L A N A
"I'm never drinking again," Isha muttered, massaging her temples while we were seated around our lunch table in the cafeteria the next day, which was a Monday. The worse day to have a hungover.
Arms folded across her chest and leaned back in her chair with her legs crossed on the table, Jada sighed. "That's the same as you saying you're never gonna fall for a straight girl ever again. It ain't happening."
Groaning, Isha rested her head on my shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut. "I just wanna go somewhere to a ditch and die in peace."
I shoved my bottle of water into her hands. "Drink up."
She responded in a groan.
"By the way, where did you two end up?" Jada glanced at me and Carmen.
Drunk in Kiana's garden with a sober Everett next to me. This morning when I woke up slightly hungover, some details of our conversation under the willow tree were fuzzy, but I did clearly remember that he told me about his sister's death and I mentioned mom and dad's. When I remembered back to the conversation now, I just cringed over everything I said but that's not how I felt last night. I felt I could've sat there and talked to him for hours.
"I left early like I said," I said. Why did I lie? I honestly had no idea.
Jada moved her gaze to Carmen who was typing on her phone as usual. "Carmen? Did you go to Diego?"
Before she could answer, I saw a deep red, almost like a bite mark on her neck. I furrowed my brows when I asked, "Is that an injury on your neck? What happened?"
Isha and Jada glanced at her neck and then looked at each other before they burst out laughing together with Carmen.
Laughing, Carmen wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer to her side. "Baby Lana, it's a hickey. A lovebite."
Oh. Oh.
To be honest, it technically still didn't make any sense. "But didn't it hurt? He technically bit you. How is that a bite of love?"
Carmen grinned. "Lana. There's nothing 'technical' about this. It's about being horny and hooking up."
Along with me, Jada was already making a disgusted face. "Okay. Someone change the subject before she starts going into details."
"So you did get laid?" Isha asked, wiggling her eyebrows at Carmen.
Smiling, Carmen nodded.
Isha's whole face lit up like a firework. "OMG! Girl, that's so fucking awesome!"
It had been ten months since things ended between Carmen and Carlos. As someone who was really into boys and one night stand, she hadn't hooked up, let alone kissed a single guy in ten months.
"What's he like? Other than a hottie of course?" Isha asked, excitedly.
"Let me tell ya. That guy invented flirting and he calls me care-bear."
Isha laughed. "Oh my god! He's the cheesy, flirt type? The exact type of guy you, Carmen Romano, need in your gothic, don't-fuck-with-me-imma-run-you-over- with-my-bike-vibe."
Carmen shrugged. "He's cute and cool but we're taking things slow."
Now, I was so confused. How did it make sense that two people liked it each other and wanted to take things slowly but instead of doing that, they had sex first?
Thus, I couldn't help but ask Carmen, "Wait, so you're taking things slowly but the first thing you do is to have sex? That doesn't make any sense."
The girls burst into laughter once again while I just sat there, utterly flustered. In fact, why would people even go to strangers' houses in the middle of the night and get naked in front of them?
To me, that was disgusting. People were so weird.
"Omg, Lana you are too innocent! Must protect this tiny bean. Let me put you in my pocket!" Isha quipped, pulling me against my chest and hugging me but not too tightly because she knew what that kind of human contact did to me. It wasn't that I didn't like being touched. I felt comfortable when Isha held me like this. It was just the boys I couldn't handle. Skin contact with boys and men, in general, felt like my skin was on fire.
"When are we meeting him? I mean, we've seen him at school and the Laker but we've never actually spoken," Isha said.
"I'm hanging out with him again on Wednesday at the Laker. You guys can join us. He usually eats with his friends outside during lunch or you could've said hi here," Carmen said, smiling.
She seemed happy. She did, The last time this kind of smile that made her green eyes glint was when she was still dating Carlos and had no idea who he really was and what he really wanted.
While three of them started talking about how much they drank yesterday, I opened my bag to take out my Nintendo switch but brought out my phone instead. I saw the screen suddenly lit up with a message from the student council group chat on Messenger.
Ali Abdi: Lana the meeting started ten minutes ago. I'll update you on what we talked about but it would be nice if you can make it:)
I closed my eyes. Oh, fuck.
I forget. This the third time. Kevin had probably started talking shit about me already.
I got up quickly and a wave of dizziness passed through me, causing me to almost lose my balance as the room briefly started spinning. I pressed my one hand to the side of my head while gripping the edge of the table with the other.
"You okay, Lana?" Jada asked, and they all glanced at me with small frowns on their faces.
I knew it was because I hadn't eaten anything all day and barely yesterday apart from the alcohol of course. Quickly regaining my balance and recognizing my surroundings, I nodded. "Yeah. I gotta go too. Student council meeting."
