I managed to talk Mom into letting me take the bus the next morning, spouting off crap about how it would be good to overcome any lingering trauma by facing my fears. It was astonishing, but she bought it. 

 The sun reflected off the store windows and made the sidewalks blindingly white as I made my way to the bus stop down the street. It may have been the weather, or the thought of seeing Morgan, but I was ridiculously cheerful for someone on his way to summer school. That may have been why I stopped when a crackly voice called out,

"Spare change, mister?"

A girl was sitting under the striped awning of a nearby comic book store. She had a bright blue handkerchief over dirty-blond hair and one hand resting on the collar of the friendly looking lop-eared mutt beside her. Normally I would keep walking, but my pockets were jingling with the coins I kept to feed the vending machines, and damn it, I was in a good mood so I stopped. 

The second I did, there was a blur by my left ear, and then a loud crash at my feet, and I jumped back, heart lodging in my throat. The girl gasped and drew her legs in as porcelain shards skittered across the sidewalk.

"What the hell!"

I looked down to see a tangle of green vegetation and crushed flowers. Dirt was splayed across the white sidewalk. A potted plant.

"Someone has it out for you, mate." The girl scrambled to her feet, craning her neck to look up at the high rise building above us. "Not standing next to you no more. Come on, Max."

I tipped my head back, squinting against the sun, listening to the buzz of traffic and the girl's retreating footsteps. The apartment's balconies were all empty, save one. A figure in one of the center balconies several floors up was leaning over the railing. A short, dumpy figure, clad in a flowery blue dress.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Watch it! You almost killed me with your damn Begonia!"

If I was expecting a wave or an apology I got none. The woman stared down at me blankly. My eyes began to adjust to the sunlight, and slowly I could make out her features. Short brown hair surrounding a plump face, large brown eyes. Vacant eyes.

"Oh shit." I ducked my head and ran, the face of the bus driver and the man in the bathrobe flashing in front of me. My heart was pounding in my ears, my breath ragged. The bus stop was only a few blocks away, but by the time I got there and threw myself onto the bench I was sweating. I darted a look through the glass casing of the bus shelter, glad I was hidden behind a large shampoo ad. I didn't think the woman in the high rise would come after me. She would have to run down a lot of stairs and then try to find me. But this was starting to get really scary. 

What the hell was going on?

Mr. Slouch was droning, and his voice was like a flock of lazy bumble bees on a warm day, drowsy and laden down with sun soaked lethargy. It must have been about Biology, but it could have been Physics 12 and I wouldn't have known the difference. I was too busy thinking about my narrow miss with the flying Begonia of death, and stealing sideways glances at Morgan, who appeared to be nodding off with her cheek pressed to her hand. Even when she was drooling a little, she was still cute. 

 Something penetrated my dull stupor. A sharp clicking sound from the hallway. Mr. Slouch trailed off, looking up from his text, an annoyed expression wandering across his slack features. The clicking came to a stop in the doorway. A girl, tall and dark with a slender face, red lips and wide, dark eyes.

"Hi," she said, and somehow made the word incredibly sexy. Her dark eyes scanned the class room, resting on me, moving to Morgan. Her lips twitched, but she said nothing more.

"A little late, Ms..." Mr.Slouch checked a piece of paper on his desk, "...Singer."

"Sorry,"

She didn't sound sorry at all, in fact, the look she threw our teacher was downright scornful. "The name is Aden, not Ms. Singer."

Aden moved forward, and it was all I could do to keep my eyeballs in my head. The way she walked, My God, the way her hips swung... her jean clad legs were long and toned. It was hard not to imagine what they would look like wrapped around me.

She made her way to the desks, giving me a look, as if she was considering whether sitting beside me was a good move or not, before throwing her bag on the floor and claiming the desk on the other side of me. I gave her a dazzling smile, which melted off my face like snow in July when she gave me a withering look back.

Geeze, louise. The girl is all sunshine and rainbows.

