Azania's senior year began to crash when she was forced to switch from her performing arts school to her neighborhood public school due to a conflict having her removed just before her last semester. Her closest relationship at this new school is...
As soon as Torian parked his car Azania jumped out; The car ride was silent and filled with tension. She knew that the tension was caused by her being callous as soon as she set foot out the door.
He deserved it.
Just as she planned, she walked into the school like she'd been there since she was a freshman. She ignored the wandering eyes as she found her way to the front office. Before she could step in, she was stopped by a bright-eyed boy.
"You're definitely new. You need help baby girl?" She refrained from rolling her eyes at him and smirked at his poor attempt to get with her.
He's cute.
"Azania—is what I prefer." She tried to walk past him, but he holds his hand out expectantly waiting for her to shake it.
"Well, Azania, I'm Jeremiah." She looks down at his waiting hand with a raised brow. She gives him a small smile nodding her head.
"Well, Jeremiah... it's nice to meet you, but I think I can find my help with the front office." He drops his hand and awkwardly laughs in embarrassment.
"Ah, I see." He steps to the side letting her pass through the door.
"See you around though." She says without turning back. Jeremiah smiled at her clear confidence and knew he had to try and get with her before anyone else could.
She was it and he could tell she knew it.
Azania put on an innocent smile as she tried her best to look over the desk. "Hi, my name is Azania Willington and today is my first day. Could you tell me which way to go for my first class?" She passes the receptionist her schedule and she puts her glasses on as she squints down at it.
"The math center is on the third floor." She passes back her schedule. "Mr. Jones is your teacher; he may look young but he's a hard ass—he's the basketball coach."
Ugh.
Just what she needed, a prick for a teacher to make things harder for her.
It'd taken Azania longer than she had expected to get to her class. She couldn't find her locker, so she had to bring her book bag with her and then search for her class for 10 minutes. When she finally walked into her first class, it was like a pin could drop as everyone's eyes fell on her. She didn't let the uncomfortable situation waver the blank look on her face.
"Hello there, you must be Azania from Millwood Performing Arts. Welcome to Gifted Calculus, I'm Mr. Jones but you may hear some people call me coach." A few whistles sounded off in the classroom and Mr. Jones sighed in annoyance. "Really boys? You guys act as if you've never seen a girl before." There were a few snickers, but Azania held her head up. Mr. Jones holds his hand out to the classroom reluctantly. "Have a seat right in the middle next to Mr. Brooks in the back over there."
Brooks? Her eyes scan across the room and just as she feared—Torian.
Oh, the irony.
Her expression doesn't waver as she takes her seat next to Torian. He has his leg stuck out from under his desk and he kept a bored look on his face. "Hey Prod, catch uh—baby girl up." He snaps his fingers as he tries to think of her name. "Sorry—Azania." Azania winces at the honest mistake and keeps it in the back of her mind to not wear her earrings until everyone learns her name.
She pulls out a notebook folding it back to the empty page. She rests her chin in her palm letting her sheer anxiety take over having to share her first-hour class with Torian until the rest of the year.
When I first met him, he was terrible at math, now he's in gifted math. And helping me?
"We're doing parametric equations on page 152 evens only—"
"Thank you, that's all I need." She opens the page and speeds through all the even number equations. She doesn't bother to look his way the entire period and she ignores the whispers and stares from others in the back of the class.
A note drops on her book, and she turns to look and see which way it came from. No one looks her way which annoys her, so she opens the note. Before she can read it, it's taken away from her.
"The new girl has a note written to her already. Hm, let's see who it's from." Mr. Jones walks to the front of the class, and she sinks into her desk in embarrassment.
"You guys know how I feel about note passing, yet here you guys are... passing notes." He puts his glasses on to read. "Since you giving me the cold shoulder... we need to talk at lunch it's important Zani." She rolls her eyes as she realizes who the note is from. "Anyone want to fess up?" The room is quiet. "Of course, you all are quiet—well I suppose we can have a pop quiz really quick since no one knows." Groans erupted within the classroom, but Azania stays quiet.
"Coach, it was my note." The coach stops in his tracks and turns to look at him.
"Prod? You can't be serious." He shakes his head in disappointment. "I'll see you at practice—and don't be late like this morning... slipping." He mumbles the last part to himself as he goes to sit at his desk again.
When lunch came for seniors, Azania felt a bit intimidated about where to sit. Usually, she would sit with her best friend on the steps but now she had no one. She was considering taking Torian's offer to talk just so she wouldn't have to walk around looking for someone to talk to.
"Zani, wait up." She takes a sigh of relief hearing his voice, but she disguises it as irritation.
"What?" She puts a frown on her face as she leans against a random locker crossing her arms. She watches as his eyes look down at her breast and she steps closer so that her face can be in his view. "What?"
"I—um—we need to talk. Now." She doesn't say anything as she motions for him to keep talking. "If we're gonna continue this arrangement then you need to be on time. I'm serious I've been getting my ass handed to me by coach all day."
"I didn't pass a note to myself." She rolls her neck as she crosses her arms again.
"Yeah, but you made me late to my morning meeting and as captain, I've got to face repercussions for that shit." He pokes at his chest, but she doesn't let his clear irritation intimidate her.
"If you were chivalrous then we wouldn't be having this conversation." She shrugs. Torian puts his hand over her head staring her down.
"I'm serious Zani, you can play this game if you want to—I promise you I will win this shit. Don't ruin my chance at getting recruited all because I can play in games from fucking up in school and missing team meetings." Azania's heart pounds as she looks up at him. She could feel the heat radiating off his skin and she eyes his vein sticking out on his forehead. Instead of letting him know how much he was intimidating her, she smirks at him and stands up from off the locker coming nearly nose to nose with him.
"I don't play games, Tori." She shrugs. Torian doesn't back down as he leans down to whisper in her ear.
"I got you." He whispers into her ear. "Wait for me after practice." He doesn't say anything else as he walks toward the lunchroom.
Damn. She takes a quip breath as her hand goes to her chest trying to catch herself. She hadn't been that close to him in a long time, and she felt the effects of that small interaction.
Did I just initiate a mini war between us?
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