394"With hope or without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And woe to them, if we prove the swifter!" – J. R. R. Tolkein
I wake up at 7:30 the next morning. Haley is already awake and dressed; now she's just sitting on her bed, a huge smile on her face. She looks like she's ready to burst from excitement. I get out of bed and stretch, and pretty soon there's a smile on my face too. I can't help it…her good mood is contagious.
I change into my uniform and brush my teeth. I pull my slightly-longer-than-shoulder-length black hair into a ponytail, and then we are off to the cafeteria to get breakfast before the first day of school.
Once there, together we eat a breakfast of champions: toast and yogurt. Despite the tastiness of my chicken salad last night, there are slim pickings for breakfast. I do not feel like throwing up on my first day (some first impression that would be to my fellow classmates), which is the reason I choose to eat the yogurt. At least that is pre-packaged and there is no chance of the lunch ladies poisoning it.
I have absolutely no idea where I am going, so I am content to let Haley lead the way to first period English. We manage to find two seats together, and we sit down to hear the "first day" lecture from our teacher, Mrs. Carter. Although it sounds at least somewhat interesting this first time, I know that I will hear six more times throughout the day, from all of my other teachers. This thought kind of disheartens me, because as nice as Mrs. Carter seems, she cannot make me interested in a speech that I've heard every year for most of my life.
As with most teachers on the first day, Mrs. Carter finishes her speech a good twenty minutes before class ends. She clearly did not plan ahead for this extra time, so she allows us to talk among ourselves before the bell rings, signaling the end of period one. Before Haley heads to her second class, she points me in the right direction for pre-calculus. Then I'm on my own.
To my horror, I find that my math class is in a junior hallway. Apparently, I am the only sophomore to be taking pre-calc this year. This will not end well…I have enough trouble making friends that are my exact age, much less a full year older. I am walking amidst a crowd of juniors, half hidden by their height, when I spot my classroom and make a run for it. It is much quieter inside the class, because there is still four minutes left before the late bell sounds. I am sure that my classmates will be coming later; they probably have friends to talk to. I am early, since I do not need any books from my locker, and I have nobody to chat to out in the hallway. Well, except for Haley, but I'm pretty sure that she's at the other end of the school by now.
I am alone, and I wonder where my teacher is. I check my schedule to find his name, and it leaps off the page at me: Mr. Deeds. Seriously? How awesome is that?! I have a teacher named after a movie starring Adam Sandler. Aw, Mr. Deeds is so cute when he buys convertibles for everybody in his town. Still pondering this wonderful occurrence, I find a seat and settle down, waiting for the rest of my class to show up. I am sitting there, reading the many…ahem, colorful…phrases that are carved into the top of my desk, when I hear somebody at the door.
"Seriously?" someone asks. I look up, wondering if they're talking to me.
I am met with the eyes of none other than Jesse Williams. He's standing in the doorway of the class, a scowl on his face. I can't help but notice that the frown does nothing to mar his perfect facial features. He sighs and fully enters the classroom.
"Aren't you a sophomore?" he asks, sitting in the seat next to mine.
I look up and nod. I seem to have lost the ability to speak. Not good.
"Then why the hell are you in this class? Are you destined to annoy me for the rest of my junior year?" he asks, clearly annoyed.
My god, this guy needs to perk up. I haven't even said anything to him yet and he's already pissed. Luckily, the boiling of my blood has enabled me to use my voice again. Good.
"I can't help it that you and I got placed in the same class. It's kind of out of my control. And maybe if you were smarter, you would also be put in an advanced math class, and you and I wouldn't have to be here, stuck in the same room for forty-nine minutes. Also, you need to snap out of your bad mood. For heaven's sake, man! It's the first day of school; most people are happy to be here!" I snap at him.
Uh-oh. Jesse's face first shows shock, then looks as if a thundercloud is passing over it. My rare burst of courage is fading, and I am seeing that he doesn't really look hot anymore, he looks downright scary. I bite my lip, and thinking quickly, I apologize.
"Look, I'm sorry that I tripped you yesterday. I really didn't mean it. Okay? I would've apologized yesterday, if you hadn't been such an ass to me. I don't even know why, because I've never even met you before. You don't even know my name!"
