Zita

"What'd you have first hour?" My best friend Kylee asked me as soon as she saw me at my locker.

"Chemistry with Peterson," I answered.

I heard from my parents and siblings that she was a hard ass, but they all survived her class and even had her to thank for introducing them to the love of their lives.

Mrs. Peterson was older than most teachers at Fairfield High. Her hair had turned grey and she walked with a cane. She didn't back down at her old age though.

Kylee smiled, "Yay! Me too!"

A wave of relief swept over me, "Thank God."

She smiled and we started for the other end of the school.

Kylee was basically my other half. She was the out-going one, the one that wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She always stood up for me, when I couldn't find the words to say anything for myself.

Kylee was also the pretty one. Boys were always throwing themselves at her, she's had so many boyfriends that I couldn't even name them all. I love the girl to death, but she gets bored with guys way too much. She likes the chase, the high from getting something that seemed so out of her reach. Because of this, she never had a boyfriend for very long. I can't wait to meet the boy that will make her settle down forever, if there is a boy like that out there.

We got to Mrs. Peterson's room and sat down at a table when the music, that acted like a bell, started playing over the loudspeaker. I looked around the room. The room was full of faces that I recognized, but never talked to.

Mrs. Peterson came limping in, closing the door behind her.

"Good morning and welcome to senior chemistry," Her voice is shockingly loud and full of authority, " I appreciate you picking your own seats, but I make the seating arrangements… alphabetically."

There were groans and objections, but she ignored them and started to rattle of names and pointed to seats. As soon as she got to the "E's" I made sure I was ready to go.

She pointed to a seat, "Zion Ezra, your partner is Zita Fuentes."

I was the first one that she actually acknowledged with a little smile, that made me nervous. I took my seat and expected one of the guys to sit next to me, but nobody did.

Kylee mouthed, "Who the hell is Zion Ezra?" To me.

I shrugged and reached in my backpack for my book.

"Kylee Kaster," Mrs. Peterson pointed to the table right behind me and relief flooded through me, "Your partner is TJ King."

I watched TJ take the seat next to Kylee and Kylee watched him as well. I knew what she was thinking and when she grinned at him and started chatting in her bubbly voice, I knew that it wouldn't be long until he was caught in her trap.

Mrs. Peterson placed all the students and looked around, pausing at the empty seat next to me. She raised an eyebrow, but made a check mark on the class list.

She limped to the front of the room, her cane echoing her every move.

Just as Mrs. Peterson was about to say something, the door flew open.

"Jesus Christ," The guy pushing it open, muttered, "You need to fix those hinges."

Mrs. Peterson looked at him, "Mr. Ezra?"

He nodded, his breath ragid, almost as if he had ran a marathon.

"Are you aware that class started a good ten minutes ago?" Peterson asked him.

"Yes, yes I am. I have a really good excuse though," He said, putting his hands on his knees and breathing deeply.

"And that is?"

He hesitated and put a finger up, indicating that he was getting breath, "I was mugged."

"And they stole your shoes?" Carson Daniel, the captain of the football team, said with a chuckle.

The class roared with laughter, I didn't laugh. I was focusing on the guy who I was going to spend my time doing projects with and he couldn't even get to class on time.

He looked down at his socked feet and then at Carson, "Yes. Yes they did."

Carson rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

Zion straightened up and his height towered over Mrs. Peterson.

Mrs. Peterson sighed and nodded to the empty stool next to me, "You're sitting next to Miss Fuentes. And Mr. Ezra?"

Zion made his way to his seat and sat down, "Yes?"

" I have zero tolerance policy. You'll see me after school for detention and find yourself some shoes after class."

Some emotion crossed Zion's face, but he quickly covered it, "I'll be honored to spend the evening with you."

Mrs. Peterson ignored him and went onto the classroom rules.

I watched my partner out of the corner of my eye. He was wearing a purple hoodie and jeans, even though the weather was freakishly hot. His hair was the color of the sand on the beaches on the shores of lake Michigan, the perfect shade of brown. It was windblown and stuck up all over the place. He had the strangest color eyes I had ever seen. They were perfectly mint green, the color of the filing of the Mint Oreos, Papá always hid from my brothers.

He caught me staring and turned his head to me, his eyebrows raised. I looked away, blushing.

"Now look at the person sitting next to you," Mrs. Peterson said.

I hesitated but looked at Zion. He smiled at me, a smirk. I noticed the traces of freckles covering his nose that were from the summer sun.

"You don't have to like this partner, but you're stuck with them. Take a couple minutes to get to know each other, then you will introduce you're partner to the class."

Zion looked at me and winked, I turned to Kylee behind me, but she was already flirting with TJ. I had no choice to turn back to Zion.

"So, he started, my name is Zion Ezra."

I nodded, "Zita Fuentes."

He nodded, "I enjoy smoking weed and having unprotected sex."

I felt my eyes grow huge and stared at him.

He grinned at me, "Truth hurts, babe."

"Well, I traveled with my brother to his skating competitions."

Everybody else was finished and Peterson called us back together. I started panicking. I hated talking in front of people, my tongue gets all tied, and my words come out wrong. Not to make it any better that I didn't know what I was going to say.

When we got to us, Zion nodded to me to go first.

I took a deep breath, "This is Zion Ezra and he likes… to ah… live life on the edge."

Zion's eyebrows shot up, "Fine. Two can play this game," he muttered to me and spoke up to the class, "This is Zita Fuentes, she spent the summer hanging with her rich brother at skateboard competitions, where she learned to shoot cocaine and use a condom."

I froze and felt my face grow red as laughter filled the room.

Mrs. Peterson glared at Zion, "Mr. Zion, you just earned a week of detention."

Zion smiled, "More you and me time, 'ey."

I tried to ignore him the rest of the class, but every now and then I felt his eyes on me.

The bell rang, ending the period, and I gathered my stuff. I caught his eye and he winked at me one more time. I shook my head and walked out the door, my hands shaking.