Chapter 5
"Now that we're all here, it's time for us to go to our room," the Aerobics teacher, Mr. Brisco, said. "Before you all ask, yeah, we have our own Aerobics room," he said, seeing the looks on their faces. "So come on, follow me."
They all followed the teacher across the crowded gym. There were three other gym classes going on at the same time, so it was extremely loud. As Steph followed the teacher to the Aerobics room with Chris on one side of her and Ty on the other side, she couldn't help but think that this was probably going to be the best period ever, and quite possibly, her favorite class.
Mr. Brisco led them through some double doors at the back of the gym and into a small room. The room had a shiny wooden floor, a door leading outside, and three huge windows. The most intriguing part of the room, however, were the mirrors that covered the entire back wall.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why we have mirrors on the back wall," Mr. Brisco said, sitting Indian-style on the floor. "Well those are here so we can watch ourselves when we do it."
"Watch ourselves when we do it?" Chris repeated. He smirked. "I've never really been into that kind of kinky stuff."
Everyone laughed a little, and Mr. Brisco glared at Chris for a minute before laughing, too. "You're lucky I like you, Irvine. You know I was talking about Aerobics."
"He already knows you?" Steph asked, one eyebrow raised. "Have you taken this class before?"
"No. I've been knowing Mr. B since I was in middle school, when I first got into weight training and weight lifting," Chris said, sitting down on the floor and looking up at Steph. She sat down next to him, and Ty sat down near her. "And he likes me because I helped him save his marriage."
"You helped him save his marriage? Wow," Steph said, awed. "How'd you do that?"
"It's a long story," he said with a sigh. "But someday we'll sit down together and I'll tell you all about it. I've never told anyone about it before."
"Why not?" she asked curiously.
"Some things are just not meant to be broadcasted all over the place, you know? And that, in my opinion, is one of those things," he said, shrugging.
"That's true," she said, nodding in agreement. "You know, I think you-"
Just then, the door to the Aerobics room opened, and a very familiar guy walked in. He walked over to Mr. Brisco. "Sorry I'm late. I got a little...caught up...with someone in the hallway," he apologized. "But a security guard in the courtyard scanned my ID and gave me a tardy already."
"Ok," Mr. Brisco said, looking down at his attendance sheet. "What's your name?"
"Levesque," the guy said, turning to look at the other students. His eyes roamed over all of the students. There were eighteen girls and only one guy besides himself. His eyes rested on Steph, and he smiled. "Paul Levesque."
"Ok, Levesque, go ahead and take a seat somewhere. We're not really doing anything today," Mr. Brisco told him.
"Sure thing," Paul said. He made a beeline over to where Steph, Chris, and Ty were sitting together. He sat down right in front of Steph and leaned back a little, just looking at her.
"Paul?" Chris spoke up after a few moments.
"Yeah?" Paul asked, never taking his eyes off Steph.
"What the hell are you looking at her like that for?" Chris asked bluntly.
"Is it against the law for a guy to look at a pretty girl these days?" Paul asked.
"No," Chris retorted. "But I recall telling you earlier in the courtyard that she's only 14 and she's too young for you."
"And I'm supposed to take you seriously?" Paul scoffed. "Please, spare me."
"I can make you take me seriously," Chris threatened, standing up.
"Then make me," Paul shot back, standing up as well. He towered over Chris by at least a good three or four inches in height, but Chris didn't look intimidated at all.
"This is ridiculous," Steph said, standing up as the two young men glared at each other. She had never known that Chris was so very protective of her, and she had never known that he was such a hothead, but now she noticed that he was just as much of a hothead as Shane. It was flattering to know that he would be willing to stand up and fight for her, but she didn't want him to get into any fights because of her. It was his senior year, after all, and any little altercations could complicate his entire year. No, she definitely didn't want to be the cause of that.
"Ridiculous? I'll tell you what's ridiculous, Steph," Chris said, still in Paul's face. "The fact that this guy thinks I'll just sit back and let you become another one of his female victims."
"Female victims? You've got to be kidding me," Paul said, rolling his eyes. "You better stop bad-mouthing me, Irvine."
"Chris, it's not worth it," Steph said, putting her hand on Chris's arm when she noticed how tense he was. "Why don't we move to the other side of the room or something?"
"Yeah," Ty said, standing up as well. By then, the whole class was watching, wondering what would happen. It was funny how Mr. Brisco hadn't attempted to do anything to stop the situation from escalating. "Let's just move to the other side of the classroom."
Chris was silent for a moment, still glaring at Paul. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he looked back at Steph. "Fine," he said. "I'll move. But if he comes over and starts trying to work his tired game on you again, Steph, I swear I'm going to..."
