Chapter 12

I quickly looked back, and saw him walking down the hallway. We were, seemingly, the only two people in the halls on the second floor. It was empty. It felt kinda weird, watching the kid walk. But after seeing that face, I needed to know more about him. I shook my head, and walked down the stairs, and headed towards the three sets of double doors, leading into the gym.

As I walked in, I saw at least sixty kids jogging around the painted track lines going in an oval around the edge of the gym in front of the closed bleachers. I slowed and waited for the large group to pass. Then I walked to the center of the gym to the only male teacher in there. Of course, that's who I had: Mr. Leibs.

He was about my height, which wasn't too impressive for a guy who looked to be in his thirties. He seemed like a cool guy, except the chinese tattoo on his leg. I chuckled when I saw it, but composed myself when I went to talk to him.

"Um, Mr. Leibs?" I asked, looking at my schedule. "I think I'm your new student."

"Right, I heard we were getting a new kid today." The only word that came to my mind when he spoke was "mellow." That's what he talked like, looked like, everything. I heard an older woman giggle in the back of my head. His mother, I think, I thought. He held out his hand, and I shook it. "Kayla?"

"Kalia." I corrected him. He nodded.

"Right, welcome to Gym. Pretty much, the only rules are to be respectful, and don't do anything stupid." I chuckled, and nodded. "So, I assume you don't have gym clothes today, so bring them tomorrow. I'll give you a lock tomorrow, and you can pick your gym locker." I nodded. "For now, you can sit against the wall and just watch what we're doing to get the hang of it."

"Alright." I said. I walked to the far wall, leaned against it and slid down to the hardwood floor. I crossed my legs at my ankles, and crossed my arms. One of the doors opened again, showing the kid from before. My face flushed pink. I saw Mr. Leibs get frustrated.

"Late again, Liam?" Mr. Leibs shouted. The kid, who I assumed to be Liam, threw his arms into the air.

"New girl was late, what's her excuse?" I looked down, and brought my legs to my chest. I rested my chin on my knee, and looked at my feet.

"Are you gonna change today?" Mr. Leibs asked, his clipboard under his arm. Liam pulled out a small pink scrap of paper.

"Nope, nurse won't let me." Liam handed the note to our teacher, and started to walk towards me. Or at least where I was sitting.

"Alright, you're excused." Then, Mr. Leibs turned to the jogging student, and yelled, "Circle up!" My eyebrow went up.

What the hell does that mean? I thought to myself.

"Stretching." I heard Liam mutter. I jumped when I noticed he was sitting next to me. He was watching the crowd, a flat look on his face. He had his right knee brought to the chest, his right arm wrapped around it.

"Ah." I said, nodding a bit. I wanted to look like I was interested, even thought I couldn't care any less. I looked at him, and then back at the kids.

"You're Kalia, right?" I looked at him, and he was still watching the crowd.

"Uh, yeah. Congrats, you're the first to get it right today." I stopped talking, but then realized something. "How do you know my name?"

"I heard Greg over there." He nodded his head towards Mr. Leibs.

"But that was before you even walked in." He shrugged, and hunched over a bit. Asshole, I thought. Way too cocky. I looked away from him, and saw him chuckling out of the corner of my eye. I rolled my eyes, and watched the class. "So why are you excused?"

"My parents think I'm crazy." Liam said. My eyes widened a bit. Maybe we do, or well, did, have things in common. He turned his head to look at me. "So they got me these weird meds to 'calm my brain' or something." He used air quotes around the calming the brain part. "So until I get used to 'em, I can't do gym or work out or anything. It's hard to understand, but I think you can catch my drift."

"Yeah." I muttered. "I get it." I saw him slightly nod, and look back at the group of kids. I noticed a little bit of ink peeking out from where his hood fell off his shoulder. "So, Liam."

"Yeah?"

"What's the tattoo of?" He looked at his shoulder, and chuckled.

"You'll find out eventually." I raised an eyebrow.

"What is that supposed-"

"When I can actually do gym, sweetheart." He said. I rolled my eyes, and relaxed against the wall. "So why did you come to Vegas? It ain't the best place to raise a kid; especially a junior in high school."

"My uncle lives here, and he's my guardian." Liam nodded, and looked down.

