A/N Hola! An update! Yay! Which is quite an achievement considering I've done maths homework, watched the British Premiere of High School Musical 2 and written over 1000 words of this all in a matter of hours. And let me tell you, this chapter would be nothing without those 1000 words. It would just be like... 1600. Shudder

Hope you like!


List of Extra-curricular Activities at Hollybridge Heights

From your headmistress, Mrs Hollybridge

Mondays:

Science Club (room 201, Jesse De Silva)

Cheerleading Squad (South Gym, Kelly Prescott)

Softball Practice (Front field, Bryce Martinson)

Tuesdays:

Dance Squad (South Gym, Kelly Prescott)

Creative Writing (room 118, Cee-Cee Webb)

Religion Appreciation (room 284, guest Sister Ernestine)

Wednesdays:

All Music Ensembles (Great Hall)

Thursdays:

Soccer practice (Front field, Bryce Martinson)

Field Hockey (Back field, Bradley Ackerman)

Fridays:

Mathletes (room 118, Cee-Cee Webb)

Track (Running Track, Bryce Martinson)

All clubs have assigned rooms. Please contact the above-mentioned students if you have any queries.

Chapter Three

I trudged back to my dormitory, swinging my bag dangerously over my shoulder as I went – and steam almost erupting from my ears. It was unbelievable how much hate I felt for his man already, although he had only been at this school two days. I was jealous of how Susannah seemed to fall at his feet, when I had been working for years for her to act remotely close to that around me.

"Hey, Jesse," a heard a gruff voice greet me as I entered my dormitory block. I looked up to see the captain of various sports, Bryce Martinson, eyeing me suspiciously. "Is that Suze chick single? Or is she sleeping with you?" I blushed a brilliant shade of red, and although I had been asked a similar question countless times, it still managed to have that effect on me.

"Susannah and I are just friends," I replied, automatically, and Bryce grinned stupidly at me.

"Cool," he grunted, throwing his softball at the wall as I tried to get past. "So, you know, could you ask her out for me?" I winced at the thought of Bryce wining and dining Susannah. "'Coz, you know, you're just…'friends'?"

"Sure," I said, dodging the wrath of the baseball once again, but Bryce kept taking another side step and pounding the wall with his ball as I kept walking towards my room. "But I'm not sure when I'll get to see her – I have a lot of homework…" This excuse tended to last a couple of days, until I could think of a better one. Not that I was convinced Susannah would actually date these 'boneheads' as she so fondly referred to them as, but I couldn't be too careful.

Bryce smiled again, showing a set of pearly whites. "Hey, don't worry about that dude," he said, clapping me on the shoulder. "She's in your dorm room. Went in there about ten minutes ago. Did you know she has a key?"

I rolled my eyes, and he finally let me pass, just as I reached the pristine white door – except for the Hollybridge stickers I had neatly pressed to it – and fumbled for my keys. Susannah had insisted on her own key – despite the fact that I wasn't allowed one to her door – because I was the proud owner of a mini-fridge and a small television. I thought hungrily of the trifle I had bought yesterday, awaiting me to dig a spoon in and enjoy. My stomach rumbled in delight.

I twisted the key in the lock and prised my door open to find – now unsurprisingly, thanks to Bryce's heads-up – Susannah sitting on my bed, avidly watching the television. But to my astonishment, she had my trifle sitting on her lap, and she was licking her spoon sceptically.

"Oh, hey Jess," she said, spying me, and pulling the metal out of her mouth. "Why did you buy the trifle with custard in? You know I hate custard."

"This may come as a surprise to you, Susannah," I replied patiently, dumping my bag under my desk and taking a seat beside her on my deep, feather-filled mattress. "But seeing as that trifle was in my fridge, I was kind of under the impression I would be the one eating it. And I do like custard."

She frowned, and ran her finger around the rim of the plastic pot, scooping a layer of custard onto it, and putting it her mouth, clicking her tongue once or twice to absorb the taste. She sighed, and shook her head. "Nope," she argued, finally. "It's still disgusting." She dipped her finger in again, and held an amount of custard up to my face. My eyes followed it worriedly.

"If you get that on my bedspread, Susannah I will-"

"Lick it," she ordered. I stared at her hand in surprise, and she waggled it to emphasise her point.

"Querida," I sighed. "I am not licking your finger."

"Lick it off," she said again. "I ain't having custard in my trifle."

"My trifle," I corrected her, but she just gave me a pointed glance. I examined her finger closely one more time, before nearing it gingerly and placing my tongue on her skin. She watched in fascination, and I barely tasted the vanilla on my taste-buds. We kept eye-contact – her beautiful green eyes penetrating my own darker ones – and I released her finger with a faint pop, a blip in the eerie silence.

