"Okay." I muttered to myself, scrutinizing my outfit in the mirror once again, as I tried to tamp down the butterflies in my stomach.
I had styled my hair this morning, actually taking my time to work with it rather than letting it be the naturally curly mess it usually was. Now my curls were well defined and shiny, framing my face nicely and I had a small amount of make up on.
I had tried winged eyeliner but after several attempts and the corners of my eyes turning sore from wiping it off so many times, I gave up. I'd never be as good at it as Leslie was. Instead I had settled for some eyeliner, mascara, and defining my eyebrows. At least I was good at that. I arched a perfectly sculpted brow at my reflection to prove the point.
It was hot out, so I opted for another pair of denim cut-off shorts, exposing my long tanned legs. I paired them with a three quarter sleeve, olive green button up shirt, tied at the front, letting a small strip of my midriff show, but nothing inappropriate. Even though this wasn't my natural eye color, the green complimented the brown I hid my real color with, making my eyes pop. I finished the outfit off with a pair of white Nikes. I had played with the idea of wearing sandals, but decided to stay in my comfort zone, so sneakers it was.
"You look fine. Vanity is a sin, Ava." Zoey said from where she was perched on my bed, doing the classical cat-loaf while she watched me fuss over my reflection.
"Ok, demon." I said, sending her a glare before grabbing my backpack and opening the door.
A small gasp left my mouth as I nearly ran over Lily. She had a dazed look in her eyes as she frowned down at her hand. I knew immediately she had touched my doorknob, causing her to forget what she was doing.
I cleared my throat and she looked back up at me. She gave me what looked like a forced smile and took a step back so she wasn't so close to me.
"Do you want a ride to school?" She asked. I raised my eyebrows in surprise and she started stammering.
"Just- uh, I have the car and um-"
"I'd appreciate that, thank you. I was just planning on catching the bus." She snapped her mouth shut and gave me what looked like another painful smile.
I followed her down the stairs, watching as she paused to scratch Salem on the head before we left the house.
We circled around the back of the house, and a silver Acura beeped when she hit the unlock button on her key fob.
"Nice." I said as I slid onto the leather seat.
"Thanks, my dad gave it to me." I nodded silently and she continued. "Not that like, we're rich or anything, he works at an Acura dealership so he-"
"Chill Lily," I smiled at her. "It's a nice car." She smiled before schooling her features and letting her bored look show again. I had a feeling that once I got through to this girl, I'd actually start to like her.
A small vial in the change pocket caught my eye.
"What's this?" I asked, picking it up and looking at it in the sunlight.
"Protection spell." She said bluntly. "Salt, powdered eggshell, a quartz Chrystal and a rune for good travels and protection."
I hummed in response, surprised that it was correct. Although I doubted that she had powdered raven eggshell in there.
She backed out of the driveway and left the neighborhood.
It only took about fifteen minutes before we were turning into the student parking lot of South Texas University. I would have to memorize the way she took for future reference. I didn't have my own car yet, but that was next on my list as soon as I found a part-time job down here. I had almost enough saved up.
Lily pulled into a spot and I looked towards the main building, spotting a familiar form leaning against one of the light poles by the entrance.
"Oh, I see Brandon! Thanks for the ride Lily!" She murmured a small "you're welcome." And I got out of the car.
Brandon smiled as I approached him.
"Hey! You look great!" He said, quickly throwing his arm over my shoulders. "You ready?" He asked, grinning down at me. I nodded with a nervous smile as he pulled open the door for me and lead the way inside.
There was nothing extraordinarily fancy about this school, it was much like my old school, just bigger.
Brandon led me through the halls, pointing out different wings that were dedicated to different subjects. It was still early so students were milling around, some still looking half asleep, some chugging Red Bull, and some with their nose buried in a textbook, probably cramming for a test they had soon.
"So, the only two real weird thing about this school is the way they schedule things. It's a lot like a high school schedule, instead of independent classes with breaks in between. If you ask me, I think it's better that way." I couldn't help but agree as we walked through another door, leading to a huge cafeteria. "Also, almost everyone here has known each other forever. Like, I think most of them went to elementary school together." I rose my eyebrows in surprise, usually college was like a giant melting pot of different people. But maybe things just worked differently down here.
"Hey, Brandon!" Someone called, drawing our attention to a small group of people at one of the tables in the corner. Brandon smiled at me and turned towards them, motioning for me to follow him.
I nervously patted down my hair as we approached them. There were three guys and a girl sitting there. They all smiled at the two of us and I felt myself relax a little bit.
"Who's this?" Asked the guy with messy brown hair, leaning around Brandon to grin at me.
"Guys, this is Ava. She just transferred here from Philly." He put his hand on my back, gently pushing me forward from where I was behind him.
"Ava, this is Dean," he motioned at the brown haired one who had asked about me, "Tyler," he pointed at the light skinned black guy who waved back and smiled in return, "Dylan," the raven haired one gave me a "'sup" nod, "and last but not least, "Maci."
She gave me a radiant smile and I couldn't help but smile back.
"Move over." Brandon said, squeezing in next to Dylan and patting the empty seat between him and Tyler. I dropped my backpack onto the ground and sat down.
"So you're from Philly?" Dean asked from where he sat across from me. I nodded with a smile and he grinned. "How do you say water?" I narrowed my eyes at him and pursed my lips, but when he kept grinning at me I couldn't help but grin back. Maci slapped him across the back of his head and he looked at her wildly. "What?! They have weird accents up there, I just wanna know!"
