The Roads To Paris

30

The rest of our holiday went by uneventfully and I'm quite glad for that. Today is the first day of school after the holidays and weirdly, I realize that I felt a lot more stressed during the holidays than when I was at school.

My first class of the day is English literature and I listen to the teacher go on and on about the relevance of the name ‘Great Expectations’ to the work.
It's not like I don't enjoy the class but, it being the first class I've had since a long time and everything, it tends to get quite exhausting.

My dad and Danielle are not yet back from their trip but they promised to be back in  less than a week. They seem to be enjoying the honeymoon a little too much because they can't seem to remember that they have kids they left at home.

I hear the sweet sound of the bell after what seems like hours and I quickly get up from my seat.

The rest of the day goes by in similar manner and before I know it, it's time for lunch.

I'm back to my normal school routine and this time, I don't hesitate to make a beeline to ‘our’ table.

“Hey!” Ivy says giving me a hug.

I haven't seen her for over a week and I think she said something about going on a vacation.

“ Oh my gawd hey. I've missed you so much.”

“ I missed you more.” she says squeezing me tighter

“So what's up?” I say sitting next to Benny across from Heaven, Mae and Ivy. London is at the other end of the table after Benny. The only people that aren't at the table are Jesse and Damien.

We all talk loudly amongst ourselves for five minutes or so before we see Jesse and Damien coming.
There's something off about the way they're walking.

They're not talking to each other and they look like they're walking together but they're not actually walking together. I hope they didn't have a fight.

When they get to where our table is, Damien hesitates a bit before sitting next to Ivy. Jesse sits down beside me and smiles.

“How'd you enjoy your first day of classes? ” he asks

“Don't you think that was a bit more than overdue?” I say joking

“What better time than the present?” he saysbjoking back. We share a laugh

“But seriously, how were your classes?” he asks again

“They were boring! I've been away from school for so long I didn't realize it was this tiring.” I say rubbing my hands over my eyes and yawning

“You're just lazy.” he teases

“Oh am I?”

“Yeah. You are.” he repeats

“If you say so then.”

“Oh, have you guys made up then? That's nice. That means my Jaris ship is still sailing?” Benny says poking my side

“You're crazy.” I say giggling and frantically brushing off his hands because the poking tickled

“There's no Jaris, Benny. We're just friends.”  I point out

“So don't go look at me with that look in your eyes. You really ain't going away without a fight. You can't be reasoned with I'm done being polite. I've told you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6000 times...... ” Jesse cuts off Benny's out of tune singing by reaching out behind me and smacking him across his head.

“Ouch! What was that for?” Benny yelled

Ivy, Mae, London and Heaven laugh at Benny's goofiness and I can't help but notice that Damien has been quiet throughout the whole exchange.