The Program

Chapter 8

A/N: New chapter! Yay! ENJOY! (Let's start with an unexpected POV, shall we?)

*Austin's POV*

After lunch, I went to English, just to find Mariella there! I sat down in the empty seat next to her, "Hey."

She looked up from her notebook and smiled, "Hey." She resumed doing something in her notebook. I noticed it was a drawing.

"What're you drawing?"

"Nothing really. I'm just bored." She leaned back to show me. It was a rose.

"That's really good! Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Well see there's this thing called the internet," we both started laughing. No one's every REALLY made me laugh before. "No but seriously," she continued, "I learned how to do this like five years ago. I just draw it whenever I'm bored."

"Huh." I suddenly noticed how pretty she actually was. No, I thought, There's no way in hell you're going to do this to your best friend. I pushed the thought out of my mind. We ended up getting assigned to sit next to each other for the rest of the year, which was great. We were in the back, so we spent the rest of the period passing notes back and forth.

*Mariella's POV*

I ended up having my last two classes (Drawing and Drama) with Skylar. She was really nice and reminded me of Kim a little bit. I walked out the front door with Connor after school had ended. I saw Ms. Simmons and Maddie standing under a tree. I ws about to say goodbye to Connor when Maddie ran up and gave Connor a hug. I was completely dumbstruck, What the fuck is going on here? I thought.

"Hey, squirt," Connor said, hugging Maddie back.

Ms. Simmons walked up to the three of us, "I didn't think they would have Connor be the one to show you around, Mariella."

"Well, we knew that he lives just across the street from you, so we thought it would be a good idea," said a voice behind Connor and I. I turned around to see Mr. Geller standing behind us. Jeez, he's as creepy as Dr. Gibson. Dr. Gibson was my principal in elementary school. He was one of those principals that were really strict. We weren't allowed to sit on our ankles in the cafeteria and if he caught you, he would just stand behind you until you turned around and noticed him or fixed yourself so you weren't sitting on you're ankle. And during this WHOLE thing, he wouldn't say a word. (A/N: Sorry that's just me complaining, but seriously. He would ACTUALLY do that. It was creepy.)

"Well, hello, Mr. Geller. I didn't see you there," Ms. Simmons said with an obviously fake smile. She was apparently as creeped out by him as I was.

"Ms. Simmons, you look lovely today, as always." Woah, woah, woah. Was he FLIRTING with her!? He's like fifteen years older than her at LEAST.

"Thank you, come on kids, time to go home. I have to get ready for work. Goodbye, Mr. Geller."

"Pleasure as always, Kate." No, no, no. This was SO not getting to a first name basis!

Ms. Simmons scurried off with Connor, Maddie, and I trailing behind. We walked through a park that was just across the street from the school.

"So, Ms. Simmons?" Connor asked.

"Hmm?"

"Do you still need me to come over with my brother later?"

She nodded, "Ya. You and Mariella can get your homework done and make dinner for the four of you. I have stuff in the pantry for spaghetti if you guys want."