Winchester High| 16+

Chapter 3: Books

As I turned back, I saw a familiar face down the hall. It was that fine shit I was wanting to stare at earlier, only now he was coming my way.

"Hey!" He put his hand out as if to dap me up, but I was a little frozen. I got through to it eventually, though, which he found funny.

"Hey..." I hated it when I acted like this.

"I saw you just now. Last period, gawking."

I didn't know what to think. I was waiting for my locker to become a vortex and suck me in.

"I wasn't gawking." I turned on my charm and started smirking all over the place. Only to save myself.

"Well, whatever. You dropped this." He tended to smile. It was fine. He handed me my pen, which I didn't know was missing. I acted like I needed it.

He got comfortably close to my ear, which startled me. "I see you at the Library." His hair smelled hair-like, and his curls were all over my face, and they were itchy. But I couldn't pretend like I didn't like it. He pulled back and smiled again. I realized he had dimples just as he was leaving.

I'm dying. I have to tell someone about this, but it can't be Nico. I have a sense that he hates this sort of stuff. Like if it comes on TV, he turns it off or something. I don't know if I can blame him, with his parents being who they are. (I've met them. They really are terrible)

I came to the Library and saw Val sitting at her usual spot. Her braids tended to be flowy and cascade down her arms as she wrote. I think everybody knows, at this point, the table is for her. 

When I walked over, I was sure to check my mirrors and make sure I didn't see curly-head anywhere. I'd just rather not, for now, it's all too much. My heart is still palpitating.

I sat down in the seat I usually do, next to Val. "Psst!" I didn't speak to her too much when she was focused, but I needed someone else besides me to know what just happened. I figured she wouldn't mind it because of how open-minded she is. The star Winchester High student. Protesting for whales probably, badgering students to throw their trash in the recycling during lunch, and constantly correcting the teacher. Based on that description, you'd think she's insufferable to an extent, but at least I enjoy her company. Plus, I get to tell her stuff like this:

"Val!" I whisper shouted.

"What!" She whisper shouted back to me and whipped her head as if to be mad, but she couldn't help but laugh. I found it amazing that she was able to joke around while doing complex calculus.

"Do you know that new kid?--" I started. She grabbed my hands as I was playing with my hoodie strings and took a deep breath in. This is how we communicated. She knew him and thought he was dashing.

"He's in my first period." I started. She melted a little more. 

"Lucky!"

 I told her about what happened in the hallway. She thought it was pretty embarrassing. I have to agree.

"I didn't think he was..."

"I didn't think so either!" I shouted a little louder than library standards. Our library was never really academically silent; there was always a little chatter and the occasional out-of-place shout-- I guess it was my turn. There was some chatter behind me, very feminine, and when I tuned in, it sounded all sorts of familiar. It was the same sort of chatter I'd heard since this morning.

'Yes!... I don't know... was in the boy's bathroom... Oh my god... a huge graffiti... principal Cullens was pissed...'

It wasn't anything new, although I found it fun to listen in like this. Flipping of papers got in the way of being fully able to listen in, but I got chunks of whispers.

'that loser...' 

Hey!

'Wow, really... she's atrocious...  Andrea, stop, that's mean... okay...? watch this...'

One of the girls, my brother Malik's scum girlfriend, rips out a piece of her book to crumble up and hurl at Val. I wanted to jerk up and say something, but it was like something was stopping me. Val felt that ball deeper emotionally than any damage the ball could've afflicted, as if she knew exactly who was behind her. I felt like a coward. 

I felt Val's back and silently asked if she was okay. She couldn't speak, as if there was a gun to her head. Nico appeared and sat down, unexpectedly walking into tense energy. His mouth was agape, ready to crack down on whatever he was gonna say, but I nudged him towards Val. His eyes lit up fiercely, and he craned his neck to see whoever behind her caused this damage. All I could do was envy him.

"Hey!" he peered at the floor, "Yo, really?! A paper ball, are we six?!" From here, he looked like a lion. His fury only succumbed to that of authority, and those mean girls, to him, were far from it.

"Yes, really!" They seemed to mock his accent. Then, they chuckled away flipping what hair they could.

"Hey, are you okay, V?" Nico seemed more compassionate than usual. I think it's because he thinks he's about to be out of here, so he's tending to his relationships as well as he can.

"Yeah..." She said faintly, Nicolo seemed to help the situation, "You guys can carry on."

"Okay... Well, first things first we need to figure out who's doing this." Nico started.

"I agree."

"Wait doing what?" Val added.

"You didn't hear about the giant graffiti? Everybody is talking about it." Nico should be careful about talking about it. Luckily, his shouting only made the Library louder.

"No... I guess I've been caught up in work."

"Well, everybody thinks I did it, and that's an issue because this is really bad and it could mean getting expelled." You could tell Nico's been thinking about this all day. Could you blame him?