This Introduction
The bell rings signaling the end of third period and the beginning of lunch.
Quinn and I walk to together to the cafeteria after a stop at my locker to put my books away. The entire walk there Quinn looks annoyed, which I just shake off.
Once we walk through the double doors the line for food is almost a mile long. I shrug it off since I can grab something during history.
"Shite." Quinn cusses beside me in her British accent. I have to bite my tongue in order not to laugh. "There's no way in hell I'm waiting in that line."
Before I can respond she grabs my elbow and drags me along with her. I'm confused as what she's planning on doing until I hear people shouting. I look up to see Quinn going straight through the line with her hand out in front of her like a football player. Anyone who argues with her doesn't get much in before she cusses them out.
Finally we get to the front of the line with a whole heard of people behind with scowls on their faces. I mouth sorry to anyone who can see me.
"Are you going to eat something or are you one of those anorexics? My father warned me about you American girls."
I turn to see Quinn waiting impatiently at the start of the food bar. I pick up anything that looks appetizing in front of me which apparently does not look the same to Quinn. She looks at everything with disgust, even the lunch lady. The only thing she picks out is a bag of chips and water.
After we pay, we both head out into the chaos of the lunch room. "Okay you're obviously not anorexic." Quinn looks at me weirdly from out of the corner of her eye. "How could you eat that garbage?"
"It's not garbage." I look down to my hands full of a small box of chicken, a Gatorade, and a bag of caramel popcorn. So maybe it wasn't the healthiest choice for lunch but it's better than the mac and cheese.
"I've seen garbage, and that is garbage." She points to my hands.
"Let's just go sit down. I think my friends are outside." I bite back my tongue from saying anything rude. Not like I could anyways since I'm sure Quinn could knock me out after the first word.
Quinn follows me in silence, glaring or looking at all the students we pass by in disgust.
A small gust of wind falls over us as soon as we walk outside. In the court yard are five tables, each filled with teenagers. I spot my friends sitting on the grass under the shade of an oak tree. I wave to them which I get a confused wave back when they see the bright red hair and leather jacket beside me.
"We're sitting on grass?" Quinn asks disgusted as we start walking towards them.
"There's nowhere else to sit." I shrug my shoulders.
Hopefully Mary Jane and Ella don't make a remark about her rude behavior.
"Hey guys, this is Quinn. She just moved here from England so I offered her to come sit with us." I tell my friends happily as I sit down on the dry grass.
Quinn drops to her knees beside me looking at my friends with a guarded expression.
"Hi! It's nice to meet you, I'm Ella and this is Mary Jane." Ella gives Quinn a small wave and nods to her left to Mary Jane.
"You name is Mary Jane?" Quinn looks at my shy friend with a bewildered look on her face.
Mary Jane nods her head in response.
Quinn sits back on her but with a satisfied expression on her face. "It's just that I know someone with that name. We're really close." Mary Jane relaxes from Quinn's wide grin.
"Oh that's cool! Is she back in England?" Mary Jane asks interested.
Quinn gives a small amused laugh. "Yeah she is but I talk to her a lot every day, I couldn't imagine my life without her. I would love to introduce you to her," Quinn says with a wicked smirk.
"Sure!" Mary Jane says excitedly.
"So Sadie," Ella asks me while Mary Jane and Quinn keep talking. "Mary told me about what happened in science!" She lets out a squeak.
"Oh are we asking Sadie about Lucas?" Mary stops her conversation to join ours.
Ella nods in response. They both turn their heads towards me in unison.
"Both of you need to calm down." I laugh when I see they are both slightly jumping up and down.
"How can we clam down? He said that he was excited for you to tutor him!" Mary Jane squeals.
"So?" I ask trying to look confused but I know what they mean.
"Oh you're tutoring somebody?" Quinn nudges me with her elbow. I don't miss the raised eyebrows.
"Yes, just tutoring." I nod my head.
"Wait did he bring up the idea or did you?" Ella asks intrigued.
"My Mom did." I tell her a little embarrassed.
"Was he excited though? He sounded excited about it in science." Mary Jane adds.
"Yeah I guess he was." I think back to how happy he was about the idea and during science today.
