Ebony could feel someone's eyes on her. She got the chills as she thought about it. She closed her locker after getting her blue SKATE PARK sweatshirt out of it. She had left it at school over the summer and forgot to go back for it.
"So what are you going to do with your boards?" Ved asked leaning on the lockers.
"I'll have to take it with me. It's the first day of school." Ebony said putting her board on the hard floor.
"You have a lot of guts. You know if Hull finds you riding that in school you're ass will be his." Mac said looking at her sister.
"Yeah but I'm use to getting kicked out of schools." Ebony said rolling her eyes and laughing.
"Okay I got to go change for PE." Ved said looking over at Mac.
"Oh god, don't kiss!" Ebony said coving her eyes. She hated it when those two got like that in front of her. They were her best friends and it was hard for her to see them like that.
Mackenzie gave Ved a kiss and hit Ebony. "Bye." She said as Ved walked away.
Jay was finding it hard to concentrate on his friends conversations. It had been weeks since he had seen Ebony, and he had always enjoyed watching her. He couldn't help but laugh at her reaction when Ved and Mackenzie kissed.
"That was so wrong." Ebony said riding her board slow down the hallway. Once again she felt like someone was watching her. She shook it off as she passed Jay and his friends.
"Ebbz it looks like you get stuck with preps this morning." Mackenzie said looking in the history room while four cheerleads entered the room.
"All I can say is that this year is going to be fun!" Ebony said smiling as she got off her board and picked it up. "See you at lunch." Ebony said walking into the classroom. She smiled when she saw Jack's red hair sticking out. She walked over to where they were and looked shocked at them.
"I told you she wasn't going to like it." Cloe said looking up at her boyfriend.
"She likes it babe." Jack said smiling down at her. He turned to look at Ebony. "You like it don't you?" Jack asked, it was easy for Ebony to read in his eyes that she needed to say yes.
"Sure it's just a big change." Ebony said sitting down. "It's cute though."
"That's life little sister, people change." Java Erickson said sitting down in front of KC.
"Damn is it me or does it stink over here. Maybe you guys should leave we don't want you to get sick." Jack said plugging his nose.
Everyone started to laugh but Java and her friends.
"Why don't you grow up! You are all so pathetic." Trudy snapped as she sat down in front of Cloe's desk.
Jay walked into the classroom and saw her. There was one empty desk in front of her and he took it. He looked back to see what everyone was fighting about.
"Sorry we can't all be teenage mother's, Trudy," Ebony said sitting back in her chair.
"Well at lest I don't have a sister who ruined my parents marriage." Trudy snapped back. She let her eyes fill with joy as she saw how much that hurt Ebony.
"You're right Trudy, you ruin their marriage." Java snapped back. She hated it when people talked about her sister that way. It wasn't Mackenzie's fault it was her dad's, and she wouldn't let her friends hurt Ebony with something like that. Family was personal.
"I thought you were a junior." Jay said looking at Ebony and her friends.
"We are." Jack said giving them a look of disgust.
"This is an A.P. class." Jay said looking back at them. He just needed a reason to look at her.
"We had nothing better to do." Ebony said looking right at Jay. His brown eyes were so familiar to her. But she had to look away before she fell into them.
Jay could feel his heart melt as Ebony locked eyes with him. He wanted to reach over and take her hand and gently kiss it. He wanted you run his hands through her long braids and just look into her eyes for the rest of his life. But he knew that his friends would never approve of her.
Ebony knew he was thinking the same thing she was. But she knew better than to be thinking like that. She pulled her eyes away and looked at the door just in time to see the teacher walk through the door. Mr. Kert hadn't changed since she had him last year. His hair was still fake and you could still smell him a mile away. Ebony slid her board under her desk and put her feet on it, rolling side to side.
"Good morning." Mr. Kert said smiling at the kids in front of him. He could already tell that this was going to be a hard year. But he was up of the challenge of taking on two different Erickson sisters.
