Chapter Two
"Solomon, Shannon."
"Here," Shannon said, from her seat on the right side of the room, in one of the middle rows. She didn't like sitting in the center of the room; teachers were more likely to call on you. But sitting in the front made you seem like a teacher's pet, and sitting in the back screamed "TROUBLEMAKER" to most teachers.
She was in third period English. The teacher, Ms. Gayle, was calling roll. Right afterwards she began passing out the syllabus. She was about to go over the classroom policies when the door opened.
"Hello, Ms. Gayle," said Mr. Adams, one of the school counselors. "Just showing one of our transfers to his classroom."
Shannon looked up from her syllabus. It was the same guy Rebecca had pointed out this morning. Upon closer inspection, he WAS pretty cute. And he had a nice smile.
"Good morning," the guy said pleasantly. "I'm Corbin, Corbin Reivers."
"Nice to meet you, Corbin," Ms. Gayle smiled. "Have a seat wherever you'd like. "
Corbin sat down a few rows away from Shannon. She could see that a lot of the other girls in the class thought Corbin was easy on the eyes as well. But Ms. Gayle had begun talking again, so Shannon forgot about the new guy for the rest of the class period.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang. Ms. Gayle seemed nice enough, but her voice was somewhat monotone and her constant droning kind of made Shannon feel sleepy. Reaching down to grab her backpack, however, her notebook slid to the floor.
"Damn," Shannon muttered, reaching for it. Just then someone grabbed it and handed it to her. Shannon looked up to find herself looking into a pair of warm brown eyes.
"Here," Corbin said. She smiled.
"Thanks," she said sheepishly, smiling. "I appreciate it. I'm Shannon."
"Corbin… But you already knew that," he said. He had a really nice smile.
"Yeah, kind of," Shannon laughed. She was about to ask him if he had lunch next, when a voice called, "Hey, new guy."
The two of them turned to see one of their classmates, Katie, walking up to them with her posse. Katie was the absolute definition of a mean, snobby popular girl. Shannon wasn't mortal enemies with her, or anything. She was just one of the little people that Katie pretty much ignored.
"Hi, I'm Katie," she said, flashing her winning smile, and throwing her dark blonde ringlets over one shoulder. "Nice to meet you. Do you have lunch next?"
"Uh, yeah, actually," Corbin said, glancing at Shannon, who was used to being pushed aside. She stuffed her notebook in her backpack as Katie offered Corbin a seat at her table.
"Sure," said Corbin, looking a bit bemused. He turned to Shannon. "Guess I'll see you around?"
"Guess so," Shannon replied. "Bye."
Shannon watched Katie lead Corbin out the door, and shook her head. "Well," she thought, "the new guy seems nice enough."
By the time Shannon got to the lunchroom it was packed, but Rebecca was already there, saving her a seat.
"Hey!" Rebecca said. "How's your day been? I got Mrs. Crespo for Calc, that lady is killer…"
"It's been all right," Shannon said, unwrapping her PB&J and taking a big bite. "I got the new guy in my English class."
"For real?" Rebecca asked excitedly. "Is he even cuter up close?"
Shannon laughed. "Yeah he's pretty cute," she admitted.
"You guys talking about me?" Julian asked, walking up with a tray in hand and sitting next to them. Rebecca rolled her eyes.
"As if," she scoffed. "We're talking about that new guy… What's his name?"
"Corbin," Shannon answered.
"Oh that new kid?" Julian's best friend Randy came up to them. "He's in my ceramics class. Ms. Davis was obsessing over his hair this morning."
"Ceramics?" Rebecca inquired.
"Uh, yeah, easy A AND Alicia Ruiz is in that class. She is HOT," Randy said, swiping one of Julian's fries.
The girls rolled their eyes and the guys exchanged high fives. Right then, Shannon noticed Corbin looking at her a few tables away from his seat next to Katie, who seemed to be yammering on about a mile a minute. Shannon felt a smile tug at her lips and looked away shyly.
"What do you think?" Rebecca was saying.
"'Bout what?" Shannon asked.
"Hello! About you and Corbin!"
Shannon looked to the guys for help.
"Yeah, I dunno, I try and tune her out too," Julian said.
"Shan! I just said I thought you two would make a cute couple!" Rebecca said impatiently.
Shannon laughed. "Right. Like he'd be interested in me."
"You never think ANYONE would be interested in you. But look at Mark!"
"Yeah," Shannon muttered. "Mark."
"Forget Mark," Randy said, sitting up straight. "Look at ME."
The others laughed. Randy had been asking Shannon to be his girlfriend since they were in the fourth grade. He didn't seriously have a crush on her, at least not anymore- Now it had become something of a long-standing joke between them.
"Have confidence," Rebecca urged. "Guys can sense-"
Rebecca broke off, looking up at something behind Shannon. Someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Mind if I sit here?" Corbin asked, gesturing to the empty seat next to Shannon.
"Uh, sure. I mean, no, I don't mind," Shannon said, moving her bag to make more room. "Everyone, this is Corbin. Corbin, this is Rebecca, Randy, and Julian."
They exchanged greetings. "What happened? I thought you were sitting with Katie."
Corbin glanced at Katie's table. Katie didn't look too happy. "I wasn't feeling all that comfortable over there."
"So you just got up and left? Kudos," Rebecca remarked, grinning. "By the way, how do you take care of your hair? I'm like, in love with it."
Corbin laughed. "I get that a lot."
They spent the rest of the lunch period getting to know Corbin better. Rebecca did most of the talking, but Shannon noticed that Corbin seemed to be speaking to her a lot of the time.
"I think we could be friends," Shannon thought. "Maybe."
