Chapter 2:

As my physics teacher continues the lesson, I drift off in my own thoughts. Gravity, the universe. Floating, stars, starry, starry eyes. Brown lake like I'm swimming, sinking. Pudding. The bell rings, I startle myself in my seat, scratching my nose before collecting my stuff. I'm hungry. Is it lunchtime? "Maya!" I hear Nathan yell out my name, he jogs up to me.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I was wondering if you have any plans this weekend," he states. His floppy brown hair hits his forehead, he brushes it back.

"Oh, me and Quinn are watching old reality tv shows." I say with a smile. "Why?"

"A bunch of us are going for ice cream at the new place that opened at the mall. The one next to H&M," he says.

"Oh. Uh. Sounds fun. I can come by later."

"Awesome. See you Saturday." He jogs away down the hall. Could be fun. It's time for lunch. I'm starving.

I sit by myself with my lunch tray. Quinn nowhere in sight. It's taco day, I bite into the crunchy taco. "Omg, did you hear?" Quinn comes over, sitting in front of me, Tyler right next to her and sits down.

"What?" I ask with my mouth full.

"Jessica and Sam got into another fight."

"Again?" For a golden couple, they sure did fight a lot.

I nod my head to Tyler, he says "hey."

"They're doomed." She tore her sandwich in half, gave it to Tyler. He thanks her and she giggles.

"You can say that again," I shake my head.

"They're doomed," she repeats. I laugh.

"It's not our problem that it's toxic."

"For two years too? Sad," she shakes her head.

"I don't know. Did Nathan tell you about Saturday?" I ask her, changing the subject.

"Yep, me and Ty are going," she answers, putting her arm around him. I see him blush.

"Ty?" I swoon, taking a sip of my juice with shifty eyes.

"Stop," he says quietly. She kisses his cheek.

"Are you going?" Quinn looks up from her food.

"Yeah, what about our reality TV marathon?"

"This is better." I shake my head. All the more for her to avoid reality television.

At the corner of my eye, Sam and Jessica walk in the cafeteria, linked elbows. She carries her regular lunch in her knapsack, his in a colorful lunchbox. She's telling him something funny, he laughs, taking a hold of her head to kiss the top. They had a fight, right? I will never understand.

"They're not gonna last," I say.

"Sam and Jessica are damaged from the start. Remember how they met?"

Who could forget? Jessica came out of nowhere, to prove to her artist ex boyfriend that she has moved on as fast as he did. Sam was minding his business, getting out of practice. She grabbed him by his collared shirt, gave him an opened mouth smooch. The whole school witnessed it. If you didn't, it was posted on social media. My notifications blew up that day. Pictures of her tonguing him down were on my feed. I couldn't get away from it. From what I heard she apologized, but also asked him out. Two years later, it's been nothing but drama.

"Commitment junkies," Quinn says, adding an eyeroll. "They have to keep up appearances because she doesn't want to be alone. And he's popular and romantic."

"Well, that's sad." I stare at them once more, Jessica feeds him half of her food. At first, he doesn't want to, pushing the food away. Pouting her bottom lip, he opens his mouth as she shoves it in. Quinn was right. Maybe its a front. They should end it if they aren't happy. But what do I know? What does anyone know?

As school's coming to an end, I head to the drama room, and I walk around the empty room. I take one of the guitars and play a few chords. My hand slips, it makes a terrible squeaky sound. "Shit." I tune it to make it sound better. I can convince dad to buy me a guitar. Not an electric one, an acoustic one. It won't clog up space.

I'll get a job on the weekends to pay for it. "Hey," someone says from behind me.
I flip around and Sam stands in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" He leans against the frame.

"Aren't we meeting today?" I ask.

"No, Ms Laughlin cancelled. Her sister's having a baby."

"Oh, how did I not know that?" I place the guitar back.

"She told us in Chemistry class," he walks in halfway. I sigh as I get up. "I didn't know you played guitar."

"They're lots of things you don't know," I say as I pass by him.

"There's three left," he informs me.

Jogging out of the music room, he follows behind. I push the door to exit. One bus was left. My bus. Moving in motion, the motor roars loud before driving forward. I widen my eyes, "wait!" I yell behind the moving vehicle. It doesn't stop, he drives faster, away from the road, away from the school. "No!" I hit my thighs in defeat, I have no ride. Quinn's long gone, I know that. I dial dad if I can use our Lyft account. He said we can use it for emergencies only, and this is an emergency. I'm stranded. Four rings later, he doesn't pick up. I don't live far, guess I'm walking. I cross the road to reach the sidewalk.

"Need a ride?" he asks when he comes behind me.

"No thanks," I frown as I dial again.

"You sure?" He raises one of his eyebrows, giving me a tempting look. I did want a ride instead of walking in this chilly weather. But not with him.

"Yep."

"Still mad?" He circles me, meeting my face.

"About what?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.

"Maya, come on." I shrug. "I'm being nice and you can't resist."

"Resist what?"

"Me." I scoff, letting out a chuckle.

"Right. Sure. Not everyone kisses your ass, Samuel."

"It's a perk."

The ringtone of Shape of You by Ed Sheeran blasts from my phone. Thank God. "Hello? Dad?"

"Sweetie, you called?" He asks.

"Yeah, I was calling for a ride, rehearsals were cancelled and I missed the bus. Can I use the Lyft app?"

"It's for emergencies."

"This is an emergency," I look back at Sam, he's still behind me, scrolling on his phone. He can leave now.

"I'm leaving for lunch, I'm on my way."

"Thanks Dad." We hang up, I place it back in my pocket.

"Look at that. I have a ride." I smile tightly.

"Look at that," he replies. "Lucky you."

"Ok," I move around him.

"Babe," the voice of Jessica yells, she jogs up to him, "I gotta meet the girls at the mall, Savannah saved me a seat at the nail salon," Jessica tells him in a hurry tone, pulling him away by his elbow.

Oh, God. I sit down on the curb, shaking my head. Sad.

Five minutes later, I see dad's car. He parks in front of me.

"Hi Dad. Thank you," I tell him as I enter the car. I put on my seatbelt.

"I have to get something in the house before I go back to work," he informs me, pressing his foot to the pedal. Driving slowly in the school zone, I lay back in my seat staring at the window.

Second chapter! Bear in mind, this is a draft, I am forcing myself not to revise while I write.