Isha pouted. "But your lunch. At least take the sandwich and juice with you."
Knowing Isha wouldn't let me leave with an empty stomach, I grabbed the packed sandwich and juice box and shoved them into my backpack. The girls waved goodbye as I left the cafeteria and hurried to the student council meeting.
Luckily, the hallways were pretty much abandoned considering the majority of the student usually ate in the cafeteria or outside in the schoolyard because they had to take a smoke after eating lunch. I was still surprised no locker had been trashed ever since mine yet. I knew Lakers loved the cafeteria food but so much that they stopped smashing people's heads into them and vandalizing them for fun wasn't what I expected.
When I arrived, I was met with a glare from Kevin, a small and passive smile from Sonya and Lily, a friendly smile from Ali, and a soft smile from Everett. Did I expect this? Of course, I did.
"Oh. Hey, Lana. Glad you could make it. Come on in." Everett gestured me to take a seat next to him.
I kind of thought he would meet me with a different look on his face after last night but here he was acting like what happened yesterday was normal. Maybe he was. After all, he had lost someone too and he too sometimes must've had the same thoughts about life as me. Or maybe he was creeped out and was just acting as nothing happened. Did I care what he thought though? Not really. Not at all.
Kevin was scowling. "Late. Again."
Let me put that late up in your ass.
Everett ignored Kevin and nodded at the seat next to him. "Could you continue drafting an email for me to the principal?"
I nodded and took the seat next to Everett. He pushed his laptop over to me and I started reading through what he had written. It was about the open day.
While the others fell into their discussion again, Everett glanced at me, soft brown eyes meeting my coal black. "You okay?"
"I forgot about the meeting."
"No, I mean, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale."
I was still lightheaded but I knew it was most likely the empty stomach. I could eat later. Thus, I nodded. "I'm fine. What's the email about?"
Everett looked at me for a moment before he filled me in on what they had been discussing before I arrived. "Okay, so the current project right now is the open day. Middle schoolers will be visiting this place in two weeks and we have to make plans, start getting things organized, and get ready to give off a good impression on future freshmen."
The open day was a day where Lakewood High was open to 8 PM with tours, presentations of subjects in form of small projects, and performances led by the students to show an inside look on the high school life for middle schoolers who were going to be freshmen here next year. The teens came with their parents and the students of Lakewood high could choose to be tour guides, make fun projects like for example dissecting a baby pig in biology or make musical performances for the audience to watch. The whole meaning behind the open day was to give the upcoming freshmen a small insight of what it was like attending Lakewood High.
The problem was that we Lakers were too busy with gang stuff, streetfights, selling drugs, getting high or wasted, or just simply didn't care about showing middle schoolers how 'exciting' Lakewood High was. Plus, the open day was mainly planned by the student council and the previous students on the council didn't care much about it either.
"How are we going to recruit people to join. I mean, nobody is interested in the open day. Some students show up and create a mess and when the parents and their kids go home, they're not even disappointed because they know what kind of school this is. It has a shitty rumor. This whole town does."
Kevin wasn't wrong. I never really stayed at school for the open day let alone participated in it, so I hadn't witnessed the mess except the huge mess that was left for the janitor to clean up the day after.
"Okay. Let's not make this sound like it's completely impossible. First of all, we can't do anything about rumors. All we can do is plan an awesome open day," Everett said, with an attempted cheerful tone.
Faces blank, we just stared at him.
Everett sighed. "Okay. You guys have to do a little bit better than that."
I almost snorted Likewise. At least he was trying to make his smile reach his eyes. Just trying.
Then he tried again. This time sounding excited but awkward at the same time as he threw his fists in the air. "Wohoo! Yeah!"
They all tried to keep it in but eventually burst out laughing together.
Grinning, Ali said. "Dude. Don't ever do that again. You look like a clown."
Everett rolled his eyes before explaining, "We have to show the students that the student council is not higher than the students. This open day is about benefiting the students. We have to benefit the students. That's our motto as the student council."
Sonya smiles. "I liked that speech better than whatever that awkward yeehaw was."
We spent the rest of the hour planning the open day as much as possible but when the meeting came to and, we hadn't really come that far at all. We had to be a lot more effective if we were going to have this whole thing planned out within two weeks."
"Okay, so the next meeting is on Friday, which is kind of far so I was thinking-"
"-Dude, she'll probably forget," Kevin cut him off.
Everett blinked. "What?"
"The meeting. She'll probably forget the next one too. Aren't you going to do something about that?"
My jaw ticked and I felt my hands curl into fists. I was annoyed as hell but he was right. Everett couldn't just let me get away with this.
