~Anissa's POV~

I exited my biology class, Caleb waving me goodbye, and made my way to History with Mr. Giovanni. My class was upstairs, and I was on the first floor, so I hurriedly ran off, glancing quickly down at the room number as I bolted up some nearby stairs. Once I had reached upper C wing, I slowed my pace down and read the numbers above the doors as I past them. I spotted room 207 up ahead, but stopped abruptly as I heard shouting coming from outside the classroom.

"Chad, move," someone was complaining. I moved forward and joined the small group of students who were trying to enter the classroom. I saw Essence and Chad standing in the doorway, Chad blocking Essence's way.

"What's the magic word, Shorty?" he teased her, smiling down at her petite form. She pushed her hair out of her face, and stared straight into Chad's eyes.

"I'll have you know, I just went to the doctor recently, and they told me I'm exactly 5'2 and a half," Essence said proudly.

Chad smirked at her, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame. "Wow, that's so impressive Essence, or at least it would be if that still wasn't short, Lynton." Essence sighed, fixing the strap of her backpack, getting fired up.

"Listen here, Candlewick," she began, taking a brave step forward, "I know I'm short. You don't have to keep constantly pointing it out." All around me, people whispered to one another, discussing the scene in front of them. I stood there in silence, holding my books to my chest as I watched the two friends play fight. From the corner of my eye, I saw a boy make his way up to the front of the gathering crowd, a bit off to my right.

He wore a dark gray sweater, zipped up to his chest, and ripped up jeans. He leaned casually against the wall closest to the door, and watched the two friends bicker with a slight smile on his face. I couldn't be sure, but from what I could make out, he was carrying a stack of music sheets on top of the chromebook he was holding.

Everyone watched nervously as the two blonds glared playfully at one another, Chad with a smug look on his face. "Is the shorty getting upset because she's short?" He taunted, winking at her. A couple people snickered, but the rest threw worried looks at Essence. I was guessing that she was known for being aggressive. Some people shuffled nervously from foot to foot, waiting for a reaction from her.

Even though Essence was a foot shorter then him, she squared up to Chad, standing up as tall as she could, while still glaring at him. "You wanna go, Chad?! Right here. Right now!"

Chad stood up to his full height as well, towering over her as he glared down at the fiesty blonde, snickering. "Short," he said matter of factly, adjusting his hat as he continued to look down at her. She snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Yea, I know Chad. You told me that not even five minutes ago!" Essence tucked her hair behind her ear, still glaring at him.

"Hey, Essie, guess what? You're a goober!" He remarked. She laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. The boy from earlier shook his head slowly at the taller boy, chuckling softly.

A goober? What in the world's a goober.

"Love the comeback Chad," someone called from somewhere behind me. I smiled a bit as most people laughed. Essence chuckled and turned to look at the student who had just spoken.

"And who told you to speak, Josh?" She smirked at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I can beat you Ply, everybody knows that. Don't make me remind you about last week," Essence winked at the boy with cheeks almost as red as his hair. She smiled as the crowd chuckled around her.

Essence whipped back around to Chad, smiling playfully. "Now could you move?! I need to get inside and set this bag of bricks down!" She claimed, referring to her backpack as she attempted to push Chad into the classroom. He grinned mischievously at her attempt, knowing that she knows that she can't push him. He shoved her back playfully.

Essence stumbled back, yelping as her body collided with the boy in the hoodie. The Chromebook in his arms slipped on impact and he quickly dove to try and catch it before it hit the ground. I moved to the side as he almost knocked into me, causing me to almost lose my footing. I reached back blindly to press a hand to the lockers which I thought were there, but had estimated wrong how close they were, and my foot slipped on a stray music sheet on the ground.

He abandoned the chromebook and reached his arms out to steady me, wrapping his fingers around my upper arms. At the exact moment, the sound of something clattering to the ground filled the hallway, followed by a collection of ooh's and gasps. I looked up at him, and saw that he had kind blue eyes. "You alright?" He asked me.

"I'm fine, thanks," I replied shyly. Students began to shuffle into the classroom, eventually only a few remained behind. The boy released me after realizing his hands were still on my arms and gave me a tiny grin.

