𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐕𝐈𝐀 ☽ Scooter Vanderbildt

chapter three

"I'm Dace Liepiņš," she responded, the worlds rolling off of her tongue perfectly in her perfect Latvian accent. The boy thought her accent made her even more attractive than she already was. "And date, you say?" She questioned. She was confused by his words, and wasn't exactly sure what he was trying to hint at, but, she had a feeling.

"Tonight, you and I, say, around seven. I'll give you a tour of the town, we'll have a nice dinner, and we can even watch the stars under the city lights, if that's okay with you," he informed her. He leaned in a little bit closer, lowering his tone the slightest bit, "I'll pick you up, I'll take you home, you know, whatever works for you," he sent her a wink.

Dace bit her lip. The only person she could think of was Scooter, but she figured why not give this guy a chance? He seemed completely harmless and she knew that her and Scooter were simply just friends. She let out a small breath and cocked her head to the side. She soon enough nodded.

"I think that sounds wonderful, Beau," she finally agreed. The boy happily snickered. He stood up straight, hitting his hand against her desk with excitement. She started to grow excited herself. She didn't know what the night would lead to, but she hoped to have a good night.

-

By time lunch came, Dace had gotten very excited for the nights date. Boys back home thought she was disgusting. She was ordinary there. They all had hair like her, eyes like her, tall like her, talked like her. But here, everyone liked that and everyone thought it was unique.

The seventeen year old girl payed for her lunch before entering the crowded cafeteria. Once again she was alone, but she was more lost than ever. She looked around constantly in hopes to find Rick, Scooter or anyone from the varsity team, but she couldn't find anyone. She became nervous but stayed put where she was at hoping she'd find someone in the next few minutes. She grew nervous.

"Hey, hey, we're right over here," she heard someone calmly say to her. She looked over to see a charming Scooter standing beside her, a smile on his face. She suddenly felt relaxed. The boy pointed in the distance to a table where indeed, the rest of the boys sat. Dace sighed in relief.

   "Thank goodness, thank you, Scooter," she breathed out. She felt his hand on her lower back, in a respectful way. Butterflies swarmed her stomach and no matter how much she tried to dismiss them, they stayed. Little did she know the same thing was happening with Scooter, and that no matter Rick's rules, nothing was going to keep him from Dace. He wasn't sure if he liked her, not knowing her all that well personally, but he definitely knew something was there. Scooter and Dace walked together the the group at the table, his hand not leaving her body. He didn't want her to get pulled away again like this morning. He wanted her to stay. Dace grew baffled by his actions, a good feeling, that is. She thought it made her feel nice, but at the same time, the way Beau had treated her made her feel that way as well. The girl let out a small sigh as she sat at the table in an empty seat by Scooter.

"How have your classes been so far?" The curious boy asked as the two got situated in their seat. Dace immediately dug into her food causing Scooter to laugh, but when she tasted what she had been eating, she became disgusted. She swallowed what she had already bit, and the chugged most of what she had in her milk carton. She looked back up at Scooter.

"Does this always taste so gross!" She exclaimed with disgust. She placed her hands on her tray and pushed it forwards. She thought maybe it had just been her, but when she looked around to see most of the guys not eating, or eating something they had brought from home, she figured it was just the schools food. She sighed.

   "It's definitely the schools food," Scooter laughed. He grabbed a bag of chips from his lunch bag and handed them to her, "here, try these. They're simple potato chips, I'm sure you'll enjoy them," he said right as she gently grabbed them from his grasp. She hummed.