Students crowded in the hallways dragging their feet to the classrooms. Teachers were very reluctant to let the teenagers overpower the classrooms as the holiday break was now coming close. Antonia made it to school with a tumbler full of tea and a backpack full of notes. Nothing was going to stop her from passing all her classes. "Toni!" Karen and Mal were a few steps behind the girl. Mal slowly guided the girl to the side of the hallway. "Did you hear Jade is back? We heard Angelita talking about it coming into the school. She apparently was sent to therapy to help cut her suspension." Antonia's eyebrows got close, it took her a moment to collect her thoughts. "These public schools are really out of hand," taking a sip of her cup, she saw William and Samuel chatting by the stairs. "Discipline at this school is a joke. We need principles that will do more than just a slap on the wrist." Karen shook her head texting. Mal looked at his girlfriend. "I mean we got people that bite and stalk each other. We need some serious procedures… Toni? Are you listening to me?" The girl was eyeing Samuel as she heard him cackle down the hallway. His hair was spiked up, looking a bit shorter than usual, and had on a pink leather jacket. He went easy on the makeup only outlining his eyes. His dark denim jeans cuffed at the bottom to show off a new pair of Doc Martens. This was very new to Antonia since she had only ever seen him wearing ripped up or baggy clothing. It was a new look for him, and Antonia couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Mal looked at the direction she was facing him. "Who are you looking at? Are you listening to me?" Karen followed also noticing the girl staring at the boy and had her suspicions. Antonia softly smiled at her friend putting her hand towards him. "I'm sorry mate. I've got a lot on my mind and what you said threw me off." Mal looked at her concerned but decided to change the conversation to the band concert.
Antonia looked at the time in the classroom. Her health class seemed to go by so slowly. She began to wonder about different things that have been on the back burner. The teacher was up at the board discussing the importance of eating correctly but the students tuned her out. "Why didn't we go on vacation?' Her fingernails were painted a deep red and the goth looked at how the polish reflected the light. She was having a hard time trying to accept how she wasn't being given things she wanted right away. She thought she deserved to go somewhere to relax but her parents had other ideas. "I think I did something wrong," she thought to herself. She began imagining scenarios of what could've made her parents upset. They took her out of private school, they have been a bit more distant with her, and odd rich people from her father's job always felt the need to throw parties at her house. She was deep in her own head. There was a moment in class when she felt tears well up in her eyes. Things still felt uncomfortable and it was just now finally digestible for the girl. She tried to keep thinking about the good things that happened, suddenly she was called on. "Antonia… are you okay?" Her teacher came up to her looking concerned. "Do you want to go to the restroom?" She looked down for a moment but shook her head no. She then took out her folder for her class and stuck in the paper that was handed out. She took out her highlighter and tried to focus back on her class notes.
It was now lunch and the group was talking about their break. Antonia interacted with her friends laughing at whatever crazy experiences they went through over the break. Donna in particular was very upset over what happened with Roy. Recently he had been flaking on her, changing plans last minute, and seeing he had been getting phone calls from other girls. "I just don't know why you don't drop him?" Jade walked past their table smirking at the remark she just made. Jiya turned around quickly judging her for what she said. "You think it's funny to just be in people's business and expect no one to be in yours. Roy probably doesn't even like you. He probably just keeps you around because you make yourself available. You're not fucking special." The group became very quiet at this point and Jade looked at the goth. "You think you're any different? Your stupid boyfriend is a total dog. I'm pretty sure he'd be with another girl tomorrow if you dumped today." Jiya's face turned red and Wally sat there with his lips slightly parted. Jade threw her lunch tray in the trash can and turned back to the group, "Donna, I don't know why you're trying to hold him down. It's obvious he doesn't care about you enough to ask you to be his girlfriend so why even try?" Donna cupped her face in her hands. She felt embarrassed that Jade thought it would be amusing to talk about their interference with Roy. Isaiah was irritated with Jade and defended his friend, "Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Go be a bitch somewhere else!" Karen stood up, blocking Jade's way from getting closer to Donna. "I think you've said enough. Stop embarrassing yourself before you make things worse." "Embarrass myself? Why am I the one embarrassing myself? You can honestly do much better than Roy. And you really need t-" Antonia stood up and yelled at the girl, "You need to be taking your own advice mate. You can't just think that leaving yourself available for whoever will get you a guy who truly likes you. If you're so concerned with Roy's business with other girls then that's your and his problem. Not Donna's. Don't try to drag her into your sloppy mess." Jade tilted her head at the girl who all of a sudden gained attention from the other tables of students around them. She scoffed and gripped her backpack tighter. "You're the last to be talking about being sloppy now that you and Samuel are talking. As a matter of fact I know you'd probably sleep with most of my friends if they weren't all hanging out." Antonia fell instantly silent as her friends all looked at her. Joseph got out of his seat, and gestured to Jade to leave in the other direction which in reaction made her laugh. "Are you serious? Don't be ridiculous and expect me to leave. You can't even say it!"A girl with blue hair grabbed on Jade's shoulder and started scolding her. It was Marie from her history class. "Don't be a dumbass and get yourself suspended again. Stop causing drama and sit back with us." Jade pushed her hand off and moved around the girl. Marie looked at the group who looked uncomfortable and walked away.