My words to not seem to be helping my situation, though his face is becoming less scary-looking. He's not saying anything, which is kind of making me nervous. And when I'm nervous, I tend to babble.
"Besides, our teacher's name is Mr. Deeds. That should make you happy, right? Think about it, every time somebody says that name, you'll be like 'Oh hey, that's a funny movie!' and that'll make you happy on the inside. I mean, it does for me. I guess I really can't say that it'll make you happy, because I don't really know you, and—"
I break off my spiel, realizing that I'm making myself look like an idiot. Great. Blushing furiously, I turn away from him and look forward at the board. Luckily, the bell rings at that moment and our teacher walks in the door. I look around, and find to my surprise that the class has filled up. I was too busy making myself look stupid in front of the most gorgeous boy I've ever seen to notice the juniors that were filing in and taking their seats. As I turn around to face the front again and I pretend to be interested in what Mr. Deeds (hehe) is saying, I peek a glance at Jesse out of the corner of my eye.
He is also facing the front of the classroom, seemingly paying attention. His face is once again calm, and there's a hint of a smile on his lips. I can't help but wonder if that's because he's laughing at me. Just what I need. Oh well, if he thinks I'm stupid, than I can't get into any more trouble with him by openly staring. And you cannot blame me, because you could stare at him for hours and not be disappointed by a thing. There is not one flaw. I find my eyes drifting back to his lips. I mean, they look so soft and inviting. They're perfectly shaped, and I wonder how many girls have had the good fortune of touching them.
"Ahem," Jesse clears his throat softly.
I snap out of it and I look up from his lips. To my great embarrassment, I see that he is watching me out of the corner of his eye. Did he notice me staring at him? His eyebrows are raised, and there's a smirk on his mouth. Oh yes, he definitely noticed. I blush again and tear my eyes away from his. I don't look at him for the rest of the period.
As soon as the bell rings, I am out of my seat and practically running for the door in an effort to get away from Jesse's effortless good looks and infuriating personality. It isn't until I am safely out of the hallway and standing in the main lobby when I realize that I don't know where I'm going. I pull out my schedule again. Third period gym. Right, I knew that.
I manage to find the gym with ten seconds left to go until the late bell rings. Haley is waiting for me outside of the girls' locker room. I hurry to greet her.
"Hi," I say, just slightly out of breath from trekking from one end of the school to the other in just a few minutes, braving screaming kids and swinging doors. "Why do you look like you're relieved to see me?"
Haley smiles and shakes her head, saying, "Oh nothing. I was just worried that you were going to get lost, and then a gang of seniors was going to find you and stuff you in a locker. Nobody would know where you were, so you would die from lack of clean air, and I would have to break the news to your mother. Except then she would be so shocked and disturbed by grief that she would think that I killed you, and I would be arrested, which would end up with me being electrocuted in the electric chair."
"And that, my dear," she says, taking me by the elbow and leading me into the locker room, "is why I'm happy to see you."
May I just say that I love my best friend?
We change into the required uniform: a white t-shirt, navy shorts, and sneakers. Ugh. Let's just say that I do not like the physical education uniform nearly as much as I like my normal school one.
Haley and I meet the rest of our class out in the gym. Our gym class consists of eighteen other sophomore girls besides us, and they all look very unfriendly and unapproachable. This is why I'm glad I have Haley. Despite her fun attitude and good looks, she does not seem to have any other friends, so I luck out (I will not have to share my best friend).
However, just because our class is purely made up of girls in our grade, that does not mean that we do not share the large gym with another gym class. And this other gym class just happens to be a group of boys…a group of junior boys. And guess who is among this group? Yep, you guessed it: Jesse.
He's just standing there, not even noticing all of the admiring looks he's getting. I mean, from the girls, not from the guys. There does not seem to be a high percentage of gay guys at ACA. I was slightly disappointed to discover this, but you win some, you lose some, right? I suddenly feel the sharp point of an elbow digging into my ribs, effectively tearing my gaze away from the boys.
"Ow!" I whisper fiercely.
