Textbooks & Teardrops

3: Nut-Taps & Bear-Hugs

As JJ and Kie laughed and talked in the line before separating, they had been too caught up in their own world to spot all the staring eyes. 

John B and Pope had been silently watching the pair interact. John B was pissed, JJ had promised to help save him from the talk with his dad and clearly his best friend since the 3rd grade had forgotten all about his promises the second he saw a pretty girl. Pope on the other hand, was quite perplexed. He had seen JJ flirt many times, too many if you ask him, but he had never seen a girl match his energy so well, not many people other than him and John B could make the blond laugh so hard. Even after the pair had split to their respective lines, their faces were still beaming.

Sarah Cameron, kook princess, had also been watching them. But instead of anger or curiosity, she felt dread. She was all too aware of JJ's reputation when it came to women. She had seen many friends fall to the heartbreaker's charm. The worst case was her best friend Alyssa when they were 14, he had practically chased the girl all year and the second that she consensually slept with him, turns out he just wanted her for her body. She had fallen in love with him and he didn't even care. It destroyed Alyssa, she moved away that year and Sarah swore to herself that she would never let it happen again.

---

JJ grabbed his lanyard and keys from the desk at the end of the line, flashing a smile at the ginger receptionist. Quickly he spotted Pope and Bree - which was the nickname that he  had given John B in the third grade since he couldn't pronounce the B part of his best friend's name for the life of him and it just stuck. Speaking of Bree, JJ had just realised that he had failed in his mission of search and rescue. He picked up the pace and rushed over to the boys.

"Okay, before you get mad, I can explain," he said, holding his hands out in front of his chest in surrender. 

"Oh please, do go on!" John B said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well you see, I kinda crashed into this girl and knocked her shit everywhere. Then we started arguing, she was a real firecracker, you would like her. To cut a long story short, I forgot," he said, scratching his neck in discomfort.

"Really cos that little interaction looked more like flirting than arguing to me," Pope voiced.

"Yeah Pope, do arguments normally involve so much laughter and smiling?" John B agreed.

"Come on man, you can't blame the girl for smiling, she was talking to me after all!" JJ said arrogantly, running a hand through his hair.

The other two boys crossed their arms unamused by his response. 

"Okay so maybe I was flirting, sue me," JJ exclaimed.

"JB you know what to do," Pope ordered.

"Wait guys come on-" JJ whined but was interrupted by a harsh slap to the testicle. He doubled over in pain.

"Really Bree, a nut-tap!" JJ said, annoyed.

"I can give you another one if that didn't suffice," John B mocked.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I deserved that. Are we even now?" He asked, scared for the life of his genitalia.

"Yeah I'd say so," Pope said clapping JJ's back.

"Now get up Princess Peach, we're going to find our dorms. You're in with me by the way," John B said.

The three boys made their way out of the auditorium in fits of laughter.

---

Kiara had finally reached the end of the line, grabbing a lanyard for access to the college and keys to her dorm. She nervously fiddled with the keychain as she stepped into the auditorium. It was a vast octagon-shaped building with concrete flooring and a huge skylight flooding the whole room with sunlight. But this wasn't just some boarding school, so of course the skylight wasn't only grand but depicted the Virgin Mary in stained glass of every colour you could imagine. Kie couldn't decide if it was beautiful or just plain creepy that she was just watching them all. She heard footsteps coming up behind her, more specifically the clacking of heels and turned to see a stylish girl with flowing blond hair making her way over. 

"Hi, I'm Sarah Cameron," the girl said excitedly as she pulled Kiara in for an unexpected but not unwelcome bear hug. 

"Oh hey, I'm Kiara Carrera. I see you're a big hugger," she awkwardly laughed as the girl released her from the hug.

"Sorry I tend to get over-affectionate. Is that a wristband from Plastic Oceans?" Sarah asked, her face lighting up.

"Damn girl, you have a really good eye. Yeah I worked with them over the summer, helping to clear beaches in Charleston," Kie proudly stated.

"No fucking way! I love that charity, I spent my whole summer making sure turtles weren't getting killed by cars or seagulls," Sarah squealed. "I know that we just met but I think you're like my soulmate, platonic of course."

"As long as you love turtles and believe in global warming, you can be my partner in crime," said Kie.

"What psycho doesn't like turtles??" Sarah yelled, which drew more eyes that she intended. 

"Exactly!" Kie agreed.

"And about what you said about global warming, the facts and figures are right in front of us. It's not something to believe, it's something to be accepted and changed," Sarah said.

"Okay this is getting freaky now, is there anything we don't agree on?" asked Kie.

"Well we can find out on the walk to our dorms if you want," offered Sarah. "I don't mean to brag but I am kinda the perfect tour guide, my brother is in the year above so I may have explored from time to time when I was dragged to boring family events."

"Then I'm glad I met you, at least now I know someone here," Kie said.

The two girls headed towards their dorm building, faces full of joy.

---

Despite the boys setting off before the girls, Sarah turned out to be a good tour guide and knew a shortcut which ended up forcing the two groups to come face to face. Everyone's previous smiles vanished except Kie who was confused at the clear hostility in the air.

"Sarah Cameron, what an unwelcome surprise," John B said, scowling.

A/N Sorry this chapter was a bit boring just wanted to set up friendships between the characters, it will be getting more interesting soon I promise!

Till we meet again, Steph :)