Tomorrow's Another Day

Chapter Sixty-Six

The next morning, the juniors got ready as usual and went to say goodbye to the twins for Lucille to drop them off at school. When Gabriella bent down to hug her sister, she could see the cautiousness in the little girl's face. "Are you ok?" She placed her hand on the girl's forehead. "Are you feeling alright? Do you not feel well?"

Lilliana shook her head. "Promise you're not going anywhere?"

The junior smiled sadly. "I promise Little One, I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right back here this afternoon when school's finished." She held the little girl's hands in her own. "I've never voluntarily broken a promise to you and I won't start now. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, I promise."

Troy chimed in. "If it makes you feel better Lil, I'll be with Gabriella all day today, we have all our classes together. She's not going anywhere without me."

Lilliana nodded, turning back to her sister. "I'm sorry, it just feels like last time."

"I know it does but it's not like last time, nothing's going to happen." The girl nodded and Gabriella pulled her into a hug as she spoke. "Alright, well we have to get to school and so do you so have fun today and don't worry about me, I'll see you back here this afternoon. I love you."

"I love you too Bria, have a good day."

"You too Baby."

With that, Lucille took the twins to the primary school and Jack and the juniors headed to East High. When they walked into homeroom with the Wildcats, Ms Darbus had an announcement. "Your year group coordinator has decided to use this morning's free period to run a grade activity. You'll be heading to the gym right after homeroom to find out what you'll be doing."

Homeroom passed by and the juniors moved to the gym to meet the rest of the cohort. When the year group coordinator arrived, the cohort turned their attention to him to find out what they'd be doing for the free period. "Now, as you all know, it's not too long until the seniors graduate and you all move up to become the seniors of East High. However, the faculty have noticed that there are some clear divisions in this grade and what seems to be a strict adherence to the status quo. Because of this, we came up with today's activity and to show your leadership as you become seniors, we want you to fully engage and participate in the activity today. That will especially matter for leadership positions such as captains and valedictorian."

Chad rolled his eyes, quietly whispering. "When's he gonna hurry up and get to the point."

The quiet laughter he got in response caused the teacher to look pointedly at him. "As I was saying, it may feel silly at first but stick to it and give it a chance, you may actually enjoy it. So today you'll be getting to know some of your classmates that you may not engage with very often so we'll be doing an activity that's similar to speed dating in hopes we can break the status quo in the cohort. So I'll get you to make two circles, one inside the other so that everyone is facing a partner and then I'll leave you in the capable hands of Ms Darbus, Coach Bolton and Mr Farnham to run the activity."

The juniors followed the instructions and got into the circles, Troy and Gabriella smiling at each other as they were partnered. Coach Bolton spoke up. "Alright guys, you get two minutes for each person then I want the inner circle to move to their right. Time starts now."

Troy chuckled quietly as he watched Gabriella look down, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks. "So Miss Montez, let's start this speed dating."

She rolled her eyes. "Well they're definitely trying to break the status quo, pairing the Wildcat captain and the most popular guy in school with a nerd."

"Baby." He said sternly - despite knowing the joking undertone - and she only shrugged. "I know you're kidding but I don't like it." He watched as she bit her lip, her eyes still downcast. "What's the matter? Why are you nervous all of a sudden?"