Bloom

Chapter Two

Niall walks me to my first class, and we talk about our schedules. No classes together, but we do have the same lunch period. We're holding hands, and he strokes his thumb over mine, says he wishes we had all our classes together. He says he'll be thinking about me all morning and can't wait to see me at lunch. I lean into him a little because his voice sounds so good, and he smells so good, and really, he is gorgeous. He turns and puts a hand on my shoulder, very gently putting some space between us.

"And don't forget you promised to come see John's basketball game on Wednesday night," he says, and kisses me goodbye. I hear the freshman girls that are walking by sigh. Until me, Niall never dated a girl for more than two months. I used to be proud of the fact that people would look at us and wonder why he was still with me. I used to feel as special as Dave always says I am because I knew what mattered most to him. I was the girl he'd chosen to trust.

Now all I can think about is how every time we touch, he's always the first to pull away.

That's the thought that stays with me for most of the day.

My classes are all deadly boring except for music, which flies by because we're playing this great  music piece that has a flute solo. Mr.Contreas lets me play it, and I roar through it, hitting all the notes perfectly. Well, most of them.

"Not bad," he says afterward, and I'm even happier after that because a "not bad" from Mr. Contreas is about the highest praise you can get.

I wash my hands really well after class, but when i meet Ronnie in the hall she hands me a tin of mints,and then pulls a tube of moisturizer that smells like strawberrys from the depths of her backpack. I swear , she has everything you could ever want in there.

"You know, it's not too late to have your schedule switched and take trigonometry," she says.

"Oh sure, because the C minus I got in geometry was a sign that I'm meant for advanced math classes."

"We'd get to take it together. We don't have any classes together, just lunch."

I look over at her. She's chewing on her lip and looking down the hallway. "Your going to to do fine. You've got a boyfriend who can do all your homework for you."

"Alexis!" she says, but she's smiling. Harry is a total math genius. He doesn't talk about it much, but he's so good at it that instead of taking math here, he takes some awful-sounding class at the community college. Colleges like Stanford and MIT send him big glossy mailings. The only way I would get something from Stanford or MIT is if I were the last person of almost-college-age left on the planet.

The bell rings and I say, "Don't forgot, I'll be done by five, okay?"

She nods. "Just meet me in the parking lot and have fun Axel."

I give her the finger, and she laughs and walks down the hall.

When I get to world history the classroom is full, and I look around , hoping to see at least one face I know. No, no-wait. Yes. Over in the corner is Angel. I'm surprised to see her. Angel's one of those people who always gets A's in everything, but then I remember she was in music with me last year. We've been in music class for years; before I quit marching band we could sometimes sit together on the bus going to competitions and stuff. I think she plays clarinet. I smile at her, and she looks around for a second , like she's checking to see if I'm smiling at someone else or something, and then hesitantly smiles back. I start to cross the room-if I have to suffer through this damn class I might as well sit beside someone I sort of know-but then Axel comes shuffling in.

Mulligan looks about 80 years and has for, I kid you not, at least twenty years. I saw an old yearbook in the guidance office when I was trying to get out of this stupid class, and she looked exactly like she does now, right down to the brown skirt and brown shirt she's wearing. She teaches all the remedial history courses. How she manages to do this, I'll never know.

Actually I'll guess I'll find out.

"We'll be sitting in alphabetical order", she barks in a surprisingly loud voice, and points at the last desk in the room. "Young, Shawn. Williams, Cynthia."

And then she keeps going. At one point Jack Harris, who is repeating his junior for at least the second time, tries to say something about how the alphabet doesn't start with Z, but she keeps on talking. A couple of people sinker at that, and Jack scowls and starts talking again. Loudly.

This time Axel doesn't keep talking. She just stands there, looking like a strong wind could blow her away, and listens to everything he has to say, most of which can be summed up as follows:"Fuck you."

When he's done, almost everyone laughs, and a couple of people start talking too. Jack looks pretty proud of himself. Then Axel says, "Well, Mr. Harris, thank you for that passionate speech. I'm only sorry it took up so much class time. I was going to give a quiz tomorrow, but now I can't beacuse we're already behind. Therefore, you'll all have to receive F's for your first assignment, which is ten percent of your grade. If you have a problem with this, I suggest you take it up with Mr. Harris. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Vivnos. Maria."

Jack Harris shuts up after that, probably because of the repeating seniors that are glaring at him. Axel keeps calling out names as though nothing has happened.  

OKAY HUMANS I DECIDED TO UPDATE TODAY BECAUSE VERONICA WANTED ME TO SO THIS IS FOR VERONICA YOU'RE WELCOME. c;