We sat there for the most part of the free period, sometimes just silently reading, sometimes mindlessly chatting. He always seemed to avoid any personal questions, hence why he's still constantly referred to as 'he', but I did find out that he is in my English, which meant he would be a senior, seeing as I'm the only advanced junior in the class. The reason he wasn't in the class earlier was because he was excused for personal reasons, another thing he wouldn't tell me.
When the time came for final period, I hadn't learnt anything significant about him and his hold on me hadn't gone away. If anything it had intensified. It still perplexed me that he was always alone. From what I had witnessed, he was funny and charming and had just the right amount of wit to be endearing, maybe a little quite but I sensed that was more out of choice. But still we eventually parted ways to go to our next classes. I had Gym next, he had History. It was strange, when I asked him what he had, he got a little flustered and started stuttering, it was almost like he didn't know what class he had. Oh well, he must just have a terrible memory.
I got to the gym block and changed fairly quickly, pulling on a pair of black gym shorts and the standard yellow Oakridge High School PE shirt, before throwing my curly hair in a messy bun. Once I am finished I walk out to the bleachers where we were supposed to wait for class to start. People slowly trickle out, all wearing the same yellow T-shirts as I am. Because there is so little students here the classes are quite small, so there's only around twenty kids at most.
The sudden shriek of a whistle pulls me from my thoughts. At the bottom of the bleachers stands a stumpy man, who looks to be in his late fifties, with his bushy grey beard and balding head. From his attire of a purple tracksuit, I assume he is the gym teacher. Then he begins talking. And he continues to talk, on and on and on and on. His deep scratchy voice droning on, filling the entire gym with stories of his life and all his many adventures that seemed just a little unrealistic. I'm beginning to think that this will continue for the rest of the class, I'm not sure how much time has passed, I left my watch in my bag, but I have a feeling we're not going to get much sport done this lesson.
"When will this end?" I mutter to myself, running my hands through my hair in boredom.
"If we're lucky, end of the period." The voice make me jump and I spin around to look for the source. Laying stomach down on the row behind me is an African-American girl, with warm chestnut eyes and an abundance of tight, black curls framing her face. She smiles and chuckles a little at my reaction, before stretching an arm out.
"I'm Taylor, this is Keegan." She gestures to the girl sitting crossed legged next to her. Who, by the way, is the reason every teenage girl has insecurities. She reminds me a lot of Anastasia, long, wavy platinum blond hair, perfectly tanned skin, similar pretty face with delicate features except this girl has beautiful blue eyes, irises that start off a light blue at the pupil and gets darker, forming dark blue outer rings. From her sitting position she seems tall, shorter than Anastasia but taller than me, which, to be fair, isn't hard to be. Keegan smiles at me, she seems like the stereotypical popular cheerleader girl, but she seems nice enough.
"And you're Evie." Taylor adds, before both girls laugh at what I can only presume is my shocked reaction.
"You're new here. We don't tend to get new kids here. You'll be the talk of the town here in Oakland, nothing eventful ever happens here." Keegan explains to me, twirling a piece of hair between her fingers idly. I only nod in response, here I am in this tiny town, trying to just blend in and suddenly everybody knows about me. Great. Keegan leans back, resting her elbows on the bleachers behind her.
"You might as well get comfortable, we still have about 20 minutes left, which means we're about 5 minutes away from him realizing the time, deciding it's pointless actually starting the lesson and letting us out early." She states with a simple smirk. The two girls laugh and I join in, turning around on the bleacher to face them. We talk for a few more minutes and compare timetables, I don't have any other classes with either of them, but we exchange phone numbers and agree to meet up some time.
We leave the gym having completed no actual physical activity and I quickly make my way to the changing rooms, thankful for the extra minutes that means I can meet Brennan and Logan at their class. I change back into my normal clothes but leave my hair up, concluding that there would be no point taking it down now. After gathering my things and waving to Keegan and Taylor, I start to make my way to History.
I take in the layout of the school on my way. At first I thought it would be confusing trying to find my way around the school but it really isn't that hard to figure out. Each department has its own building, with about 3 or 4 classrooms in each. So there's a History building, an English building, a Math's building etc. The gym has its own building equipped with the changing rooms and is right next to the sports field. The main building is the biggest on campus, in there are all the student's lockers, the main office, the Principles office, teacher's lounge, counselor's room and the cafeteria. Above the cafeteria, I'm told, there are four 'social rooms', one for each grade, for students to go in during their free period.
