Chapter Twelve:

Back To Basics

By the time summer had ended, several things had happened to me during the course of the two months. One is the beach thing with Castiel and Iris (which I luckily didn't have to get stitches), Second one being my book finally got published. Yeah, turns out one of the biggest publishing chairman loved it along with her daughter and signed me up.

Third, Rosalyn dragged me to New York for some modelling thing she got asked to and I was honoured. I was sure she'd ask one of the other girls but who am I to question?

And finally, my parents would be returning in five weeks.

It's safe to say I was one happy camper when I returned to the halls of Sweet Amoris High School. I was so happy that when I ran into Amber, her insults bounced off of me completely.

"Hey Melody" I greeted when I went to the student council room. Melody was in there, organising stacks of paper into three different coloured folders and smiled when she saw me.

"Adrianne, congratulations on the book! I got a copy as soon as it was in store and read it again all through the summer" she said and I blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"Thanks, I was wondering if the exam results are posted yet?" I asked and she shook her head with a worried look on her face.

"Unfortunately, something happened in the office over the summer and there are some organising problems" she sighed tiredly. "Nathaniel told me on his way to see the principal"

I nodded. "Then I will see you later"

She smiled and turned her attention back to the paper work as I left and went to my locker for a second. Immediately, I heard a loud squeal and footsteps close to a stamped.

"Adrianne!" Rosalyn squealed, hugging me instantly and I laughed while hugging her back. "God it is so good to see you again!"

"Same here Rosa" I agreed as she let me go. Rosalyn took my hands into hers and shook them slightly.

"Thank you so much for coming with me to New York on such short notice. I was told to bring a friend and thought of you instantly!" she explained and I grinned.

"Didn't hear any complaints from me" I replied as the intercom buzzed throughout the hallway.

"May all students please go to Classroom B for information on the exam results. Thank you" the principal called and it turned off as Rosalyn and I looked at each other.

"Hopefully we passed" I bit my bottom lip nervously and Rosalyn grinned.

"Of course we did! Especially since you were studying like crazy before the exam" she recalled and I laughed quietly to myself.

Well if Castiel hadn't been such a jerk and told me the day before, then I wouldn't have given Iris my notes and had to search for her I thought as we walked into the classroom. I took a seat in the front row since every other seat was taken. Rosalyn just sat to me on the desk next to mine as the principal looked like she was on edge.

Rosalyn smiled when Iris, Violet and Melody came in, all sitting around us. Finally, when everyone had arrived and was seated, the principal cleared her throat and smiled.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances and organisational problems over the summer, we are required for you students to help out with either the exam results or organising the orientating race we will be holding in two days time. We'll start with Miss Archer" she said turning to me.

"I'll help with the exam results I suppose" I shrugged and she instructed me to head to the courtyard. Standing up, I flashed a smile at the girls before heading off on my own. Less than a minute later, Rosalyn appeared looking annoyed.

"I don't see why we have to help out! It's their fault for not being organised properly" she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and I flashed a sympathetic smile.

"We get the rest of the day off afterwards" I pointed and she huffed again. "Why'd you choose this one?"

She smiled at me. "Cause you chose it and it looks like the easiest one"

Charlotte arrived, along with Melody and lucky last, a very grumpy Castiel.

"I'm warning you, if I have to do all the work, it's not going to go very well for you" Castiel warned, slightly irritated and I looked at him surprised.

"Castiel? You didn't choose the orienteering race?" I asked and he shook his head.

"I was the last one to be asked what I wanted. By the time our dear principal asked me, there weren't any spots left for the race" he explained and I gave him a small smile.

Not that I'm complaining you're here I thought. "You can't ask anyone to switch with you?"

"I don't want to owe anything to anyone" he snapped and I winced quietly.

He is in a bad mood today… I shuddered and turned to everyone else.