"I'm, umm, really sorry about that," he said awkwardly. I shrugged and bent down to help him pick up the papers that had flown across the hallway floor. "It's okay," I told him, grabbing some papers and holding them in my hand. He knelt down and started picking up the music scores as well.

Essence glared at Chad before turning around to face the boy. "I'm so sorry Joe! The saltine behind me pushed me," she pointed to Chad behind her with her thumb, smiling as she rolled her eyes.

Joey? This was the Joey Caleb and the others were talking about yesterday?

Joey looked up from where he was kneeling on the ground and smiled at Essence. "It's fine Ess, I'll deal with Chad later." He winked at her, earning him a snort from Chad.

Chad picked up his backpack from beside him on the ground and shouldered it. "You wish bro," he retorted, striding into the classroom. I caught a slightly pink cheeked Essence return the smile before quickly dashing into the room, her hair falling down one side of her face to block Joey from noticing.

"So, does that happen all the time? Chad and Essence I mean," I asked Joey as I reached forward for another fallen paper.

Joey chuckled softly. "Pretty much. Except they were unusually calm for a Tuesday. Hmm, that's weird." He tapped the pages on his knee, shuffling them into a neat pile. I handed him the ones I had collected and got up, dusting off my pants.

"Wait, hold on, that was calm?" I raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. Joey nodded, standing up as well.

"Extremely calm if you ask me. Which you did, so why did I just say that? I'm Joey by the way, but you probably figured that out already. Unless you didn't then, hey I'm Joey. Which I just told you, which makes me saying it again pointless..." He trailed off, the air between us growing uncomfortable. I laughed lightly, picking up my books I had left stacked up against a wall. I stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say.

"Umm, okay? Here's your Chromebook," I said, handing him the black and somewhat heavy computer.

Joey smiled gratefully at me and cleared his throat as he took the computer, running a hand through his dark brown hair, which for the most part was straight, but curled at the ends as the strands fell slightly over his forehead. "Let me try that again. Hey, I'm Joseph Stamper, but you can call me Joey," he introduced himself, a nice smile on his face.

I smiled kindly at him, pushing my hair away from my face. "Hi, I'm Anissa. It's really nice to meet you, Joey." We walked into the classroom and Joey went to his seat while I made my way over to the teacher. "Umm, Mr. Giovanni? Hi, I'm Anissa Rier, and I was just curious as to where I'm sitting?" The teacher, a tall, dark haired man with dark, intense green eyes peered up at me from what must have been his lesson plan.

"I'm glad you asked that, Ms. Rier, because today everyone gets new seats," he announced in a deep voice. All around students groaned and complained as they gathered their things and all lined up at the back wall. Mr. Giovanni strolled to the front of the class, paper in hand.

One by one, he called out a student's name as he passed the pairs of desks, and one by one, students grudgingly went to their new assigned seats. Sooner than I expected, he was near the end of the second to last row. "Stamper and Rier, these two desks, and Graham and Lynton, these two desks," he called out, pointing to the last four desks in the row. I made my way to my seat and put down my things beside the desk where Joey would be sitting. Chad was on my right, our desks separated by an isle, Essence on his right.

"Don't drive me insane, Essie," Chad mumbled to Essence as he plopped down into his chair, slinging his backpack off his shoulder. Essence chuckled at this remark and an evil smile grew on her face.

"I'll try to," she promised, winking at the blonde boy next to her. I heard a soft chuckle from behind me as Joey walked up to his assigned seat, the chair scraping against the floor as he sat down. The teacher made his way up to the front of the class, and everyone began to take out their books, Joey singing softly to himself as he rummaged through his backpack. "Where is my book? Where is the book?" he sang quietly, "Gotta find the book. Ha, I found my book." He held the thick, paperback textbook in his hand, and zipped his backpack shut with the other. Chad was holding his textbook close to his face, pretending to look interested in the topic he was reading while Essence was making weird faces at him before starting to poke his arm with her pencil.

"Chad. Chad, look at me. Chad. Chadwick. Saltine cracker. Look at me!" Essence said as she switched from poking to hitting his arm with her blue, mechanical pencil. Chad slammed his textbook shut and glared at Essence as he set his book down on the desk in front of him.

"May I help you, oh annoying one?" Chad asked her, annoyance hinting in his voice. Essence chuckled and flipped her golden brown hair over her shoulder.

