Junior year. 10th grade. High school, however, you want to put it. It's been 6 years since spinning the bottle. 6 agonizing years. Hayden was the first boy I liked, and my first kiss. Was it a planned act? No. Life just happens that way. We get curve balls thrown at us all the time. Now was the first day of a new school year. I stayed in all summer playing games and enjoying my time. I only went out for Hayden's birthday party at the lake house. It was all so surreal. We haven't spoken in 9 weeks. 9 long weeks after he told me he was dating someone. You know that feeling that the person you like will never feel the same way about you? Yeah, welcome to the club. All I ever wanted was him to see me more than just a friend. But it will never happen. The first day back and we already have assignments due. Hayden and his buddies didn't take it so well. I, on the other hand, was prepared and partnered with Hayden. Of course.
"Students remember to bring in your tools from last year." the teacher yelled as we were packing up. Hayden and his friends grabbed me and took me out with them because I was the only girl in their group. Big bonus, we all had the same schedule. Meaning we'd follow each other to the other class.
"Hey, careful. My ponytails gonna fall" I said because when boys play fight it ain't soft.
"Chill Ari, you can put it up again," Dean said. Dean Jackson was one of the nicer out of the 8 boys.
"No, I'm not going to chill Dean. This took hours." I whined.
"Drama queen" Chase whispered loud enough for the group of us to hear. Chase Myres the bold daring one. The group laughed and I punched him in the shoulders. He faked a pained expression.
"Alright, boys chill. Let's not get the lady mad." Hayden said. Of course the problem starter and ender. That was only the beginning of the day.
"Alright. I'm going to make this easy on you. This is an easy course. Do well and you shall pass with 50%. Do extraordinary and impress me and you shall pass with 80% or higher. If so you decide to deceive me you will not be passing and I will see you all again at the start of the next term." Lady Nadia said.
She was the mean English teacher but had a soft side if you did things her way. The 3 main rules were 1. Don't skip. 2. Don't fall asleep. 3. Sit close to the board to get a better grade. As so I sat in the front of the class. The guys, on the other hand, were in the back on their phones. All except for Dean and Cody. She's grown to like me because of last years credit course since I did well. Soon after the bell rings and I hear high-fiving noises and shuffling feet. Lunch. The one time in the day where we all rant about the good and the bad of our courses. Everyone in our school has the same lunch. Except for the grade 9's. We all have a third lunch and they all either have second or fourth. We all decided to walk to the plaza around the block to get pizza treat from E.J since he had a coupon.
"So, we can't rant since we're technically in the same classes. Right?" Carson said. They all agreed. I, however, didn't.
"Don't Y'all feel like the back is basically an oasis because the teacher can't see your phones?" I questioned.
"We know they can see it, Ari, they just choose to ignore the fact about it," Carmen said. Carmen Rodwire, the other girl who's in our group but doesn't have anything with us except for lunch. She was basically like the guys never sits up front.
"Alright, if Y'all fail anything I ain't helping unless it's life-threatening," I answered. Of course, I guarantee Carson, Dean, and Chase won't have a problem unless they can't understand a concept. The other 5 of the boys will do absolutely anything to pass at least 5 weeks before the course ends. They all nodded knowing what I mean.
"Well, we still have an hour to kill. What now?" Hayden asked. We all started thinking.
"We could go buy slushies," Dean mentioned.
"True, but the machines haven't been working for a few days," Carmen said. I second on that.
"How about we walk to the park that's like 15 minutes from here but like 5 minutes from the school," I suggested. They all thought about it for a while.
"Agreed. To the park with the flying saucer swings." Carson said like an adventurer.
We all laughed and talked about life on the way there. Yes, we all may be 15-16 but hey, it's a park. Leave us alone. We stayed until we had 10 minutes left, talking about how we all will do this again sometime soon. That meant we could get back in five and grab our stuff for the next class and spare 2 minutes of time. Our school was 2 floors but the second floor has all the lockers and classes. The first floor was the cafeteria and the janitor rooms. So we all could have easy access to all of our classes rather than running up and down to find a class.
Last class of the day and we'd be out of here. Dance wasn't my strongest class but I've been getting better. Of course, it wouldn't be an art high school without all the weird subjects. The boys had their dance and so did the girls. Every now and then we'd combine the classes together for partner work. As if so fate really must like me to be put in a group or partners with Hayden. The teachers either have said brains and glory or masculine dancer with the graceful swan.
Soon class ended and I went home with Hayden and Carson because my parents were going to pick me up later. I did my portion of the work and so did Carson which meant Hayden still hasn't done his.
"Are Y'all actually doing the project now?" He asked. I nodded Carson was still writing and drawing the diagrams.
"Dude, as much as I wanna play Fortnite, right now I rather get my grades in a good spot," Carson said clearly focused on his workload. I still had a bit to finish and to revise.
"He's right Hayden. We all may have equal 50% but getting it to an 80% or higher will give you a better chance at passing even if you can't make a few assignments." I said hoping he'd realize.
"Fine hand it over. But Y'all better be playing Fortnite when we're done." He said. We all did the thing since 7th grade where we cross an 'X' over our heart instead of pinky promises.
