Chapter 2

"OMG! Adam Taylor is expressing an emotion to you? You are so lucky!" Natasha riled on. "My friend Nikki is always trying to get him to-"

Must move schools. Now.

Okay, let's not be drastic here Laurel, I thought to myself. I mean there are plenty of reasons why he would scowl at you.

In fact, let's make a list, I like making lists.

Reasons Why Adam Would Scowl At Me

1. He wasn't actually scowling, it was a trick of light. (There is a lot of light in LA.)
2. He scowls at everyone. (Very likely, he's probably all mean and vain now and hates everyone.)
3. He just sucked on a lemon before he came in. (Again very likely, I mean who doesn't like lemons? That way he won't get scurvy.)
4. He hates me for rejecting him. (Very unlikely, I mean who remembers a thing like that? I bet all he remembers is how good he looks in the mirror. I mean now he's probably the one rejecting girls. I mean he obviously doesn't acknowledge Natasha who is really pretty so what would he be doing with me on his mind?)

So see, he does not hate me, in fact I think my safest bet is the lemon thing.

Anyway I should not be concentrating on Adam Taylor of all things, I have just started a new school, I mean he should be the last thing on my mind.

I wonder if the teacher will make me go up in front of the class and introduce myself, because there is no way I could go up and introduce myself in front of- nope, not thinking about Adam Taylor, not thinking about Adam Taylor, not thinking about Adam Taylor, wait a second, I see what he's trying to do there, by not thinking about him I am thinking about him therefore he wins because I am-

"So do you want to be a cheerleader? Because there's tryout afterschool, me, Nikki and Natalie are already on the team because we were like the only sophomores on the team last year," thank God for Natasha.

"Um, I dunno, I suppose, yeah why not?" Cheerleading, now there is a good way to get a certain someone of my mind, except I've never done it before and I don't hold very high expectations of it. I mean it's just girls parading around in hardly any clothes in front of the guys.

But if that's going to get someone of my mind then that it is.

"Oh that is so great!" Natasha squealed. "My friend Nikki says we need prettier girls on the team because some of them are like horse-faced and-"

"Miss Kyle, is there something you would like to share with the class?" a middle aged man with thinning hair and a receding hairline asked.

"Nope, I was just telling Laurel about the wide range of extra-curricular activities here at James Wood High sir," Natasha answered politely.

Everyone swivelled their heads around to look at the mention of a new girl's name. I could have sworn that Adam scowled at me again, wow, he really likes those lemons.

I bet if I craned my neck slightly I could see him sucking on one, I mean he was always a little weird about not getting diseases.

Homeroom was soon over and I found myself walking with Natasha to science. Natasha was talking about something to do with her friend Nikki and cheerleading and mentions of a Natalie but I figured that if I nodded when she looked at me then I could get away with not listening to her.

We got to room 236 and a very young and flamboyant looking woman was stood at the front. We crowded around her desk and she proceeded to introduce herself.

"Hi guys! My name is Miss Trent and I'm going to be teaching you guys science this year, now I know that science is usually a drone but I plan on making it very fun and exciting for all of us!" she said with a huge smile. She looked around and everyone had on bored expressions and her smile slowly faded.

I felt sorry for her being the nice person I am (excusing the incident with Adam -damn I'm thinking about him again) so I smiled back at her.

Her face lit up again and she pointed at me.

"You, what's your name?" she asked.

"Laurel," I replied.

"Okay Laurel, come over here and pick a name out of the hat," she pointed to a black magician's hat with white pieces of folded paper in it.

I put my hand in, opened the piece of paper and read the name. Are you kidding me? I mean really?

"Read the name out," Miss Trent instructed.

"Adam Taylor," I said glumly.

"Right, where's Adam?" Adam moved slowly to the front next to me and I saw one of his friends, or 'cronies' as I prefer to call them, wink at him not very discreetly.

"Okay, now you too are partners for the following two days and we are all going to work on projects of our choice about an aspect of science that interests you," ugh, two days? "It can be whatever you want, a Powerpoint Presentation, a how to guide, a model of the solar system, the possibilities are endless and it is up to you guys, to create them and then present them to the class. I want you to use your brilliant young creative minds to come up with whatever the hell you want. Now can all the girls line up next to the hat and pick out a name."