Chapter 8: Ren's first day

"Hurry up Ren! You don't want to be late on your first day back to school!" Louis shouted. He folded his arms across his chest as he waited impatiently for his sister to come down. "What's taking you so long?"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," she said as she trudged down the stairs. "Pipe down, will you?"  

He did a double take on her as soon as she reached the foot of the stairs. "You're wearing that to school?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah," she answered with a shrug. "What's wrong with it?" She walked towards the kitchen where both their parents were having coffee. Louis was instantly at her heels.

He narrowed his eyes. "Don't you think that skirt is a little, uh, short?" Really, he was seeing a lot of skin, for him anyway. Guys would definitely be staring.

Ren scoffed at his remark. "Louis, since when did you start being my fashion adviser?" She gathered her things in her bag. She turned to her mom. "It's a good thing I didn't get any ugly scars from the accident."

"Yeah Ren," Eileen agreed. "That ointment the doctor gave works like magic, or else we wouldn't be able to get that skirt."

"Mom!" Louis said as he turned towards her. "You actually got her that?!"

"What? I think it's pretty nice." She said as she sipped her coffee.

Louis groaned. They obviously didn't get his point. "I'll wait for you outside," he conceded.

Ren watched him curiously as he stepped outside the door. "Louis is sure acting weird these past few days."

Steve looked up from the newspaper he was reading. "Lou's been like that for some time now, and I think it's good he's changed. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Sure, whatever you say, dad." She picked up her bag. "I need to get going. He might have a fit if I don't show up in three minutes." She gave both of them a kiss before disappearing through the door.

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"Are you sure you don't need help carrying your things?" Louis asked for the millionth time.

Ren grabbed him by the shoulder and looked directly at his eyes. "Louis, how many times must I answer that question?! You ask that  every five seconds since we left home! I can carry my own things, thank you very much." She let go of him and continued on walking.

"Geez," he said as he rubbed his shoulders. "No need to get all physical on me, you know. I was just asking." He quickened his pace to catch up with her.

"Hey, there's Ruby and Monique," she said, giving them a wave.

"Guess that's my cue," he muttered. "I'll see you after school, okay? I'll be waiting for you outside." He never got a reply. Ren was already halfway towards her friends. Squeals of delight were heard as soon as she reached them.

Louis sighed as he watched the three friends talk animatedly with each other.

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"Ren, oh my god, it's so nice to see you!" Monique shrieked excitedly. She proceeded to give her friend a big hug.

"Monique wait," Ruby called out. "You don't want to give her broken bones all over again, do you?" she cautioned her.

Monique stopped dead at her tracks. "Oh, right."

Ren rolled her eyes. "Girls, come on, this is not the welcome I expected to receive. Now, where's my hug?" She opened her arms wide.

Ruby and Monique were practically jumping up and down as they hug their best friend.

"We need some major catching up to do," Ren said as soon as they let go of her. "I mean, it feels like a lot has changed since I last remembered."

"Yeah, and for starters, you!" Ruby looked at her from head to toe, grinning. "I must say, that outfit looks totally fabulous on you!"

Monique nodded in agreement. "It's not the outfit I expect for you to wear, but you go girl!"

She smiled at them. "You like it? Mom and I got it at the mall last weekend."

"We do," Monique said happily.

"Yeah, and apparently so do they," Ruby whispered as she motioned towards the guys from across the yard. "They are so checking you out." She gushed.

Ren looked at their direction. Sure enough, the guys were looking, more correctly staring, at her. She flashed them a smile and gave a little wave.

Ruby and Monique exchanged surprised glances.

"What?" she innocently asked as she caught their expression. "I was just greeting them."

"Right, greeting them," Ruby mumbled with a knowing look. "Well, come on, we don't want to be late for school. Besides," she added. "If we stay a little longer, those guys might drown us with their drool."

"Eww!" Ren and Monique chorused. Before they could react further, she had already grabbed both their wrists and dragged them towards the school building.

Ren gave one last glance at the guys and smiled. Male attention was not something new to her. Sure, she had them before. She just didn't pay that much attention to it. But somehow, she was starting to enjoy now.

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"Hey Lou, how's it going?" Twitty asked as soon as he reached his locker. He craned his neck to scan the area. "I thought Ren was coming to school today?"

"She is," he answered as he searched his locker. "She's just outside with Ruby and Monique, probably catching up on things. Where's Tawny?"

"I don't know, must be running late."

Just then, Ren appeared at the hallway, flaked by her friends. Everybody's head seemed to turn as Ren walked, actually sauntered, through the halls. Lots of "nice to see you!" and "welcome back!" were heard. She smiled as she greeted all of them.

Louis slammed his locker shut, annoyed at the attention her sister was getting, especially from the school's male population.

"Dude, not to offend you or anything, but," Twitty said as he stared at Ren. "I never really noticed that your sister is that… hot, to put it gently." He confided.

Louis hit him on the shoulders. "Shut up, Twitty," he angrily said.   

"Ow," he said, rubbing his shoulders. "I was just stating the obvious, man. I bet lots of guys have already noticed that."  He suddenly smiled brightly as Ren and company passed by.

"Hi Ren, Nice to see you back!" he greeted them.

Ren flashed him a smile. "Thanks, Alan," she replied. "Hi Lou, catch you guys later."

Louis watched as her sister disappeared in the corner. He then stomped off to class, followed closely by a rather confused Twitty.

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"So Ren, have you finished those assignments I gave you?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

Ren tried her best to hide her surprise as she looked up from her notebook. "About that, Mrs. Peterson." She smiled at her sweetly. "I was wondering if you could give me an extension. I haven't really finished it, since… I just got back from the hospital…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

Her teacher looked at her for a moment before speaking. "Fine then, submit it to me by Friday. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am, " she quickly answered.

"Alright, moving on," her teacher finally said to the class. "If you open your physics book to page 248, the second law of Newton states.."

Mrs. Peterson's voice faded into background as Ren heaved a sigh of relief. In reality, she hasn't even started doing it. In fact, she hasn't started doing any of her assignments. Ever since she got home, she found out that she was just not in the mood to bury herself in a mountain of school work, like she always did. Well, maybe she don't need to, if she could just persuade her other teachers like she did with Mrs. Peterson.

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