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Spencer's POV
After a long and hot shower I made myself a cup of tea and opened a book. I was only a handful of lines in when my phone started to ring. I decided at first to ignore it and let it go to voicemail. Several seconds later, though, it rang again. I checked the caller ID and saw that it was her. After so long here she is calling me. Our history was scratched, to say the least. My mind flickered back to my encounter with Mike Montgomery. Likely that encounter was why she was calling, but I don't know why.
"Hello?" I took a deep breath as I answered. I had barely finished saying it before she blew up.
"Don't you dare approach Mike. And God, Spencer, if you even talk to him outside of class there will be hell!"
"Whoa, Aria. Cool down for a second, okay? Mike came up to me. I barely said anything to him. I don't want any trouble. I don't know what it is he told you, but nothing really happened." I pulled some hair out of my face and bent the corner of the page before resting my book down. I pulled the phone away from my mouth and took a quick sip of tea and popped some advil. I could already feel a nasty headache coming on.
"It doesn't matter what he told me, all he had to say was your name."
"You knew he was likely to be in my class" I pointed out.
"Of course I knew. But I don't really pay attention to him. I didn't think I'd be hearing from him all that much, but now here he comes to me talking about you. I want you completely out of my life, Spencer, and that means you can't and won't weasel your way to me through my little brother. Understood?"
I contemplated all the possible replies that she would hate. The truth is though I don't want her to hate me. Sure, our past was total shit. But I'm over it. I also knew that I wasn't, as she accused, going to try to get to her through Mike; I didn't want anything to do with Mike. I briefly thought about arguing with her that she was narcissistic thinking I wanted to do such a thing. I decided to just let her have her moment.
"Clearly" I replied. She hung up. Goodbye to you too. I picked my book back up and pretended the conversation never happened.
Emily's POV
Walking through the halls this morning, I kept my eyes searching for Mrs. Hastings. In my head I kept playing the image of her in a hoodie with the zipper hiding her sports bra. I made it to math class without seeing her at all. I slouched in my chair and pouted. The kid who sat next to me slid into his seat and eagerly bumped my shoulder.
"Hey! Sweet goal the other night, that was wicked!"
I blushed and shrugged it off as nothing. I play soccer with his sister who is also a junior; their twins. He continued to act all giddy and was bouncing in his seat. He was like a toddler hyped on sugar, and the worst part was that this was a common thing for him. I glanced over at the clock and hoped first period would pass by quickly.
Unfortunately for me, first period was always the slowest. I hate math. I'm good at it, but it freaking sucks. Mr. Zachary was the kind of teacher that everyone claimed you had to have and that 'you didn't really go to Rosewood unless you had Mr. Zachary'. He didn't quite impress me. He was nice and all, but he would just drone on and barely explain the concepts. I've never struggled in math before, but this year was off to a bad start. I get good grades all around and always make honor roll. Mr. Zachary will not be the reason I don't get honor roll for the first time. I glanced back up at the clock again for what felt like the thousandth time.
Spencer's POV
The morning started off real slow. As in, I felt slow. The time on the other hand was flying by and I was late. Again.
My first period students were unusually rowdy. I didn't bring enough coffee for this nor did I take enough advil. I found myself constantly looking up at the clock as we went over the first few chapter of The Lord of the Flies. Hopefully my second mod class would be a lot better, they usually were. I thought about Emily briefly. I quickly shook the thought out of my head and was left a little scared that my mind went their subconsciously. I shouldn't be thinking about any students in particular for no reason. But oh, the way she left me feeling, all high and unsure, after I talked to her in the coffee shop a few nights ago. I haven't really talked to her since. I wonder why such an innocent conversation made me jump inside. She will be in this very room in less than an hour. I really can't wait for my second period to get here.
Emily's POV
The bell finally rang and I rushed out of math. I speed walked to my locker and then to Paige's locker where we now meet before English.
"Did you read for English?" She greeted.
"I always do." I replied. She nodded her head and we headed towards English. I didn't bother asking her the same question because I already knew the answer. Like me, she always did her work, even the reading.
We slid into our seats and she turned around to doodle on my notebook while I tapped my pencil and watched Mrs. Hasting talk to a student. After a minute or two she silenced the class and glanced out the window. She turned back to face the class and smiled.
"How would you like class outside?" She asked us. With no surprise the entire class burst with excitement. Mrs. Hastings leaned forward as if she was sharing a secret and said "We're not really supposed to take students outside but if you don't talk about it in the hallways we'll be fine." She waved her hand and shrugged. Picking up her book and a lawn chair she kept in the corner of the room she led the class outside. She shoved a rock in the door so we wouldn't get locked out, and we sat in a cluster on the grass. A bug kept flying around my head and Paige started chuckling under her breath.
"I think it's the Lord of the Flies" She said as she pointed to the fly and held up her book. I smiled and shook my head at her. She's a great friend in that just as I was getting visibly annoyed with the fly she made me laugh.
I shooed the fly away and leaned back, watching and listening to Mrs. Hastings. She looked pretty amazing, as usual. Her hair was pulled back and she was wearing a light pink dress with a light blue sweater. Thankfully, the period went by slowly. I never wanted English to end. That's odd, really. Who wants class to go on forever?
Spencer's POV
Taking my second period class out was a rash decision. I just needed to feel the sun and fresh air. It felt like being free in the prison that is a school.
While I sat up in my chair with twenty something pairs of eyes on me, I only felt two pairs of eyes on me. On one side Mike stared at me with a smug grin. Next to him Alexa, his girlfriend, played with his free hand, his other hand holding his book.
On the other side of me Emily watched me carefully as I talked about the chapters. I quickly grew uncomfortable. Emily made me jittery and Mike made me anxious. I enjoyed being outside, but I couldn't wait for the period to be over.
Emily's POV
Later that day as I walking down the hall Mrs. Hastings came out of the office in front of me. Two kids passed us and one called out "Hey Mrs. H!"
She smiled at him and kept walking. When he thought she was out of earshot he turned to his friend and said "chic cotton candy ass". I looked at her pink dress and blue sweater and cringed. I wanted to punch one of the boys. Or both. Mrs. Hastings's head whipped back and she death glared him. I think he may have shit his pants. The two boys booked it and didn't look back. I could see the 'excuse me?' on Mrs. Hastings lips. She looked so pissed and offended. I felt really bad for her. For the rest of the day I kept thinking about it over and over again. I don't really know why it bothered me so much. It shouldn't.
At the end of the day I waited for Paige before heading to the locker rooms to change for soccer. She would go off to tennis and then we'll meet afterwards, as usual, at her house.