COASTAL CRUSH | BWWM

❈ 4, the empty seat

Great job making him think you're a weirdo. Great job Kaia.

As I walked out of the gym, I couldn't help but feel embarrassment. The encounter with the president's son had left me flustered, and I replayed the brief conversation in my head over a million times.

I kept walking until I reached the pool with Summers' bag on my shoulder. She still had her toes in the water and was on her phone. "What took you so long?" She turned to me and asked.

The interaction replayed in my head again, the image of him pulling his tie of rewinding in my head over and over. "Oh I– got lost."

She looked at me and didn't buy it one bit. "You're lucky I don't care." She said, taking her legs out of the water and grabbing her bag. "I'm going to shower."

As Summer walked away to head for the showers, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for not being entirely honest with her. I knew she saw through my excuse, but thankfully she didn't press the matter any further.

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The next morning Summer and I got to school a bit early. We were hanging out in Ms. Windwards classroom. It was my favorite classroom out of all of them. The room was almost made of glass, there were art supplies laid out everywhere. Eseals, loads of markers, paints, knitting items. Everything you could imagine.

I was over to the side, organizing all the markers by color order. Summer was chatting it up with Ms. Windward while also helping tidy up the classroom.

"How was your first day yesterday Kaia?" She asked me. I didn't turn to look at her, I was too focused on making sure all the makers were put in the right shades. "My first day? Oh, it was good. I talked to the girls and watched Summer swim yesterday."

I stopped organizing for a second and turned to her. She gave a warm smile. "I'm glad." I nodded. "I made a painting yesterday, I wanted to show you but I didn't want to bring the canvas to school so I took a picture. Here, take a look."

I walked towards Ms. Windward and showed her the picture on my phone. She examined it for a moment before speaking. "I like the use of color. It's out of your comfort zone." I smiled at her compliments, receiving a compliment on my art from her was like getting an oscar.

Summer checked the time on her phone. "The bell is going to ring soon, we should start getting ready to leave."

Ms. Windward nodded. "Yes, stay out of trouble girls." I chuckled. "We will." I said while grabbing my bookbag off the floor, Summer doing the same thing.

Right as we walked out of the large art room the bell rang and students began coming in from all areas to go to their first class, most of them coming from outside.

Summer and I walked together in the hallway to Marine Bio and I felt a pull on my bookbag. I snapped my head around to see Lily, holding onto my bookbag handle. I smiled at her and pulled her to my side, that way she wasn't behind me.

"Lily!" She smiled and Summer turned to see her. "I'm so glad we all have history together, I was scared that we weren't gonna have any classes together." Summer said.

"Aw.. everyone but Camilia." Lily frowned and we got to the doors of the History room. We walked in with a few other students.

"Sit wherever you'd like. Be mindful of your seats!" The teacher echoed out from the front of the classroom. Summer, Lily and I all sat in the front row with one empty seat next to me.

More students were pouring into the classroom and soon the bell rang. Our teacher motioned for one of the students to close the door, a guy in the back closed it.