The next morning, as Anya awakened from a rather fantastic sleep, every thing seemed nicer. Under the blankets, her body warm and her arms bringing the bunch of material to her chest into a large hug, Anya happily sighed. Even the birds outside her window chirped and sang sweetly and for that moment she pretended it was all for her. She jumped out of her bed and managed to save herself from falling face first onto the floor because of the tangled mess her sheets were in. Acting that none of this occurred, she picked out her clothes for the day and hummed an upbeat tune as she traipsed into the bathroom. She narrowly missed bumping into Mercedes, who was brushing her teeth, as she dropped her things onto the ceramic counter.
"Girl. It's way too damn early for that humming." a very groggy Mer said, sleep still in her slitted eyes. It appeared that the bright overhead light from above the mirror was too much for her.
Nothing was going to get her down from the little mountain of happiness she currently resided and the girl jubilantly laughed as delivered a warm hug to her housemate from behind. "It's never too early to express yourself through hums." She turned on her bare heels and and spun the faucets to get the shower started. It took some time for the water to heat up in this bathroom.
Mer rinsed her mouth out with water and spit out the rest of the toothpaste. As she dropped her brush back into the holder she gave Anya a look over as her eyes attempted to survey the girl's very obvious mood change. "Did you have sex last night?"
"What?" She stopped and stared at her with a hilarious expression on her ever present smiling face. "No. I'm just happy is all."
"You are acting like you got laid, Anya. Either that or you've lost your damn mind." She pressed against the edge of the counter and yawned while one hand rubbed the sleep out of her eye. Anya shook her head while she removed her sweater, revealing a tank top underneath. When she tossed her messy hair out of her eyes, she spotted Mer still against the counter as if she were waiting for details.
She returned to the roaring shower and slipped her small hand past the lavender plastic shower curtain to test the now warm water. "I haven't had sex in a good while. So you can scratch that off your list." She pulled her wet hand out from the flowing water and started to shoo the still questioning Mer away.
"Does this have anything to do with blondie's visit last night?" The curiosity behind Mer's voice made Anya suspicious but she kept on motioning for her to get out of the bathroom. "I bet I'm right." Once she was out in the hallway, her friend turned around and completely enjoying what this was doing to her friend.
"Bye Mer." Anya said as she closed the door before Mercedes could get out properly speak to her face to face. "Girl. Don't act like it's not obvious!" Her friend's muffled voice carried through the door and Anya rolled her eyes, but even with Mer guessing correctly, it actually added more to her great mood.
When she entered the bustling school she knew that her trip to Coach Sylvester's office needed to be handled immediately. To say that the coach intimidated her would be a huge understatement. One time she was walking past the principal's office and the towering blonde woman in the red track suit was on a rampage. Anya pressed her back against a locker and prayed that she wouldn't come anywhere near her. A computer was thrown onto the floor and a couple of students, who happened to get in her way, were tossed aside like rag dolls as she howled up the stairs.
And now she was on her way to see that very woman and her entire body shook like a leaf while she walked up the same stairs that the coach took that frightful afternoon.
Anya counted her steps to get to the coach's office as a way to keep her nerves calm. When she reached seventy two, she stood in front of the dark open doorway. Her hands trembled as she lifted one to knock on the doorframe. The murmur of the hallway traffic muted the knock and she wasn't sure if the woman heard her or not. She stepped forward and peered inside, her straightened brown hair spilling over her shoulder as she turned her face towards the desk. "Coach Sylvester?" Her small voice asked. The office was empty and she actually felt relieved. What did this mean about try outs though?
'Maybe it's not meant to be?' She internally said to herself and she pulled away from the doorway and headed in the direction of her locker. 'Oh well. I can always try out for something else. I'm sure there are other clubs in this school.' Her voice narrated inside her head as she weaved around some people. And if it wasn't for the busy hallways she would have missed the bulletin board with various flyers for different school clubs. "What do we have..here." She slowly spoke aloud and eyed the numerous colorful sheets.
There were groups for just about everything under the sun and her sparkling sapphire eyes attempted to take in as much as she could. The first thing she spotted was a sign up sheet for Cheerios' tryouts; the red font rather hard to miss. All the lines were filled with various names and when she scanned down to the bottom a lone empty line beckoned her. Her fingers glided up and down her jeans as she considered if this was a sign that she were meant to try out. Should she go for it or pretend she missed out? 'But you told Sam you'd give it a shot. You don't want to lie to him, do you?' She thought about this. 'No...I don't.' Anya kept staring at the thin black line that practically towered over her. 'Then stop talking to yourself and put your name on there already. Go. Do it now!' She buried her hand deep inside her purse until her fingers wrapped around the thin purple pen that she kept in there. She leaned forward and neatly filled out her signature and sighed. 'Happy?' She asked and she rolled her eyes. Why did she feel like she signed her life away?