I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, gazing at each other. It was like we were both scared to break the connection, and Susannah's spoon stayed poised in the air above my elbow. For a brief moment, it was like there was nothing else in the world but us – our surroundings just a biological blur.

But then she giggled nervously, and the silence was gone.


"Oooh!" cried Susannah in excitement, dropping my arm and running to the notice board. She seized a purple slip of paper, crushing it in her anticipation. "Jesse, look!"

There were various mimics of "Oooh, Jesse!" but I shook them off dismissively, and followed Susannah to the bulletin board. Between her fingers was a notice reading "Cheerleading Tryouts – Monday" and featuring a clip-art of a cheerleader waving pom-poms. I looked up at Susannah.

"And you have showed me this because…" I said, trailing off, and checking my watch anxiously. Today was Monday. I had to be in room 201 in twenty minutes – or I would miss the beginning of Science Club.

"Because…" Susannah waved the flyer in my face impatiently. "It's cheerleading!" She made a show of thrusting her arms in various directions and finishing with a kick that reached her nose. She received some applause from curious spectators.

Of course. Susannah had been desperate to be a cheerleader even back in tenth grade – but there was no squad at Junipero Serra. The squad at Hollybridge didn't accept freshmen, but now this was Susannah's chance. She pushed imaginary pom-poms into my face and batted her eyelashes at me. "Come to the tryouts with me, Jess?"

"Why do you even want to be a cheerleader anyway?" I asked. "All they do is wear short skirts and wave pom-poms around."

"It's all about school spirit. They want pep. I have pep!"

I rolled my own eyes, and held her hand. "Sure," I said. "But if it takes more than fifteen minutes, I have to leave, I'm sorry."

"Stay for seventeen minutes?"

"No can do. Sixteen and a half is my final offer."

"Deal."

We changed direction, and she yanked me by the hand down the corridor and into the courtyard – a shortcut to the South Gym, Susannah's favourite spot to watch. There was already a queue of excited teenage girls lined up outside the school gym, hurriedly thinking out creative chants and steps to entice the captains. I felt like warning them Kelly Prescott was the new captain, and they didn't stand a chance, but I kept quiet.

Finally, the head cheerleader – a name I tended to forget, though she had jet-black glossy curls and tended to wear a ruby necklace dipping low into her halter top – and her vice Kelly Prescott appeared at the doors of the gym, and began scanning the lines of girls jabbering away excitedly.

One by one, the freshmen were turned away, and the queue shortened considerably. I heard Susannah's breath catch in her throat as they came nearer, analysing her build and scratching at their clipboard. Kelly shot her a huge false smile.

"Suze!" she shrieked. She had been in our class back in Junipero Serra, and hadn't even looked our way once. "What makes you want to be a cheerleader?"

"Oh, you know…" Susannah blew on her nails and wiped them into her sweater, trying to act nonchalant, though I knew her heart was hammering. "I wanted a hobby this year. And cheerleading seemed perfect, you know with the hot guys on the pitch, and the cute outfits-"

"She's got pep," I added helpfully. She sent me a very sour look. I grinned.

"Fine," replied Kelly, ignoring me, and she ushered us into the gym to join he rest of the hopefuls of Hollybridge. At the far end of the hall was Debbie Mancuso, sat in the middle of three chairs, trying desperately to write with the rubber end of the pencil.

"Suze Simon!" A loud voice called. I squeezed her hand meaningfully, as she ran forward to the centre mats, where a spread of gym mats lay. She took the pom-poms from Kelly, who pressed play on a CD player, and Susannah nodded – obviously in response to something Kelly had said.

"One, two, three, four!" The tune blaring from the boom box had a heavy base, which pounded onto the four walls of the gym, and the girl band vocals were all yeah-yeah-yeahs. She dangled the pom-poms loosely at her sides, before whizzing them around her head and throwing herself into a back flip.

The crowd cheered – myself including as I watched her brown limbs fly through the air performing several complicated stunts, her toned stomach peeking out from underneath her T-shirt every few seconds. Her audience was silent now as they watched her move, every eye transfixed. The song finished, and a round of applause erupted, the claps echoing in the large room, and Susannah appearing from her cartwheel flush-faced but beaming.

"Did you see me?" she said breathlessly, scurrying back to me and throw her arms around my neck in an animated embrace. "I feel amazing!"

"You were amazing," I told her, releasing her waist and taking to holding her hand instead, feeling her fast heartbeat pulsating through her skin. "Really great." I looked at my watch. I should have been in room 201 ten minutes ago. "I have to go," I added. "I'm late, really late." Susannah pouted.