I heard Aden mutter something, and when I glanced at her I caught her staring beyond me, at Morgan, with unconcealed malice. I wondered if they knew one another. For her part, Morgan seemed to just be ignoring the newcomer. They must go to the same school, I decided, and they obviously didn't like one another. I mentally pitted them against each other. Who would win in a fight between Morgan and Aden? Aden was tall and slim and somehow fierce, she would probably win over the petite Morgan. I added a wading pool full of jello into the mental smack down. Awesome.

"Mr. Rolston?"

"Huh?" I sat up straight and found Mr. Slouch staring at me expectantly."Sorry, what?"

"Glad to see you're so very riveted by the skeletal structure of a cow."

Laughter from Chubby kid and Carrots. I looked down at my text book. I'd been flipping idly through it and had apparently been staring blankly at a detailed diagram of a diary cow for the past several minutes.

"My question," he addressed the entire class now, "is if you would enjoy a trip to the zoo tomorrow, rather than another five hours of reading. I know field trips may sound a little juvenile but..."

We shouted him down, and he seemed surprised and pleased that his idea had been received so well. The truth is, I would have agreed to a trip to the old folk's home or the library just to avoid another day of listening to him talk. I almost felt bad for thinking that, until he announced, "Alright, enough for today then. Homework is page thirteen. Read it. You should be able to tell me all about it tomorrow." He fled the building to a chorus of groans, and we got stiffly to our feet, shuffling papers and scraping chairs, grumbling quietly to ourselves.

"Homework sucks,"

Morgan was a warm presence at my arm, smelling of vanilla and shampoo. She distracted me from watching Aden sway her jean clad butt on her way out of the classroom. 

I told myself it was no big loss. Aden might look like she should be lounging in the pages of a Maxim magazine, but I was pretty sure she was filed under the Class A Bitch category. Morgan was cute, and friendly, and she was looking up at me with huge blue eyes. Eyes that could send me spinning head over heels if I let them.

I gave her my best Casanova grin. "It does indeed. Hey, do you know that new chick? She seems like a bit of an ice queen."

"Never met her before." Morgan shrugged, but her face stayed surprisingly blank. The way they'd looked at one another, I thought for sure she'd have something to say.

We followed the others out into the hall and I headed for the vending machine, craving salt. Aden was there, leaning against the glass, staring down at her phone, her dark brows drawn together in a scowl. I stopped and cleared my throat and she glanced up at me. 

The annoyed expression stayed on her face."What?" 

She probably thought I was going to hit on her or something. I glanced sideways at Morgan, who looked like she was trying to hide a smile. "You're standing in the way of my pretzels," I said, somewhat defensively, and Aden rolled her eyes like I was asking something ridiculous and stepped to one side.

 I could feel my face heating up, and anger was starting to burn slowly in my stomach. This girl clearly thought she was the shit.

"Those will make you fat," she said, as if I'd asked her to weigh in on the matter.

"Yes, thanks." I slipped my quarters in, listening to the clinking of the coins fall down into the metal slot, deliberately ignoring the fact that Aden was still glaring at me in disapproval. Geeze, what the hell is her problem? I punched the buttons violently, waiting till the chips were dumped into the slot, snatched my prize up and stalked away. Morgan followed behind me.

"Just ignore her," she said, grabbing the railing as we descended the steps to the exit door. "She just thinks she's better then everyone."

"Are you sure you don't know her?" I said. "She was glaring at you too."

"Apparently she glares at everyone. She's just unfriendly. Some people are like that."

"Well whatever," I muttered. "As long as she doesn't get in the way of my snacks again."

                                      Whatever you do, don't get between Lucas and THESE.

Author's Note: More every Sunday! Do you think Aden knows Morgan? What is Aden's deal anyways, does she just want to save the world from salty snacks? Sound off below! ;)

xoxo, E. Latimer

photo credit: <a>Not your typical vending machine</a> via <a>photopin</a> <a>(license)</a>