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"Wait, so you got held back twice?" I questioned as we made our way out of history, nibbling on my bottom lip.
"Yeahh, I fucking hate school. Having to put up with a bunch of stranger's bullshit for seven hours a day isn't exactly how I want to spend the," he held up both of his hands, mimicking quotations mark, "best years of my life." (not like he's gonna live past his "best years of his life" anyways lmaoo)
"So you're what, seventeen?" I questioned once more, as we made our way towards a water fountain. He dipped his head down, taking a few gulps before lifting his head back up.
"Yeah," he spoke, wiping his now slightly wet lips with his right arm. "Old enough to drop out of this shitty place," he continued on, looking down at me and smirking. I quickly looked away, gripping onto my schedule.
"What's your next class?" he questioned as he leaned against the wall right next to the water fountain. "English with Ms. Rosario," I scoffed as he got up from the wall, glancing over my right shoulder.
I tilted the schedule a bit so it was in his vision, glancing my eyes over towards his focused ones. "Wow, your first few periods are really shitty," he muttered, grimacing at the sight of my schedule, and earning a scoff and an eye roll from me.
Unknown to me, two of my now closest friends were making their way over towards us, one of them feeling a slight bit of nervousness as he glanced at the intimidating blonde boy besides me.
"Would you look at that? We have last period tog-" Vance was quickly cut off by a familiar, younger girl's voice. "Hey Maxine!" Shouted Gwen as she ran up to us, wrapping her arms around me, slightly crushing the paper in my hand. Vance quickly backed away from my shoulder, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.
"Hey Gwen," I laughed out, or at least tried. The girl has one hell of a grip. She let go, freeing my once crushed arms and now crinkled paper.
I looked over towards the visibly nervous boy, giving him a comforting smile. "Hey Finney," I spoke, earning a small, muttered "hey" back.
Awkward silence arose from all of us, only the noise of scattering, loud-talking students being heard.
"Hey um, where's Robin?" I questioned the two, earning a shrug from Gwen. "He's probably busy with all of the girls in school fawning over him," Finney spoke, jokingly rolling his eyes.
I let out a dramatic gasp, placing my hand over my heart, questioning the boy, "Robin can pull??" Vance let out a small chuckle from the side of me, causing both of the two siblings to let out awkward laughs.
"Anyways," I spoke, "what are your classes, Finney?"
"Oh, I have uh," he paused, grabbing a neatly folded paper out of his back pocket, "Ms.Rosario?" "We have english together!" I squealed, wrapping my arm around Finney's neck, replacing his once nervous look with a giddy smile.
"Gwenny, what about you?" I questioned. I knew she was an eighth grader, so we obviously wouldn't have any classes together but it would be nice to know if our classes are close together so we could meet up in between periods.
"I have P.E. My schedule is fucking bullshit, who gives someone P.E. for their second period? I'm going to end up smelling like a Moose 2.0," she ranted, scoffing at the end. Finney let out a light chuckle at the sound of Moose's name, a person I had no clue about.
I shot Gwen a confused look, causing her to mouth "I'll tell you later" as she pretended to strike the air with her fist repeatedly.
The bell had suddenly rang, causing the students around us to frantically scatter away, once again. I looked over to my right, glancing at Vance who had a very subtle smirk on his face.
"I'ma get going," he spoke, as he lifted himself off of the wall, uncrossing his arms. "Oh, alright," I smiled. "I'll see ya in last period, yeah?" he spoke, earning a slight nod from me.
"Alright, see ya around Maxine."
"I should get going too! I'll see you two at lunch," Gwen smiled as she gripped onto her backpack straps, making her way towards the end of the hallway.
"Do you know where to go?" I asked, letting go of Finney's neck as he glanced down onto his schedule.
"Room 312? I have no idea where that is," he chuckled as I linked my arm with his. "We better get going then, loser." He smiled as his face lit up in a fluster, rolling his eyes.
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Finney and I walked into class, arms still linked together. I scanned the room till I was met with a familiar bandana headed boy- Robin.
