-FOUR-

Calculus was a class I shared with Olivia and her cronies who blatantly ignored me the moment I made eye-contact with them while entering the class room, with the exception of Isabella, who took her precious time to glare daggers at me.

Heaving a sigh, I manoeuvred my way through the seats and found myself one in the middle row, towards the back. Apparently, this was also a class I shared with Lillian who seemed to come in with her troupe of friends, who I guessed weren't going to be in my list of future friends either.

Fantastic.

Was there anyone left to be in this class who didn't like me? And this was my first day.

As the class started filling up, I realised how average my day had been so far. The only person closest to what I could at least call an acquaintance if not a friend, was June. I didn't want to cling just on to her for friendship, especially since I didn't how if she wanted me to be her friend.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Lillian's annoying voice reached my ears.

"It was so exciting! I think there could be something between us in the future, even though he's, like a nerd," she giggled obnoxiously.

My eyebrow went up on its own accord as I eavesdropped on their conversation. Not like I had a choice since the four girls were so loud that I bet even the first benchers could hear them and they were sitting on the row to my left and seats parallel to mine.

"But he's one hot nerd and an Elite," the one beside her added, giggling.

"Hot? Try the most beautiful man on earth. Even more than Lucas. I just wished he wasn't so reserved and well a nerd," the third one, with a raven bob replied.

With the discussions they were having, my mind wandered to the only person I could think of that fit the description. I could be wrong but considering how he had to sit through Lillian eating his ear off, it seemed to be him. I don't know why, but I had the sudden urge to know his name. Him being in the Elites also kind of justified the reaction of most of the class when he had entered and along with his looks, no wonder he was the reason why so many girls practically drooled.

"I know, right? But Lucas makes up for it with his skills in bed," Lillian winked, causing all the four to burst into giddy screeches.

I scrunched up my face at the that, my mind picturing something I really didn't want a glimpse of.

"I can't believe you actually got to experience that first hand. I'm so jealous. You're like the only person to have any connection with the Elites," the fourth one sighed, finally deciding to give her input.

Listening to them made me realise how accurately June had described Lillian. It seemed like she really wanted to be a part of the squad, which made me curious about where Olivia and her cronies stood in the school. I had absolutely no idea what activities she liked and what kind of a girl she was in school.

I could always ask June, inconspicuously.

As they continued to gush over the Elites, I continued listening, hoping to come across his name. My curiosity was getting the best of me right now and I have no idea why I was so intrigued by the Greek God with glasses.

"Also, guess what I heard? Julie, that wannabe cheer-freak has been going on and on about how they had a moment when he saved her from falling when they bumped into each other. Even Clara saw it," the one with the bob cut gossiped.

"Who, Lucas?" Lillian questioned.

Just when I thought I would get the name, the girls shook their heads and continued.

"Not only that, this morning it apparently happened with Samantha too. I'm so gonna try and bump into him. What if we fall in love?" The girl in front of Lillian giggled, making dreamy faces.

"Back off Gina, I have dibs on him first," Lillian said, narrowing eyes at her friend.

"You're just choosing him because Lucas won't go for round two with you and Chase has obviously rejected you to your face," Gina replied, snakily.

I cringed at the thought. These girls were really crazy. I could feel a cat fight brewing when both the girls glared at each other.

I decided to focus on my thoughts, instead of them bickering. Listening to them was equivalent to losing brain cells. I didn't think there were girls this stupid. They put movies to shame.

Suddenly, something clicked in my mind, making me think back to his reaction when I bumped into the said guy in the morning. Were girls actually bumping into him intentionally or something?

Before I could dwell on my thoughts some more, the class went into a hush, with most of the conversations coming to a halt. Thinking that it was because of the teacher, I looked up but instead of seeing Mr. Shire, I saw two beautiful humans, which now- thanks to June- I could recognise, were the part of Elites.

