Thank you AHBookworm for the review!! 3 lots of love. Guest - thank you!!!! I got you Thorne will be here soon:) Also I song that I'm really obsessed with lately is The History of Wring Guys from Kinky Boots, it's so good!
4th Period
Cinder and Jacin had developed a routine of sharing notes and watching the clock religiously throughout AP physics. When the bell finally rang, they were out of the room before anyone else. They raced down the stairs.
"I think I'll go out for lunch today," Jacin mused. "I don't feel like mystery meat. Want to come?"
"No, I have to do my French homework. Ask Winter, or maybe Peony."
"Not Peony."
"Whatever." Cinder left Jacin and her backpack under the stairs and went to get lunch. When she came back, Jacin and Winter were gone, and Cress was standing nearby awkwardly. Cinder waved her over. Cress gratefully put her backpack in Winter's empty spot and got out a smashed Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.
"How are you, Cinder?"
"I'm good." Cinder got out her French homework.
"Excited for engineering?"
Cinder shrugged. "Relatively."
Peony and Iko came back from the lunch line. Cinder was glad they were so welcoming - it gave her time to do French as Iko pegged Cress with questions.
"What's your name?"
"Cress."
"What year are you?"
"Junior."
"What classes are you taking?"
"Choir, AP US History, Creative writing, Theatre-"
"Oh, you're in theatre? Cinder, Cress is in theatre!"
"Hm?"
"Are you doing the play?"
"Well, I was considering it..."
"Auditions are on Monday, you should do the play. Peony, shouldn't Cress do the play?"
"Yeah, totally." Peony poked at her mystery meat.
"Cress, that would be so much fun! I'm in the play, you know, and Winter's in the play, but none of my other friends are in the play, Cinder does Tech which isn't really the same, and Peony does soccer, so you should really do the play, that would be so much fun, auditions are on Monday, you should audition, I bet you'll get an awesome part because you're in choir too. Will you audition?"
"Okay, I guess."
After School
In the car, Peony and Iko went on and on about who was the best character in Gilmore Girls, and Cinder and Iko, in the front, fought a passive-agressive battle over the radio.
"You have no taste in music," Iko whined.
When Cinder got home, she first looked through her engineering notes, then did math and French homework quickly so she could watch once upon a time.
After School
Cress leaned against the window at the back of the bus and closed her eyes. She had Taylor Swift on shuffle on her phone.
Cress was the last stop in the bus. When the bus got to the corner by the convenience store, she got off, thanking Sam, the bus driver, and checked her watch. 4:23. She was early, so she went into the store for a candy bar.
She always got the same candy - a peach lollipop. She put it on the counter and fished in her pocket for change.
"Ten cents." She looked up.
Paul wasn't behind the counter.
A tall, blond boy watched her as she slowly took her change from her pocket.
Gosh, he was so cute.
No, no, no, she could not be falling for him because he would never like her back.
She put a dime on the counter, took her lollipop, and hurried out of the store. When she cleared the building, she started running, unwrapping the lollipop as she went. She rounded the corner and went up the street to her house. In front of the house she stopped, bit the lollipop off of the stick and threw away the trash. Then she let herself into the house. Quietly, she crept into the kitchen. A note on the fridge caught her eye.
Cress,
Gone to Paris. Be back Tuesday.
-Sybil
Cress did a little jump of excitement. Alone in the house for five whole days! She grabbed an orange and ran to her room.
On her bed, she lay out her homework and started to peel the orange. Sybil was known to be spontaneous and disappear for days at a time, leaving Cress by herself. Cress didn't mind. She could do anything she wanted when she was home alone. When Sybil was home, there were strict rules.
Her thoughts kept going back to the bit from the store. He had the nicest blue eyes, like the ocean. She had never seen him there before, the only person who worked there had been the owner of the shop, Paul. Cress sighed. Maybe a tiny crush wouldn't be that bad.
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