As she straightened up another flyer caught her eye and she almost squeed like an over excited girl who had just seen Justin Bieber in person. This school actually had a LARPing group. It was under Advanced Dungeons and Dragons but she knew what that meant. Without hesitation she put her name on the flyer, that didn't have many signatures, and did a little dance while doing so. It had been so, so long since she had a chance to LARP and after Dawes left there wasn't anybody else to keep it going at Degrassi.
What an incredible day! The sensation she had this morning never waivered and she practically skipped down the hall to her locker, shrugging off a few strange looks from passerbys. She rounded a corner and spotted the familiar blonde guy waiting for her, like he promised. He wore his red and white letterman and was looking down at a comic book in his hand. "Well, well, well. Look who kept true to his word." her voice happily came out as she appraoched her locker and tinkered with the combination lock.
He lowered the comic and grinned at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly. "Sam Evans always keeps his word." After he spoke he pushed off from the lockers while she pulled hers open. "Tell me, half pint. Did you get lined up for a try out?" He asked behind her as she removed some books from her backpack and gathered the items she'll need for her first class. All throughout this time Anya was aware that her eyes were burning hot and she was extremely happy about her decision to wear her hair down.
"I went to Coach Sylvester's office first and she wasn't there. But," she put a bit of cute emphasis on that word before carrying on, "I did find a sign up sheet and managed to squeeze in on that. So...fingers crossed." Right when she said this, Anya actually turned around and motioned the crossing of her fingers with a silly smile to accompany it. She didn't dare tell him about her signing up for the other club. She gently closed her locker and started the short walk to her class. She took a deep breathe before deciding to continue on to a different topic."I think I know how you found out where I lived."
Sam joined her side after he rolled up his comic and stuck it inside his back pocket. With casual demeanor he buried his hands deep into his loose fitted jeans and went from staring down at the floor as they walk to shifting his attention to her. "Do tell." It killed her that he acted so innocent with this, especially with the way his teeth flashed as he continued to sheepishly smile.
"It's because of Mercedes. She must have told it to you in passing or something. That's the only thing that makes the most sense to me." She could feel his eyes stare along the side of her face, her milking white complexion darkening to match the blush she applied there earlier, and Anya pretended to be fascinated by something that was said to the left of her.
There wasn't an immediate answer, and it was probably because she had hit the nail on its head, but his reply made her question things once more. "It really bothers you that you don't know the answer to this, doesn't it? There is a chance you are right. There is also the chance that you are wrong. What I do know is that it's for me to know and for you not to find out."
"Sam." she started to say as they neared her classroom. "It's not nice to tease you know. Shouldn't you be nice to me since I'm the new girl here? It's like I'm the guest and you're the host. So as the host you're supposed to be nice." A flirty laugh escaped her lips after she mentioned this. Anya now stood with her back to the classroom and unable to take her gaze off of him.
"I treat my guests the same way I treat everyone else. There is no special treatment for you, Ahn. Not when it comes to me that is." That devilish grin went along his lips and she wanted to smack him on the shoulder for acting this way. "You're loving this, admit it."
"Fine. Whatever. Do or say what you want. See if I care." Anya purposely discarded his last comment and turned to to head into her class, leaving Sam in the hallway without a goodbye. It took so much strength to not look around at him when she took her seat. She was fairly certain that he didn't expect that type of reaction from her. Hell, she didn't expect to do that to him either. She buried her head inside her binder as if she were trying to read some small print for she wanted to conceal the rather large grin that plastered itself onto her face.
Class, uneventful, ended and she picked up her already organized things seconds after the bell announced the end of first period. "I'm so bored with this town!" Came the dramatic tone from Imo as they both stepped outside of their room. "Tell me that you have something fun planned for this weekend. I need to be rescued from my bedroom walls!" She wrapped her arm around Anya's shoulder and rested her head there while they walked.
"I've got nothing. And when do you think I ever do anything fun? This is me you're talking to." This was very true. There was a time that she had a busy schedule planned out with all sorts of exciting things. Now. Her schedule consisted of school assignments and nothing more.
Imogen walked around and stopped her with both hands on top of her shoulders. "Do you even hear yourself speak? You're Anya MacPherson. You are the funnest most awesomest person that ever existed. And that is coming from me. So you better take what I say with the utmost seriousness."
