Chapter IV

"Better to be strong than pretty and useless."

-Lilith Saintcrow

Leyna stared at Andrea. She had dark, wavy brown hair. Near the ends it got lighter until it reached a dirty blonde color. He skin was a golden tan and her smile was perfectly white and straight. Her eyes were a dark brown, and her eyebrows were done. She wore her hair down with a white tank top and jean vest. She wore jeans as well and black converse. She smiled brightly at her, her brown eyes sparkling. "So you are the famous Andrea, huh?"

Andrea nodded shyly. She still wasn't used to being spoken to as often as she was right now. Especially by who seemed to be the popular table, judging by how everyone knew their names and basically got out of their way when they were walking, it was clear they were more in the popular crowd.

Zoe leaned forward. "Andrea, there is no need to be shy in front of us! After all, we are going to be your best friends!" Andrea stared at her, examining her appearance. Her dark hair was pulled into a side braid. Her dark eyes glimmered under the lights, causing them to have almost an aqua shimmer to them. She wore a dark blue sweater with black leggings and a white skirt. She wore while boots reaching her knees, each with about four inches to them.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to, uh-"

Mitchel smiled sympathetically at her. "Its fine, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Andrea said nothing as she took one of the French fries off her plate. Charlotte smiled at her. Her red hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, but down it would end at her waist. She had paler skin with bright blue eyes. She had hardly any make-up on, but she still looked beautiful. She wore a black tank top with white ripped jeans. She wore black high-top converse with them as well. "How has your stay in Points Brooke?"

She said nothing as she looked down, fiddling with her fingers in her lap. Finally, she decided to answer. "It's been, uh-"

"Terrible, obviously. You should head back to wherever you came from before." A snarky voice piped up.

Andrea sighed, closing her eyes. She carefully got out her phone and began to text Liam, asking for help.

"Damn it Lexi, leave her be."

"But Estal-"

"Leave her be." Estal said firmly.

The girl, Lexi, scoffed and turned on her heels, leaving. Andrea heard the chime of her phone and looked down, smiling when she saw that Liam had started up a group message and everyone was asking if she was alright. She immediately started texting them, telling them how her day was going.

"Why are you looking at your crotch and smiling?" Troy asked as he shoved a tomato into his mouth.

Andrea held her phone up and then looked back down as she continued typing. Suddenly, it was snatched out of her hands. "Let's see..." Troy read as he scrolled up "'Oh no, Andrea! Are you okay?' from Giselle...'Giselle, of course she isn't, she asked Liam for help' from Nash...'Chill out you lazy asses and let her explain' from Drake...'Andrea, are you alright?' from Liam...and then you proceed to tell them about your day. Did you tell them about the hot man named Troy that you met?" Troy asked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"My goddess, what is wrong with you?" Leyna asked, snatching Andrea's phone from his grasp and giving it back to her. Andrea immediately texted her friends' and apology regarding her absence.

Troy scoffed as he placed a hand over his heart. "You hurt me, Leyna."

"Like a cold hearted blood suc-"

"That's enough." Mitchel said, silencing the two and gaining everyone else attention. "We do not speak of that." He whispered, probably thinking Andrea couldn't hear, but she could clearly hear him.

Andrea stood up and grabbed her backpack and plate. She swung her backpack over her shoulder and walked to through the plate in the trash. As she walked away, she could hear Mitchel calling her, but she really just wanted to be left alone. As she walked away, she looked for a quiet place. When she found one, she smiled.

It was a solitary tree sitting atop a green, grassy hill. She trekked up the hill and sat at the base of the tree, texting her friends happily as she sat alone. That is, until Jacob sat next to her.

"This is one of my favorite spots." He said, glancing at her. "Want to know why?"

Andrea looked at him, asking mutely. "Well, it is so solitary and reminds me of life."

She smiled at this. "You have quite a big heart, huh?"

Jacob chuckled "If only you knew, if only you knew."

Andrea didn't respond to him, so instead she simply looked at the sky, drifting off to sleep.

****

"Andrea? Andrea? Are you awake?"

Andrea sat up, knocking foreheads with Mitchel who just so happened to be leaning in close to her. She rubbed her forehead, wincing. Mitchel chuckled. "Hard noggin' you got there." He mumbled as he sat down in front of her.

"How long was I asleep?"

"You only missed half our free period."

Andrea nodded as she looked up at the sky. She could see Mitchel staring at her profile, but she said nothing. If he stared for any longer, she probably would've, but as of now, there was no reason to question him. She looked back up at the sky, and all she could think about was watching the sunset with everyone back in Texas. As she thought about this, a tear slipped out of her eye, causing Mitchel to panic.

"Andrea? Are you alright?"

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her so she was in his lap. She stiffened in his grasp, but said nothing as she didn't know how to respond. Eventually she relaxed as she sank into his chest. They sat there for a while, Andrea staring ahead at the view and Mitchel gently rubbing her arm as he held her. Eventually Andrea turned her attention to him.

His blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight as he stared at her. Her breath hitched. He smiled at her before looking up at the space ahead of them. Andrea studied his profile intently. His jaw was slightly clenched as he looked forward, probably thinking of something that aggravated him slightly. a breeze blew over them, causing his slightly curled blonde hair to blow behind him, showing off a white line running down his hair line to the front of his right ear. She found herself involuntarily reaching up and touching it, causing him to flinch.

