An Endless Serenade

Chapter Three

            Oliver snickered. “Yeah, Jake practically drools over him during soccer practice. He’s our coach.”

            “Well he’s hot.”

            Confused, I frowned. “Wait, Jake, are you being serious?”

            “I’m gay,” Jake informed me with a thumbs up. “And Oliver’s my boyfriend.”

            “I am not!”

            Aspen patted Oliver on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Oli, you can admit you’re gay.”

            “But I’m not!”

            “Oh, so you’re gay too, huh Oliver?” I teased, playing along.

            His blue eyes narrowed at me. “Not you too, new girl.”

            Jake chuckled, wrapping his arm around Oliver’s shoulder. “We love joking with you, Oliver.”

            “I know.”

            Grinning, I dipped a clean paintbrush into a peacock blue shade of paint and swept it across my folder in a careless manner, lazily spelling out my name. So far transferring to this school was paying off. Never in my life would I have guessed I’d be able to make friends with such great people so quickly. Unfortunately, time was ticking, and third period was ending, which meant I would have to suffer through fourth period alone. Unless… “Oliver!”

            Startled, he jumped in his seat, his head snapping toward me. “What?”

            “Please tell me you have home economics next.”

            “Yes…”

            “Oh thank God!” I cried happily, nearly throwing myself across the table to grab his hands. “Please show me the way.”

            Laughing, he nodded. “Okay, sure.”

            “Do you have second lunch?”

            “Yep.”

            “Sit with me too.”

            Jake smirked. “Boy, you sure are demanding.”

            “Do you have second lunch?”

            “Nope, he’s first with me,” Aspen told me. “Oliver will take care of you, don’t worry. His friends aren’t too crazy.”

            Oliver grimaced. “Actually, some of them are bad…”

            The bell sounded, ending our conversation. All the students started shuffling to the back of the art room to put folders on drying racks. After tossing mine onto the rack, I followed Oliver out of the room, calling a quick goodbye to Mr. West. Remembering that Ms. Allen was the home ec teacher, I could vaguely remember how to get back to the classroom. Oliver was happy to let me guide.

            Upon reaching the room, I thrust my fist up into the air. “Victory!”

            “Good job,” Oliver commented with an amused smile. “Now let’s see you get to the lunchroom.”

            My triumphant expression slipped off my face. “Er, that’s a different story.”

            Just as I reached for the classroom door, it burst open, filling me with déjà vu. This time, however, Oliver was there to swiftly jerk me out of the way of the young man charging through it and down the hallway.