I scurried out of Art as soon as the bell rang, thankful for it finally being over. The class itself hadn’t been bad, but I hadn’t known anyone in it, and there was a girl sitting across the room from me who had spent the entire class glaring at me- even though I was fairly sure that I had never actually met her. I made my way down the hall, not really sure what I was looking for or where I would find Ket, Cris and Josey. I stumbled further down the hall, being pushed forward by the crowd. I would have continued being shoved down the hall by the swarms if someone hadn’t grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to the side.

“Thanks-” I began, as I turned to my saviour.

I frowned when I saw who it was. Before me stood the girl who had spent the entirety of Art class glaring at me.

“Oh, uh, hi,” I greeted awkwardly. “You’re in my Art class, right?”

“I’m also in your History class, so I saw that whole display this morning. How do you know Officer Mills? What about Ket Thomas? How did you get so buddy-buddy with him so fast? The only people he ever hangs out with are Cris and Josey. It’s been that way since grade nine, it’s, like, the law,” the girl snapped.

“Um. . . I know Braum- er, Officer Mills because he’s. . . a family friend. As for Ket, I know him as a. . . family friend as well,” I replied, not even sounding convincing to myself.

“So they’re both just family friends, are they?” she questioned.

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Rolland Gessman, please report to the principal’s office,” the secretary called over the P.A. system.

“Oh, that’s me. I. . . uh, I should go,” I said, slowly starting to back away.

“I’m not done talking to you,” she growled. “Who exactly are you? Where did you come from? Even if you are family friends, why does Ket hang out with you? Why is he so. . . grossly protective of you?”

She stalked towards me with each new thought, backing me into a locker. 

“Ro?” a familiar voice called.

“Ket?” I replied, relief flooding through me.

“Ro?”

I cringed. “Jackson.”

“Jackson?” Josey asked, coming up beside Ket.

“Jackson? Ro? Ket? Jessica? What’s going on here?” Cris questioned, joining the growing crowd.

“Jessica?” I inquired.

“That’s me,” the girl who had me backed against the locker replied, giving me a twisted smile.

“So, I repeat: What exactly is going on?” Cris repeated.

“Ro and I were just having a little chat,” Jessica explained in a sweet voice.

“More like interrogation,” I muttered accusatorially.

“I saw what was going on and came over to try and help,” Jackson added in a jovial voice.

“Wow, what a knight in shining armour you are,” Ket said sarcastically. “I came over to help Ro. I had a funny feeling that Jess would be giving her a hard time after first period this morning.”

Jessica whirled on Ket, nearly whipping me with her hair. “Why do you care so much, Ket? How do you know this girl?”

“We’re friends, Jess, and I’m going to kindly ask you to leave her alone from now on. As for you, Jackson, leave Ro alone. I don’t want to see you near her. Also try to keep in mind that she has close friends in the NYPD. Leave her alone, Jackson,” Ket warned.

Jackson smirked and shrugged. “I don’t think that the NYPD are going to come get me just for talking to Ro. Your threats are empty, Ket.”

“Rolland Gessman, please report to the principal’s office.”

“I really need to find the principal’s office,” I insisted, drawing everyone’s attention.

“I’ll show you where it is,” Ket answered.

“We’ll meet you guys at- at the spot,” Cris nodded, looking pointedly at Jessica and Jackson.

“Meet you there,” Ket told her.

Then, he took my hand and pulled me down the hall, away from the group that had gathered.

“I’m sorry, Ro,” he sighed.

“Why? What do you have to be sorry for?” I questioned.

“I feel like all of this trouble you’ve faced so far is my fault. Actually, I know it’s my fault. I don’t want you having a difficult time at school, but because of me, that’s all you’ve had so far,” Ket sighed.

I shook my head. “I still don’t see how it’s your fault.”

Ket sighed again. “The only reason Jackson is tormenting you is because he’s trying to get to me. Same with Jessica, although she’s trying to get to me in a different sense than Jackson is, obviously. They’ve both been obsessed with me since grade nine. Jessica loves me, and Jackson hates me and wants to replace me. I just. . . I feel terrible about dragging you into my problems. I mean, you don’t need any more on your plate, what with your brother, and your aunt and everything. . .”

I frowned. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“Sorry,” Ket mumbled, wincing. “Speaking of your aunt, do you plan to go visit her? I understand if you don’t want to, but I want you to know that when you do decide to go, I can come with you, if you want. I don’t want you to have to do it alone. . .”

I smiled up at him as he trailed off awkwardly, his eyes trained on the floor.

“Blanket Thomas, are you nervous?” I laughed.

Ket turned to me with a glare. “Firstly, do not use my full name in public, and secondly, no, of course I’m not nervous.”

I grinned. “You were nervous! I can tell! Well, you have no reason to be, because I would actually really appreciate it if you came with me. I was actually thinking about maybe going today after school. What do you think?”

“Sounds good,” Ket agreed. “I wasn’t nervous, though.”

Then, he turned into a room on the right and I followed closely behind. There was a large desk with a kind looking woman with shoulder length grey hair sitting at it who I assumed was the secretary. 

“Hi, I’m Ro Gessman,” I began.

“Rolland? Oh, finally! There’s a phone call for you. Something very urgent,” the secretary told me, gesturing to the phone.

My heart skipped a beat and my hand shot out to grab the phone.

“Hello?” I answered.

