Pretty Bad Things

Fitting In

Sophie POV

When I woke up the next morning I made my way downstairs to the kitchen and sat at the bar while our cook made breakfast. Señora was from Spain and my mum hired her after she met her on a business trip. Instead of staying in a fancy pants hotel like she usually does she decided to try a more cultural experience. Señora ran a small house and occasionally she would rent out an upper room to tourists and visitors. Mum fell in love with her food so she offered her a job. I still don't know why or what mum said to convince her to leave her home to cook for us but I wasn't about to complain. Señora made the best food ever and I quite enjoyed having her around. She made life more colorful. She sang Spanish songs and danced around the kitchen as she worked which was always fun to watch and sometimes she would let me help her out. She placed a dish in front of me and I tucked in while she went to do laundry.

I woke up pretty early today. School started at 8am so I had two hours to burn. I left the kitchen and made my way to the gym in the basement. I worked out for an hour before I decided that I wanted to cool off in the pool before I took a shower and got ready for my day. I didn't even bother going to my room to get a swim suit. I just ran up the basement stairs, through the living room and out the back door. I walked to the edge of the pool and dipped my foot in to test the temperature and discovered it to be perfectly and blessedly cool. I turned around and walked over to the patio table, took my clothes off and left them there. I was only in my bra and panties but it's practically the same thing as a bikini anyways and its not like anyone was around to see me so I went to the diving board and dove into the water to do a few laps before coming to a stop and floating on the surface for a while.

The alarm I set on my phone brought me out of my thoughts and back to reality as I climbed out of the pool and wrapped a towel around myself. I checked my phone and noticed the multiple messages from Shelley telling me about try outs for the squad today and basically commanding me to be there. I sent off a quick reply before jumping in the shower and rinsing off the salt from the pool.

When I stepped out I wiped the fog from the mirror, put on an almost translucent white t-shirt and a pair of light wash ripped Jean shorts. I didn't even bother running a brush through my hair I just bent over and flipped it over my head a few times to work out most of the knots. I applied basic eyeliner and a dash of bronzer before deciding that was good enough and brushing my teeth. I went back into my room grabbed my keys and black leather backpack before checking my phone for the time and realizing I still had a few minutes before I had to leave.

I jogged downstairs and slipped on my black vans before walking to the laundry room to say goodbye to señora. I was surprised to see my mother there also. She was dressed in her pink silk robe and clutching a mug of coffee in her hands. I gave her a kiss on the check and high tailed it out the door to my beautiful red baby.

I grabbed my sunnies from the cup holder and slid them onto my face before I started the car and drove out the gate toward a little coffee shop a block from the school. I ordered a white chocolate mochachino and made it to school right before the bell rang signaling the five minute warning before class. I parked, grabbed my backpack from the passenger seat and slung it over my shoulder before picking up my iced coffee and sipping it through the straw as I walked away from my car toward calculus class. This day is starting out pretty good. I thought as I sat down in calculus next to Shelley. That thought didn't last long though because the second Tyler McKenzie walked in the door and scowled in my direction I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it from Shelley and that was going to get annoying really fast.

UMMMM OH MY GOD WHY DOES TYLER LOOK LIKE HE WANTS TO KILL YOU? OR POTENTIALLY DIP YOU IN CHOCOLATE SAUCE AND EAT YOU?

This from Shelley's first paper airplane note. I didn't even bother to respond I just turned my head in her direction and leveled her with a disapproving look. When she realized I wasn't going to pass a note back with the answers she wanted she huffed and started scribbling another note.

OK FINE DON'T TELL ME RIGHT NOW. BUT REST ASSURED THAT I WILL HAVE MY ANSWER BY THE END OF THE DAY. ALSO ARE YOU LIKE TOTALLY EXCITED ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER!!!? AHH ITS GOING TO BE MEGA AWESOME!

I read the note, smiled, and gave her a thumbs up which she enthusiastically returned.

I spent the rest of the class period sipping my coffee, twirling my hair and doodling in the notebook. The professors droning voice starring as the white noise of my daydreams. I wasn't worried about paying attention to the equations he so painstakingly tried to explain to the rest of my classmates because I'd already covered this stuff at my last school. This would be a cake walk for me. Basically review.

The bell finally gave a shrill screech and I chucked my stuff in my bag and barely had time to swipe my drink off my desk before Shelley grabbed my hand and hauled me out the door. She was a tiny bit more determined than usual making a beeline down the hall and I couldn't quite see her target through the mass of milling students jostling by on their way to class.

When I finally did catch a glimpse of our destination a pained groan left my throat and I dropped my head back to stare at the ceiling and ask the gods why they saw fit to ruin a perfectly good morning. Shelley was headed straight for Mr. Grumpy Pants. He was just ahead of us now and she reached out to grab him by the shoulder and spin him around.

"Hey Ty! How are you on this wonderful morning?" Not even bothering to wait for an answer she continued talking in spite of the fact that he looked like he'd rather be listening to a soundtrack of nails on chalkboards. " I mean you look like you found something dead in your cereal this morning and you looked at Sophie like she's the one who put it there." She crossed her arms and smiled cheerily at him waiting for a reasonable explanation. I just stood there with my straw between my lips sucking up the delightful goodness that was my coffee and rolled my eyes. He caught the gesture and sighed deeply running his hand down his face before making eye contact with me. I shrugged at his questioning glance and tapped Shelley on the arm.

"Shell, I really couldn't care less about whatever's got Mr. Grumpy's panties in a twist this morning." Her arms flopped to her sides and she made to protest but I cut her off. "Seriously, I was having a decent morning and I'm not about to let Debbie downer here taint my good mood with his negative energy so lets just leave him to sulk on his own." I turned to continue down the hall and made contact with Tyler's slightly offended/confused/amused eyes before giving a little nod and dragging Shelley past him.

She ripped her wrist from my hand and pouted a little bit before questioning me. "Uh, what was that about?! Don't you want to know why he was looking at you like that?! Nevermind, screw that. Obviously you don't care, but I do! I wanna know! I don't know if you've realized it yet, but I am a curious person. I NEED to know these things. UGH!" She marched dramatically next to me and I stopped in front of my locker while she slumped into hers and continued to pout staring sullenly at the opposite wall. I chuckled under my breath and rolled my eyes at her theatrics while I tried to crack the combo on my locker. After several tries Shelley prodded me out of the way so she could do it herself. The halls were practically empty by this point. My locker popped open and she moved out of the way so I could grab the textbook I needed.

As soon as my hand cleared the locker she slammed it shut so she could see my face from where she was leaning against the locker next to me. "You know this is going to kill me right? I'm literally going to die if I don't find out."

"So find out. Snoop, dig, be nosy and pester him with all the questions you want. Just don't drag me into it. I don't need to be present for his interrogation." I laughed and she sighed looping her arm through mine.

"Fine. I'll let it go for now. But in exchange you have to be at cheer tryouts today after school and if you make the squad then you have to accept it." She smiled madly and her eyes lit up and she continued to ramble about cheerleading and best friend duties until we made it to our next class 5 minutes late. Not like being in class stopped her though. She just wrote notes and threw them at me until I had a backpack full of paper airplanes.

To be continued. Next chapter will rewind and we'll see things from Tyler's POV.