Antonia sat there in silence hoping her group wouldn't ask about her about Samuel. They were just friends after all. Or did she now think of him differently? She heard Donna sniffle and she stood up. She wiped away tears that fell from her eyes, grabbing her backpack, she headed to the bathroom. Nobody at the table said a word when Karen abruptly got up to check on the girl. Jiya looked at her boyfriend and sighed deeply. Nicole's face got very red and she felt very uncomfortableabout the situation. She was softly rocking waving her body back and forth in her chair saying nothing. When Antonia looked up from her food, she caught Isaiah looking at her. He had a face of disappointment and was messing with his corn. Antonia decided to follow since she wanted to focus on an important that was not about her. Leaving the table, she walked into the bathroom and heard her friend crying in the stall. She walked into the last stall to see Donna sitting on the toilet trying to catch her breath. Karen had rolled out some toilet paper and handed it to Donna. She grabbed it and softly dabbed her eyes. She let out a scoff, "Thisfeels like sandpaper," and looked up to Karen. "Are you okay mate?" Antonia was worried about her and knew she was very overwhelmed at the moment. "I'm just tired of a lot of things going on. I'm mad that this happened out of nowhere. And I just don't know about my situation with Roy. I've been his friend for so long, so I just don't know why he can't tell that I really want to be with him. I-I've even had, we've had a conversation about this so it's just led to nowhere." Karen gently rubbed her back and hugged her friend. "No man is worth crying, girl. Don't think any of this is your fault when he can't commit. I know it might seem like it's the end of the world. But he'll come around." The girl softly giggled and she wiped her tears away. Antonia smiled at her friends and gave her input. "We know how Roy is, and his weird habits. But you're really special Donna. If he can't see that then he'll really regret it. You can't stay waiting for a guy you're who life. You need to think about other things that are really important."A group of girls walked into the bathroom loudly. She leaned against the door to prevent them from coming in. The two girls waited for Donna to collect herself and made an exit for the cafeteria. They walked to their table to see that their friends were on high alert. Jiya had walked to where Jade was and were arguing. The assistant principal walked over to them trying to get them to stop arguing. Jade's friends however left her side. The bell rang and the two girls were escorted to the office.
"That was weird." William had approached the girls walking into the classroom. Donna shot him a dirty look in which he put his hands behind his back. "We don't mean no harm ma'am. Really. Jade kinda has been on this rampage and its making us feel uncomfortable." Donna didn't believe this as she scoffed and rolled her eyes. Karen locked arms with her, "You're still friends with Jade, Billy. She's nothing but trouble and just hanging out with her makes you just as guilty." He gave her a sad expression. Seymour looked at Donna, "Jade is unpredictable. We promise we have nothing to do with this. We honestly don't know what goes on in Jade's personal life. She tries to keep everything to herself." Donna looked at the two boys and quietly walked away. The rest of their friends entered the classroom and Antonia was standing next to William. They made eye contact, giving her a small smile, William went to his seat and sat down. Antonia then felt a hand gently move her to the side, turning to see who it was, the boy with white hair had entered the classroom. "Hey, love. Lemme move past you." William got closer to Antonia and said softly, "I know we aren't really your friends' favorite people but can you check on doll face over there? We know our kitty cat gets into too many problems." "I can try but she'll need her space. After all, this is relationship stuff she's dealing with and it can be a lot." Antonia replied sympathizing with her friend, now looking at Seymour. "Yeah, couldn't be me. I don't want to get into any cat fights with Jade especially when she has those fingernails that look like eagle talons." Seymour's joke made the girl laugh hard ashe was very quick to make hits at people. Samuel and the others also were cheesing hard, trying not to make a huge distraction in the class. Karen observed this from the opposite side of the classroom, noticing how Antonia's body language reflected what she was feeling. Karen looked back at her friends, noticing that Joseph was also staring at her. She was certainly confused with the idea that she wasn't really rejecting their conversations. The bell rang, and students began taking their seats. Isaiah leaned toward her and whispered, "Why is she talking to him? Wally shrugged and Jiya had a smirk on her face. Antonia covered her mouth turning around to leave. Isaiah did not like the sight of his crush talking to a group of students that she knew were nothing but trouble. But just as he thought he was ready to cool off, something small made him very angry. Samuel gently placed his hand on Antonia's elbow, leaning in making a small comment. She softly giggled and looked down at her feet. He made back his way to his seat and she sat down next to Nicole who was grinning wide.