First, and foremost, sorry for the delayed chapter. It's been very busy where I am due to the holidays, and school breaks so I haven't had time to get this chapter as I had planned, so I apologize in advance for such a short chapter.
So this is going to introduce Devan Snow very briefly. For those of you following Riana Salvatore's story, he's Livvy's boyfriend, and his part in this chapter will contain no spoilers for her plot line, and will not be unless, Riana states otherwise that she would like me or her to do so. Also in this chapter, I will introduce a few more characters who haven't been in the story yet.
-Second Chance-
Chapter 3
-Anna-
Romeo and Juliet, and I had no idea who it was that I was partnered up with. Also, what was the big deal about having to do this play, anyways? Didn't this teacher realize that it was the twenty first century, and no one cared about this play anymore. I just smile, and shrug it off, as I pick up my backpack, and head towards the metro.
"Wait for me," I hear a males voice call out, as I was about to step on. I looked to see who it was, and I tried to figure out how I recognized him. Then it dawned on me. He was in my class, and I tried to figure out who he was.
"Just made it," he throws a little cheer, as he makes the metro just before it departs, and at that moment, I receive a text from Jay, my best friend since we were kids, and yes, I admit that I have a crush on him. I often picture us as a couple, but I don't know. Then the boy who made it brings me back to reality, as I pull out my phone to text him back.
"Sorry, I recognize you, but I can't place it," I tell him as I try not to sound rude, as I meet his brown eyes, and the spot a poster telling us dates of one of the popular shows on Broadway. Wicked. I believe it was.
"Mattias. I usually sit up front in Ms. Smith's class. I'm supposed to be your Romeo and Juliet partner," he tells me at once, as though he had played this scenario in his head a couple of times since the end of class. "You are Anna, correct?" he asks wonderingly, and then smiles.
"You've got the right person," I tell him happily, as I receive another text from Jay, as the Metro reaches one of its destinations, and then continues, and I have one more stop until I depart.
"Have any idea as to what we're going to sing for tomorrow?" he asks, as a couple more people come onto the metro and find their seats, and go onto their what they do after work lives. A couple of minutes later, I hear someone singing a cover of a popular song that I'm familiar with. Then I looked at Mattias, or Matt or whatever his name was, and answered him.
"I do actually how familiar are you with I Will Follow you in The Dark?" I ask him, as I was familiar with it. I had hoped he had because it fit the song for the end of the play, and Ms. Smith would hopefully see it that way.
"No, but I'm sure YouTube can help with that," he tells me as we come to our stop, and I didn't really want him to know about my daughter yet. I wasn't ready for anyone to know except Jay, even though, she wasn't his.
"I have things to do, but do you have Skype?" I ask him as the idea comes to mind. I was sure that he did because who didn't have Skype these days?
"Yes, and I can be on tonight, though it would have to be late tonight," he tells me, as he quickly writes down his screen name so I would be able to find him and add him so we could get this song done.
"Alright, I think I can manage that," I tell him. I just hoped that I could, and then I greet him goodbye, and head towards the apartment, and I watched as he had done the same, except in the opposite direction, and smile at the thought that Jay would be watching my daughter, and I would be able to see him.
-Second Chance-
-Brycen-
"I got it! I got the part!" I hear Devan Snow exclaim excitedly as some of his buddies greet him at his locker. Hell, I think the entire school knew in like ten seconds. When that was old news he went back to being Devan Snow. Texting someone on his phone, throwing a football between his buddies who had greeted him, and everyone was okay with that. He was the popular golden boy, so why wouldn't it be okay.
Then someone broke me from my trance of watching him. At first I didn't recognize the voice, until he spoke again, and then I noticed the hoodie he was wearing first.
"You know, he has a girlfriend, who attends another school," Atticus tells me, and I wonder how he knew about that. Of course, that was probably a fact that everyone had known. Then someone else. Amy, I think comes up behind him, and she smiles.
"Are you two?" I ask, as I turn and close my locker, as I turn to get ready for class, and throw my algebra book in my messenger bag. Okay, yes, I did have a crush on Atticus, but I wasn't going to admit that, besides, that was yesterday and today was a different ball game.
"Nope. Matter of fact, we spent last night arguing over what we were going to perform in class more than we did anything else," Atticus tells me, and then brushes his fingers through his hair, as though he were trying to style it cooler, in which wouldn't happen, because face it – he had no styling sense.
"I would think you'd want to make it look different, otherwise, everyone is going to think different," I tell them as the bell rings, which tells us we had better get to class, as I think that they were totally in the closet about their so called non relationship, but there was no way I was going to tell them that. Then as I head in the direction of class, I take one last look at Devan, and walk away in the direction of class, and at that moment, I had run into that Katy girl from Ms. Smith's class.