Madison Beckett and Lucas Kelly had changed out of their gym gear and were now wearing their uniforms, looking even more stunning that what I saw in my free period. Maddison seemed annoyed at something, with her lips pressing into a thin line while Lucas was the opposite, grinning widely as they both surveyed the class for their preferred seats.

Madison started walking towards where I sat, with Lucas trailing behind her. Both of them oozed an aura of confidence that demanded attention of everyone in the room. They truly did seem like they belonged to a different group.

Trying to not seem like a crazy stalker with constant staring, I made myself busy with taking out books and stationary for the class. I really needed to pay attention in this one because I couldn't let it spiral out of control. Once I had taken out my stuff, I quickly scrolled through my phone, checking for any texts from mom.

"Hey Krystal, can you move seats?," a voice grabbed my attention, making me look up from my phone. I almost looked back to confirm if she was talking to me.

Lillian sat there, giving me the same sugary smile she gave me in the morning. I raised an eyebrow at her. She still didn't know my name.

Instinctively, I looked around and the reasons for her sudden request dawned upon me again. One, Madison and Lucas had chosen to sit on my right and the Adonis with glasses (whose name I still didn't know) was entering the class. And seeing how his friends were seated on my right, he was probably going to sit behind them, where there was no one.

I looked back at her, internally shaking my head. Was this going to be a daily occurrence?

"You can sit there if you want," I said, pointing to the seat that was probably where he was going to sit.

The desks in the classrooms had been arranged in a way that one row had two seats together, making it a partner system instead of single seats. The desks were uniform in all the classes being made of dark, expensive looking wood and matching chairs. At least they had been the same in all the classes I'd had till now.

"No. I want to sit where you're sitting." she said, her smile stretching to a point it seemed painful.

I raised an amused eyebrow at her, turning my body to fully face her. "You mean you want to sit with me?"

"No, I mean you should find another seat. I want to sit in yours," she said, tightening her smile. She was getting annoyed now and I was loving it.

I faked hurt, my hand going to my chest. "Aww and here I was hoping that we'd get to spend some quality time together," I said, using the same sugary voice that she used on me.

I heard a few chuckles from behind me, which made me turn back in surprise. Both Madison and Lucas were looking at their tables, mirth dancing in their eyes. I could be mistaken but it felt like they were enjoying our banter, which made me let out a small smile of my own.

"Listen Kristie, do I need to remind you of what I said, this morning?" she pulled my attention back to her fuming self.

I innocently shook my head. "No, I remember something about making my year here especially bad." I said, quoting her words from this morning.

"Exactly. So why don't you scurry, Kenny?"

Wow. She changed my names faster than I devoured food. And I liked to believe I ate really fast.

I was now getting genuinely curious to know if she was actually not getting my sarcasm or if she was choosing to eloquently ignore it. But either way, she was irking me with the fact that she thought she could control me by giving empty threats. At least I thought they were empty.

I gave her a dead-panned look before giving my answer. "No."

"What do you mean by no?"Lillian had almost turned red by this point.

"I'm pretty sure it has only one meaning, Lucy," I said, purposely getting her name wrong, to get under her skin, which clearly worked.

I didn't want her to get too used to ordering me around. If I listened to her once did not mean I was going to be her frigging pet. And if it meant that she was going to get petty and try to do things, she had another thing coming. I wasn't a rag doll to be tossed around and if she was going to start a fight, I'd come prepared for a war.

She opened her mouth to reply but her words got stuck inside her throat when her eyes flitted up, to someone behind me. Curiously, I turned around, only to be met with deep blue eyes filled with amusement, hidden behind thick rimmed glasses. His eyes really did remind me of that bearded hobo.

He had a ghost of a smile on his face and behind him, Madison was fighting a smile while Lucas was full-on grinning. All of them looking in our direction.

My eyes widened in response. So I did have an audience. All this attention, suddenly made me go mum. I bit the inside of the cheek, trying to stop the smile and turned to face the front of the classroom. I didn't dare to look at either of my sides whether it was towards a red-faced Lillian or the members of Elite.