He was sat on top of a table, two girls laughing at every word he had said. He didn't seem to notice Finney's and my arrival, considering he was busy.
"Wow, I thought you were joking," I spoke, slightly glancing at the boy as Finney and I made the way to the back of the class with all- or in this case, most of the students.
"Yeah? Well, Robin is like, the toughest kid in school- besides Vance Hopper of course. Literally like, every girl in our grade and above wants to be with either him or Vance," Finney spoke as he made quick eye contact with Robin.
As we got to the back of the class, I unlinked my arm with Finney, jumped up onto the table behind us, and looked down at Finney.
"So, what? He fights or something? Like Vance?" I questioned, my mind instantly going back to the day of the pinball incident.
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"Yeah? Well, I hate chocolate milk," I cringed as Finney pulled out four Yoo-hoos from the fridge. We were currently at the Grab N" Go, collecting a few snacks and drinks for Robin, Gwen, Danny, and us.
"Why? Chocolate milk is the best!" he encountered, holding the three up as I made my way towards the Diet Cokes. (I know they came out in 1982, but I love them so fucking much)
"I hate milk in general, shit gives me major diarr-" I was cut off by an aggravated yell.
"Motherfucker! You fucked with my game!" his voice echoed throughout the store, causing me to look down one of the aisles- to be met with a boy being thrown across it into a rack of magazines. (were they magazines, comics, or both?)
Finney quickly followed after my steps, watching in horror as a boy pulled out a pocket knife.
"Come here, bitch," the blonde spat, punching the brunette in the face as the boy from earlier came up from behind him, attacking him.
He quickly brought him to the floor though, banging his head against the hard-floors. He then grabbed a hold onto the boy's knife, using it as a weapon against the owner.
I quickly grabbed ahold onto Finney's arm, dragging him away from the scene moments before the boy had carved into the other's skin.
"You okay?" I questioned, quickly grabbing a pack of gum. "I- um," he spoke, looking down towards his feet. I sighed before gripping onto the four drinks he held in his hands, bringing them up to the counter along with my coke and gum.
"Grab a pack of chips, please Finney," I spoke as the lady quickly hung up the phone. "Give me a minute, dear," she smiled, as she quickly made her way towards the messy scene.
As Finney quickly made his way towards the chip aisle, a pack of smokes caught my attention- or a few for that matter. I glanced around quickly before reaching my hand over the counter, grabbing two packs of Malboro Reds and stuffing them down my back pockets.
A pack of bugles were lightly placed next to the drinks on the counter. I glanced over at Finney, giving him a polite smile as he shot one back at me.
Soon, two police police officers came into the store, consulting with the lady who had spoke with us not too long ago.
The lady scoffed as she made her way back to the counter, her hands on her hips. They quickly cuffed the blonde boy, as Finney quickly made his way to the front door, opening it for them.
I lightly rolled my eyes at the act before turning my attention onto the older lady. "Whenever that boy is here, he always starts some trouble!" she spoke.
"I bet," I joked, as she lightly rubbed her temples. "Poor kid, I feel bad for his family. Having to deal with such a shitty trouble maker," she continued as I awkwardly shuffled in my spot.
She reached her hand down, to be met with nothing. "That's odd," she spoke. "Hm?" I questioned.
"Oh, it's nothing. I had placed two packs of smokes here and well, they're just- you know what? It's fine," she spoke. She quickly bagged our items before handing them over to me.
With a quick smile, she spoke once again. "Free of charge, considering you and your poor little boyfriend over there had to witness such horrific events," she smiled. My facial features were replaced by guilt, but quickly faded into disgust at the word "boyfriend".
"Oh, we're not- we're not dating. He's like a brother to me, like- like my younger brother Danny," I cringed, as a source of heat made its way towards my left side.
I glanced over at Finney, "Who's like Danny?" he questioned. "Oh?well-" the lady spoke as I quickly cut her off.
"Oh, nothing. We were just talking about how Danny loves chocolate milk!" I awfully covered up.
