Note: Chapter 8 edited! (July 18 04)

Sorry for the bit of a wait there, didn't mean for this chapter to take so long!

Chapter 8 - Distracted Thoughts

Marta patted Summer on the head. "What are you talking about, hun? Of course it's not your fault! Zack just made a stupid decision, and he's going to realize it after five minutes of being around that… thing."

Summer didn't say anything, and kept her head buried into Marta's shoulder. She kept replaying the scene of Eleni jumping on Zack over and over again in her head.

"Summer?" Marta pulled away from her best friend to look her straight in the eye. "I know you're hurt, and I know you want to torture someone really, really badly right now. But do you know what would give Eleni the most satisfaction? She'd love to know that you're sitting here, upset, and that she's making your life a living hell. She lives for this, girl!"

The truth in Marta's words resulted in Summer standing up. As she smoothed out her skirt, she said, "You're right, Twink, of course. I just... God, it hurts, you know?"

Marta nodded her head hastily. "I totally know what you mean, and I don't blame you at all. All I'm saying is, don't let Eleni know that," she reasoned, as she looked up at Summer, who seemed to have stopped crying.

Summer looked at herself in the mirror. What a face, she thought to herself with a hint of sarcasm. Looking back at her in the mirror was a girl with Summer's hair and facial structure, except the face was discernable: the eyes were all puffy, and mascara and eyeliner ran down the cheeks.

Summer laughed out loud. "Thank God I brought my makeup, eh?"

Marta smirked. "I was trying to figure out how to tell you."

----

Summer peeked through the window of Room 103-C, her new classroom, and tried to see what was going on. She had made a quick trip to her locker, and with the magic of cover-up and eyeliner, looked almost as good as new.

The class sizes at Horace Green had always been fairly small, simply because there weren't many people around that both could afford the school, and wanted to send their children there. So, in the end, the same group of kids had made up their grade throughout their school years.

Summer tried not to groan in defeat as she saw what was taking place inside the classroom. Their teacher, who they knew as Mrs. Teltrin, was already speaking animatedly to the class. Rumours were that Teltrin was extremely nice, but very, very fair. So when it came to breaking the rules, such as being late, someone would probably get punished.

"What's happening?" Marta whispered from her position on the floor.

"Oh, we're just fifteen minutes late for our first day of school, that's all."

Marta rolled her eyes. "Well, do you want to be twenty minutes late? Knock on the door, retard."

Summer chose not to argue, and with a deep breath, knocked on the door. Mrs. Teltrin immediately stopped what she was doing, and came to open the door.

"Welcome, girls, did you get lost?"

Summer shook her head, quickly thinking of a way to explain their tardiness. "No, sorry Mrs. Teltrin, there was just a slight problem…" Her voice trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

Mrs. Teltrin didn't pry. "That's fine girls. However, I still want to talk to you after class, alright?"

Summer and Marta's eyes both dropped to the ground in embarrassment and defeat.

"Okay, there's a couple open spots that you girls can take up. I let the kids pick their own seats this year, so hopefully these are okay with you as well."

Summer looked at the two remaining empty desks. Before she had time to really choose a seat, though, Marta headed off for the one closest to the window, which had obviously been saved for her, as she took her seat beside Freddy.

Summer turned to make her way to her new desk, and with all her might, held back an angry scream, as she realized that not only was she sitting in the back, but right behind Zack, who was right beside Eleni. Perfect. Just perfect, I love watching girls ruin my life, she thought as she looked straight ahead at the blackboard.

"Okay," started Mrs. Teltrin, "moving on, ladies and gents. As I was saying, this year we'll be working on a 'Day One, Day Two' schedule. Does anyone know what I mean by this?"

Summer's hand shot up, and she began talking when Teltrin pointed to her. "Doesn't it mean that we'll be having the same subjects every other day?"

Mrs. Teltrin nodded. "Exactly… Sorry, I didn't catch your name…?"

"Summer."

"Right. Well, yes, Summer that's exactly what it means. If you will all take out a piece of paper, or your agenda books I handed out - girls, if you didn't get one, they're on the back ledge there. So, on Day Ones, which we'll start tomorrow, you will have the Sciences, World Cultures, Engli--"

Mrs. Teltrin was interrupted by Ms. Mullins stepping into the room. "Why, hello, Ms. Mullins!"

The principal gave Teltrin a curt nod. "Yes, hello, good day to you students."

"Good day Ms. Mullins," was the monotonous reply.

Ms. Mullins turned her head to Mrs. Teltrin once again. "I was just wondering if I could have a brief word with Summer Hathaway? It wouldn't take more than three minutes." And without waiting for Mrs. Teltrin's reply, Mullins beckoned Summer up with her hand.

Summer felt her face turn red as she headed up her row to the door held ajar by Ms. Mullins. What a great first impression I must be making, turning up late, then being escorted out by the principal, of all people…

When the door shut behind the pair, Ms. Mullins smiled at Summer. "Hello, Summer, did you have a good vacation?"

Summer opened her mouth to reply, but Ms. Mullins kept talking. "That's great. How's the band going?"

"I-it's good…" Summer forced out, as her mind quickly went to the absence of Dewey, Alicia and Tomika.

