All eyes are on her. Literally. The timed test they're supposed to be working on is no longer as important as the gorgeous girl standing in the doorway beside Principle Evans. The principle gestures for Mrs.Diaz to step outside the classroom and the girl follows them into the hallway while the stares of the students burn into her back. She runs her hand over her shirt to make sure it's free of any wrinkles, knowing she picked a good outfit for her first day at her new school. It consists of a white muscle tee with a bright pink bandeau under neath, dark wash skinny jeans and all white Nike Air Forces 1s. Her dark brown hair is pulled back in a slick ponytail that swings side to side each time she nods at the principles words, and her topaz colored skin look soft and supple while her face is free of any makeup. She's tall, she's slim and she has the entire room captivated by her beauty, which is just how she likes it.
Principle Evans shakes the girls hand before walking away and Mrs. Diaz leads her into the room and towards the front, the entire time everyone's eyes follow her every step. She doesn't seem to be intimidated under everyone's gaze, and welcomes the attention with warm eyes and a soft smile, complete with a deep dimple in her right cheek.
Mrs.Diaz takes off her reading glasses and sets them on them down on the desk. A sign that she's about to address her students. "Class, this is---"
"Simone Porter, I just moved here from Los Angeles," The new girl announces proudly, lifting her hand to wave at her audience.
"Right," Mrs. Diaz reaches for her attendance list and scribbles Simone's name on to the bottom half of the sheet. "Well Mrs. Porter, welcome to Sheridan High School. I hope you enjoy your stay here." She proceeds to hand her a syllabus along with the packet of required reading material. "You'll be a bit behind due to it being the middle of the semester, but we can discuss ways you can catch up. Right now we're in the middle of a test, which you obviously can not take right now, so I'll just go through assignments with you and show you what you absolutely have to do and which ones you can just skip over." Her eyes cut to the students who's gazes are still lingering on the new girl. "Back to work, you have thirty minutes left to finish up. Use your time wisely."
As the heads of students bow towards their test once again, Simone scans the room briefly to take in her new peers and her light brown eyes come to rest on a boy slouching in his seat with one foot extended in front of him and his arm slung over the back of his chair. His tongue flicks over his lips once and he flashes a quick smile to show his interest. The scraping of a chair against the floor breaks Simone's focus on the boy and she looks to see Mrs. Diaz pulling up a chair beside her desk. Simone sits on the edge and leans forward to listen to Mrs. Diaz's soft voice as she uses her sharp dark purple nails to point at important details in the syllabus. Simone pays close attention and resists the urge to crinkle her nose up at the hot coffee breath hitting her in the face.
She's more than relieved when Mrs. Diaz finally allows her to take a seat by the window, with instructions to begin reading tonight's homework assignment, an article about Logic and Mathematics. Simone takes a highlighter out of her bag and underlines important details, becoming completely fascinated by the packet of philosophy in front of her. Time flies by and soon the bell rings signaling the end of class. Students shuffle around her, handing in their tests and heading through the door. Simone slips her papers into her purple messenger bag and stands up to leave the class room. She doesn't take even two steps before someone brushes against her arm. Turning her head, she sees the boy that smiled at her earlier standing beside her. She looks up at him, taken back by how good he looks up close. The slick smile on his face gives him a cool and confident look as his peers pass by them, each stopping to take a peek at the new girl.
"Nice kicks," The boy says, glancing down at her sneakers. "How much you want for em?"
Simone raises her eyebrows and glances down at her shoes, "They're not for sale."
"Better be careful wearing those around here, people get jumped everyday for shoes like that." He glances around the hallway like someone's watching them. Simone swallows and does the same, feeling as if everyone is staring at her plain white Nikes. The boy laughs, a deep chuckle that flows like velvet. "I'm just messing with you ma." He holds out his hand, "I'm Elijah, people call me Eli."
"Simone," She shakes his hand politely, noticing the way he runs his thumb over the back of her hand for a moment while keeping his eyes locked on hers. She smiles and gently slips her hand from his.
"Ooh, is that a dimple I see? Dimples are my weakness."
"You and every other boy on the planet." She remarks sassily, "Are you gonna tell me I have a beautiful smile next?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth, guess I have to come up with new lines huh?" He says. Simone doesn't say anything, instead she examines the boy standing in front of her. He's tall, maybe about 5'9 with a curly hair cut that's faded on the sides, plump pink lips and skin that reminds her of caramel. He's the boy her momma warned her to watch out for. The sweet talking pretty boy with that knee-weakening smile. She can see right through his gold chain and diamond earrings. She's a pretty good judge of character and already knows he's a lady killer.
"Damn, you enjoying the view?" Eli jokes, "Cuz I know I am."
She can practically feel his eyes look her up and down so she glances at the rose-gold watch on her wrist. "I have to find my next class before I'm late."
"I can help you, what do you have?" Eli begins reaching for the pink schedule in her hand but she pulls away from him, making his thick eyebrows knit together. "I'm not gonna stalk you or nothing."