"Oh, yeah. She hates it though," he spoke, rolling his eyes, causing the older woman to laugh.
"Don't worry kid, I'm not really a big fan of chocolate milk either," she smiled.
"So um, how much?" Finney questioned, reaching into his back pockets. "Oh- no dear! it's free of charge," she smiled as he quickly glanced between both of us.
"Well uh, thank you," he spoke, gripping onto the bag of mostly drinks, taking them from my hands.
"Have a good day, stay safe," she shouted as we made our way towards the front of the store. "You too," I turned around, smiling before Finney opened the door up, allowing me to walk through first.
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"Yeah, but like, he always has a good reason, you know?" Finney replied as Robin hopped off of the table, leaving behind the two whispering and flustered girls.
"Ditching your two girlfriends over there for us?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows tauntingly at the boy.
"Oh, don't get jealous Maxine," he retorted, smirking. "Haha," I replied, rolling my eyes.
"I'm not jealous, just surprised," I continued, hopping off of the table and gripping onto my backpack. I grabbed onto Finney's arm, both of us slightly smirking at each other as we made our way towards a desk.
Robin quickly followed after, confused. "Of?" he questioned.
"What do you mean," I asked, turning Finney and I around. "Why are you- you know, surprised?" he questioned, once again.
"Ohhh," I spoke, "I'm just surprised you're actually able to hold up a decent conversation with those girls without getting nervous," I smirked, shrugging.
"And how do you know I wasn't nervous?" he retorted, raising his brows. I quickly snatched onto his hand, turning it palm-side up, a flush of red quickly placed itself on Robin's cheeks at the contact.
"Nice and dry, Robin. Nice and dry," I smirked as I dropped his hand. He gave me a lopsided grin before a voice rang throughout the classroom.
"Okay class, please settle down," a lady from the front spoke. "I am sincerely sorry for my short absence, I had a- I had a problem in the halls that needed to be settled out. Please take a seat wherever you may like, and please, make sure it's by someone who won't get you in trouble. I am giving you a very lucky choice here today, do not ruin it for others because I will gladly place down a seating chart."
I tauntingly raised my eyebrows at both of the boys, mouthing "well damn."
They both let out airy chuckles, somewhat containing the loudness in their laughs.
"So who's going to sit wit-" Robin was cut off by a girl's voice. All three of us looked behind us to be met with the two girls Robin was talking to earlier.
"Hey, Robin," she smiled, batting her eyes at the boy, not giving Finney or I any glances.
"Hey Jennifer," he lightly smiled at the two girls, "hey Mellisa." Mellisa shot back a quick hey before Jennifer continued speaking.
"I was wondering if you would like to sit with me? I mean, I'm quite good in english and you could use some help with this subject," she smiled.
"Oh, well- I was actually planning on sitting with Maxine. Right Max?" he spoke, turning his direction towards Finney and I. Finney gave me a quick, downturned smile, showing me that it was alright for me to sit next to Robin.
"Yeah, Robin," I replied, turning back towards him and the two girls. "Sorry, Jennifer," he spoke, as she quickly shot me glances of hatred.
"Whatever, it's fine. I'll just sit with Melissa," she spoke as she gripped onto her friends arm and pulled her towards the back of the class.
"Whatever, it's fine. I'll just sit with Melissa," Robin mimicked in a girly tone, scoffing.
"Well, she seems real welcoming," I joked as I scrunched my face up in disgust, causing the boys to both laugh.
"Welcoming my ass, she's a total pain!" he muttered, rolling his brown eyes.
"This is going to be a long school year, isn't it?" I questioned, glancing at the two girls who were giving me harsh stares as we made our way towards the back of the class. Robin sat down to the right of me, and Finney in the front, alone. Finney turned around to look towards both of us.
"Yeah, but at least we all have each other," he spoke as his mouth curved into a large smile. I glanced over towards Robin then back at Finney, sighing.
"God, I don't know what I would do without you guys."
And neither did they.