𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘

𝐗 ━ 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔡

chapter ten
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"So, where are you from?" Dante asked as he pushed open the door of the building for (Y/N), waiting until she was out before following along beside her down the pathway that led to the correct facility where she needed to be. "Around here, or somewhere else?"

"I lived in Eastville," (Y/N) revealed. "About an hour south of here."

"Why'd you move here?"

"Oh, well..." she trailed off, wincing at the thought of telling him all of her family drama, but from the soft look in his eyes, she could tell that he wasn't one to judge another so quickly. "My mom decided we should both move into her boyfriend's house... and he's the one providing me the funding to go here, after all, so..."

"Wow," Dante blinked after she had finished. "That's very generous of him."

"Yeah, it is..."

"Do you even want to go here?" He then continued after a moment's silence, something that surprised her. "I mean, I could just tell from your expression that something might be up." He then chuckled as he continued, "Or am I totally wrong?"

"No, no... you're pretty on point," (Y/N) laughed lightly along with him, something he smiled softly at. "I mean, since it's my last year in high school, it's just an odd time to move schools. Not only that, but I essentially left my whole life behind—my social life, at least. I had to leave my best friend, and that... well, it sucked."

"If you want, I can be your first friend here," Dante offered. "Not to replace your other friends, but... maybe as someone who can help?"

"Sure," (Y/N) looked almost relieved at his words. "That would be great, Dante, thanks."

"It's no problem," he shrugged.

The two then descended into a comfortable silence with only the soft steps of their shoes echoing in their ears, along with the occasional rustling of the trees' leaves or the twittering of a bird. As (Y/N) walked beside Dante, she felt relaxed for the first time in a long time, hoping that maybe her time at Kingston wouldn't be as bad as she had dreaded. Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she thought herself lucky to be able to find a friend so quickly in this enormous school of people whom she wasn't sure she could click with.

It relieved her instantaneously.

"Alright, we're here," Dante then announced upon stopping outside of another building, snapping (Y/N) from her thoughts as he gestured for her to follow him. "The main office is just inside."

Holding open the door for her, then walking in afterwards, he led her into the main office where the receptionist immediately offered a hand in assisting them. She was surprised to see (Y/N) since she assumed the student who had been assigned to help her would do just that, and help, but when looking up her status, it was revealed she was out sick. With that, Dante was asked, and he obliged, trailing (Y/N) out of the office as he looked over her shoulder at her schedule.

"Oh, hey, we have AP Lit, Psychology, and AP Stats together," Dante pointed out with a grin. "And lucky us, English is first."

"Will the teacher be mad at us for being late?" (Y/N) started with a small wince.

"No, Mr. Lee is pretty cool like that."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah," he nodded, smiling. "He's kind of socially awkward—ironic when he's a teacher, right?—but he's really kind once you get to know him. All of the teachers here are, pretty much. There's only a couple who are kinda strict, but..." He flicked his gaze over her schedule, nodding as if impressed whilst continuing, "...looks like you're off the hook. Lucky."

"Guess we're lucky a lot," she chuckled.

Dante laughed softly alongside her as he walked with her through the building and up the stairs towards the Literature and Language wing of the school. Like he told her, Mr. Lee wasn't irritated at all by their late arrival, instead merely muttering out for them to take a seat while he revised the attendance record. Throughout the day, (Y/N) was led by Dante around the school in a mini tour between classes, something she was grateful for since it was something he didn't have to do in the first place. More so, at lunch, she was introduced to his friends.

There was Maya, a rather relaxed girl with dark black skin, dark eyes, and tightly braided hair that fell down to her lower back. Another was Zara, a Muslim girl with tan skin and startling blue eyes, her hair hidden underneath the hijab she wore. She had a manga in her hands as she ate, only looking up to greet (Y/N) with a cool smile and nod. The last was Carlos, a boy with light brown skin, dark eyes, and curly brown hair. He was doing tricks with his food, as in, he was trying to catch certain foods in his mouth, and when he failed, he cursed under his breath both in Spanish and English.

All were friendly when Dante introduced her, and all included her in the conversation.

So, despite a rocky start, (Y/N) ended the day in a rather good place. What baffled her the most was how, on her first day there, she had already managers to make friends. Then again, if it hadn't been for her bad sense of direction, it was likely she wouldn't have even been able to become friendly with Dante at all in the first place.

"See you tomorrow, (Y/N)," Dante waved as they both entered the student parking lot.

"Bye," she called with a soft smile as she slid into the driver's side of her car before closing the door behind her, settling her hands on the wheel whilst letting out a slow breath.

Her smile then softened.

Wow...

I guess maybe being at Kingston won't be too bad.

With that thought in mind, (Y/N) buckled her seatbelt before safely backing out of her parking spot. Once that was completed, she began the five minute drive back to Devon's apartment, still buzzing from how good of a first day she had that, in retrospect, was a one in a hundred chance. She couldn't wait to tell her mom and Devon.

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To be continued...