9. Of All The Luck…

The rest of my school day was fairly uneventful. After lunch I had Anatomy, which I had a feeling I was going to enjoy with a former EMT teaching the class. It was going to be a lot more hands on learning than I had originally anticipated which left me excited. My father was of course a doctor and a couple of my siblings had studied medicine over the years and I thought I might consider going that direction after school myself. My only stumbling block would be my dislike for mathematics, which are a very important part of medicine.

Anatomy was followed by American History, Study Hall, and finally Phys Ed. I was grateful that PE fell at the end of the day so I wouldn't have to spend any more time at school after PE…I could just go home and shower and not worry about being sweaty or smelly. I know I was strange for liking PE, but it was nice to compete with individuals with whom I had any chance of actually keeping up with or possibly even beating.

As I walked into the locker room I was pleased to see that my new gal pals were in this hour also. I met the female teachers and found that I had to place an order for a uniform since she didn't have any in my size on hand. She allowed me to wear my own gym clothes I had brought for class until my uniform arrived.

I walked out to the gym with the girls to find that Lucas, Riley, and the rest of the snot squad boys were in our class as well. Connor looked up at me and smiled shyly flashing that left dimple at me when he caught me looking in his direction. My breath caught in my chest for a second as my heart sped up a couple of paces and I smiled back at him with a small wave in his direction. He was even cuter than I had realized in Trig. How is it that every time I see this boy he seems cuter and cuter? I found myself wondering if he would be trying out for the play too.

Class went by relatively slowly. It was really ridiculous that we had to dress in gym clothes for the day since we didn't do anything physical at all…we just sat the whole hour listening to rules and being arranged into rows to facilitate quick attendance taking. Initially I was glad that these spots would be our permanent spots for the rest of the year because they placed us in alphabetical order so I was in front of Conner, and in the next row Riley was right next to me with Lucas in front of him and Leighton behind him. The only bummer was Malia stuck on the far side of the class since her last name began with an "S" near where Marc was seated.

Of course my pleasure was short lived when the realization hit me while the teacher was talking that these weren't only our places for attendance, but we stood in these spots for calisthenics. Wonderful, the cute boy will have a daily view of my large unattractive butt all year while I was forced to bend and stretch in awkward positions! Just what I needed!

Okay, well maybe I could turn so that my back end faces towards a wall or something during cals. Maybe then I won't have to die of embarrassment every day! I thought to myself as the teacher continued to drone on. Okay, this might just work. I attempted to convince myself in order to stave off a panic attack.

After 40 minutes of lectures on how to properly care for the facility and equipment we were finally free to go back to the locker room and change. I hadn't even made it to the locker room doors before Leighton and Malia caught up with me.

"So….Connor Cusak huh?" Leighton casually teased.

"What?" I innocently responded

"Yeah, yeah, don't play all coy with me new girl. I saw the look you two exchanged. So when did you two get all chummy?"

"Oh, we had Trig together this morning, but we didn't really talk much or anything. He just said hi and told me that Mr. Morgan was one of the easiest math teachers in the school so I shouldn't worry or anything."

"Wow Lina, he must have thought you were cute. Connor is pretty shy around new people, so that was like a major step for him!" Malia exclaimed.

I blushed a little and continued in to the locker room. I never would have guessed that such an innocent conversation would ever mean anything as big as he LIKED me. At the best I had thought he was just trying to be a little nicer after the slightly chilly reception I had received from his group of friends that morning.

"Yeah, most people take his lack of talking as him being snobby, but he's just actually pretty shy. The only reason why the rest of the kids you saw him sitting with this morning hang out with him is because his family is pretty well off." Leighton said matter of factly.

I felt really bad now for the way I had lumped him in with the rest of the sheep this morning. Thinking back, his expression had been different than the others. He seemed less like he was summing me up negatively than more simply interested. I would have to make an effort to start a conversation with him the next time I saw him. He might be shy, but I really wasn't.

When the final bell rang for the day I slowly made my way to my locker. I was in no rush to leave since I planned to take a bit of time to decorate my locker before heading home. The halls emptied quickly leaving just a few other students who appeared to have the same idea and a few teachers left meandering the halls. From the expressions on their faces, the first day was as exhausting for them as it was for their students.

I took my time putting up a magnetic mirror, various pictures of my parents and siblings, and installed a little plastic shelf to give me a little more storage space since the big locker only had one small shelf at the very top. The only thing missing was a picture of my new car to add to the mix and I would be all set. I organized by books and notebooks on the shelves separating my morning and afternoon books to make it easier to grab and run and left my book bag in my locker since I had no need for it tonight since there was no homework yet and headed down toward sophomore hall.

I was halfway down the hall headed toward the door the led to the parking lot when I was met by Lucas and Riley.

"There you are!" Lucas said pointing in my direction. "We've been waiting 20 minutes to get a better look at your car. What kept ya?"

"Oh, sorry, I totally forgot I promised you guys that. I stuck around to decorate my locker and get it organized."
"Ugh…girls. Why do you guys always have to fancy everything up?" Riley commented making a sour face.

"I wouldn't say I "fancied" anything up…I just installed another shelf and threw a magnetic mirror in and taped up a few pics of my family just make it a little more me."

"That's cool I guess." Lucas admitted. "So now are you going to hold up your end of the bargain now or what?"

"Sure, sure…but we can't take too long. My family's going to be wondering where I'm at."

We walked out to the car and I stood by as they investigated the engine discussing torque and horsepower with great enthusiasm. They kept commenting on what an awesome job my brothers had done restoring the car and that some of the parts must have been custom ordered to make it look so authentic. Edward was right, nobody would ever believe that I could possibly be driving an original Shelby. I caught sight of a shiny silver Volvo in the corner of my eye and knew that I didn't have to worry about my family worrying about me anymore because Edward would call and update them for me. I threw out a thought explaining that the guys wanted to check out the car and I'd be home soon for him to intercept and returned my attention to listening to my new friends.

Finally after 15 minutes of oohing and aahing I told Riley and Lucas that I really had to be getting home and didn't have time to give them their promised ride, but they would definitely get to ride sometime soon. They stood around long enough to listen to the engine as I cranked the starter and it roared to life. They whooped and hollered as I threw it in reverse and backed quickly out of my spot and then tossed it into first gear and gunned the engine doing a repeat performance of my departure from the front lawn this morning and made my way toward home. I had the sneaking suspicion that the whole family would be nearby to hear a blow by blow of my first day of school. I was glad to have good things to share and I hoped that they would be encouraged that they made the right decision.