School started back a few days later. Theodora had spent the rest of the weekend idly, calling Jessica and not studying once. When she woke up on Monday with her alarm clock ringing, she at least felt satisfied to have had such a nice time before she had to return to school.
"But," she thought, "I won't let it get to me that much..."
And by "it" she meant Ian.
Theodora busily readied herself; she brushed her teeth, combed her hair, put on her uniform, and buckled her shoes without her usual carefulness. She had Annie arrange her hair in a French braid, a hairstyle that was very popular with all the senior girls. Theodora felt very grown up wearing it. After eating a quick breakfast of bagels and fried eggs, she quickly hurried out the door and found Pierre, the chauffeur, waiting for her.
"How did you sleep, miss?" he said stiffly. Pierre was much different than Annie and much more proper and formal, but Theodora still appreciated how kind he always was to her. Theodora's stepfather was a widower, and not all of the servants had been as kind about a poor foreigner taking the place of Mr. Huntington's dead wife as he was. Theodora was too tired to respond to Pierre, so she simply smiled, and he took it as the "very well, thank you" that he had been expecting.
The drive to the school was very short, as Cherry Blossom High was only a few blocks away from the town's wealthy neighborhood where most of the students lived.
After thanking Pierre for driving her, Theodora flounced into the school's main hall, her braid swishing behind her. All the senior girls turned to look, leaving Theodora beaming with pride. Suddenly, she felt herself lunge forward, her face falling closer and closer to the floor at a dangerous pace.
With a loud SPLAT! Theodora landed on the floor, her books tumbling out of her bag.
"I'm so sorry!" came the gasping voice of a boy. "Do you need help with your things?" Theodora looked up to see who the voice belonged to and found Henry Albright, the captain of the baseball team, leaning down with his hand outstretched. Theodora took it, and as she stood and dusted herself off, she got a better look at the boy.
Henry had big brown eyes framed by messy blonde hair that stuck out of his baseball cap at odd angles. He was tall and skinny and had bruised knees, presumably from falling very often during practice. He was not very handsome, but he was cute. Just by looking at him, Theodora could tell that he was very kind and energetic.
"Thank you," she said politely.
"Would you like me to walk you to class?"
"That would be great," Theodora replied, and she followed him through the school corridor. On their way to the classroom, Theodora spotted Ian, who was talking very animatedly to a brown-haired girl.
"He moves on fast," thought Theodora. "What a plain Jane! Wait—" Jimmy had stopped outside of the chemistry lab.
"How did you know I had chemistry?" she said, scrunching her eyebrows.
Henry shifted awkwardly. "Ummmm... I might have memorized your schedule."
Theodora pursed her lips to keep from breaking out into a cackle and gave Henry a light kiss on the cheek. Henry looked dazed. "Thank you for walking me," she said sweetly.
"Hey you, shrimp!"
Theodora spun around and found Ian standing there, his arms folded across his chest.
"Get away from her!"