"Jesse-"

"I'm sorry," I mouthed, as I released her fingertips and slipped through the crowd. "I'll see you later."

I ran across the courtyard, desperately hoping that the members of the Science Club wouldn't be waiting too long for me. With luck, most of them would be running late too.

"Hi guys," I called, as I pushed open the door to the lab and dropped my bag on the desk. "I'm really sorry I'm la-"

"Ah, Mr De Silva," a voice that made my spine ripple with fury greeted me. I looked up to see Paul Slater melting a marshmallow over a Bunsen. "So kind of you to grace us with your presence."

I scowled. "You have got to be kidding me."

Paul picked at the marshmallow from the end of his skewer, and licked his burnt fingers. He grinned. "You didn't think you'd be running the club by yourself, did ya Jesse?" He made a tutting sound. "Students with detention on their records don't get that privilege."

I curled my hands into fists and had to fight with my urge to tip the Bunsen into his lap, and sat down. Paul handed us all a skewer and a marshmallow each, and told us to find a Bunsen. This was ridiculous. I had been melting marshmallows back in junior high. This year, I was planning on filling balloons with various metals and then watching them as they reacted with acid.

It sounded fun in my head.

"Have you got a problem with the task, De Silva?" Slater asked me coolly. I jumped from where I had been sitting on a stool, staring into a corner of the lab miserably. I slid my marshmallow onto my skewer and swiped a splint from the jar on Paul's desk.

"No," I replied shortly. I lit my splint in Cee-Cee's Bunsen and set my own light, dabbing it out on the heat-proof mat and adjusting it from a safety flame. Safety flames were useless for heating anything. Paul grunted, satisfied, and wandered away.

"God," Cee-Cee said in my ear. "You and that guy clearing need to sort something out. You were practically spitting at each other."

"He's just…" I began; sticking my skewer in the flame and watching it lick the confectionery. "A jerk," I settled for saying. "No big."

"O.K." Cee-Cee shrugged. "Just don't let me in between you two when we're burning magnesium. I think getting blinded would be the least of my worries." I smiled weakly, and watched her carefully drop her marshmallow onto a biscuit, and blow it cool.

"Thanks to Mr De Silva here," Paul announced, striding over to my lab and switching the gas tap off – my blue flame disappeared instantly – much to my disdain. My marshmallow was still firmly solid. "That's all we have time for today. Turn off your Bunsens and pack away." Cee-Cee gave me a half-smile as she flipped her switch, and she swung her bag over her shoulder as she pushed her burner into the cupboard.

"Take the high road," she mouthed. I nodded.

"We have Biology tomorrow, first period," Paul called, as I was about to leave to lab. I was half a foot outside. I turned around in confusion. He shot me a sardonic wink. "You know, just in case you forget. Wouldn't want you turning up late."

I released an internal roar, and left his company as fast as I could, my hurried steps echoing in the silent corridor. Soon I was reaching the outside – I could hear the gentle wind and excited chattering. Chattering I recognised – Susannah's.

"Yeah, I know! It was completely unexpected for me too."

"Where did you learn to do all of that? You sure as hell weren't that enthusiastic about gym back at Junipero Serra."

"Well…Jesse!" She spotted me as I walked through the archway, and she dropped her bag on the floor beside Bernadette – a fellow Biology major – and ran towards me, hugging me eagerly. "Jess," she breathed, dealing my cheek a large smacking kiss. "I got in! Can you believe that?"

"You were pretty incredible," I told her, and she smiled, showing all of her perfect teeth. She dropped her hands to her sides and bent over, ruffling her hair and tying it up into a ponytail.

"I'm so hot right now," she said, fanning her face with her fingers. You got that right, I thought. "My heart is just pounding!"

She skipped over to Bernadette and plucked her school bag from the sidewalk, a piece of paper fluttering to the ground. I ran to pick it up.

"Hey, Sus-" I stopped abruptly, spotting the familiar handwriting. It was blood-red ink, the same scrawl that dealt me a detention, and demanded a definition for "Evolution". Paul Slater's.

Hey Suze,

I really enjoyed lunch today. I never realised before how incredibly intelligent and witty you are. It's amazing to meet a girl like that. Perhaps you'd like to meet me after hours – outside room 201? I'm sorry it's so far away from your dorm but as I'm new It's really all I know.

Hoping to see you soon,

Paul

x

I crumpled the paper into a ball in my fist, furious. He was arranging a date with Susannah – my Susannah! I saw her turn around, searching for me with her sharp green eyes. She found me, and smiled.

"Hey…" she said, linking her arm through mine, and I pushed the ball of paper deeper into my pocket with my other hand. "Are you O.K?"

"Oh yeah," I replied, grinding my teeth. "I'm fine. Just fine."