October Academy

Chapter 16

After we've dropped Ben and Callum home, Xander puts on his serious voice. "So what's up with you and Callum?" Xander says.

"Why does everyone seem to think... obviously there's nothing, Xander," I say, my hands gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"I said distract him, not flirt with him."

I furrow my brows at him, "Why do you sound jealous?"

"Jealous? Pft, of who?" Xander huffs. "He'd never like you anyway. You're not pretty enough for him. You know he's famous right? He's got girls drooling over him everywhere he goes."

"Xander, calm down," Perry says. "You don't need to yell."

"Maybe I do think he's hot," I say, just out of spite. Just to bother Xander, even though I'm not exactly sure what he's so mad about.

"Of course you would. But you're nothing special to him," Xander says, crossing his arms.

"What do you know about special? The only reason you started hanging out with Acacia was because she became the richest girl in the world."

"Shut up. You know nothing about that."

"Don't tell her to shut up," Perry shrieks. "Why are you being such a jerk?"

"I'm just telling it how it is," Xander huffs.

"No, you're making a big deal out of nothing," I say.

"Whatever," he says.

Without even pulling to a complete stop, Xander hops out of the car and slams the door shut.

"What's up his ass?" I say to Perry.

"He's on his period," she says.

I park my beautiful purple beast in the garage. Perry and I make our way up to our room. It's slightly after curfew, but it's a weekend and Ms Svetkov should be asleep by now.

Perry and I sneakily mount the stairs, back into our rooms. I try not to think about Xander.

.

.

.

Perry chews audibly on an apple, perched in her usual spot up on the stone bench surrounding the fountain in the glasshouse. The early morning sun shines through the glass above us, lighting up all the stray flowers, waking them up.

"What was up with Xander last night?" I ask Perry. "If I didn't know better I would've thought he had a crush."

"Xander is a stupid human. He lets his emotions get the better of him. When he lashes out, he doesn't care who he hurts," she says, taking a break from her apple and chewing on her pencil. She pauses for a moment, scribbling something into her journal. "I'm sure he didn't mean what he said. He thinks you're very pretty."

I roll my eyes, "I don't care whether Xander thinks I'm pretty or not. I have bigger fish to fry than anyone's opinion on my appearance," I say, mostly meaning it. I don't really care about being pretty... maybe just to Darcy.

"Did I tell you what happened at the museum?" I ask Perry.

She shakes her head, so I proceed to tell her the whole story.

"He's almost as unpredictable as our maths exam. They say it's gonna cover chapter twelve, but then end up throwing in questions from chapter thirteen," Perry sighs.

"I don't know. He's just so mysterious."

"I don't think you're his type, Jade," Perry says.

I'm shocked enough to look up from my sketch. "What now?"

"I've heard he has sugar mumma's."

I bite my lip. "I can't compete with sexy milf's," I grumble.

"You don't like him do you? I thought you liked Callum."

"Callum?" I say, confused. "I mean, he's good looking for sure. But he's a player. I don't have time for that shit."

"Maybe he'll change for you," Perry says, dreamily.

"Hilarious," I say.

"Seriously, why don't you give him a chance? I mean, you're both hot people. Why not?"

My brow furrows just as the bell rings. "Saved by the bell," I joke.

We make our way to homegroup. I take a seat in the backrow, our usual spot. I catch Xander's eyes as he makes his way into the room.

He looks away, blushing slightly, and sits with Acacia at the front of the room.

Our homeroom teacher does his typical routine – watches the news on the projector while doing the role call. He barely pays us any attention.

"...live from Aubry Coast, and I can confirm that Patricia Fredrich has gone missing..."

Our homeroom teacher seems extremely invested in the broadcast – so much that he starts writing things down. Not realising his screen is mirrored on the projector, he starts googling similar cases.

An alarm starts blazing loudly, completely overpowering any thoughts I was having. Perry's hands snap up to cover her ears, uncomfortable by the loud noise.

"Students, please move to the courtyard. This is not a drill. Please move, swiftly and quietly to the courtyard," Gladys says over the speakers in her Snape voice.

"I didn't want to go to Maths anyways," I say, smiling at Perry.

We make our way over to the courtyard with the rest of the homegroup. Perry grabs my hand and squeezes it occasionally. She puts on her head phones as we wait around and stand in a line with our homeroom groups.

Alyssa's homegroup lines up beside us. I can't help but send her a glare. She acts as if she's above everyone else. Drake, her equally obnoxious boyfriend, catches me starring at her and grins as if he's caught me drooling.

I start feeling fidgety, having to stand around with nothing to do. I don't want to bother Perry because she's finally settling down, but that means I have no one to talk to.

Our homeroom teacher seems to see I'm uncomfortable, which is the most observant he's been the whole year, and tells me to take the roll list to Gladys.

I pick up the clipboard and walk over to Glayds, who's standing on the opposite side of the courtyard holding a speaker phone.

As I make my way over to her, Drake pushes past me, smacking my roll to the floor. He chuckles as he walks past, looking back only to sneer.

I glance behind me and see Alyssa laughing with her side-kick, Chloe.

I turn around, ready to pick up the clipboard, but someone is already kneeling in front of me, picking it up and handing it to me.