Enthrall

Chapter 4

August

Remember that shit I said about the Valley? About how it was probably going to suck? I take it all back. Every. Single. Word. That was an August who hadn't met Miles. That August was an idiot.

"Anthony! Do you know him?" I asked giddily as we walked to our next classes together.

"Not really, but he's giving me a death glare," he replied, turning back around once more to see if he was still looking. "I think his name is Miles Boswell or something, but he's kinda weird, no one talks to him...why?"

"He is so cute! Oh my gosh! So he's weird? Like in what way? Does he have a girlfriend? My friend said he dates college girls!" I had a whole stream of questions ready to follow, but we had reached Anthony's classroom and he stopped me before I could go on.

"Whoa. Calm down," he urged me, grabbing my shoulders in an effort to center me. "He's weird like, I don't know, he says weird shit in class, and he's not really friendly to other people. I have no idea if he has a girlfriend, or even who would date—," he stopped momentarily, looking me up and down. "Anyway, the only other thing that I know is that he's a senior," he finished, finally releasing my shoulders so that he could wave to some of his friends that were already entering the room.

"Oh, okay," I nodded, taking in everything he said. "Wait...you have a class with him?!" I asked excitedly as a new grin broke into my face.

"Goodbye, August, don't be late to class," Anthony warned, waving as he walked into his classroom.

I don't know how I managed to pay attention in my last two classes, but I caught enough of what the teachers were saying to understand that I had assignments to complete. In Geometry, do exercises and complete proofs on pages blah blah blah. This was my second time taking Geometry, because for some reason I just don't get it, but whatever. Maybe the second time around would be better. Maybe Miles was really good at math and could tutor me! Mmm...Miles...focus, August! Moving on to my last class, I knew that I had to catch Bobbi up on what had happened today. That is, if I didn't get too distracted by something else that was happening in there. The people in my English class are -- disruptive, to say the least. Annoying as shit if I'm being honest. And as I've mentioned, I am not one to bite my tongue.

When I walked into class on this particular day, this girl Stephanie Miller, who was little miss perfect star cheerleader, was perched atop her desk, being adored by her kiss-ass friends Jamie and Sabrina. For some reason they were all wearing their cheerleading uniforms, probably because there had been a pep rally or some stupid shit like that. Stephanie's desk was right next to mine, so I usually was subjected to listening to their pathetic, superficial conversations about who was dating whom and what parties were happening every weekend. I glanced over at Bobbi, who immediately rolled her eyes. She mimicked shooting herself in the head after noticing that I was looking at Stephanie and her friends. I sighed loudly as I sat down next to her and couldn't help but hear the nonsense coming out of their mouths.

"Your hair looks so pretty when you have it pinned up like that," Jamie sighed, gazing longingly at Stephanie's blonde curls that looked professionally styled, with a big blue bow to accent the skirt in her uniform.

"Is this really the only shit you vapid idiots talk about?" I asked none of them in particular.

"Fuck you, August," Stephanie retorted, but before I could respond our teacher, Mr. Garcia, began approaching the front of the room. Did I have to ask that question? No. But it felt good.

When Mr. Garcia started class, he began by telling us that we would be writing an essay about someone close to us, like our family or friends, whom we admired. He was kidding, right? I looked over at Bobbi and rolled my eyes, and she just shrugged in response. Someone that I admired from my family? This assignment was going to be impossible for me. I had my cousin Anthony, but wrestling just didn't do it for me. My dad abandoned us to go live with his new lover. My mom doesn't do anything but preach from her Bible. I went through a few other possibilities, but I ended up landing on my brother Eric. He wasn't the world's greatest role model, but he graduated from college, so I guess that was something to admire.