"How do I know that for sure? If people are willing to steal my kicks right off my feet I'm sure they're willing to stalk me too," She says with a scrutinizing look on her face, "Besides, we just met."
His chocolate brown eyes twinkle with amusement as he licks his lips again, "You right, you right. My bad," He says. "But trust me, you're lucky I'm trying to help. Most of these little boys aren't so friendly. They'd have you backed into a corner by now."
"And lemme guess, you're not like these other guys, right?" She tilts her head to the side.
"Ain't it obvious?" He replies, tilting his head to the side too.
Simone bites her lip before glancing down at her schedule, "I have Literature with Mrs. McLuhan."
"Your luck just gets better and better, I'm heading there too."
"Lead the way, tour guide." Simone says.
Eli smiles and gestures for her to follow him. Together they walk down the narrow hallways, pushing their way through the mass of students and dodging flying paper balls. This place is nothing like her school back in California, bright and spacious with apple red lockers and gleaming tile floors. No, this place reminds her of an abandoned building with it's dusty grey carpeted floors, high windows and olive green lockers that are covered in graffiti. This is definitely not what she's used to.
"Don't look so frightened Dimples," Eli nudges her, "It may not be the suburban high school you're used to but we don't bite. Unless you want us to."
"I can handle myself," She replies confidently.
"Oh ok," He holds up his hands in surrender and she shakes her head at his goofiness. "So what made you move from California to Jersey?"
Simone sighs, "My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and my mom wanted to be closer to her, so she packed us up and moved us here."
"Sorry about your grandmother," Eli sympathizes, "You'll like Jersey though, and if there's anything I can do to make your move more comfortable, let me know." A grin follows his words and Simone fights the urge to roll her eyes. Eli opens a door to their left and lets her enter before him. She watches him out the corner of her eye as he stares at her ass. Some gentleman, she thinks.
As soon as she enters she notices a girl watching her from the back of the room. She's tapping her pencil on the desk and studying Simone through her black frame glasses. The girl raises her eyebrows but before Simone can react, Eli puts a hand on the small of her back and ushers her to a seat in the middle of the class.
"You can sit next to me," He tells her, patting the seat next to him. Simone slides into the chair, feelings the curious eyes of students burning holes into her back. Thankfully the bell rings again and everyone scrambles to their seats, momentarily forgetting about the new face in the class room.
"Good morning class," Mrs. McLuhan greets and scans the room before spotting Simone, "I would like to introduce our new student Simone Porter. Simone please stand and say tell us something interesting about yourself."
Eli rolls his eyes and glances at Simone, "She made us do it at the beginning of the year."
Shrugging, Simone stands and waves to the class with a bright smile on her face. "I'm Simone Porter, I just moved here from California and...I have a dog named Romeo."
Mrs. McLuhan smiles, "Nice to meet you Simone, thank you for sharing."
As Simone takes her seat again, Mrs. McLuhan goes on about what today's lesson will be about. Simone tries to focus, but she can feel Eli's gaze weighing down on her. He's cute...maybe even more than cute...he's gorgeous. But she refuses to give him the satisfaction of making eye contact. So for the rest of the class period, Simone keeps her eyes straight ahead and forces herself to hang on to every word coming out of Mrs. McLuhan's mouth.
Once class is over, Eli offers his services once again. "I can take you to your next class if you want."
"Actually I want to stay behind and talk to the teacher about assignments and stuff."
"Ok," Eli says, taking out his phone from his pocket, "Put your number in my phone and then text yourself. That way you can call me if you need help navigating your way around. It's easy to get lost in these halls and I don't wanna anyone to snatch you up."
Crossing her arms over her chest, Simone glances at the phone being held out towards her and cracks a smile. "You're gonna have to do a little more than show me to my class, to get my number. Like I said, we just met."
Eli's eyes crinkle and a smirk finds its way on to his face, "Oh it's like that?"
"Mhm," She nods confidently to show she's completely serious.
"That's fine with me," Eli tucks his phone into his pocket again. "I'll see you around, Dimples." He walks away from her before she can think of something sassy to say. She watches him leave, then waits five minutes before leaving too, figuring she can catch up with Mrs. McLuhan later. Instead, she stumbles around the hallways for three minutes in search of the bathrooms, before finally locating them.
When she enters, she sees the girl from class earlier leaning against the sinks looking down at her phone. She lifts her head to look at Simone through her glasses and takes a moment to look her from head to toe. Simone drops her messenger bag on the floor and walks towards the girl until they're only a foot away from each other. In a flash, she wraps her arms around the girl and holds her close. The girls squeezes her in her arms and lets out a deep breath. They embrace each other for a long time, glad to finally be reunited.
** Hi guys!! It's been so long since I've posted on wattpad, thanks to school. But my freshman year of college is down and now summer is here, which means....NEW STORY WOOOO!! Hope you guys like this, please comment, vote, and enjoy!!
Authors note 12/23/17: I MIGHT delete this book and rewrite it because it didn't go in the direction I wanted it to. So if it disappears while you're reading it, sorry...but it will be back.