Learning to Live

Chapter 1

He hid behind his friend as they walked past her. But of course, her eagle eyes zeroed in on him, a satisfied gleam in them. She took a deep breath, her shoulder rising with the motion.

"Mr. Dawson!" she called.

The guy stopped. He turned with a resigned expression and dragged his feet toward her. She almost smiled. I swear she lived for this. One would think the school paid her to catch students breaking the dress code. I walked past the blue lockers.

"Sapph!"

I stopped and turned. Loren waved, standing with a few girls near her locker. She ran up to me with a smile, her dusky skin glowing under the hallway lights. "Thank you so much for yesterday! We really thought something was wrong with him."

I grinned. "How is he?"

"Fine, actually. As soon as Mom changed the brand of the food, he inhaled it."

"My cat does that, too." I chuckled. "They're just spoiled brats."

She laughed, then looked over her shoulder when the girls she'd been with called her. We parted ways and I made a beeline for my locker. My best friend was already there, scowling at the world through bleary eyes. I grinned and purposefully made my voice chipper. "Good morning, Lia!"

She turned that scowl on me. Her silky hair was in a messy half bun, strands of it framing her face. The black hoodie and oversized jeans swallowed her small frame.

"Why are you so happy first thing in the morning?" Lia asked.

"I'm just happy to see my best friend after a long, long weekend." I pinched her cheeks.

She slapped my hands away. "I literally saw you yesterday. Let's go. If I have to hear Charlotte complain about her hair one more time, I'm going to pull those extensions out of it and do the world a favor."

I glanced a few lockers down at Charlotte. She was surrounded by a gaggle of her girlfriends, fussing over her brown hair, throwing it over her shoulder then bringing it forward again.

"How do you know those are extensions?" I asked, opening my locker.

Lia snorted. "Please. We've been to the same school since kindergarten. Her hair was not that thick."

"Hey, if she likes having extensions, there's nothing wrong with that."

"There is if she lies about them," Lia shot back. "She has thousands followers on Instagram, most of them are younger girls. What do you think it does to their self esteem when they compare themselves to her, thinking she's real, when she's all fake?"

"Okay, I see we're pretty touchy this morning," I said, opening my locker. "Does she make you feel insecure about your hair?"

She scoffed. "Please. My hair is gorgeous."

I put my books in and rummaged through. "So modest, too."

"It's the truth. Who stole your snacks again?" Lia asked, peeking over my shoulder at the locker.

"Stefan," I replied, sticking my hand under a spare change of clothes I kept in my locker. Something crinkled. Yes!

My hand emerged with a small bag of Cheez-It crackers. I grinned at Lia, shaking the small bag.

She rolled her eyes. "You're too happy for early mornings," she grumbled.

I stuck the snack in my backpack, closed my locker and linked my arm through hers. "You love me," I said, "even more than you love your boyfriend. Admit it."