"I'm sorry." I heard him mutter. I was a bit freaked out.

"What do you mean?" His eyes widened a bit, but he relaxed super quick.

"Well, you're away from your parents."

"They're dead." Again, it sounded super harsh when I said it out loud. Liam didn't even look at me. He just nodded, looking down. We didn't talk for the rest of the class.

It was the end of the day, and I had no idea where I was going to get home. The walk would've been like, two hours, and Zak hadn't set me up on a bus yet. I stood at my locker after everyone had already gone, and the busses were starting to leave. My back pocket vibrated when Zak texted me.

I'll pick u up in a half hr, is that ok? - Z

Yeah, I'm chilling out anyway. I replied. I threw my phone back in my pocket, and shut my locker. I had a half hour to kill before I had to get my homework and head home. I started walking with my hands in my pockets. I jumped when I ran into someone when I was rounding a corner. I looked up, and saw Liam.

"Are you just following me now?" I asked, chuckling. I stepped back, and started to walk with him.

"I think you're the one stalking me." He said.

"Okay, that's it, right." I rolled my eyes. "What're you doing after school?" Liam shrugged.

"Stayed after just cuz. I usually drive, anyway. What about you?"

"I'm waiting for my uncle to pick me up." Liam nodded, and put his hands behind his head. I just started at him. He looks just fucking like him. He saw me, and raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked. I shook my head.

"You just look a lot like my uncle. Like, a lot. It's almost creepy." Liam chuckled. "The only difference is your eyes. Zak's are blue."

Liam just nodded. I saw that halfway through the hall, a small jet out of windows looked over the courtyard. I sat on the small ledge, and looked out. Liam leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. He watched outside the window. I watched him, then saw his right pant leg get pulled. He immediately looked down, kinda freaked out.

"What the fuck?" He asked, looking around. I pretended to be surprised. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah, weird." I looked to my side a bit, feeling Melanie standing next to me. She was giggling. Don't, I told her. I don't want to scare him away. Melanie stopped giggling, and kinda dissipated. I assumed she just went to "sleep." Liam chuckled, and looked at me.

"Maybe it was a ghost." He smirked. I fake chuckled.

"Maybe." We sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes. Then, something occurred to me. "If you can drive, why are you here after school?" Liam shrugged. I rolled my eyes, and shook my head. The my back pocket vibrated. I pulled out my phone, and saw a text from Zak.

I'm here, Kal. Parked in the front - Z

Alrite, be out in a min, I replied.

"My uncle's here." I told Liam. I walked back to my locker, and he followed. He leaned against the wall of lockers again, watching me. I grabbed all my stuff that I needed, and threw it into my bag.

"Done?" Liam asked as I was zipping up my bag. I nodded, and he shut my locker for me.

"Thanks." I said, smiling. "See you in gym?" Liam nodded, and smirked a Zak smirk. I chuckled, and started to walk down the hallway, then the staircase, and out the front doors.

I saw the Bentley waiting for me at the side of the curb. I climbed into the passenger side, and threw my bag on the floor.

"How was your first day?" Zak asked as he pulled into the driveway of the school. I looked in the rear view mirror, and saw Liam still leaning against the window, looking at something. I couldn't tell what.

"It was... weird." I said. "There's a lot of things I didn't quite expect." Zak chuckled.

"That's high school for ya, Kal."

"There was this guy-" Zak slammed on the breaks at the stoplight when I mentioned a boy. The seatbelt pretty much choked me.

"You met a boy?" I gaged and made a stupid choking sound, and rubbed my neck, glaring at him.

"Well, it is high school, right? Unless it's an all girls school and he's breaking the rule, then you shouldn't be flipping out. And choking your kid, Mr. Bagans." Zak chuckled, and calmed down a smidgen. I shook my head, and looked out the window. "Geez, I make one friend and you try to smother me." I chuckled under my breath, and saw Zak smile out of the corner of my eye.

Author's Note: UGH THIS IS SHORT I'M SORRY ;^;

Anyway, Kal met a guy ;D I have so many plans for Liam, you have no idea XD A few plot twists here and there ;) Remember Read, Review, and Enjoy!

~ Nicole