Andrea "Drea" doesn't know the feeling of loss and heartbreak until the boy she loves doesn't want to be with her anymore. One bad thing causes a domino effect for things to get worse in her despairing life - her grades, relationships and family.
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"Oh shit! Tulip, get up! We're late!" Leland suddenly shook me awake, which startled me.
Tulip? Who on earth is Tulip?
"Who are you talking to?" I asked, but Leland ignored my question. He pulled himself up and helped me up too. "Leland, what's going on?" I inquired, hoping that he wouldn't ignore me. It was so bright with my eyes open. Leland picked up my tote bag and rushed for the doors.
Without turning back, he shouted, "We're late for the special assembly!"
He accidentally left his blazer behind, so I grabbed it and followed him back into the school building. Once I caught up to him, the two of us dashed in the direction or the auditorium. We waited outside the doors when we heard the rest of the school singing the school hymn. I turned to Leland whose chest raised and collapsed while he tried to catch his breath after all the running. I was quite out of breath myself.
"We'll sneak in from the back when they're done singing and- oh you have my blazer. I'll take that, thank you." he grabbed the blazer and put it on.
"So we walk in after they sing and then what?" I prompted him.
"Oh, right! Then we'll probably sit t the back which would be in your favor since you're a bad girl," he smirked in amusement.
"I am not!"
He shrugged, "You clearly make your own rules, and us delinquent know one of our own when we see them. Dress code disobedience is kind of the first step to being the designated baddie."
"Could we just go back to the plan?" I averted my eyes to the floor.
He nodded, "So, yeah, we're probably sitting in the back, but we don't have to sit together. I'd prefer it if we didn't."
"Right! Because I'm supposed to be staying the hell away from you, your car and your friends. I remember. But here you are playing the hero by volunteering to help me with my bag to my next class."
He shoved my tote bag into my hands, and considered my statement. He raised his shoulders indifferently like that's the onyl thing he could do, "I saw the opportunity to skip Vickery's class and I took ot. That class doesn't challenge me."
"Didn't you use to take AP English in grade 11?" I asked. "Why'd you drop it?"
"Stalker much?"
"Forget it. You're impertinent and impossible."
"Ooh, look at you using big words!" he taunted me, but I didn't say anything back. We stood in suffocating silent and I yearned to do something to make the it less awkward. So I turned to fix Leland's tie and collar that have been bothering me. He gently put his hands on mine to stop me and he took the tie off. "Here, you need it more than me. I don't give a shit about this assembly anyways."