I make it to the History building a few minutes before the bell rings. This building is right next to the parking lot, so I decide to try and find Brennan's black H3T Hummer. I quickly find it parked at the opposite side of the lot so I settle myself down on the grass, leaning against a tree, grateful for the shade. When the bell rings about 5 minutes later, I wait until I see Brennan and Logan before I stand back up. I see them leave the building, and can't help but notice that everyone leaving the class look slightly shocked, some people are huddled in, gossiping as if something drastic has happened. I walk to meet the two and when I get closer I catch part of their conversation.
"- it's a little weird." I hear Brennan exclaim.
"What is?" I frown in confusion, I don't like not knowing things.
"Just some kid turning up for class." Logan answers, seeming extremely bored with the whole thing. Brennan opens his mouth to argue back, but I cut him off.
"Wait a second. That's what everyone's freaking out about? Some kid turning up to class?"
"No Evie. Not some kid. Nick Collins."
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Brennan throws his arms up in exasperation.
"Evie, the guy barely shows up to class, like almost never."
"I still don't get why it matters. If the guy wants to ditch, let him ditch. He'll be the one having to do senior year again."
"Yeah, well, everything this guy does seems to be news." Logan mutters.
"What? Why?" Brennan opens his mouth to answer me, but Logan gives him a look.
"Brennan, don't." I look at them in confusion, don't what? "She doesn't have to know."
"I don't have to know what?" Logan's blue-green eyes flicker to me briefly, before ignoring me and turning back to Brennan.
"They're just rumors, we don't even know if they're true."
"You're right." The confusion quickly slips from Brennan's face and his usual cheeky, dimpled grin returns as he presses down on my bun like he would a button. "Let's go squirt."
"Why can't you just tell me?"
"I thought you said it didn't matter?" Logan quips, raising an eyebrow.
"It didn't. But now I'm curious, so I want to know."
"Evie, we're not going to tell you, so can we just go home now?" realizing there not going to tell me anytime soon, I roll my eyes and turn in the direction of the parking lot. But something catches my eye. Over by the doors of the History building, I see the students who were still hanging around begin to separate, splitting into two definitive sides. My curiosity gets the best of me and I crane my neck to catch a glimpse of the crowd. And then I see it.
Leaving the building, emerging from the crowd of teenagers is him. Mystery guy, who up until a few hours ago I thought was a figment of my imagination. Is standing there, effectively parting the sea of gossiping students surrounding him. The whispers start again. People huddle closer to their friends, heads ducked, eyes flickering from him back to their friends. All the tell-tale signs of gossiping. It seems he's caused quite a scene. And then I realize something. This must be the guy Brennan and Logan were talking about. Which means I know his name. Nick Collins.
I'm not sure why but knowing his name gives me a rush of excitement, a flash of happiness, it sends fiery adrenaline coursing through my veins. I finally know something personal about him. Something that sets him apart from others in this town. I'm sure lots of people here are funny or charming or endearingly witty. But I'd bet on the fact he's the only Nick Collins.
I watch as he walks out of the building, through the student lined path, walking towards the parking lot. With his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, head down looking at the floor and black hoodie on, he reminds me of the guy I saw this morning. The guy with a blank face hiding so many emotions. Nothing like the person I saw in the library.
My mood deflates slightly. Until I see his face. There tugging at the corner of his lips, is a slight smirk. He's amused by all this. A small chuckle slips through my lips as I shake my head slightly. Slowly he lifts his head and locks eyes with me, his small smirk grows into a full one. A smile that takes over his whole face and puts an amused twinkle in his eyes. Withdrawing his hands from his pockets, he pulls his hood up, but not before he sends a wink at me. Then he continues walking, the same smirk still gracing his face, as if nothing had happened.
I look to check no one noticed the exchange, luckily Brennan was already heading back to his truck and missed the whole thing. But that was where my luck stopped. Logan had been standing right next to me whilst the whole thing happened and being as observant as he is, he caught the small exchange. He looks at me quizzically and I try to just act like nothing happened, but as I pass him he places a gentle hand on my arm.
"Don't go there Evie."
"What?"
"Don't play dumb. I'm only looking out for you, that guys trouble."
"Says who? The rumors? I thought you didn't know if they were true?" I answer raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know if they're false either Evie." He looks agitated for a moment. "Evie, just try and stay away from him, please. There must be a reason everyone avoids him."
"Maybe it's just because nobody knows him?" Logan looks at me, with a saddened look, almost like sympathy. For me or the guy I don't know.
"Maybe, Eves." Yet he doesn't sound convinced.