"If you say so. That still doesn't mean that I know of anything that is going on... and we better get going or we'll be late for our next class." She ducked from under Imo's hold and continued on into the current of students that streamed up and down these hallways.
"What if," Imo jogged to catch up with her hurried walk. "we go out tonight? Drive around and see if we can find an adventure of sorts? Doesn't that peak your interest. Say yes." Imogen put her hand onto Anya's elbow as they slowed down in front of their classroom. "Pretty please. You will be doing me, my mother and the city of Lima the biggest favor if you do this." Her hands were clasped together in a begging movement and Anya couldn't look away from the puppy dog eyes that was loosening up her will to say no.
"Okay! We'll go out tonight. I don't know what you expect to find but I'll do this for you. The last thing I want is for you to be found dead in your room from being bored to death. That is one thing I don't want looming over my head because only I will know it could have been prevented."
Her friend squealed and hugged her around the waist. "This is why I love you!" Then the girl's excited voice, that went on five miles a second, went into detail on everything they could do while they are out and Anya just nodded and laughed all the way until they were in their assigned seats and waiting for the teacher to start.
During the remainder of the day, Anya basically snoozed through her classes. It was Friday and nobody really wanted to be here. There was a collective countdown until the final bell went off and everybody rushed out. Normally she took her time leaving her class, but there was some hope that if she got out fast enough she could possibly bump into him. She hadn't seen Sam since right before first period and she wondered if he was upset with her for pulling that little stunt. There goes that self doubt again. 'Quit second guessing everything you do. It's fine. He is more than likely busy with his own things.'
Her mind went back and forth with scenarios, and while at her locker she started to question her own sanity and that maybe it wasn't healthy for her to be so hung up on him. 'Get a grip, woman.' She scolded herself after she packed the necessary items for the weekend homework she was assigned. Anya shouldered her backpack and closed the locker. Maybe a night out with Imo could do her some good. It can help her not get caught up on everything Sam and maybe have some fun for a change.
Most of the students had cleared the halls already and she was one of the last. It wasn't that she took an extra long time at her locker, it's just on Fridays people usually vanished from the school as quickly as they can. While she walked along the hall, some strums from an acoustic guitar echoed out of an open door of a classroom. The notes were playful, and quick and it sounded like a song that she should know but couldn't quite place it. Anya followed the notes and looked up to see that she was standing in front of the choir room. The girl never went to this part of the school before and she peered inside. A black piano stood closest to the door and rows of empty chairs were along the sides of it.
None of those things interested her as she discovered the source of the music. Sam was sitting down in one of the chairs and a rather stunning blonde girl in a Cheerio's outfit was close to him. The two of them were laughing and singing some lines together and the whole scene made her smile falter. Sam was looking down at his fingers as he picked the notes and the unfamiliar girl confidently brushed the hair out of his eyes, giving him such a loving look that had her want to put as much distance between her and them as possible.
How long did she stand in that doorway? It was hard to gauge as she couldn't exactly remove her eyes from what was taking place in front of her. Either Sam was a complete flirt with all the girls he talks to, or he and this Cheerio had something going on. It was difficult to pick up the conversation they were carrying on, that was mixed in with the singing, but it was obvious that she was watching a private moment between them. They continued on, completely unaware of her presence, and Anya stepped to the side of the door and out of sight.
She needed out of this building.
Her heels rapidly clicked down the hallway as she went to the nearest exit, she didn't care where it lead her for she only needed to be outside in the cold; fresh air on her burning face. The moment the doors closed behind her, the teen girl leaned against the cool metal of the door and closed her hot eyes. 'What did you expect? You really think a guy like him would be single? You're not that naive.' Why did this hurt her so much? They had only talked a handful of times. It's not like they were really friends or anything. Her thumbs looped around the straps of her backback and she glided them up and down as a way to calm her nerves. 'This is good. This happened for a reason. You have a history of getting caught up with a guy too fast. Go out tonight and have fun with Imogen. Try to forget your crush on him and it'll make things that much easier.' Her voice drilled out and Anya blew out a lungful of air in a frustrated fashion. "Ugh. This suck." She said as she hit the door with a closed fist before moving away from it.
Sheila's car was parked in front of the school and she didn't even question why she was so late to getting out there for she had a book of Sodoku puzzles to keep entertained by. "How was your day?" She asked her as she climbed into the backseat of the car. Mer was up front writing in a notebook and she turned around to give Anya a questioning look. She shook her head and aimed her attention on to the American flag that lazily waved out in front of the school.
"It was fine. I'm happy the weekend is here." Her voice came out flat as the stupidity of her reaction settled in.
Mercedes kept looking in her direction and Anya pretended not to notice when the car pulled out and headed home.