******** A big thanks to the people who read my first few chapters...this one is longer. The story is starting to pick up, I hope I'm not boring you. Please remember I'm only in eighth grade. Hopefully it's keeping you intrested. None of my chapters are really edited exept my me, and I have terrible spelling skills. Please keep on reading!! Comment, fan. vote, and do whatever you do! Thanks again. Please remember this is my first Wattpad story. Hang in there! Tell me what you think!
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Chapter 3
On a bench not far from the door was a pile of gym clothes and a lock. Other girls started to file into the room as I matched the lock number to my assigned locker. The uniform fit perfectly, which was saying something considering that it was all generic and stuff like that never fits. Steady streams of people were making their way towards the gym. Unsure of where to go, I followed them. Drew was waiting for me right outside the door. We walked toward the center of the gym together where Coach Alvalez and several other kids were waiting. The talking ceased as soon as Alvalez blew his whistle.
“Please find a partner for volleyball today,” he barked. Someone grabbed my wrist, it was Drew.
“Come on,” he was pulling me toward a large box full of volleyballs. I noticed Connor in the back of the pack talking to the kid I’d seen earlier at the watering fountain. They were deep in conversation about something. The other guy I didn’t know looked up when he felt my eyes on him and he scrutinized me.
“You play right?” asked Drew, snapping me out of my reprieve. When I nodded he handed me the ball and backed up a few feet. We bumped it back and forth; barely letting it hit the ground. I have to admit, we were a good team. The whistle blew again and we all froze. Coach Alvalez showed us how to serve and positioned us across from each other on opposite sides of the net. Before returning to the locker rooms Coach made sure to remind us of the two person volleyball tournament coming up at school. Signups were outside of the gym doors, it was extra credit. Before Drew could ask me what I knew he was going to I sprinted into the locker room, embarrassed.
Was I allowed to play? I sure hope so. Drew and I were a good team and I was confident that we would get pretty far. The bell rang again, and like earlier Drew was waiting for me at the door. We walked to English in silence. Finally he asked the question.
“Do you want to play with me for the tournament?” he asked quietly. I went to keep walking but he grabbed my wrist and spun me around, giving me the full force of his green-eyed gaze. I took a deep breath, my mind was swimming and my pulse was starting to speed up. What was going on? I had only known him for almost three hours of my life.
“Yeah, but I’ll have to talk to Coach Alvalez first though. New student thing, you know?” I replied shakily, still aware he was holding my hand and how close he was.
“Don’t worry about it. I already talked to him,” he replied smoothly. I gaped at him.
“What?” I did my best not to shriek, but I was failing. Drew frowned slightly, still not letting go of my hand, but looking hardly fazed.
“Sorry, I just thought, you know, Principal Mueller didn’t want me to show you the gym because he’d said you had gotten in trouble. I really wanted to play with you so I asked. Is that alright? I hope you don’t mind,” Of course I minded. A guy I might just happen to like now thinks I’m a liar and a drug addict. He used to be my only friend, and he was cute! Could my day get any worse?
The bell was about to ring, so I hurried into Mrs. Charleston’s classroom, Drew only step behind me. After introductions I took a seat beside Connor again, weird. The class drug on and on, I was forced to sit copying notes from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. Lunch couldn’t come soon enough, except for the fact I was dreading talking to Drew again. But for some reason I doubted he would bring it up again. Finally the bell rang; I picked up my textbooks and hurried out the door. Mr. Golden boy met me outside.
“Locker?” he asked, eyeing my stack of binders and books. I nodded back, embarrassed. Without a word he took a bundle of my load out of my arms.
“Thanks, my locker’s number 1084,” he told him gratefully. He flashed me a smile and his eyes sparkled.
“Cool,” he replied like he knew where every locker was located.
“I think it’s by the office,” he smiled mischievously.
“Anywhere close to where your student tour started?” he asked. My cheeks reddened, he was teasing me.
“Yeah somewhere over there,” I replied sarcastically. Drew smiled again. A strand of his honey colored hair fell into his eyes. He froze as I reached out and pushed it away. We both stared at each other in silence. Faith suddenly skipped up, practically knocking me over.
“So Drew, do we still have plans for Friday night?” she asked, completely ignoring me.
“Yeah, by the way I was going to invite Alissa,” he replied, scowling at her behavior. Faith raised her eyebrows. I gulped, if he was taken; by all means have him because I couldn’t go up against her. She was shorter than me but it worked out it her advantage. Her hair was a startling shade of blond, which was perfectly straightened without a curl. Her eyes were a piercing color blue, that matched her blue low V-neck blouse and shorter than necessary floral skirt. I could have sworn she’d changed from earlier.
“Who?” I smiled in grim satisfaction. I had stayed under the radar this long, which was surprising.
“Faith, please meet Alissa Wade,” Drew stressed my last name. Faith was eying me with disgust until he’d said Wade. Then she smiled eagerly.
“Hi,” I said. Faith smiled and took my arm.