A few girls turn their heads to look at me. They clearly decide that I am not nearly as interesting to stare at as Jesse is, and they soon turn their gazes back to the boys' side of the gym. I glare at my friend, rubbing my side. Haley rolls her eyes, silently telling me to get over it.
"What?!" I mouth.
She looks at me, than looks pointedly at the gym teacher, Mr. Parks. Oh. Right, I'm supposed to be listening. But I can't believe that we are going to be learning about physical health from a man that looks like he's had way too many Big Macs in his lifetime. I can't imagine that he can run a mile, much less walk it. Haley threatens to elbow me again. Right, listening. Got it.
"So," Mr. Parks is saying, "our first unit is going to be playing volleyball."
Volleyball? I suck at volleyball! Why couldn't we play something I'm good at? I mean, I'm not an amazing athlete, but I think that I'm good enough at the sports I like. Like soccer, or tennis. But no, we can't play anything that I would be good at. Of course not.
Suddenly, I hear the girls surrounding me (excluding Haley) chattering excitedly amongst themselves. Clearly Mr. Parks has said something that has caused this reaction. Curse my off-track mind!
I look at Haley and ask, "What did he just say?"
Haley rolls her eyes again (she seems to do that a lot around me) and whispers back, "He said that we'll be playing against the boys."
Oh, is that it? Then of course the girls would be excited to show off their athletic prowess to the upperclassmen boys. Wait – oh crap! I don't have any athletic prowess when it comes to volleyball! It seems that fate is determined to embarrass me in front of Jesse until I am diminished to nothing but a short, laughable girl with no life and no hope for a boyfriend. Fan-freaking-tastic.
The next thing I know, we are spaced out on one side of the net, and the boys are on the other. I'm in the middle of our side of the court, surrounded by my classmates. Not a bad place to be, in my mind. At least this way, there are plenty of other girls who can get the ball instead of me. I think that at this point, it is best for me to just stand here and act interested, and make myself look as small and invisible as possible.
Now we're halfway through the game, and so far, so good. I have not had to even try to hit the ball, and I have been able to make my avoidance of the ball go fairly unnoticed. Unnoticed by everyone except a certain tall, curly-haired boy standing on the other side of the net. And of course, he seems to know exactly when I'm spacing out, because he manages to catch me off guard. By spiking a volleyball at my head.
I must have blacked out for a minute or two, because when I open my eyes, everyone in the gym is gone. It's empty, except for me, Haley, and Jesse. They both seem extraordinarily tall, which is when I realize that I'm laying flat on my back. Jesse's standing above me, a smirk on his face. His brown eyes are glinting mischievously. If I weren't as mad at him as I am, I would think he's adorable.
However, that feeling is nowhere in me at this moment. I sit up groggily, holding my head. I glare up at Jesse, who is still standing there, smirking.
"What the hell was that for?" I asked.
His smirk grew bigger. "I wanted you to know what it feels like to get knocked on your ass."
He makes no move to help me get up, so Haley takes my hand and pulls me to my feet for the second time in two days. Upon seeing me get up, Jesse walks away, towards the boys' locker room.
"Asshole!" I call after him.
He doesn't turn to look at me; he just raises his hand and flips me off.
Oh, it is so on.
Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, because I personally adore it. And I updated in only two days! Pretty awesome...
A special thanks to:
tannyapple: Thanks! And yes, you need to watch True Blood, it is one of my all-fave shows.
Luna's Looniness: Thank you for reviewing, and I don't know if comeback books actually exist. If they don't, they should.
everyonedeservestheflames: Yes, the first time I caught my sister watching it, I thought she was watching something inappropriate. But now I love it. :) And thank you for the compliment on my story. It's funny, Sadie is based mostly off of me, because I tend to be a little bit random in my thoughts. And yes, the movies completely ruined Twilight for me! The only reason I saw New Moon was to see Taylor Lautner (Is that how you spell it? Actually, I don't care) with his shirt off. But I was (and still am) a major Heath Ledger fan. I sobbed when he died, but at least his hotness and sexiness will live on forever. That is how I think of his death; he will always be a hot 28-year-old, and we will never have to see him old, so our image of him in untainted. :)