Antonia tapped her pencil against the textbook. "You know it was really weird yesterday in class after what happened with Angelita and Samuel?" She and Jiya were working together in class. The two other members in their group were absent so the girls annotated the chapters by themselves. "I know… Angel is so dramatic sometimes. I used to be best friends with her and honestly, she can't help it." The girl with bright magenta hair flipped the page. "Wait? What do you mean she can't help it?" Antonia had only heard negative things about Angelita so it was new to see Jiya be almost sympathetic towards the girl. "Well, sometimes when things don't go her way she would just get really upset and blow up. She's definitely a lot calmer now but it was just a grudge she has against Karen. I think it's because she had quite a bit of home issues. She never really had control of anything that happened with her so I get where she gets easily frustrated." Mr. Fadel got close to the girls and they pretendedto not be distracted. Jiya leaned in and whispered, "Angel and Dominic were really close as kids and everyone knew they would grow to be together." Antonia looked up from the textbook as she was drawing a mustache on one of the characters illustrated. "Really? How so?" Jiya soft stated, "Well Angel was always moving back and forth from her parents and grandparents so she was used to sneaking out. Her grandparents lived on the same block as Dominic's, and they would play at the park together in the neighborhood. Even if she lived with her parents on the other side of town, she'd find a way to hang out with us." Antonia raised an eyebrow and asked, "Us? As in you used to sneak out too?" Jiya smiled and responded giggly. "Yeah… A group of us girls living in the sister's home would sneak out too and that's how I met them. I was transferred to a different housing because I had too many issues with the other girls. When I began middle school, I met Billy, Mikron, Seymour, the Flinders, and those two. We all got along really well as we were outcasts. Karen used to be friends with us too but she really drifted away in the beginning of freshman year. I guess since she has really strict parents she wanted to avoid getting in trouble. But I used to do really stupid crap with them. I thought it was cool to be all bad and get into fights but it was actually really shitty. I thought the attention would be worth it but I was wrong when I almost had to spend the night in a cell. I had to drop them because I knew I wouldn't change if I still stuck around." Antonia was quiet for a moment then finally responded. "I don't like moving a lot either. I feel like I can never really have many friends, and I just let them go away because I know I'm eventually going to move away again. It's not easy moving all the time but maybe she's just upset that school may be the one thing she can manage controlling. Life can get exhausting and I can't imagine not having my parents around." Jiya snorted, "Well she can control who she hangs around with and dates. I mean her and Dominic are sweet but I feel like she can do better. Like… I feel like she can do better but won't break up with him because she's too comfortable. She won't drop her friends because then she'll be alone. It's not like she actually really likes any of them?" Antonia laughed and said, "Yeah you're right. Her boyfriend is kind of weird and she is way too pretty to be with him. And can't she already move out if she's eighteen? Does she plan on going to college? Like, imagine not having your life figured out. I mean I know we have this year then next to think about what we are going to do but at least we know what we want in life." "Do you Toni? Do you really know what you want in life?" Antonia thought for a moment "A sugar daddy?" The two burst into laughter and immediately got hushed by Mr. Fadel. "Okay give me your notes. What did you write dow- Oh wow… this sucks." "Shut up." There was a moment when the girls continued to write down their notes in their journals and put sticky notes in the books. "Hey… What do you know about Samuel? I know you said that he worked at the music store at the mall but I never see him there." Jiya raised both her eyebrows and looked at the goth. She didn't say anything at first then said, "Well yeah, he usually helps with inventory and cleaning. He knows how to take care of the vinyl records and the instruments so he's always in the back." Antonia nodded her head pretending to take notes, yet she was in fact curious about Samuel. Not in a way where she had a crush on him, but just wanting to get to know him. She for sure did not want to get on his bad side. "Why do you ask? Did he say something to you? He hasn't bothered you right?" Antonia quickly shook her head. "No, he hasn't said anything to me. I mean every now and then we make eye contact but no he just seems pretty cool." She then began to pack up her journal as she looked at the clock. "I'm just afraid if I say something to him, he might take it as an invitation to be gross." Jiya gave her a look of reassurance and nodded her head. "I know Sam and he isn't inappropriate at all. That is one thing I can defend him on. If anything, he waits for a girl to give him obvious clues or straight up tell him that she is interested in him." Jiya grabbed their textbooks to return them to their spot on the shelf. The two girls heard the bell ring and Antonia walked up to leave. "You know I feel like you two would actually be good friends but there would be some things that you wouldn't understand from one another." Antonia looked at her confused and kept walking in the opposite direction. "Wait, what?" She said as she slowed her pace and looked back. Jiya waved her hand in a "forget about it" motion and approached Wally who was down the hall.