poised, and very happy to see her. I guess this morning was a fluke after all, she thought.
"Oh my god…you've got to be kidding me, Lo!"
Thank god he could say something. Still unable to muster up any form of comprehendible speech, the best Lo could do was nod and smile. Get me in trouble countless times with Liv, and fail when I need you the most, thanks chatty. She was almost concerned with the lack of sounds coming from her mouth, when it came to friends not even duct tape could provide this much silence. Before she could become to concerned, Lucas opened his arms, and by complete reflex, Lo rose and met him with a friendly hug. Well, he definitely hasn't forgotten who I am, but why the cold shoulder this morning? Lo was in the middle of processing all of the thoughts running through her head when her mouth decided to rejoin the rest of her,
"I've missed you," she spoke.
Seriously? It took you that long…? For three words? You've really outdone yourself, friend.
Lucas took the seat next to her, and began to ask her things like, "how've you been?," and "how was your summer?," and she answered him as the remainder of the class trickled in with just a few more minutes until the final bell rang. Lo liked how easy it was to talk to him. Everything came so easily, and though they hadn't spoken to or seen one another in about three months, it was as if no time had passed at all. Lo found a comfort in that.
Before she had the time to return his questions, the teacher began to speak, and while it was easy to remember what she was talking about, all teachers just went over the syllabus on the first day, Lo wouldn't recall any of what Mrs. Yves had said until she looked over her syllabus that evening. She had too much running through her mind to pay attention. After class, Lo glanced over to see Lucas chatting with his friends, and didn't interrupt to say 'see you tomorrow,' while she watched him walk down the hall. This ought to be an interesting trimester, she said to herself. Yeah, interesting is the word for it.
When she got home, Lo reached into the cupboard and grabbed a small pot and began to fill it with water. She called to Emma who had gone straight to her room upon entering the house, and Emma entered the kitchen, arms loaded with books and folders.
"You have homework already?" Lo asked.
"Yes," Emma replied, "the wonders of being a freshman"
Emma had always been a sarcastic girl, but it always made Lo laugh, she probably learned it from her anyway.
"Ha ha, well since I'm sure you've heard enough fish jokes today, I'll spare you the tuna in your mac."
"gee, thanks."
The two sisters didn't always get along, but usually when it was just the two of them, things went pretty well. After throwing together a mini-meal, Lo and Emma sat, ate, and discussed their first day back until a loud thud distracted them from their conversation. Startled, they ran from the kitchen to the back room to see their sister, Guiliana, lying on the pavement at the bottom of the stairs that lead to their deck. The girls opened the slider only for the volume of her screams to amplify.
"Guiliana!" Emma yelled. "Calm down, what did you do?"
Guiliana couldn't speak fluently through the tears, so the two girls lifted her up and into the house, mostly afraid that one of the neighbors would hear her and report some kind of bloody murder. Once in the house, they both started removing Guiliana's jacket, shoes, and other accessories. Her backpack weighed a ton, and most likely set her off-balance causing the fall. With every gentle touch she screamed louder and louder until the girls couldn't help but hear the fakeness in her cry.
"Guiliana," said Lo, "you cannot be that hurt, you're not even really crying you faker!"
"yess-s-ss-s s-i-am-mm!" she screamed.
Emma and Lo couldn't help but giggle, which only fueled the little girl's cries. It was a vicious cycle; the more Guiliana cried, the more the girls laughed, and it wasn't too long until Guiliana's tears turned to laughs too. Guiliana had always been a little on the dramatic side, well, a lot on the dramatic side, and the girls knew when it was okay, and not okay to laugh. The truth was, while being a drama-queen, Guiliana was not very graceful and she found herself tripping over the flattest of surfaces. After they all dried their laughing tears, Lo brought Guiliana into the kitchen for an after school snack, and went through her folder to see what the teacher has sent home with her after the first day. More often than not, Lo found herself parenting her two sisters, but it wasn't something she had to work at doing, it always came naturally to her. Being the eldest of 6 including her, Lo had well refined mothering instincts.
The girls made sure that they had all their chores, and school work done before their parents came home. When their parents got there they would change into casual clothes, and start making dinner for themselves. Usually they would have the television on, and be talking about work. Well, usually it was her step dad doing the talking, and once in a while her mother would get to chime in. The girls each took their turn in the bathroom, taking showers and brushing their teeth, and they were in bed at 9. The girls avoided their parents about as much as their parents avoided them.
Each day was much like the one before. The only thing Lo looked forward to during the day was her class with Jennifer, and her class with Lucas. Other than that, the rest of her day was pretty much a blur, except for her occasional conversation with Liv, which consisted of Liv blabbing on and on about Jake, and then throwing Lo and quick reminder that if she should so happen to be having any sort of feelings for Lucas it would not be a good idea. Just wait for what's coming to you, she thought. Lo and Liv almost always got along, but for some reason, when it came to Jake, someone Liv was only just starting to get to know, he always seemed to be a little more important to Liv, and whether it was jealousy or not, Lo didn't like it. It was a trait that she had seen before, a man always needing to be the focal point in a girl's life, a god like figure.