-Katy-
"Would you watch we're you're going?" I sarcastically ask the kid from class. I remembered his name, because, it was a weird name, and who would name their kid Brycen, anyways? It wasn't even American.
"Sorry, I was thinking of something, and are you always this rude?" he mentions as someone else from another class walks by texting someone who was probably in class, and needed notes or something.
"Sometimes, it's a habit though," I tell him, as I adjust my backpack, and step inside the classroom, and find my seat in the middle section of the room, only to realize that he had class as well, and I roll my eyes.
"How can you sometimes be rude? Either you are, or you aren't? It's like choosing Team Frodo or Team Harry. Two different," he begins to tell me, but I block him out, and then look back at him, as he sits down beside me.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, just save that for when we have class," I tell him, as Mr. Turner walks in, and quickly gets to writing the agenda on the whiteboard, and without notice puts questions on the whiteboard.
"Alright now for those of you who did your homework last night, you'll know what those questions stand for, and for those of you who didn't it might be a good idea to start studying, because, there will be more questions like this, and I would expect that everyone knows what they are," Mr. Turner tells us, as though he had been planning this all this time.
"Mr. Turner, I did the next few chapters," Brycen announces as he raises his hand.
"That's quite alright," Mr. Turner tells Brycen, and I make the mental note that of course it would be okay for him to do this. I had suspected that someone in the class would be a math-aholic, and of all people, it had to be him.
As class ended, and we passed in our work for the day, I had to say something to him. I couldn't stand him and he needed to know that. Or maybe he already did, either way I was going to say something, but he was already gone, and I made a mental note to tell him later.
I reach my locker, and I see Miley talking some girl. Ava. I think her name was. She seemed familiar, and then I heard something about how they would make a cute couple at Homecoming in a few weeks. Oh please, Ava was a player, and it appeared everyone knew it but Miley. When they're done talking, I walk up to Miley.
"Why on earth would be dating Ava Santiago?" I ask, as push some of my hair back out of my face, and meet her eyes. Damn. She had pretty eyes. Then I look around the hallways, and watch some of the nerd kid head to their nerdy classes.
"Who said I was dating her? Besides why would that matter to you?" she asks me coldly, yet, she sounded very curious, as her eyes met mine, and she clutched her bag over her shoulder, and I could tell she was getting ready for class.
"I could explain that to you today over burgers at McDonald's," I tell her, as I look around the corridor and hope that she accepts this. I had no idea if she would or not, but I hoped that she would.
"I don't do McShronald's but I'm still up for a burger. How about Birch Coffee?" she asks as she turns and heads towards class, before I could give her an answer.
-Second Chance-
-Amy-
"I deserve to be in my child's life," Asher Oliver announces, as he catches me outside of Ms. Smith's classroom, which was when I had hoped he wouldn't catch me. Yes, some people knew our history, and others didn't and I preferred to keep it that way. For the ones who saw me with Asher would figure it out.
"For what? You haven't been there for Macy at all, and now you want to be in her life!" I protest, as I try to push him aside so I could get ready for class, and do my presentation with Atticus. I had no other choice, and secretly, I liked hanging out with him, and learning about the TV show LOST (spoiler alert: It never happened.)
"So, I can change that, besides I am her father, and she deserves to know who I am," Asher states, as the bell rings, and he turns to head for his next class, which was about to begin.
"This conversation isn't over Amy," he tells me, and walks away, and I step inside the room that was waiting for me, and I was happy because it would take away my worries for about forty five minutes. When Atticus sees me he smiles.
"So you ready?" he asks me as I sit down beside him, and I pull out my sheet of paper, which explained the song, and would hopefully get us an A on the project, as Ms. Smith walks into the classroom.
"Alright, so who's ready?" she asks us happily, and no one volunteered. "At least one performance, and I promise, we'll be onto another book, in which I'm sure all of us will like, and we'll never have to speak of Romeo and Juliet ever again," she pleads, as she hopes one of us will take the first move. Then Atticus raises his hand.
"Amy, and I will go," Atticus tells Ms. Smith, and everyone one is looking at us like we're nuts, in which, Atticus probably is.
"Floor is yours," Ms. Smith tells us happily, as she steps aside, and we walk to the front of the room. For the first time, I noticed everyone in the classroom. Inside this classroom we were considered misguided. Outcasts. We were the students who couldn't prove to the school system we had a chance.
Check yes, Juliet
Are you with me?
Rain is falling down on the sidewalk
I won't go until you come outside
Check yes, Juliet
Kill the limbo
I'll keep tossing rocks at your window
There's no turning back for us tonight
Lace up your shoes
Ayo ayo
Here's how we do
Run, baby, run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be
Run, baby, run, forever we'll be
You and me
Then the rest of the class clapped, mainly because it was over, and we would never have to think about the two Star Cross'd lovers again, and when I get back to our seats, I pick up the paper, and give it to Ms. Smith, and the sit back down.