What caught me by surprise though was when the chair next to me got pulled and the Adonis himself plopped down on it. I kept my gaze ahead though, not letting his presence bother me all that much. Or I tried to.

Luckily, Mr. Shire chose that moment to rush into class, saving me from any awkward silence.

***

After an eventful Calculus class, it was time for my lunch break.

Well, even though only the beginning of the class was a little fun, the rest of it went by fine. I didn't let the presence next to me distract me all that much. Though, the only thing that annoyed me was that I still hadn't gotten his name.

But the sad news was that I needed help in trying to understand what Mr. Shire was trying to teach. He was already three lectures in so I was kind of lost, which is why I was hoping that Mae could help me for real.

Speaking of which, I was waiting in the library for her to come. I had no clue what she looked like so I had to go by a hunch. Plus, it was helpful that most of the library was empty.

Thankfully, I had Martina pack a sandwich for me which I scarfed down hungrily while waiting for my tutor. I still hadn't been to the cafeteria yet but it was kind of for the better considering I really didn't know who to sit with and I really didn't want to be seen as a loner on my first day of school. And hanging out with Mae seemed to be a perfect excuse not to go in there.

"Kyra?" A soft voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I looked up from the ground to see a beautiful girl with long brown hair and big doe eyes standing in front of me.

"Mae?" I smiled at her, to which she responded with a a kind one.

"I'm really sorry I'm late. I got held up helping my teacher wind up the lab," she apologised, shyly.

My first impression of the girl in front of me told me that she was super shy. She seemed to radiate innocence and charm that almost made my protective instincts flutter to life. She was so polite and soft spoken and coupled that with her appearance, she literally looked like an Angel.

"No problem at all. Thank you for helping me. Someone told me it's really hard to get you as a tutor," I smiled, my tone slightly teasing.

She chuckled but for some reason she seemed nervous. Either it was because of what I said or she was inherently like that, I didn't know but I didn't push it either. Instead, I changed the topic.

"So shall we get to it?"

***

"Wow. No way!" I exclaimed as I sat opposite Mae, my eyes wide in astonishment.

Apparently, Mae could solve a Rubik's cube in less than fifteen seconds and I'd rather not think about the time I would take to do it. Rubik's cube was my childhood enemy. I could just never get it right, much less in that short of a time.

Right now, both Mae and I were in the library, sitting near one of the windows that overlooked the beautiful cards of the school. We had started off a bit awkward with me trying not to say anything that I thought would upset her or anything while she tried to not get shy. It was like we were both walking on egg shells around each other but that was until I had accidentally moved my chair, which led to it scraping against the wood and making a loud sound that sounded a lot like a fart.

My eyes had widened in embarrassment as I had snapped my head to look at her. "I swear that was not what you think it was," I had blurted out the first thing that had come to my mind.

This had made Mae unexpectedly burst out laughing, which is how we loosened up with each other, with me joining in on her laughter.

She seemed to be an amazing person and tutor. So that is how we went from discussing the work I needed to do to talking to each other about general things. What had to be fifteen minutes of just quickly talking about work went to us talking like friends for almost the entire lunch break.

And honestly, she felt like a breath of fresh air which I was glad for.

"So how long have you been in Hedgeview High for?" I asked, looking at her.

"Um, about two years now. I came her during my sophomore year. Actually, I-" she trailed off, hesitating to complete her sentence.

As she paused, I nodded to her, giving her silent encouragement to continue but she seemed to be battling her thoughts, her hesitance clearly showing in telling me whatever she was going to.

"Hey, it is okay. You know you don't have to say anything you don't feel like," I smiled, trying to calm her raging thoughts.

She looked at my smiling face in surprise. She took a moment but seemed to have come to a conclusion after, as she shook her head slightly before smiling at me.