When it came to relationships Lo was always two things; observant, and very cautious. Too much Lo had seen what a poor relationship had looked like. Every night at home it was what she saw. It had gotten to the point where Lo questioned whether love was even real anymore. While it was the most crucial data that made her decision to cast off love, her parent's relationship wasn't the only thing that lead her to believe that love was no longer something that held any truth. She saw it on T.V. every day. Divorce courts where two people who claimed to have once been in love were now fighting over things as trivial as a television set, or a refrigerator. Lo couldn't figure out what it was that made something that was supposed to be so pure, and true…a joke. From a young age, Lo had promised herself never to get in to deep. There was no point in believing in something that could only ever break you. She would be content with comfortable and distant. It was safe. She could live her life next to someone, but she would never feel love, only comfort and security.
They had been in school for a few weeks now, and as the time passed, Lucas seemed more and more distant to Lo. It wasn't even as though something was on his mind as it was like he didn't even notice she was next to him half the time. She could utter on a full story of some crazy argument her parents had gotten into the night before only to end with repeating his name several times after he had made it clear that he never heard a word of what she was saying. During the first couple weeks of school Lo and Lucas had started walking to their next classes together since they were both headed in the same direction. But Lucas had seemed to be in so much more of a hurry these days, not even bothering to wait for her most of the time. After a few times of running down the hall to catch him, and making some sort of comment like, "where's the fire, bud?" only for him to respond with half a smile, Lo decided that the only reasonable explanation was that she must have done something to upset him. But what could it be? Things had been fine, until he suddenly showed no interest in anything that had to do with her. That was until Lo started relying on conversation with some little freshman kid that sat across from her, on the opposite side of the room from Lucas.
His name was kohlton. He was a chatty little kid who, of course, crushed on the only senior girl in the class, which just so happened to work to her benefit. It turned out that Kohlton was friends with a group of kids from another school in the area. Mt. Creston High School, located about 25 minutes away from Constance High. And Kohlton had just discovered over the weekend that Lucas was dating one of the girls in his friends group. Of course, that made perfect sense. Lucas had a girlfriend. Why didn't I think of that? As Kohlton continued Lo became more and more offended. Lucas was dating a girl two years younger than him. And after Lo had seen her profile picture, she couldn't figure out what it possibly was that he saw in her. Well, what he saw in her that Lo didn't have times ten. Then and there, Lo decided that it wasn't worth the worry, and for a little while, Lucas was out of her thoughts. A very little while. While she hadn't really talked to him outside of school, Lo and Lucas still had their class together, and still managed to have small talk conversations here and there, but something was off. Lucas still had that bitter tone in his voice when he talked to her, almost like she had done something horrible to him, that he was only going to tolerate, but never forgive.
One afternoon, Lo was walking out of C.A.D. and saw Lucas in the commons with some of the other Varsity Players. Having a couple questions about the assignment they were currently working on (Lucas was always very smart, and could always clearly explain how to come about the right end result to her) Lo approached him. When she walked up his back was to her so she softly tapped him on the shoulder,
"Hey Luke, I just have a quick question on…" She was quickly cut off.
"Lo…you just aren't going to get it are you? Do you not clearly understand that I want nothing to do with you? For god's sake, I think I've made it pretty clear without being a complete ass, that I don't want you. I have a girlfriend. You and I used to be friend, yes, but that was until you started acting like some jealous freak."
She looked at him or through him rather, with a blank stare. She had no idea what to make of what he had just said, and as she glanced around her, by the looks on everyone's faces, neither did they. She felt her face get warm, but he continued on;
"If you don't know what I'm talking about, maybe you should go ask your little spy, Kohlton. I'm sure he can give you all the details. You know? They funny thing is, I liked you Lo. I did. But after all of this, after going behind my back, you mean nothing to me. I don't want to see you every day, but I have to. I don't however, have to talk to you, so if you don't mind…" and with a forceful nudge, Lucas was walking down the hall, and Lo was on the floor. With 200 eyes all on her, she felt a warm drop slide from the corner of her ocean blue eye until she tasted the salt on her lips. When she tried to get up the voices of everyone around started to sound coherent to her, but she fell back towards the ground, unable to feel a thing. Two boys went running down the hall in the same direction as Lucas had gone, at least she thought, and one came over to her and reached out his hand to help her up. As soon as she was on her feet she put one in front of the other as quickly as she could and jogged down the hall, past an oblivious Liv, and out the door.
An interesting trimester…at least it's almost over.