"He won't," Steph said, glaring at Paul. "I don't know him very well, but I think he's smart enough to understand when a girl's not interested in him."
"You act like I'm in love with you or something," Paul said to Steph. "I'm only trying to get to know you..." He shrugged. "But you're not the only female in this classroom."
"Whatever," Steph said, pulling Chris's arm again. "Come on, Chris."
"You stay away from her," Chris warned Paul. He glared at him for another hot second before turning and following Steph over to the other side of the room. They walked over to the other side of the room and sat down together, leaning against the wall. Chris leaned his head against the wall and sighed, then closed his eyes.
"Why do you let him get to you like that?" Steph asked him, looking at him as he leaned his head against the wall. God, he is absolutely gorgeous with his eyes closed like that, she thought, but of course she wasn't going to say that out loud.
"I'm usually able to control my temper around school, but there's always just been something off about him. I just don't like him," Chris said, opening his eyes. He looked at Steph. "And I especially don't like the fact that he's trying to talk to you. I don't like that at all."
They sat there in silence until the bell finally rang at 2:15 P.M., officially ending the first day of school.
"Finally," Chris said, standing up. He held his hand out to Steph and pulled her to her feet. He glared across the room at Paul before looking back at Steph again. "Let's get out of here before he comes over here... I'm not so sure I'd be able to resist kicking his butt all over this room."
"So Ty, did I hear your sister say that she made you ride the bus to school today?" Steph asked a few minutes later as she, Ty, and Chris made their way through the crowded hallways on their way to the student parking lot.
"Yeah, unfortunately," Ty said with a sigh. "The kids on my bus are total pigs."
"I still can't believe Trish would treat you this way," Chris said, one hand on Steph's book bag as they walked. "I mean, I've always known that she's sort of obsessed with popularity but this is just too much."
"I know..." Ty's voice trailed off as they finally reached the student parking lot. "So... I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Steph. I've got to go get on the bus so I can find a good seat."
"That's dumb. Come with me," Steph said. "I'm sure Shane wouldn't mind giving you a ride home."
"Really? Shane?" Ty asked, suddenly excited. "As in your hot big brother Shane?"
"I don't know about hot, but yeah, my brother," Steph replied, and Chris laughed.
"You don't have to tell me twice then," Ty said, beaming. "Lead the way."
They walked over to where Shane had parked earlier that morning. Ty slowly walked around Shane's car, admiring it. Chris, who had parked next to Shane, popped his trunk open and tossed his book bag inside. Closing his trunk, he leaned against the side of his car and looked at Steph. "So, on a scale of one to ten, what was your first day like?" he asked her.
"Let's see... A lot of bad things happened, but then there was you, and you made them all better," Steph said, leaning against Shane's car. "Based on that, I'd say it was a ten."
"I made them better?" he asked, smiling at her. "Really?"
"Are you kidding me, Chris?" she asked, slowly running her tongue over her bottom lip. "You defended me, you showed me where my classes were, you gave me a tour... You were really there for me today, and you didn't even have to be."
"I wanted to be," he said, stepping closer to her. "You know, I've been waiting for a long time for you to get here at Spritzville."
"Why?" she asked.
"Well, because I like being around you," he said, putting one hand on the car on one side of her and leaning closer to her. "I haven't really gotten the chance to see much of you lately, you know? And you've...you've really grown up."
"I know," she said. She was nervous already as he leaned in front of her, looking at her in that way that he was looking at her.
"I can still remember the days when we used to all play in the club house in your backyard," he said, laughing. "Those were the good old days, in the club house."
"Just the club house? What about the playroom?" she asked pointedly. "I can remember us always being in the playroom."
"Ah, the playroom! How could I forget about the playroom?" he asked, sounding awed that he'd forgotten. "You and Shane had the best playroom on the block. Everybody wanted to come to your house, just to play in your playroom."
"Daddy remodeled it. He turned it into a sort of entertainment room for us," she told him. "It's pretty awesome now... Maybe you could come over sometime and see it."
"Yeah," he said, leaning even closer to her. He looked down at her lips. "Maybe... Maybe I could come over sometime and you could show it to me."
She looked up at him and couldn't believe just how unbelievably close he was standing to her. His lips were inches away. All she had to do was close the distance and she'd be kissing him...
"Chris!" a shrill voice interrupted.
Chris and Steph both looked over in the direction that the shrill voice had come from. It was Trish, and she looked, quite frankly, pissed.
"Trish? Uh, what's up?" Chris asked, backing away from Steph with a guilty look on his face. "You look mad. What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Trish repeated. "What's wrong is that you forgot to meet me after sixth period, in favor of hanging out with my little sister and her friend! That's what's wrong!"