"Everyone is here then? What do we have to do?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"That old woman gave me this list" Castiel held a white sheet of paper in his hand and held it out to me. "Seeing as I was last, you can read it"

I took and gave him a look. "You could be a little nicer you know"

"I'm not in a good mood, don't press your luck" he warned with a hint of annoyance mixed with anger behind it. I just rolled my eyes.

No shit Sherlock a dry thought passed through my mind. "Castiel, always adorable…"

He smirked. "I could say the same"

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, hoping I wasn't blushing and looked at the paper in my hand.

"What did the principal write down on the list?" Melody asked and I cleared my throat.

"For the exams: Find the posters in the teacher's lounge to hang out on the hallway walls, bring the folder containing the exam results to the exam room (Classroom B), and prepare the room for the students who are retaking the exams" I read out loud and shrugged my shoulders. "That's a lot…"

"It'll be faster if we get into groups" Rosalyn suggested and the others agreed. Melody and Rosalyn were together while Charlotte went on her own, as both Melody and Rosalyn flashed me a sly wink.

I shot them a warning look as they disappeared inside the school and I sighed quietly to myself.

"What are we going to do?" Castiel asked as I turned to look at him, a hand on my hip.

"We're going to get the posters" I answered and he nodded.

"Yeah, that seems to be the least annoying thing" he commented.

I flashed a mischievous grin. "Exactly"

Castiel realised what I had done and had a proud look on his face, along with a surprised smile. "You can be really smart when you want to be"

I let the comment go as we headed to the teacher's lounge and as my luck seem to have it, it was locked.

"Dammit" I swore under my breath and Castiel, instead of reacting badly, just simply smirked at me.

"You know, it's not your fault that every time you start something new it fails. You just have bad luck is all" he said, amused and I glared at him while rolling my eyes.

"Ha ha, very funny" I said with thick sarcasm. "What should we do?"

Castiel ran his fingers through his hair as he thought. "We're going to have to find a teacher to let us in"

"Then it shouldn't be too hard" I thought aloud and Castiel chuckled.

"With your bad luck, I won't bet on anything"


Eventually, after a lot of searching through the whole damn school, we found Mr Faraize and he gave us the keys to the teacher's lounge. Castiel and I hung up the posters in no time and gave the keys back. Afterwards, I found out all that studying actually paid off. I had gotten pretty high marks for all of my exams, except Math (but who really cares about that?).

Just as I was heading to the gate to go home, I heard someone call out to me. I spun around and saw a guy with light blue hair and magenta eyes run over to me with a worried look on his face.

"Hey girl!" he called as he ran over and I stopped walking. "Say, you wouldn't know where the principal's office is would you? I think I'm a bit lost"

I giggled at how cute he pouted at himself. "It's inside the school, not far from the teacher's lounge"

"And where is that? I just got here and I don't even know where the restrooms are…" he broke off when he saw me giggling and chuckled himself.

I walked back to the building. "I'll show you"

He grinned, walking beside me as we headed in. "You're nice! Thanks!"

I smiled as we walked in and I showed him to where the principal's office was located, and the restrooms just for fun.

"Is it normal that you are the only student here? It won't just be the two of us in class, will it?" he asked me curiously as he sat down against the wall, waiting for the principal.

I shook my head.

"I wish but no. Today we got to leave early, and everyone else has gone home" I explained and his face brightened up.

"Seriously? This is a cool school!" he exclaimed excitedly, kinda of reminding me of a five year old boy with a cool truck for Christmas.

"Welcome to Sweet Amoris!" I declared and he smiled up at me.

"Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow hopefully?" he asked hesitantly and giving me a hopeful look. I nodded and he grinned again as I left.


I made sure Aunt Abbey signed my form to participate in the orientating race last night before I went to bed so I would be fine this morning.

"We've got new neighbours" Aunt Abbey informed me as I came down stairs and swung my bag over my shoulder. "I promised their mother you would give her sons a lift this morning"

I gave her a look but she ignored it and went back to reading her magazine. I sighed and went outside to see two boys walking up the driveway and one was the guy yesterday.