He looked at her, her hand still pressed to it. His blue eyes searched hers, as if trying to figure out what she was playing at. She said nothing as she let her hand drop. He gave her a small smile before looking forward again, the scar hidden under his hair again. She looked forward, trying to see what he was looking at.

The sky was gray and clouded. It was clearly going to rain soon, but they didn't bother moving even as the droplets started hitting their skin. The world grew dark as the sun was covered by the clouds. Andrea felt her hair getting wetter as the rain pelted them. Only then did Mitchel move his legs and stand up, pulling her up with him. He guided her inside, keeping an arm around her. For whatever reason she felt comfortable in his grasp. Once they were getting close to the school, Andrea rooted her feet to the ground.

Mitchel turned to her. "Andrea?"

"It's been ages since I've been out in the rain." She said, looking up at the sky.

Mitchel followed her gaze. "Where did you live before?"

"A small town outside of Dallas."

"Dallas Texas? Wow, quite a trip."

Andrea gave a small smile. "Yeah, well, it was only four hours."

"Andrea-"

"Let's stay out here, okay? It feels good."

Mitchel smiled at her before walking over to her and standing next to her. They stood there, letting the rain hit them until their clothes began getting soaked. Only then did they hurry inside. They only had fifteen minutes to be dry before next period.

****

Biology was interesting. The whole time the teacher spoke about the human body as if it were foreign to her. Zoe sat next to Andrea, her head propped up on her hand, clearly bored out of her mind. She turned to Andrea. "Hey,"

"Yeah?"

"Where'd you run off to?"

"Nowhere in particular."

"You're lucky that was your free period."

"When's yours?"

"I don't have one. Unlike some people, I still have to take a language and don't have as much credits."

"Oh," Andrea sad, not knowing what else to say.

Zoe waved her hand dismissively. "Don't act like it's your fault, Andre."

"Andre?"

"Nickname, like it?"

"Better then Andy."

"That was my second choice." Zoe said, smiling.

Andrea glanced up at the front of the classroom to see Mitchel looking at her. He hadn't been able to sit by her, but Zoe promised to take care of her. For whatever reason, Mitchel seemed possessive over her. She hardly knew the guy, but he acted as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

"Don't mind him, he's just like that when it comes to things his father assigns him." Zoe answered.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Yep." Zoe said, popping her 'p' as she focused her attention more on the lesson at hand.

Andrea turned back to it as well. Mrs. Zullick was clearly not pleased with speaking about Human Organs as she continued on in a dull and boring tone. However, a group of students in front of Andrea were drooling. Andrea was disgusted as one of them asked how a liver would taste. The teacher gave him a dark and evil look before continuing.

Mrs. Zullick turned towards the clock, and then announced class was dismissed. They still had three minutes, but most students had already zipped out of the classroom. A few gave her evil looks while the group of students in front of her eyed her hungrily. She gulped before she made her way out. Mitchel fastened his hand around her wrist before pulling her away from the group who had begun to stalk her.

Zoe was already out, standing by a locker. "That was the worst class of the day." She said.

"You have no idea." Mitchel said, panting as he fell against one of the lockers.

Andrea looked down at her shoes. She hated being the cause of people's discomforts. Mitchel must have noticed because he started rubbing her arm with his left hand.

They stood there for another thirty seconds before Mitchel stood upright and linked his arm through hers before tugging her across campus again. As they were walking, Andrea noticed Carmilla giving her an evil look. Andrea gulped nervously before appearing in front of their last class: Language Arts.

Mitchel pulled her inside and sat her down in the back of the class. Others were already inside and more were still feeding in. When the newcomers noticed her, they gave her dark looks before sitting down far away from her. People who had already been sitting by her got up and made their way to the front of the classroom. She felt tears starting to sting her eyes, but Mitchel grabbed her hand and gently rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. She exhaled before the seat next to her was taken.

She looked at the person to see Jacob and Carmilla sitting next to her. Jacob smiled at her, and her heart melted. Carmilla glared at her hand in Mitchel's, so she quickly moved out of his grasp, the warm feeling gone.

Carmilla leaned over to Jacob and whispered something in his ear. He smiled at her before looking at Andrea. "Would you like to switch seats with Carmilla?"

Andrea cast a glance at Carmilla, whose expression said 'If you don't move I will murder you and your family'. Andrea nodded before standing up and dodging Mitchel's hand as he tried to grab her. Carmilla smiled sweetly at her before sitting down next to Mitchel. Andrea slid into her seat. Jacob put his hand on her thigh and rubbed it. Her breathing hitched as she tried to focus on the lesson at hand.

He moved his mouth near her ear. "Would you like to come hang out with me after school?"

"I-I-"

"I can walk you home if you'd like that instead."

"S-sure." She finally said.

Jacob smiled at her before turning back to the board. Andrea felt her chest heating up. It was the same feeling she felt around Liam. In a way, she felt bad for doing this, but she realized that if she really wanted her, then he'd have taken her by now.

She nodded to herself. She liked Jacob, even if she hardly knew him. And the only way for Liam to stop her was if he asked her out.

****

Word Count: 2210

Hey yo! What do ya' think? Things are starting to pick up!

Who do you think Andrea should get with? Liam, Jacob, Mitchel, or anyone else? I already know who she gets with, I just want to see who you guys think she should get with!

Off the book, I have this humongous report in English that I have to write. It's ten paragraphs for me to write, and I haven't finished it yet. Yay...

(My computer just thought 'yay' wasn't a word...what the hell is wrong with this thing?)

Anyways, that's all I have to say!

Adios! See you later, my friends!

-Paige

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