"I honestly forgot," Chris said. "But really, it's not like you can't walk out to the parking lot by yourself without getting lost."
"That's not the point," Trish said, sending a stony look Steph's way. "The point is that ever since she got here this morning, you've been ignoring me!"
"I haven't been ignoring you, Trish," Chris said with a sigh. "It's just, Steph's new here, and she's my friend. The least I could do was help her out today."
"Whatever, Chris," Trish said. She looked over and saw Ty. "And what are you doing over here? You know you're supposed to be riding the bus home."
"My brother's going to give her a ride home," Steph spoke up. "So she doesn't need to ride the bus home."
"Excuse me, did you say something to me?" Trish asked, looking at Steph.
"Yeah, I said-" Steph started, but she got cut off.
"I didn't think so," Trish interrupted. "Because, last time I checked, freshmen don't talk to me."
"Trish, that's enough," Chris said quietly.
"Whatever. Ty, go wait by the car," Trish said. "And if anyone asks, you're just a kid I'm taking home because I feel sorry for you."
Ty nodded and looked at the ground, embarrassed. "Bye Steph, bye Chris," she mumbled, then walked away, still looking at the ground.
"Why do you treat her like that?" Steph asked. "She's your sister. My brother would never treat me like that."
"It's none of your business, little girl," Trish snapped. She looked at Chris. "Walk me to my car. Now."
"Fine," Chris said in a strained voice, not looking at Steph. Trish turned and started walking away and Chris followed, right on her heels like a trained puppy.
Steph watched them make their way over to a shiny silver Mercedes where Ty was waiting. Trish leaned against the driver's side of the car and looked up at Chris. They started talking, and then Trish started waving her hands around, as if she was placing emphasis on a point she was trying to make. Chris started waving his hands around, too, also trying to make a point. Steph watched intently, because it looked like they were having an argument. Chris started to walk away, shaking his head, and Trish followed, grabbing his arm and turning her around to face him again. Then she smiled, put her arms around him, and pulled him down for a kiss. Steph swallowed hard when she saw him kiss Trish back.
"You're now witnessing the Chris and Trish saga," Shane said dramatically from next to her.
"I didn't know you were standing there," Steph said, one hand on her chest.
"Yeah. So, I notice you're watching the soap opera today," he said, looking over at Chris and Trish.
"Soap opera?" she asked, looking over at the couple as well.
"Yeah. That's what their relationship is like. She gets ticked off at him for no reason at all, and she yells at him and stuff, and sometimes when she's feeling bold, she slaps him," he said, shaking his head.
"She slaps him?"
"Yeah. I keep telling him to get out of that relationship, but something about her just keeps him with her, and I don't know what it is... Maybe it's the sex."
"They...sleep together?" she asked carefully.
"Well, yeah," he laughed, as if that had been completely obvious. "I mean, that's the only thing I can think of that she'd use to keep him."
She closed her eyes for a minute, then took a deep breath and turned away from the scene in front of her. "Shane, I'm ready to go home. Today's been a long day."
"Where's Ames at?" he asked, looking around.
"No clue," she replied, forcing herself not to turn around and look at Chris and Trish. "I haven't seen her since right after fifth period."
"Oh," he said. "Well, we have to wait on her and C-Dawg..."
C-Dawg showed up about two minutes later, and then, five minutes later, Amy came rushing over to the car, where Shane, C-Dawg, and Steph were sitting watching some silly DVD Shane had bought. Amy knocked lightly on Shane's window, and Shane let the window down.
"Where's your book bag?" Shane asked immediately.
"Um, I'm catching a ride home with Matt, Adam, and their friend Sean," Amy said, biting her lip. "You know Sean? He's a senior."
"Sean Waltman?" Shane asked.
"Yeah, that's him," Amy said, smiling. "He's giving me a ride home. They're all so cool..."
"Cool, huh?" Shane asked, looking away from her.
"Cool and hot. I didn't know that combination was possible..." Amy's voice trailed off. She shook her head and smiled. "Anyway, I'm off! Oh yeah, and Steph, I'm going to call you tonight. A lot happened today..." And with a quick wave, she was gone, her red hair flying in the wind.
"Today's been a long day," Shane said, watching her go and cranking up the car. He backed up, then started driving through the parking lot, headed for the exit. He drove by Trish and Chris, who were still making out.
"Agreed," Steph said, unable to stop looking. "A very long day..."
A/N: Sorry this chapter is so long. I just had to get the first day of school over. I can't believe it took me five chapters to do it! But don't worry, I just had the perfect idea for something that's going to happen... It's going to be great!