"This is going to be fun." Jack whispered as he got off Cloe's desk and sat in his right next to her.
"We'll since the class is so small we're going to jump right into your work this year. Mr. Ryan Hull will you past out the books." Mr. Kert order, while he put his things down on his desk. "We'll be doing a group project to start the year off with. I will assign your groups." Mr. Kert said. It was followed by sighs of disappointments. "Oh boo-hoo!" he cried. "Now let me see. Kyle and Salene, Emily and Pride, Sarah and Tim, Java and Bray, Ellen and Mike, Trudy and Jack, Ryan and Cloe, Amber and Ceecee, Amy and Kelly and last but not lest Jay and Ebony."
Jay smiled when he heard whom he was going to be working with. This would be a chance to get to her Ebony all over again.
Ebony couldn't believe it. She didn't want to have to deal with Jay this early in the year. She didn't want to have to go over the past.
"Everything you will need in your project is here on the paper." Mr. Kert said handing it out. "You will do it on different countries. Whatever one is on the top of your paper is the one you will be doing it on. Think of a creative way to present it to the class, and remember the attention span of an adult is 15 minutes."
"Egypt!" Ebony cried when she was handed the paper. "Mr. Kert I did my final report on Egypt last year. Can't I just do it by myself?"
"Miss Erickson I'm sure you could do it by yourself but you're working with a partner. There is a reason for group projects and I see you have yet to learn what it is." Mr. Kert said not even looking back at her.
Jay felt his heart sink. Could she hate him that much? He had never been so disliked by a girl either, it was a strange feeling
"This will be due in two weeks. I want a rough draft of your papers on my desk by the end of the week." Mr. Kurt said before he let everyone move to start his or her projects.
"Can we go do some research in the library?" Ebony asked.
"Yes, you and your partners may start where ever you think is best." Mr. Kert said smiling.
Ebony sighed as she grabbed her things and her board and headed for the door, with her friends behind her.
Jay followed her not knowing what else to do.
Ebony walked up the stairs with her board in her hand, she laughed at something Jack said.
"Why didn't we just use the downstairs library?" Jay asked making the group stop at the top of the stairs.
Ebony stopped and took in the deep breath, she needed to stay calm. "You can use whatever library you'd like."
"And in case you hadn't noticed, the library downstairs, doesn't have any books in it, it's a study hall." Jack rolled his eyes. "I'll see you at lunch." He said before walking off with his partner and Cloe.
Jay stood stunned for a minute then hurried after her, into the library. He came to the place surrounded with bookshelves with one table in the middle and four of those big chairs you always find in a library, the ones that help you fall asleep while reading. Jay put his bag on the table and looked over at Ebony.
"Why don't you go look up the Middle Kingdom n a book or something?" Ebony said pulling a book out of her bag. Why didn't he understand that she didn't want to deal with him at the present moment?
"Sure, whatever." Jay said walking out of the little box that Ebony was in. Soon after Jay started working on the computer he heard the bell ring. It was to faint for Ebony to hear. She was in the back of the library. Jay got up and headed back towards her.
Ebony sat in one of the chairs looking through a book about Egyptian History. She knew the bell had rang but she didn't want to put the book down. She could feel her eyelids getting heavy but she kept going.
Jay walked into the little box just to see Ebony nodding off. He smiled as he stood there watching her. She looked so peaceful sitting here. "Ebony the bell rang." Jay said after a few minutes. He didn't want to make her late for her next class.
Ebony sat up fast in the chair and placed the book in front of her. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Okay, see you tomorrow." She said sitting back in her chair.
"Shouldn't you be going to class?" Jay asked looking at her.
"I'm in class." Ebony said. "I am a T.A. for the librarian."
"Are you going to have all the same classes as me?" Jay asked.
"Not likely, I have two study halls." Ebony said.
"Okay. I'll go tell the teacher we're here." Jay said walking away. He could help but smile as he thought about Ebony sleeping. She had always had that perfect angel face, but the attitude a rebel.