"Oh honey he wasn't excited about the tutoring. No one gets excited about tutoring. He's excited about something else but I'm sure he'll show you that later." She winks at me.
"You're wrong. Lucas has a girl friend." I bite into my third chicken piece, begging for them to change the subject.
"Trust me that doesn't stop many guys." Quinn smirks at me.
"I don't want him to cheat on his girlfriend with me, it wouldn't feel right."
Would it?
"No matter how much you want him?" Quinn presses.
"Not even if he's the last guy on earth, he needs to be single before anything happens between us." I know everything I'm saying a lie deep down inside of me but I can't let my friends know that.
Quinn gives me a look as if she knows what I'm thinking. For the rest of the lunch Mary Jane and Ella talk about other things with Quinn speaking up once in a while, usually to say something rude. I stay quiet.
People start pulling into the parking lot a few minutes before lunch ends. That's our cue to start packing up.
"Where did all of those people come from?" Quinn asks curious looking towards the herd of teenagers walking up the pathway to the main entrance.
"From lunch?" Ella gives her a weird look.
"You mean to tell me that you don't have to have lunch in this hell hole?" Quinn asks outraged.
Mary Jane and Ella are both too stunned to respond. I like to think that I've spent enough time with Bash so I know how to handle this situation.
"Juniors and seniors are allowed to go off campus during the school day."
"Why in the hell would you want to stay here then? You're all seniors, you can leave too."
"We never want to. Every restaurant in town is packed with people we don't even like and it costs too much money to go out every day." Ella shrugs her shoulders as if it's a big deal but according to Quinn it is a big deal.
"We're going off tomorrow, you don't have a choice okay?"
Instead of answering a question that I know my friends will deny they throw me under the bus.
"Look there's Lucas, Sadie!" Mary Jane points to Lucas walking with his friends in from the parking lot.
"Stop pointing!" I squeak and reach over to throw her arm back down to her side.
"Which one is he?" Quinn asks interested. If she didn't wear leather jackets and combat boots I would think she was as girly as me.
"The brunette in the gray hoodie." Ella tells her.
I groan as they all stare him down.
"Sadie! He's coming over here!" Ella whisper yells to me.
"That's our cue to go girls." Quinn grabs my friends elbows and drag them away by force.
I watch as they object and beg for her to let them go so they can watch. By the time I turn back around to throw my trash away Lucas is standing right in front of me.
"Oh gosh you scared me." I hold my racing heart.
"Sorry." He sheepishly replies while running his fingers through his hair. "I just wanted to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Well Mr. Patrick is letting me retake the history test on Friday because I did so badly on it and I have practice every night this week except Thursday night. So I was wondering if you want to meet up somewhere after school to study?" He looks at me with hopeful eyes.
Before I can process my thoughts I say, "Uh, yeah sure! That's fine with me."
A smile spreads across his beautiful face. "Thanks so much. I owe you so much for this."
"Oh no it's fine, I'm happy to do it." I wave it off.
I look up to see Lucas looking at me intently. "You know you're really nice." He says almost to himself.
I blush and look down. "Thanks."
Did we just have a moment? I think we just had a moment.
I look up only to have him still staring at me. There's something swirling in his eyes but it vanishes as soon as a voice calls his name.
"Lucas!"
We turn to see his oh so perfect girlfriend waving to him. Her hair is in curls cascading down her chest and back, which she must have spent hours doing in the morning. I wish I had the momentum to actually try every morning but I love sleep too much.
Lucas turns back to me with a startled look. "I- uh, have to go." He awkwardly points behind him to Lucy. "I'll see you in history." He winks at me and turns away.
Well that was weird.
One; he winked at me. Two; he talked to me in a weird tone of voice. Three; he looked like he was just caught committing a crime when he saw his girlfriend.
Maybe he doesn't care about his relationship like Quinn said. Maybe he does like me.
All those hopeful thoughts are wiped away though when he reaches his girlfriend and gives her a long slow kiss.
How can I be so stupid? He has a perfect girlfriend, why would he risk that.
I turn away to head back inside but not before I see Lucas pull away from Lucy and pull her into a hug instead. What causes me to stop in my tracks for a few seconds then have me running to math is that he looks straight at me and smirks.
Smirks.