Third Person's P.O.V

One final glance in mirror instantly made Cleo want to throw whatever she had on in a bonfire.

She thought she planned all this out before she went to bed last night, but it turned out everything down to the shoes she had on was terrible. She peeled off the hot mess she didn't even want to call clothing and opened up her closet.

Cleo's best work was always thrown together at the last minute.

She eyed a red beanie and tossed it on the bed, deciding to base her out on it. She went through the closet several times before she found the perfect choice. She didn't know the outfit was in there but shrugged and chose it since it matched the beanie.

She grabbed a pair of white shoes, quickly putting everything on and went back in front of the mirror. Cleo smiled at herself as she struck a few poses in the outfit.

Before she could put the finishing touches on herself, she decided to go downstairs to grab something eat. Going downstairs, she grabbed two apples from the kitchen.

Afterward, Cleo found a note on the dining room table from Zoë. It said that she went in for an earlier shift and she'd be working late.

Zoë was her aunt and current guardian for family reasons.

There was money for food and Cleo's subway card that she lost a few days ago. Cleo smiled and pocketed everything, running back up to her room. Anyways, Cleo decided to put on a little bit of make-up before she left.

She took one more like in the mirror and grabbed her book bag. She opened her window and began to climb down the ladder that she put outside her window for... Reasons.

Cleo was prepared for whatever was going to be thrown her way.

•••

She made it to the subway and smiled at the familiar sight. She took out a dollar from her pocket and gave it to Dweezil, who she called drummer boy. Gretchen and her friends walked past her and just waved.

Cleo guessed her posture had gotten better.

She made it into the subway train and quickly looked for a seat. She searched around until she found a seat next to a boy who looked around her age. He was pretty cute to her but could use a new friend anyway.

She tapped his shoulder and pointed at the seat next to him. "You mind if I take this seat, pretty boy?" Cleo asked. A slight smirk appeared on the boy's face before he moved his bag over so she could sit. "Of course. I'm Lucas."

"Cleo."

They made small talk for a while. Cleo found out that he was from Texas, they were both going to John Quincy, and had the same classes. They made a silent agreement that as the new kids, they had to stick together. Everything was fine until Cleo felt someone grab her hand and pull her away.

Cleo was about to scream until she saw that the person was just a blonde girl. She turned to see a brunette mouthing that she was sorry. Turning again, she saw Lucas with an eyebrow raised.

"Are you dating the pretty boy?"

"Straight to the point? I like you, but no, I'm not. We just met as a matter of fact."

The blonde nodded her head and held a small conversation with the brunette. Cleo smirked at the two when she noticed something. The blonde one looked curiously at her. "What are you smirking about?" The blonde said. Cleo shrugged her shoulders and bluntly replied to the girl.

"Nothing Blondie, it's just that you must like me a lot considering you haven't let go of my hand since you grabbed it."

All three girls looked down at their hands. The brunette leaned over to the blonde and loudly whispered, "Maya, she's kinda right."

"I can see that, Riley."

Maya let go of the girl's hand at looked her in her eyes. She started pointing back and forth between Cleo and Lucas before speaking. "You help me figure if the boy has a girlfriend for my friend."

"What's in it for ME?"

"I don't hurt you."

Cleo chuckled and smiled at the girl. 'Kids' Cleo thought. "It's cute you think you can do that sweetheart, but I'll help cause you got spunk."

She walked over to Lucas and stood in front of him, getting ready to put on a show. "You got a girlfriend?" She asked. Lucas shook his head and was about to speak until Cleo shushed and talked again.

"Well, you do now. You're very attractive. I like you very much," in a bold move, she sat Lucas' lap and got close, "on second thought, you don't pay enough attention to me and it's not working out. It's not you, it's me. We can't be friends either, it's weird."

Cleo flashed a smile and walked back over to Riley and Maya, whose jaws were dropped to the ground.

"He's available."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Riley sweetly asked. "Nah, but it's your turn to try." Cleo said. Riley has a confused look on her face until she felt Maya taking her hand off the pole as the train shook.

Cleo held her fist out towards Maya, which she looked at for a few seconds before fist bumping her and watching the scene. Once Riley came back over because of some woman, Cleo waved at the two before going back her seat next to Lucas.

