~Star Crossed~
After a bus ride that felt about an hour long, Gabe finally arrived to Southside High School, home of the Rams. The school was fairly large, holding about a thousand kids. His older sister, Teddy had just graduated last year. To remind him of her, Gabe passed the shelf of academic awards where Teddy's name was imprinted on about half the plaques, and pictures of her giving her validictorian speech at graduation were strung around for everyone to see. Gabe rolled his eyes. He had never really been close to his sister. The most they ever spoke was in the mornings before school when they'd bond over their mother's terrible cooking. They didn't have much in common, with her goody two shoes demeanor and she was always away, either for after school activities or with the "love of her life", her boyfriend Spencer Walsh. Teddy was now far away for college, leaving her room in the basement empty, which Gabe decided to move into over the summer. So his sister was good for something.
As Gabe made his way to his locker upstairs, he nonchalantly nodded at several people yelling out his name, asking for his schedule. He smiled when he saw Alex already waiting at his locker along with their friend Jake. "Duncan!" Jake yelled out to him, raising his hand up for a high five. "What's good?"
Gabe laughed as he purposely missed Jake's hand, smacking his face instead. Jake wasn't much to look at. He was a stocky red head, had been for as long as Gabe had known him. But he was funny, rich, and Gabe's favorite quality in a person: gullible.
"Why are you guys here so early?" Gabe asked, opening his locker.
"Morning detention," Jake responded, to which Gabe nodded, just remembering the stunt Jake had pulled at their eighth grade graduation which earned him a week of before school detention for the first week of school. He and Alex dared Jake to moon the whole school after he received his diploma, to which he whole heartedly agreed to.
Alex snickered and responded "And I'm here early because Will had some student council meeting, and wanted to meet his new teachers. I swear, he becomes more of an ass kisser everyday." Gabe and Jake laughed, not surprised at all. William Elric was Alex's twin brother. Genes were definitely the only trait the two shared. Will was number 1 in their class rank, president of student council and the national junior honor society, and an all around annoyingly intelligent person. He and Gabe shared many honors classes in the past, and usually paired up on projects and such because Will preferred doing all of the work and Gabe preferred to do none of the work. Aside from that, Gabe wouldn't exactly consider him to be his friend.
"Hey, what do you guys have first hour?" Gabe asked, looking down at his schedule. He had English 1 with some teacher named Hart. He didn't remember Teddy ever mentioning a Hart, so he assumed they were new.
"Elementary algebra 1," Alex and Jake said in unison. They both turned to each other. "Hell yeah!"
"You guys are in the retard class," Gabe laughed. "Dumbasses."
Alex laughed back. "You right."
Just then, the bell rang, signaling all students had five minutes to get to their first class. Gabe bid farewell to his friends and made his way down the long, orange and blue locker filled hallway to English 1. When Gabe walked into the class, the first person he spotted was Jo Keener. She spotted him too because she instantly blushed and gave him a dirty look. Just to annoy her, he sat in the empty seat right next to her. "Really?" she said, pretending to be irritated, when they both knew she couldn't be happier. Gabe had known Jo since 5th grade, and although she constantly was putting him down and beating him up, she was totally in love with him. He used to have a small crush on her too, but he had gotten older, and wasn't interested.
"Hey Joseph, how was your summer? Your hair looks nice," Gabe smirked, gesturing toward Jo's newly blonde hair.
Jo smacked his arm playfully. "Shut up, Gabrielle. You know I can kick your ass."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Gabe bragged, rolling up his sleeve and flexing. "I'm pretty much a man now."
Jo snorted. "Yeah, okay."
"So," Gabe started. "Do you know what this teacher's like? He better not be another old guy who decides to tell us the same story of his life once a week."
Jo shrugged. "At least if he got off track, he'd most likely forget to hand out tests or..."
But Gabe stopped listening when in walked the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. Her long chocolate hair trailed behind her as she made her way across the room. Gabe must've been staring, because her sparkling brown eyes locked onto his own and her lips curved up into a smile. When the bell rang, Gabe nearly jumped out of his seat. He looked back at his dream girl, to find her standing at the front of the class.
"Hello, everybody," she announced. "I'm Miss Hart and this is English 1."
Gabe's mouth dropped. "Damn."
"Excuse me?" Miss Hart asked, looking over to him. A couple of snickers could be heard throughout the room.
"Uh, nothing," Gabe muttered. Usually, he would have a smart ass response but Miss Hart's beauty and the shock that he had to even call her Miss were the only thoughts clouding his mind.
Miss Hart continued on with class, handing out and going over the class syllabus and taking attendance while Gabe continued to stare.
The bell eventually rang, but while everyone else hurried out the classroom, Gabe took his time. He made his way over to Miss Hart's desk, where she was creating the seating chart. "I like sitting in the front," Gabe said to her. She looked up at him, surprised, and smiled.
"Well I have never gotten that request before. Most people prefer the back. Gabriel Duncan, right?"
Gabe nodded. She remembered his name already. "I'm not like most people. I enjoy the front," he lied. "Especially when the teacher is so pretty."
Miss Hart giggled almost flirtatiously, but then frowned. "Well thank you, Gabriel. You should be on your way, you'll be late to your next class. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah," Gabe sighed, giving up winning her affections for the day. He walked to the door and turned to face her. "Oh, you can call me Gabe, by the way."
She smiled back at him. "Okay, Gabe. I'll be sure to remember that. Have a good day."
"Will do, Miss Hart," Gabe said, winking. "will do."
"I'm telling you, dude," Gabe explained to Jake and Logan, his other friend from middle school, at lunch. "Ten times hotter than Mrs. Elric." The two had just sat down with their lunches at the table newly decided as the freshman and sophomore jock table. Alex hadn't yet arrived, hence the reason Gabe so freely mentioned his friend's mother.
"And what about her ass?" Jake asked, taking a huge bite of his greasy cheese pizza. The rest of the table had turned to listen in.
"Not too big, but it was definitely noticeable," Gabe described, mentally recapping his morning with Miss Hart. "perfect size."
Just then, Alex arrived with his lunch and plopped down in the seat across from Gabe. "What's perfect?"
"My future wife," Gabe announced.
When Alex raised an eyebrow curiously, Logan answered for Gabe. "Apparently there's a banging new teacher this year named Miss Harp."
"Hart," Gabe corrected his friend.
"Damn, already getting defensive over her," Jake joked.
"Well, someone's gotta turn him into a man," Alex teased.
"What's that supposed to mean, Elric?" Gabe asked, putting slowly putting down his turkey sandwich.
Alex smirked. "You're not a man until you've scored."
"Then you're not a man either," Gabe argued. He looked around at Jake and Logan, who were laughing. "And neither are you two numb skulls." They immediately stopped.
"Hey, I'm closer than you are," Alex said, running a hand through his hair.
"Getting a blow job from Heather in the back of her parents car hardly makes you a man," Gabe said. "Even if it's hot Heather."
"Still closer than you, Duncan."
Gabe and Alex stared each other down for a minute or so, making Jake and Logan squirm with discomfort.
Finally, Gabe spoke up. "Alright, how about this," he started. The tension in Alex's face relaxed and was replaced with curiosity. "Whoever scores first this year, and I mean sexual intercourse, not some bullshit blow job, wins. Loser pays them...fifty bucks."
Alex straightened up. "Deal." The too boys shook hands.
The subject eventually changed but Gabe remained silent, picturing a sulking Alex handing him his money. Gabe was about to be fifty dollars richer, and he decided that Miss Hart was just the girl to help him with that.