"Well, then, perfect!" Ms. Mullins clapped her hands. "In that case, I wanted to ask you, since you are the band manager, yes? Anyway, I was wondering if you guys would like to perform at the Christmas dance held in December for the secondary students before you get out for holidays? Just a couple Christmas-y songs, you know?"

Summer opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. Ms Mullins, fortunately, kept on talking. "I just wanted to tell you now so I could give you guys enough time to find songs, practice, etcetera."

And with that, the principal smiled, and opened the classroom door again for Summer, who stepped inside and slowly walked back to her seat.

Summer sank into her chair, and was barely listening to Mrs. Teltrin talk about classroom behaviour when Zack turned around partly in his seat. "Hey, what did Mullins want?"

Summer slowly brought her head up. If there was anyone in the world she wanted to talk to right now, it wasn't Zack. It may have been a different story forty-five minutes beforehand, but at this point, Summer wanted to chop his head off. Through gritted teeth, Summer said, "If it had concerned you, she would have called you out of the classroom, wouldn't she?"

Zack winced, but didn't back off. "Oh… I just thought I heard her say something about 'band manager,' so I assumed it was something to do with the band," he whispered.

"Well," finished Summer, "you assumed wrong. Turn around now, I don't want to get in any more trouble before this day ends."

----

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur for Summer. She tried her best to pay attention to Mrs. Teltrin, but soon realized it was a lot easier to pay attention when sitting in the front of the classroom - being in the back brought on the distractions of being able to see everyone else.

Summer had noticed that even though she was sure Marta was ecstatic to be sitting beside Freddy, she seemed rather tense, and it was undoubtedly because right behind her, sat Alicia.

Freddy was sitting right in front of Frankie. The two had been best friends in grade five, but the band had brought Freddy and Zack close together, and the guitarist quickly replaced Frankie. Frankie still tried to be as close to Freddy as he could, though.

Summer had tried her best all day not to turn to her right. Beside her sat Michelle. It was true that she didn't despise her in the way she did Eleni, but the two were best friends, so loyalties lay in a place Summer didn't want to go. And, of course, the next desk up from Michelle held Eleni, and Summer didn't think she could handle looking at her.

As the final bell of the day rang, Summer made eye contact with Marta, and together, they went in the opposite direction of the door - Mrs. Teltrin's desk.

Mrs. Teltrin smiled at the two girls. "Thanks for complying girls, and not just leaving like a lot of kids would do. That brings me to respect you more, and respect is an important thing in the classroom." She paused. "Now, you don't have to tell me the whole story, but I can't let you guys go without a bit more of a specific explanation of why you girls were late."

Marta looked uncomfortable as she opened her mouth to speak. "Um… Well something happened between two people in our class that kind of… Surprised us. Especially Summer… She just needed a minute to… Well… yeah."

Mrs. Teltrin nodded. "Gotcha. No worries, girls, I didn't mean to pry, I just needed to know a bit more. But do realize that I really don't tolerate tardiness, so please try your best to be on time from now on." And with a wink and a wave of her hand, Mrs. Teltrin excused the pair from the classroom.

Once safely out of hearing range, Marta let out a low whistle. "We dodged a bullet there, eh Tink?"

Summer couldn't help but release a relieved laugh. "Yeah, she's really nice. I don't think any of our old teachers would have been so slack."

Marta nodded, but changed the subject. "What did Mullins want?"

Summer was about to open her mouth to tell her, when she saw Freddy and Zack approaching the two of them. Quickly, Summer said, "I'll tell you later."

Marta gave a look of comprehension, and when the pair of boys reached the girls, explained to Summer, "I'm going over to Freddy's right now… Do you want to come?" A look of scepticism overcame Marta's face. "It'll be me, Freddy… Zack, and Eleni."

Summer shook her head. "It's okay, I'm going to go home."

"You sure, Tinkerbell?" Zack said hesitantly.

"Quite sure." Summer didn't even bother looking at Zack as she responded. She parted with the group, saying, "Bye!" and went to go find her ride without her best friend.

----

The car ride home had been silent, except for the mandatory "Hello, how was school?" exchange. Summer left the car immediately after it was shut up, and proceeded to stomp all the way to her room.

She jumped onto her bed, and once she was sure her voice was muffled by her pillow, let out the longest chain of screams and curses she had ever put forth. So not only has Eleni ruined my life, but now we have to find a guitarist and vocalist, pronto… Whoever said I wanted to be the God damned band manager?!

Once the yelling finished, Summer immediately got up and made her way to her stereo. This time there was no contemplating what to put on, and she rifled through her collection of CDs, searching for the right one.

With this one, she wasn't only going to satisfy her own craving, oh no, she was going to blast Dewey and Zack at the same time.

"Heal me, I'm heartsick, I'm hungry and I'm broken…"

"Why? Why me? WHY ME?!" Summer slammed her fist once again onto her comforter as tears pricked in the corner of her eyes.

As the words to No Vacancy's only hit rang so incredibly true, Summer hoped with all her might that her best friend would have the sense to phone her once she got home.

A/N - Hopefully that was okay. If any of you care, I actually did create a seating plan, so if you want to see it, I'll be posting it up on my website soon. If you're interested, it'll be up in my bio... Anywhosers, please review, thanks guys!!