****

“Hello?” Ro answered.

I sighed. “Took you long enough! How are you doing, Sis?”

“Reed?” she asked incredulously before dropping her voice to a whisper. “The secretary told me that it was someone calling me about something urgent and I nearly had a heart attack. Are you alright?”

I laughed. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. I just knew that the secretary wouldn’t let me talk to you unless she believed it was a pressing matter. Anyways, I’m calling to see how your first day is going. I’ve been worrying all day, and I couldn’t take it any longer. I knew you didn’t have a cellphone anymore, so I just called the school. Sorry if you had to leave class for this.”

She let out a huff of air, which I knew was a sign that she was completely unimpressed with me.

“No, you didn’t pull me out of class. You are making me miss lunch, though. As for my first day of school it’s. . . going fine.”

I frowned. She had only hesitated for a moment, but that’s all it took for me to know that she was lying through her teeth.

“I know you may not have completely grasped this concept yet, because you can’t fully remember me, but I know everything about you, Ro, and I can tell when you’re lying. Now tell me the truth, how is your first day going?” I questioned.

“It’s not awful but it’s also. . . not great,” she replied with a sigh. “There’s this guy that’s giving me trouble-”

“Do you mean Ket? Is it Ket? I’ll kill him,” I growled.

“No, Deer-head,” she laughed. “It’s not Ket. He’s actually being really nice right now. We made nice and are tentatively calling each other ‘friend’.”

“Did. . . did you just call me Deer-head? Oh my god, I can’t believe it! Do you remember where that’s from?”

“I. . . don’t know. I have no idea where that came from I kind of just. . . said it,” Ro trailed off.

I smiled. “We were seven. Mom and dad took us camping in Massachusetts, and I was going through this phase wear I was convinced that I could talk to animals. . .”

“Stop poking the squirrel!” Ro told me.

“I’m not poking it, I’m establishing a mental connection so that I can speak to it,” I corrected her.

“Well, I think that if you keep doing that, it’s going to bite you,” Ro warned.

“I can speak to animals. They love me. The squirrel won’t bite me,” I assured her.

Ro gasped. “Oh my god.”  

“What happened, did it bite me?”  I asked, pulling my hand away quickly.

“No, you knucklehead! Look, it’s a deer!” Ro exclaimed.

I gasped, the squirrel completely forgotten. Just as Ro had said, right on the edge of the clearing we stood in was a deer. I brought my hands up to either side of my head, folding them to look like a pair of ears.

“What are you doing?” Ro questioned, looking at me skeptically.

“I’m trying to establish a mental connection with a deer by making myself look like one,” I explained, keeping my eyes focused on the deer.

“Okay, whatever you say, Deerhead,” she laughed.

“It was a fun camping trip,” I commented.

“I’m sure it was,” she laughed. 

“So, you going to tell me about what’s wrong now?” I asked.

“Well. . .” she began.

***

“Ket!” Josey called from the office door.

I glanced at Ro and motioned to the door. She nodded and waved me off, so I headed out of the office to see what Josey wanted.

“So? What happened?” he questioned. “Is Ro in trouble.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, it’s just her brother calling. Where’s Cris?”

Josey shurgged. “To Hell if I know. So, that was pretty intense, huh? I mean, first Jackson, then Officer Mills. . . looks like you’ve got a lot of competition, not to mention the whole thing with Jessica-”

“What do you mean ‘I have lots of competition’?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“You know, with Ro,” Josey said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“With Ro? We only just became friends,” I laughed.

Josey’s eyes were trained on a curvy brunette who was walking past. He licked his lips, smirking slightly and sending her a wink.

I scoffed. “What about you, Casanova? You act like such a player, and for a long time, you most definitely were, but things have changed, haven’t they? You’re lying to both yourself and everyone around you. You have the hots for Cris.”

Josey’s eyes widened and he began violently coughing. “Cris? You mean our best friend, Cris? Uh, no, I don’t think so.”

“It wasn’t a suggestion or a possibility, it was a statement. You liking Cris is a fact, my friend. You’re in deep,” I laughed.

“Shut up you freaky, mind reading psychologist,” Josey grumbled.

“Oh, poor lost Jose, even if I wasn’t extremely good at reading people, I’d be able to tell that you’re head over heels for Cris. It’s pretty painfully obvious,” I shrugged.

Josey let out a deep sigh and raked his hands through his hair. “Okay, fine! You’re right! God! I just, I didn’t want to admit it cause. . . well, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. I’ve never had feelings about a girl before, I’ve only ever had flings. How the hell am I supposed to act around her now that I know that I like her?”

I rolled my eyes. “The same way you act around her now. Although, I would suggest trying to hang out with her alone more often if you want the relationship to ever move forward. Why don’t you ask her to hang out after school? Ro and I will be busy cause we already have plans, so the probability is, you’ll be able to hang out just the two of you.”

Josey raised his eyebrows. “You and Ro have plans after school?” 

I nodded. “I offered to go with her to visit her aunt.”

“You offered? Oh boy, this is incredible! You didn’t want her to be alone, so you offered to go with her. Have fun, buddy,” he smirked.

“We’re going to the hospital, you freak. It’s not like I bought us a hotel room,” I replied.

Josey smirked. “Still. Looks like we’ve both got it bad, Ket.”

“You might, but Ro and I are just friends.”

Josey let out a laugh. “For now.”