Just the Two of Us

03: Lets Begin

    Shit.
    I tug at my bracelet, still staring at the wall where Chace was just standing.
    "Shit. Shit. Shit." I mumble as I pace back and forth. The bathroom suddenly begins to feel as if it's shrinking with every heavy breath I suck in.
    "Nice going, Samantha." I scoff at myself. I can't believe I just did that. To him. To Chace. A literal angel sent from Heaven above. And I go and walk all over him. Some friend I am.
    This was my doing. All because I couldn't just be honest with him. Everything just bubbled over and I couldn't keep it in. He just had to come in here and check on me.
    I run my fingers through my tousled hair, hooking my hands around the back of my neck. I stare up at the boring, white ceiling. The look on Chace's face parks it's happy little ass in the center of my thoughts. "Fuck." I breathe out.
    Tears begin to pool in my eyes. Again. I allow one single droplet to stream down my cheek, but it ends there. No more. I'm over this 'woe is me' shit.
    I inhale deeply and blink the tears away. My hands release my neck and drop back down to my sides. I walk towards one of the mirrors to my left.
    "You're fine. You can fix this." I say to myself as I lean against the smooth sink in front of me. "You," I push myself off of the sink and straighten myself out. "Need to get back to class."

    I sit in a ball in my chair, knees pulled tightly to my chest, my chin resting on them. My vision begins to blur as I stare blankly at the colorless tile floors.
    "Samantha." My friend Wren's voice echoes around in my head. "Dude, hey." She nudges me lightly. "You good?" She leans forward and pears at me like I'm some new found species.
    I blink, refocusing my vision. Extending my legs back onto the floor, I stretch, yawning dramatically. I let my body go limp, my arms and neck hanging loosely in the air. "Totally tubular." I respond, giving her a lazy thumbs up.
    She pushes my hand away from her, letting out a sigh. Clearly I wasn't convincing enough. "If you say so." I hear her scoot her chair back and slam her feet on top of her desk, crossing one over the other.
    "Wren Ashford!" Mrs. Weise screeches. She sounds like a pterodactyl.
    We sluggishly roll our heads in each other's direction and snicker. Wren, still looking at me, respondes: "Ah, my bad, ma'am." Her voice dry as sand. Mrs. Weise huffs and goes back to click-clacking away on her computer. It's supposed to be "quiet time", teach.
    Wren winks at me. I roll my eyes, a small smile on my face.
    "So," Wren starts, turning her head towards the front of the room. "The Oak." She laces her fingers together and places them against the back of her head, hanging back slightly. "A few of us are meeting up after school. You down?" She asks, reaching into her pocket and pulling out some chapstick. She smacks her lips together. "Sooo?" She insists.
    "I, um, I don't know, Wren." I sigh, crossing my arms over my chest. I begin messing with my bracelet once more.
    "Girl, what else do you have to do?" Wren inquiries, placing her chapstick back in her bag, replacing it with a thick hair tie.
    "I have ... homework ...?" It sounds like I'm asking. I suck at this.
    Wren cocks her head towards me. "Homework? Really?" She always sees right through me; it's impossible to lie to this woman. "Babe, it's senior year. No one does homework anymore." She says, a smirk on her lips, now braiding a chunk of her bright red hair.
    I scratch my arm. "Um, yeah. And there's also this one other thing that I have to do." Wren press up and swivels towards me in her chair. I can feel her eyes burning into me. Ic an't help but smile as I sigh and turn towards her, resting my elbows on my knees. "Top secret. Highly important shit, man." I say in my best Criminal Minds voice.
    "Uh huh." Wren responds, looking at me, suspectedly. I keep my features as steady as possible. "If you say so." She snickers and picks her legs up, sitting criss-cross applesauce as she slides her pencil off of her desk and starts throwing it upwards, trying to stab it into the ceiling. She just can not sit still, huh?
    I giggle to myself as I watch her, extreme focus smeared across her tiny features. Her button nose scrunches in frustration.
    THWACK
    The pencil, surprisingly loudly, finds its way securely into the ceiling.
    "Like buttah." Wren exclaims triumphantly to herself.
    "Wren! Ashford!" Mrs. Weiser hollers. Pterodactyl.
    Wren nods in agreement. "Again, with utmost sincerity: My bad, ma'am." She hollers back, placing one palm on her chest and the other in Mrs. Weiser's direction, mockingly apologetically. I snicker as Wren stands and bows, the entire classroom filled with laughter and applause.