"How could anyone mess up saying water?" Tyler asked. Dean motioned to me and all their eyes turned in my direction. I felt my cheeks heat up and knew they were turning red.
"Water." I said quietly, my "Philly accent" making it sound like "wooder".
Tyler looked at me with wide eyes before laughing out loud. I was sure my cheeks were bright red at this point.
"Alright, leave her alone, will ya?" Brandon said, rubbing my shoulder with a chuckle. Maci gave me an apologetic smile and I felt myself relaxing as they switched topics, asking Brandon about his weekend at home, and including me in the conversation.
"So where are you living?" Dylan asked, leaning around Brandon to look at me.
"I'm renting a house with Lily Adderson, out in Alamo Heights." I told them.
"Lily Adderson? That cute goth girl in my psych class?" Tyler said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"I'm gonna assume yes." I grinned.
He hummed in thought.
I sat back and listened to them banter with each other. So far from what I had learned, Dean was a perpetual flirt and jokester. Tyler was a straight A student and played for the school's football team with Brandon. Dylan was Dean's best friend, but I had a sneaking suspicion he was gay, judging by all the furtive glances I caught him throwing at Brandon when he thought he wasn't looking. Maci was in the fashion program the school offered, with a background in cosmetology.
"I love your hair." She gushed to me as the boys talked about some football game coming up. I ran a hand through the aforementioned tresses subconsciously, taking care not to mess up the curls. "You have to let me style it sometime."
The first bell rang and we all stood, gathering our bags. I smiled at Maci warmly.
"Sure! It's a pain so just be ready to have your hands full." I told her, picking up a lock of it to emphasize what I meant.
"Ugh, give me all of it, I'm ready." She said, taking a tress into her own hand and moaning quietly as she ran it through her fingers. Soda sprayed from Dean's lips as he snorted in laughter.
"That's what she said!" He yelled, still choking on his soda. Maci rolled her eyes as we laughed and headed towards the exit, separating from each other to head to our own classes.
"Eat lunch with us?" Brandon asked, hitching a thumb through the strap of his backpack.
"Yea, of course!" I grinned.
"Cool! Your first class is that way," he pointed to the hallway to my left. "Make your first two lefts, then a right, and one more left."
"Thanks!" I said, turning to head up the hallway.
I made the first two lefts, but immediately got lost when I was supposed to make the right, being met with nothing but a wall, no hallway in sight.
"Uhh... shit. Dammit Brandon." I muttered, pulling my map of the school out of my bag.
Staring down at the paper, I turned around, running straight into something solid, causing it to release a deep grunt.
"Oh my god! I'm so sor-" I said backing up quickly, looking up at the guy I had run into. I felt my jaw go slack as my arm fell limply to my side, map completely forgotten.
Standing in front of me was one of the most beautiful specimens of a male that I had ever seen in my life.
A pair of forest green eyes stared at me with a raised brow from under a mess of copper colored curls. Freckles fanned across his pale cheekbones and straight nose. A small stud pierced his lip, glinting in the fluorescent lights of the hallway. I eyed it curiously, facial jewelry wasn't usually my thing but somehow it fit him just right.
His lips were a perfectly pink shade and shape that made me bite down on my own. His eyes followed the movement but I couldn't help myself from letting my gaze continue wandering down him.
A strong jaw was hidden by a shadow of a beard, the pigment the same color as his hair. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, and I pushed down the sudden extreme urge to run my tongue over it seductively. To my disappointment, The rest of his body was hidden by a hoodie but I could tell by his broad shoulders, and the way the fabric clung to his chest that he was well built.
I stepped back, shaking the fog that had settled over my brain away. He grinned, showing off a set of perfectly straight and white teeth, and my face turned hot. I had just literally run into this guy and then blatantly hardcore ogled him.
"I'm sorry," I said, internally wincing as my voice cracked. His grin grew wider and I cleared my throat, holding up my forgotten map pathetically. "I'm lost."
He took the map from my hand. "Where are you trying to go?" He voice was deep and rumbly and I shivered a little before trying to snap myself out of it.
"Um.. the science wing?" I pointed to where the classroom I was trying to get to was on the paper.
"Ok," he moved to stand beside me, leaning down a little to be closer to my height. Whatever delicious cologne he was wearing wafted over me and I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Get a hold of yourself!" I screamed mentally. "You do not want to climb this stranger like a tree. You do not want to climb this stranger like a tree."
"You ok?" He asked and my eyes snapped back open. He was grinning wickedly at me and I just knew that he knew the effect he was having on me.
"Yea, fine." I said curtly. Looking back at paper, wishing I knew a spell to disappear.
"You need to go back that way," he pointed down the hall I had just come from. "Then you want to make a right and another left." He traced his fingertip along the paper and my eyes followed it instead of where he was actually showing me. I gulped, thinking of those fingers gripping my hair. Or even-
"No. Stop right now. You don't even know this dudes name. He probably has girls falling all over him all the time. Stop acting like some love struck little idiot in heat."
"Ok, thank you!" I said quickly, snatching the map out of his hand and starting to walk briskly the way I had to go.
"Wait!" He called out from behind me. I paused and turned back to him with wide eyes and a red face. "What's your name?" He asked, a full blown knowing smile on his face now.
"Ava." I said, resuming my hurried pace, too embarrassed by my own actions to even wait for him to tell me his.
I facepalmed, mortified at my own behavior. I groaned when I heard him chuckle from where he still stood, watching me as I turned the corner.
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Xx mandabrandie