Everett sighed and glanced at me with those soft eyes of his. "Could you put a reminder on your phone for the next meeting?"
Considering my depression was kicking and I kept forgetting shit, I knew I had to put a ton of reminders on my phone, including the next student council meetings. If not, I was a goner from this council. Especially when Kevin was here. It seemed like he never missed a damn opportunity to make me look like the bad guy. I was definitely the bad guy. Everyone knew that. But I was also so fucking depressed and that was something I never had control over.
I nodded and dropped my gaze on the laptop screen, continuing to edit the email I had finished drafting for the principal.
Everett continued. "Awesome. Okay, so one last thing before we end this meeting. Since we only have a one-hour meeting two times a week, and then the open day is only one week ahead, I was thinking we could meet up outside of school at someone's house and plan as much as we can in one sitting, and the maybe one more day if we need it. If it's okay with you guys, we could do it at my house. Today after school?"
Ali nodded. "Sure."
"It's fine with me," Lily chimed in.
Kevan agreed too. "I'm in."
"Lana? You think you can make it?"
"Yeah." No. Not all. This was work, but going to Everett's place was personal. We were probably going to socialize, and by socialize, it meant I had to sit and listen to their shit while most of these guys didn't even want to look me in the eye. Plus, I had no interest in socializing.
"Okay. Great. I'll text you guys my address in the group chat."
After meeting ended, the others left while Everett took his time to put his lunchbox and notebook inside his backpack as he was waiting for me to finish the email so he could take his laptop back.
"Hey, uh, Lana?"
I looked up and found him watching me with curiosity sparking across his eyes. Despite being tall, lean and and having a sharp jaw, he also managed to look like a small bean sometimes.
"What does strawberry milk mixed with beer taste like?" He was grinning now.
I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop a small smile from tugging on my lips for a brief moment.
"Shut up," I whispered before sending the email and shutting the laptop. I shoved it to him and got up from my seat. While I grabbed my phone and backpack, Everett was still smiling.
"I'm just curious. Maybe I'll try it sometime."
I was about to say something but sealed my lips shut when me eyes swept over the message I had received ten minutes ago.
Jada: Don't go to your apartment before five today. I have to talk to Jake.
I stared at the text for a moment. Jada was late on paying him this month's rent, so he was pissed at us both. I knew Jada was only telling me to keep away until she sorted it out with him so he wouldn't continue taking out on me, but I still felt like I could do something to help. I also knew that if I showed up, it would complicate things for her, so I decided to let her do this on her own.
"Hey, Lana?" I blinked as Everett's voice brought me out of my thoughts.
He was standing by the door. "The crowd has cleared. Let's head to English Lit together."
I slid my phone into the back pocket of my jeans. "You go."
His brows furrowed. "Why?"
Why wouldn't this guy just do as he was told without asking so many questions. I sighed. "The elevator doesn't work."
"Oh." Slowly, realization creased across his face. "Ooh. That's why you're a bit late for class sometimes."
He noticed? Of course he did. Everyone noticed.
"But it's okay. It's fine. I don't mind walking at your pace," he said, quickly. "Let's go."
I didn't feel like arguing because a part of me was too damn lazy and the other part knew he would never leave this room without me. Thus, he walked and I limped, beside each other and up the endless staircases, slowly and silently.
"I'm just going to write down in my notes that we need to get the elevator fixed next," he suddenly said, pulling his phone out of his pocket while waiting for me on top of the staircase as I still had three stairs left.
"Don't bother. Nobody used it," I told him, slightly breathless after I reached the top and was done with climbing stairs for the day. Going up was hard but going down wasn't because then I just hopped on the railing and slid down to the bottom like butter on a pan.
"But you did."
My gaze jerked up and I met his friendly, kinda sorrow eyes. He wanted to fix it for me? How idiotic.
"Benefit the students. You have to-" I started but he cut me off, rapidly.
"-Exactly. You are a student. You need this. Crowds are already hard for you. At least we can do something about the elevator."
I opened my mouth but closed it once I realized there was no point.
His lips quirked upward. "I win."
I rolled my eyes and grunted before we headed towards the classroom together. I couldn't help but groan mentally when thinking about what everybody's reaction would be when they would find out that he was getting the elevator fixed for me. Kevin would lose his shit. The Sirens would laugh their asses off.
Wait a second. Now that I thought about it...huh. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Everett Weston was getting the elevator fixed for The Wolf. I secretly smiled a little to myself of amusement.
****
Author's note: Hi, guys! I'm sorry for the late update. I was busy with school. I hope you liked this chapter. What are you most excited for? Meeting Diego or Lana going to Everett's house to plan the open day?
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