"Thank you Amy, and Atticus. Now for everyone else, please if you do have them done, please hand me in your essays explaining your songs, if you don't have them done, I will extend it until Thursday and no later. Also, I will be accepting this as a DVD, but must be less than ten minutes long in debate format. Okay, moving on," Ms. Smith announces to the class, as she writes on the board, clues to our next book. Before she was done, Atticus figured the book out.
"Ms. Smith, are we reading the Fault in Our Stars?" Atticus asks, as he once again raises his hand, and being all the groans from the rest of the class, I assumed he was right. I had heard of the book, and I think somewhere in the closet in room I had it.
"That's correct, Atticus," Ms. Smith announces happily, as she writes that on the whiteboard, and then tells us what is next for the assignment. "When this project wraps up, I'll be grading you on a group number," she adds happily.
"How exactly does that work?" Jude asks curiously, as he grabs his copy of the book. "We could easily cover a song from the soundtrack," he adds in debate, and Ms. Smith smiles as though this is what she had wanted.
"That would be fine, and probably the best, but you still have to include an eight paragraph essay explaining how it fits and pass it in," she mentions, before the bell rings, and the class comes to an end for the day.
"Amy wait up," I hear Atticus call out to me, as I was about to leave, and he was still at the desk, and I wonder what he wanted, so I stay and wait, as I adjust my backpack again.
"Come to the music room with me," he tells me happily, as though, he had this planned, and smiles at me.
"Why would I want to do that? Do you want people to think we're a couple, or something?" I ask him jokingly, as we step outside the classroom, and I see someone make their way into Ms. Smith's classroom. I can't say that I recognized him though, which was odd, because I knew every teacher in this school, and I wondered who it was. Then I turn my attention back to him.
"It's nothing bad, and it's not even a date, unless you want it to be," he tells me, as we walk to the music room, and I don't answer him, and then we enter the music room, and he walks up the piano, and takes a seat.
"You might want to sit for this," he tells me, and so I do, and then I think of the time, and think of Macy, knowing I would have to get back to her, and then smile at Atticus, thinking how I would have to break his heart when I told him that this wasn't a date.
Then he began to play notes to a popular song I had heard a lot of a couple of years ago, and then it died right down. Boom Clap, and then it began to be something else. Something I had never heard of but it was good.
When he was done, he came down to where I was, and looked at me, and then smiled.
"So what do you think?" he asks me happily, as though it were a big deal, and to him, it probably was.
"I liked the Boom Clap part, but what was the second part?" I state wonderingly as I pick up my backpack and put it on my back, as I was getting ready to go. I had to get back to my daughter, though I wasn't going to tell him that.
"It's a cover of Mhysa it's from the season three finale of Game of Thrones," he tells me, and then I realize I had to ask what it was for, and then I feared I didn't want to know as our eyes meet, and I smile again.
"It's for the end of this year for when I apply to college. I just thought you should know," he tells me, and picks up his backpack, and heads to leave to exit the music room. I stood there frozen for a few moments wondering if I should catch up with him, and then I run after him.
"I don't care if you're going to graduate next year. I am as well, and honestly, I was thinking that was great, and if they don't accept you wherever you apply, they're out of their minds, so can we just fast forward, and pretend that this awkward conversation never happened," I mention to him as we escape the school, and head towards the metro.
"Yeah, lets do that," he tells me, as we exit the school, and we walk each other towards the metro, and I think to myself as when I should tell him about Macy, because that conversation wouldn't be as nearly as awkward as me telling him about the college application.
"Atticus, there's something I need to tell you," I tell him as we reach the metro, and show we show our passes, and wait for the metro to show up. I don't even wait for him to ask what it's about before I let it slip. "I have a baby, and her name is Macy," I tell him hoping he wouldn't hate me.
"Amy, honestly, I'm okay with that," he tells me, as we get off the metro at our stop, and I smile because, I was happy he said that. Not many people support teenage moms, especially boys. "Can I walk you home?" he asks quickly, as we begin to walk towards our destinations.
"That would be great," I tell him, as I adjust my backpack, and walk beside him. A short time later, I accidentally grab his hand, and quickly let go after what I had done. I wasn't falling for him, and I meant it.
First and foremost: Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it :D
Okay so Katy is trying to break Ava and Miley up. Brycen has a crush on Devan who is dating Livvy Thompson, and Atticus and Amy may be a couple. (Despite the fact that I'm not a fan of the ending. I think I could have done a better one.) This is the last chapter (for now) to feature Brycen and Atticus as main POV's, so I can give our other characters a chance to shine, in which I will do more of in the next chapter. As I have it planned, our beloved New Directions, will either appear at Regionals or Sectionals, and our group name is Impulse.
Song credit. Check Yes Juliet- We the Kings.