"I was just saying that I actually came to Hedgeview because I got a scholarship opportunity," she explained, making me gape in shock.

From what I had heard, getting scholarship into Hedgeview was insanely tough. The school was known for its competitive activities, including academic ones and every year only up to three students were allowed in through a fully financed scholarship.

Mae's expression turned uncertain at my shock. She seemed to be debating whether it was the right decision to tell me and I was more amazed at this girl.

"So you're telling me that you're not only insanely talented, beautiful and kind but you're insanely smart too?" I let my thoughts out into words, making Mae's eyes widen in surprise before she looked down, blushing a bright red.

I couldn't help but grin at her cuteness. She almost made me feel like she was a little sister I'd never had and that was in less than an hour together. Sometimes you just clicked with some people and you didn't have to spend a lot of time with them to realise that. With Mae, it was just like that.

"Hey, Mae?" I softly called out to her, making her slowly look up.

When she met my eyes, I gave her my most genuine smile. "Don't ever think you need to be embarrassed about the fact that you're amazingly talented and have a brain that could rival the entire school's combined," I said, meaning every word of it.

Mae visibly swallowed, her eyes glazed, making me wonder if she was ever bullied for being on scholarship. The thought itself sent a shiver of disgust down my spine. Her reaction also told me that not a lot of people told her this to her face, which made me want to tell this to her a thousand more times. This pure human did not deserve anything but love.

Since it seemed like Mae seemed to be welling up with unspoken emotions, to lighten up the atmosphere, I decided to continue speaking.

"You know just spending almost an hour with you practically replenished the brain cells I lost while talking to Lillian today," I joked.

Mae let out a breathy chuckle, telling me that she was starting to feel better, which I was glad for.

The bell rang loudly, grabbing both of our attention. I groaned, almost thinking of not going to my next class. This was the most fun I'd had in the past few days.

Mae let out a small laugh at my reaction, seeming to have forgotten about our little talk for now.

"I guess I should get going. I have a feeling that by the time I'm done with introducing myself so much, I'll probably forget my own name," I said, not happy with the fact that it was still my first day.

"It will pass," Mae commented, smiling at my misery.

I let out a dramatic sigh before getting up. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Um, Kyra?" Mae softly called out, making me stop in my tracks.

I turned to look at her questioningly. She seemed to be having another debate inside that head but this one seemed to last only for a few seconds.

"Uh, I wanted to ask, um, if you didn't mind, that is, like would you maybe want uh, to be friends with me? I mean you don't have to agree just because I asked. I won't mind if you declined, like we just met and I won't really expect you to become best friends with me. But, um, what I want to say is that I had a lot of fun talking to you and uh, it would be nice, um, if we could, you know, maybe hang out in the future," she rambled, nervously fidgeting with her hands.

I looked at her in surprise as I took it in, before a wide grin spread on my face. "You kidding? I'd love to!"

"Really?" her wide eyes snapped to mine.

"Of course! I didn't think you needed to ask me that," I grinned, excited to have finally made a friend.

She gave me a wide smile in response. "You're the first friend that I made!" she exclaimed, excitedly.

I blinked in surprise at that. "Am I your only friend?" I asked, a million of mixed thoughts going through my mind at that.

"Oh no, no. That is not what I meant. I have an amazing group of friends. They're absolutely amazing but its just that, um, they kind of took me under their wing and a lot of people usually come to me for personal agendas, you know- uh, because they think they can do it because of my status as a scholarship student and all. But you're the only one here who I befriended on my own and not because you're friends with my group, if you get what I'm trying to say," she rambled again, making wild hand gestures.

I chuckled, amused at the speed talking. "I do get it. You're my first friend here, too," I replied, grinning at her, which effectively stopped her nerves from getting the better of her.

With a last good bye, we both headed towards our classes. I had a huge smile on my face and a little excitement. Finally I had someone I could hang out with and I couldn't be happier.

*******

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