"I know who you are now!" he exclaimed, running up and pulling me into a massive bear hug. "A.K. Archer!"

"Put me down please!" I gasped and he did, allowing the air to return to my lungs. I looked over and saw the other guy look exactly like the one next to me, but black hair and blue eyes instead.

"I'm sorry about Alexy" he rolled his eyes. "My brother is a big fan"

I smiled. "It's fine, what are your names?"

"Alexy" the blue haired one grinned with an arm around my shoulder. "That's my older brother Armin"

"Adrianne" I replied and gestured to Bumblebee. "Hop in"

They did, while Armin exclaimed his fascination with my car and its look-a-like. I told him my aunt got it for my birthday since Bumblebee was my favourite Transformer of all time. He agreed and said he rather Sideswipe, and I had to agree as well.

When I parked Bumblebee, the two of them went to the office to sort out all that paperwork crap I had to do when I got here. Me? I went to hand in my form to some guy named Boris.

"I'll take care of it" he promised as I handed him the form. "You forgot to pay the sign up fee"

Are you kidding me? The school is making money off of us. Cheap bastards! I swore in my head as I handed the $50.

"Thank you very much and don't forget to tell your teammate as soon as possible" he added and I frowned.

"My teammate?" I asked, confused and he chuckled at me.

"Of course! A race against nature cannot be done alone. You will have to make a team with another student, it says so on the form" he explained and I groaned.

"I must've missed that part" I grumbled and nodded. "I'll be right back"

I left the gymnasium and went to find the girls. Melody and Iris told me they were going with each other so they were out, Violet was going with Kim and Rosalyn wasn't even going to participate. Said something about her boots were too valuable to be used in Mother Nature.

I groaned and banged my head against my locker lightly. "Why does this have to be so god damn difficult?"

"What's difficult?"

I glanced over and saw Castiel frowning at me and I bit my bottom lip. Spending the day won't kill me…

"I need a partner for the orientating race" I answered. "Do you want to be my teammate?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, if you want"

I think my jaw dropped all the way to the ground.

"Really? You're not messing with me?" I asked and he shook his head. "Thanks Castiel"

Without waiting for him to reply, I ran straight to Boris and told him I was going to be with Castiel.

"He's a lucky guy! Everything is noted, I don't need anything else" he told me and I smiled.

"Thanks" I said as the bell rang and I attended my classes without a care in the world.


I was standing at my locker when I was practically tackled to the ground by none other than the most huggable person in the school.

"Alexy get off of me!" I exclaimed as he pushed me in front so I was sitting in his lap.

"Alexy! Don't use a girl as a shield!" Armin shouted, storming towards us looking furious.

"But you're gonna kill me if I don't!" Alexy cried out and hugged me tighter. "I know for a fact you wouldn't hit a girl"

I growled and just sat with a bored expression. "What are you two fighting about?"

Armin pointed at Alexy. "He's stolen my PSP!"

"That's because you promised to go shopping with me this afternoon!"

"Alexy give him back the game" I scolded, grabbing it off of him and handing it to Armin.

"Thanks Adrianne" Armin flashed me a grateful smile and I blew out some air in frustration. "Could you do it? I have some things to do at home"

"Yeah! That might be a lot more fun than trying to get Armin to come with me" Alexy pipped up from behind me. "He doesn't have very good taste for clothes; I'm the one who shops for him"

"If you let me go I will" I bargained and he released me, Armin helping me to me feet as Alexy got up on his own. "Come on, I'll drop you off and we'll go"


Needless to say, Armin was thrilled to have gotten out of being dragged through stores with his brother. Not that I minded, it was kinda fun.

We went to different stores and Alexy started to pick up anything that passed in front of him to try on. I told him he couldn't spend so much money and he ended up putting most of the things back.

We stayed a little while longer before I dropped him home and went to work. I have to say, my life has just gotten a little crazier but I wouldn't have it any other way…