Before she could sit down, a slight shake caused her to almost fall into Lucas. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised before sitting next to him.

"Almost falling into my ex, what a tragedy."

"I never got a say so in that, but I want you to move on and find someone else like I did."

"I've met her."

Riley was suddenly flying back towards them, landing on Evelyn's lap first. Cleo snickered at the girl as Evelyn handed Riley to Lucas.

"I don't know, I wasn't as clingy."

•••

Cleo and Lucas finally history class. It took them a while to actually find the class they passed about 3 times.

"See, I have bad luck because I'm around a bad choice in my life." Cleo continued to play the game with Lucas. He decided to play too for fun.

"You know you still love me, darling. You could've left whenever you wanted too." Cleo playfully rolled her eyes before they both walked into the classroom.

"Who are you two? I don't know you."

"Maya, it's subway boy and girl!"

"I'm Lucas Friar, from Austin, Texas and that's Cleo Downs from Toronto." Cleo nudged the boy for introducing her as they both gave the man a note. "Oh. New students?" The man asked. Cleo and Lucas both nodded their head. Mr.Matthews (Cleo learned his name is Mr. Matthews through a thing on his desk that said so)  nodded his head at the two and smiled. "Great, You're both in time for today's assignment. Take a seat."

Lucas took a seat behind Riley while Cleo sat in the seat next to Maya. "You miss me Blondie?" Cleo slyly asked. Maya began to glare at the girl, causing them both to stare at each other as if it was a staring contest.

"Okay, so we," Mr. Matthews paused once he realized Riley and Maya weren't paying attention. He first turned Riley back around and turned Maya back around, "so I'd like you guys to turn to page 48. Now, I'd like you to turn to page 1. Now I'd like to read from page 1 to 48."

Everyone groaned except for Cleo and one other boy she didn't know. Cleo didn't care about the assignment since she knew she would get it done. She continued to listen to Mr. Matthews as he began speaking again.

"Oh, too bad on you! Okay, so for tonight's assignment, I'd like you to write me a three-page essay on anything. Anything at all, that you guys believe in so strongly, you fight for it."

Cleo's eyes lit up after what she heard. Many topics began to run through her had in those few seconds before Maya decided quickly on what she wanted to fight for.

"That. I'd fight for no homework. I come here every day, why can't you teach me everything I need to know while I'm here?" Maya asked. Cleo knew where she was coming from considering she used to be like that but looking at it from the other side of things, she didn't understand why she did it.

She heard Riley quickly agree with Maya, but took it back after one look from the teacher. Cleo snuck a glance at Lucas, who just shrugged and watched everything play out.

"He gets our days, let's take back our nights. No homework, more freedom! Who's with me!? No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom! No homework, more freedom!" Maya stopped and looked at Riley, who didn't know what to do. "This is it, kid. You wanna be like me? Stand up."

Cleo watched Maya turn towards her. Maya smirked at the girl and leaned towards her. "Do I even need to ask?" Maya asked her. Cleo shook her head and held her hands up. "You're a fighter. I was like you, still am in a way, but i'll sit this one out."

Maya nodded her head at the girl and got back up. She kept chanting along with the rest of the class and looked back at Riley for support.

Cleo wasn't surprised that Riley stood up, but Mr. Matthews was.

She watched the scene unfold in front of her and only learned that Mr. Matthews was Riley's dad.

'What's next? Her uncle is the mayor?'

She watched Riley start chanting with everyone else, excluding Lucas and the same boy who didn't groan earlier, start walking out the room. Riley referred to the boy from earlier as Farkle and asked if he was coming.

Cleo thought the boy was funny after he fainted while trying to decide between his "women" and education.

Once everyone else left the classroom, Cleo went over to Lucas' desk and sat on it.

"I can't believe the sanest person in the room is my ex."

Lucas smiled at her before standing up and slightly towering over her. "The universe will always lead you back to me."

Cleo playfully pushed him and went to help Mr. Matthews with Farkle. Cleo got a quick idea on how to get Farkle up and told Mr. Matthews she had it covered.

"So your name is really Farkle?"

"Who's as-?" Farkle cut himself off as he sprang up and looked at Cleo with wide eyes. Cleo looked back at Mr. Matthews and wiped her hands off. "You're welcome."

•••

Part 2 will be out today

OOTC