"Look!" She made a weird face at him, taking her index finger to her nose and pulled it upwards, making a single pig noise. Chad snorted and I laughed, making Essence turn to me and do it again, smiling. I heard laughter from behind me and I twisted around to see Joey laughing as well as the people behind him, including the students sitting in front of her and Chad. Essence leaned closer to Chad and flared her nose, making the same noise twice at him, causing him to push his chair back as far as he could, a look of fright on his face.

"Is it too late to switch seats?" He questioned. He looked at Essence as she slowly turned to him, making a very long and loud pig noise, earning a laugh from the whole class, including the teacher.

"Alright, alright settle down," Mr. Giovanni said with a slight chuckle, "Let's begin our lesson on conspiracy theories. You know what to do."

There was a loud crash as Essence's chair fell back as she shot to her feet, saying loudly. "With that big fat butt!"

Joey shot up to his feet, his chair crashing back just as Essence's had. "Wiggle wiggle wiggle!" He started dancing as Essence sang the instrumental part, dancing next to Chad as he glared up at her. Chad and I shared a look with one another, unsure on what to think of all of this. Chad rolling his eyes at his friends, shaking his head slowly. I looked back over my shoulder quickly at Joey, and saw him stop dancing and retake his seat, scooting closer to his desk, grinning sheepishly at those nearby who were eyeing him. I turned back around, Essence starting to dance in between the desks.

"Sit down Essence," Chad said, letting out a long exasperated sigh, fiddling with his black and green baseball cap.

Essence stopped dancing and turned around to face Chad, frowning. "Party pooper!" She remarked, poking fun at him.

Unsure how to react to all this, I sat in my seat staring down at my hands. Joey sat back down beside me, tapping his fingers on his book as he watched his friend. I was fiddling with my phone and then it slipped from my grasp. In a flick of a hand, Joey caught it and handed it to me. "Hey, don't turn into me. Always dropping things," he joked, grinning at me.

Essence danced her way over to Chad and took his hat, placing it on her head and dashed to the other side of the classroom. Mr. Giovanni watched the little blonde with amusement before clearing his throat to get her attention. Just as she jumped on top of a student's desk to dance, he briskly strode over to her.

"Ms. Lynton. Please get down off the desk and return to your seat. We have work to do today," Mr. Giovanni chuckled as Essence hopped down and skipped to her seat. Chad tried getting his hat back, but Essence swatted his hand away as she sat down next to him.

"No touchy touchy. Spencer only gets to touch," Essence winked at him, smiling. Chad frowned at her, wrinkling his nose and plucked the hat from her head and put it back on his.

"Whatever," He mumbled as he rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm telling Spencer that you touched me," Essence retorted playfully as she smoothed her hair down. He looked over to his left at Joey.

"I'll pay you twenty bucks to trade seats, bro. I have it with me right now," Chad reached into his pocket, waving the money in the air. Essence snatched it and chuckled evilly as she put it into her pocket.

"Be glad that you're dating Spencer. Otherwise, you'd look like a racoon tomorrow," Chad threatened. Essence chuckled.

"I am glad I'm dating him. He's so sweet and romantic. He's honestly the best boyfriend ever," Essence replied, a slight smile on her face, her eyes twinkling as she thought about her boyfriend. Chad shook his head slowly at her, and turned forward to face the front of the class. The teacher then starting to talk about the class discussion for that day.

I was smiling, liking Holy Oaks more and more. Just like the day before, I thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad here in Nashville after all. The people were nice, the streets always had some type of performer entertaining a crowd of people downtown, and it was just different from Phoenix. It was just a nice place overall. I watched Chad playing with his eraser and then hit himself on the nose with it.

"Chad, you can't erase your nose. No matter how much you hate it," I teased him. He crinkled his nose at me and grinned slightly, his eyes friendly.

"I'm a seal, I can balance things on my nose." He tried balancing the eraser on his nose but it almost immediately fell to the ground. "Dang it," he whispered, stooping down to pick it up.

I shook my head slowly, smiling happily. "Hey," Joey said, poking my cheek, "no smiling in class, that's an automatic detention here, newbie." We both laughed softly before we opened our books and started to work on what Mr. Giovanni had written on the board to do.

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Hey guys!! So so sorry about the super late update but it's here! Hope you enjoyed!