After running into Adrian at the store and Ashley told me Ricky was asking around about me being in town, I decided to lay low since I was sure that word of my reappearance had spread across the school. But on Saturday night, my mother approached me saying that at seven am Monday morning, I'd be going back to Ulysses S. Grant High School. I groaned and protested all I could, but there was no changing the unavoidable. At some point, I'd have to return to school.

"Good morning." Anne said from the doorway. Amy looked up from Jordan's face to look at her.

"Hey." She replied with a sigh.

"So you're going today?"

Amy's eyes returned to the baby. She didn't want to face them yet. Other than the freshmen, pretty much everyone knew her. That was something she never wanted to face. "I don't think I can, Mom. What about Jordan?"

"I'm perfectly capable of watching her for the day. And you need your education."

"But, Mom…"

"No buts. Go get ready." She said firmly.

Sighing, Amy popped the bottle out of Jordan's mouth and replaced it with a pacifier. Then, she got up and carefully passed her to Anne before disappearing into the bathroom.

--

"Ashley! Are you coming?" She called from the door. Ashley rolled her eyes as she walked out of the kitchen. Anne followed out holding Jordan in her arms. Amy kissed her daughter's cheek and opened the door. Ashley slipped out first mumbling a 'goodbye.'

"Bye." Amy said before walking out. Ashley was sitting in the passenger seat impatiently waiting. Amy trudged to the car and set her things in the backseat before climbing into the drivers' seat.

The drive to school was silent other than the radio. Amy pulled into the school parking lot and turned off the car. Ashley got out first and noticed her sister hadn't moved. Amy's gaze was straight ahead at the school, and her hands were in her lap.

"Are you coming?" She asked in an irritated tone.

Shooting her a glare, she opened the car door and stepped out. "Do you realize how hard this is?" She asked leaning over the roof of the car. Rolling her eyes, Ashley picked up her books. Taking a deep breath, Amy did the same thing then slowly followed her to towards the building. She could feel her face redden the more nervous she came. Taking slow, deep breaths, she hoped her face would return to its usual color. But she wasn't sure. People were staring at her. And the more gazes that met hers, the more she felt like she would hyperventilate. Quickly saying a few words nearly inaudibly, she hurried down the hall. When she turned the corner, she ran right into someone's chest. The person grabbed her arm to stabilize her on her feet. She mumbled an apology as she glanced up. Ricky Underwood stared back at her. The one person she hoped to get through at least one day without seeing was standing right there in front of her. He wore his usual clothes: a long-sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, a short-sleeve shirt on top of it, and a pair of jeans.

"So it's true?" She just stared at him. The first bell rang, and people slowly started to shuffle around them. Rolling her eyes, she looked away from him blinked away the tears. With one last glance, she pushed past him. He turned and followed. "So you aren't going say 'hi.'" He asked smugly.

Wordlessly, she kept walked down the quickly emptying halls. He grabbed her arm. "Let go of me, Ricky." She said with all that she could muster up as she tried to yank her arm away. He moved closer to her studying her face carefully. Once he was within a few feet, she pushed him away and yanked her arm with all her arms away with all her might. "Leave me alone." She turned and was off again.

"Look who finally figured out how to speak for themselves." He cockily clapped his hands together. "Bravo, I didn't think you had it in you."

She didn't look back just hurried off to her next class.