First period was Geometry 2, then American History, Aerobics, and Bouldering after lunch. Nate had made me take most of my "real" classes prior to my senior year, so theoretically I could have graduated early, especially since I had had to repeat my 6th year, and was now older than most of my fellow upperclassmen. I would never admit it to him, but I had chosen to finish out my senior year the regular way because I was waiting for my friends to graduate so I wouldn't be alone when I went to college. And also because (and I would die before I admit this to him) the thought of leaving Nate to go to college made me nervous and sad.
I was procrastinating.
So I had a lot of bullshit credit classes that I took. I headed to the back of the school towards the "temporary" math trailers that were permanently situated between the schools back doors and the football feild. The schools boundaries were situated right over the line of the neighborhoods that were "rich family money" and "student family housing" for the nearby universities, which meant we had a diverse crowd of students with snobby PTA moms who weren't willing to part with their husband's money to pay to upkeep the poor kids school. Every donation/bribe that went to the school ended up being for the jocks equipment and has-been coaches, which meant that the school was top ranking for athletics and academics, but structurally probably wouldn't survive an earthquake.
It also meant that the rich assholes that drove Tesla's to school at 16 didn't really care what kind of trouble they caused us poor kids, because Mommy and daddy would never allow them to be punished for anything that might be unbecoming. One of my best friends in my sophomore year had gotten pregnant by one of said rich assholes, and she was now living on her own in Colorado, her and her son supported by her baby-faddy's parents regular payments, made to her to keep quiet about the boys paternity. She actually seemed pretty happy about how it had turned out and was now in nursing school, but that doesn't make it okay.
As I opened the door to go outside, Jaime caught up to me.
"Hey, Maybe!"
I forced a smile at him. Jaime and I had been dating for about 8 months, which was a long time for me. Usually I got tired of people by month 2.
I shifted my bag to the other shoulder so he could give me an awkward side hug as we walked.
"Hey Jaime, how was the trip?"
"Oh, Puerto Rico was amazing! The beaches were incredible, and the sand was so soft, and we saw this waterfall that had glowing moss,..."
I tuned out a bit as he told me about all the things he had seen during his summer trip. He had been gone all month, and I hadn't received more than a few emails from him. He had said the service was spotty, but had uploaded about 500 photos to his various social media accounts.
I had a feeling he was likely to break up with me in the next few weeks, but I couldn't find it in myself to care. Jaime was cute, blonde hair and freckles and blue eyes that I had heard other girls refer to as "deep", but I was now over the novelty of him, primarily due to his habit of cheating on me. I had stayed with him because the sex was better than doing it myself, but I didn't want to waste anymore time with him anyways.
"That sounds amazing!"
I had interrupted him mid-recount of his parasailing excursion, and his face fell a little. I felt some guilt, but not enough to apologize. After all, he hadn't asked me about my summer at all. Not that there was much to tell. Huh. Maybe that was why he was going to dump me. I was boring.
I pulled out from his grip around my waist, and said
"We don't want to be late on the first day, I'll meet you at lunch?"
I turned into my class without waiting for a response, even though I was a bit early due to Nate's maniacal driving.
I chose a spot in the center of the room, closer to the door than the teachers desk. I knew that Ms. Albery was one of the teachers who wouldn't mark me absent if I decided to leave halfway through class, so I was in a good spot to leave without being particularly noticed.
Something hard hit the back of my head, and my head hit my desk, giving me mutiple sore spots. As I lifted my head, rubbing the spot on my forehead, I already knew who the culprit was.
Tanner Blake. He was a 'roided up rugby player who had had it our for me since 9th grade, when I had refused to be his girlfriend in front of all his drunk friends at a party. I doubted they even remembered why they disliked me, but they all followed Tanner's lead anyways.
I glared at Tanners back as he passed.
"Still compensating, I see."
So, my attitude probably helped nothing, but I refused to be walked all over.
He turned and glared at me as two of his minions, Vance Norton and Blake Tanner (yes, I see the irony) slowed on their way into class to back him up, just in case I managed to embarass their ring leader.
"Still a bitch, I see," he sneered.
"I was actually hoping to see you today, Tanner. I thought I should tell you that steroids can actually make you grow boobs, and was wondering if you wanted to go bra shopping later?"
Blake tried to cover his surprised guffaw with a cough, though wasn't very successful.
"Though considering the other side effects, maybe you could just re-purpose a couple of jock straps and call it good!"
Now Vance was covering his mouth with his hand and looking at the floor to stifle his laughter.
I smirked at Tanner. He narrowed his eyes.
"I saw you getting out of your dads beater this morning, clearly you're familiar with re-purposing, Maybe. Looks like Jaime is also re-purposing you, considering I saw him molar-deep in Caroline Theebs mouth last week. Maybe he'll give me a go at you, whore." He winked.
I could feel myself flush. Vance now looked a little uncomfortable, and Blake looked smug. I would have to avoid all three of them for a while.
I leaned back in my chair.
"If I were a whore, even you couldn't afford me."
I winked back.
"Hello class, please take a seat!" Ms. Albery announced as she entered.
Tanner and his pose huffed off, though Vance still kept an eye on me as he chose an empty desk behind Blake who was behind Tanner. He was to the left of me and one row back.
As class started I glared at the back of Tanners head. What a dick wad.
Class passed in a blur of monotony, even though I actually liked Ms. Albery, and the subject she taught. Today was just boring "first day" garbage.
The bell rang and I gathered the sketch of my water bottle that I had been working on for the last 20 minutes or so. I knew Jaime would be waiting, so I moved slowly, and most of the class, and Ms. Albery, had gone by the time I had gathered my things.
"Hey." A voice behind my shoulder. I turned and saw Vance.
"Hi?" I was suspicious, and you could hear it in my voice. Good. Vance had been a pain in the ass from day one.
"I'm really sorry about Tanner. He should have kept his mouth shut about Jaime. Actually, Jaime asked specifically if he could be the one to tell you, so...." He was looking at the ground. I could feel the shock from his apollogy on my face, but quickly recovered. I sighed.
"It's not like I didn't know he wasn't being faithful." I shrugged. Vance peeked uo from the floor at me.
"Then why are you with him?"
I asked "Why do you hang out with Tanner even though you feel the need to apologize for him?"
Vance made full eye contact.
"I guess....its the status quo."
"Then I guess you have your answer."
He blinked at me, and then left. Huh. Weird.