“Well, my bff finally arrived,” she told Drew who was looking at use with a confused look on his face. He wasn’t the only one. By the time I had sat down at my lunch table my brain was swelling to the size of a bowling ball. After Faith declared me her best friend she had filled me in on the latest Warren High gossip. The cafeteria was in chaos. Both Drew and Faith were my saviors, pulling and pushing to a table in the back corner of the room. To my surprise it was empty. I had been expecting a table full of all the popular people like the cheerleaders and the football players. Faith took a seat while Drew looked at me expectantly.
“What?” I asked after an awkward silence. Faith laughed, and then pointed to Drew.
“The usual please, and get a special for her,” she told him, indicating for me to sit. He rolled his eyes dramatically before braving the lunch line for us.
“Personal slave?” I asked Faith. She laughed again. What didn’t she laugh at?
“No, best friend,”
“Oh,” Faith snapped open a compact and proceeded to touch up her makeup. “What’s going on Friday?” I asked nervously drumming my fingers on the table.
“Friday?” she answered and continued after I nodded, “There’s a new bowling alley down at the rec. center. The whole school’s basically going. You should definably go with us!” Faith continued to talk fast, babbling on about who was dating who and so on. Drew returned a few minutes later, balancing three trays on his arms.
“Oh, thanks Drew,” I said to him, my mind still reeling from my little chat with Faith. The new bowling alley was the place to be, Drew was hosting the party because his dad owned all the rec. centers in the state. The name of the bowling alley was familiar, even though it had just opened. Strike and Spare was THE place to be. While Faith chatted aimlessly about who knows what Drew and I ate in relative silence except for the occasional comment or saying yes or no. Five minutes before the bell was going to ring found me sitting across from an amused Drew, Faith was nowhere in sight.
“So, you want to go with me on Friday? I’m sure Faith has already spilled the beans,” he asked looking into my eyes. Both my hands were laying palm down on the table. I didn’t notice Drew’s hands until they were on top of mine. My pulse quickened. What was going on? I barely knew him anyway.
“To Strike and Spare? Sure, I mean, if I don’t have any homework, and oh,” I stopped in midsentence. Across from me Drew laughed so loud several other kids around us looked at us strangely. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and I quickly pulled my hands out from underneath his.
“What?” I asked, fearing I committed a faux-pas. It had been so long since I had been to public school.
“Why homework? You’re not on a sports team so why bother to keep your grades up?” he answered after his laughing fit was over. I shrugged, standing up quickly as the bell rang. Faith suddenly appeared by my shoulder, taking my arm in hers.
“Come on, let’s get to math,” she practically shrieked. As it turns out Faith’s math class was only a few doors down from ours. The hallway went suddenly quiet once she had left. Ms. Macon was a younger woman who doted on giving me, ”Alissa Wade,” she exclaimed excitedly, a seat next to famed Connor Marshall. Drew rolled his eyes as I sat down embarrassed by the nerd of the school.
Ms. Macon doubles as the drama as well as Calculus teacher at Warren High. Her voice changed every sentence, slipping in and out of several different accents. Out of all my teachers, Ms. Macon was definably the most exuberant and excited teacher of the day. Only one more class I told myself happily after copying down Connor’s notes about some theory I’d probably never use. Ms. Macon was flying about the room, checking answers and shushing loud students. It was a surprise when the bell rang quickly. And I scrambled to put away my books and binders in my locker.
My final class is United States history, which I’d probably taken close to at least four times already. The teacher, Mr. Arting looked at me and pointed to an open seat. Drew was happy when I sat down next to him, an extremely large textbook in hand. Luckily for me, today was project presentation day. Several students explained different battles of the Civil War. I hardly cared, and didn’t bother taking notes. Those guys were all old and dead anyway, so what did it matter to me? After fifty minutes of almost endless torture, (it wasn’t all bad, Drew was sitting next to me,) the final bell rang. I sat, stunned for a moment. Not one person had said a malicious comment about my ‘condition’ all day! It was almost enough to warm the heart, almost.
“Hey there,” a voice said close to my ear. I almost jumped into the air, and then I realized it was Drew. His hair was in his eyes again, I pushed it out of the way subconsciously as I gathered up my stuff and walked out of the room. Drew less than a few moments behind me, we walked to my locker in relative silence. As I punched in the combo he leaned on my neighbor’s locker.
“You doing anything after school?” he asked casually. I stopped stuffing binders and books into my already overfilling backpack to stare at him. He wasn’t looking at me; instead I found his green eyes glaring at the strange boy I had seen earlier. The guy noticed and glared back, his face furious. It wasn’t my problem, so went back to the task of fitting all my homework into the small bag I’m supposed to carry on my back. The two were still glaring at each other when I slammed my locker door closed, making them both jump in surprise.
Snapping out of his reprieve, Drew gave me a questioning look. Oh, that’s right, after school. Why did he still remember that? He steered me out the front door of the school.
“Not today. Adel- I mean- my mom will want me back pretty soon. This was my first day of public school,” I reminded him when his face fell. Disappointment flickered across his eyes, but he smiled.
“Bye, I’ll call you later?” he replied, handing me a piece of paper with his phone number written on it. He stuck his hands in his pockets. I felt bad, and instantly regretted the whole decision about not going with him, but only for a second since the next thing I knew Adelaide had pulled up in her new car and flashed a smile through the open window. Too bad I was too busy getting in the car to see all the senior’s knee’s go weak.