Lovestruck (EDITING)

35: Fourteen to One

I lock eyes with Shana as she stops walking towards me and sits on the hood of her car, looking at me expectantly to join her.

"I'll see you at lunch, Jayden," I say without looking at him, catching his nod in my peripheral vision, "I have to talk to someone."

Hesitantly, I take a few steps towards Shana, still keeping a comfortable amount of distance between us. She raises an eyebrow at me expectantly but I continue to stare at her without speaking.

"How's that thinking going?" Shana questions me, her eyebrow still raised.

"It's going," I answer quickly, staring at the floor.

"Skye, I'm really sorry," she announces once again, "I feel really stupid for what I did. I just don't know what else I can do..."

I know she's right, but I'm too stubborn to let myself get over it. Trust was what made us so close for all these years. We had trust, but now it's all been fucked up and we have nothing.

"I forgive you," I mumble, swallowing my pride for a painful moment, "I just don't know if it will be the same anymore."

"No, it won't," Shana agrees and I look up to see her cheeky grin returning, "It will be better."

I screw up my face at Shana's cheesy line before she takes hold of my hand and pulls me through the front doors into the hall. I can't help but smile at the action, watching as the sea of hurried teenagers almost swallows us whilst we manage to stay calm and still. In this moment, I know that senior year has begun.

***

I grin at the empty top shelf left for me when I enter the drama room for third period, placing my books into it before taking a chair and joining the circle. Shana pulls up a chair beside me and I give her a small smile. I can't deny how much I've missed having a best friend.

"Morning everyone!" Mrs Leroy peers from behind her desk, where she's scribbling down notes. "I've paired you all up with someone for the assignment, so I'll announce those and you can spend this lesson working on the task."

Pairings are called out and I frown at how randomly Mrs Leroy has chosen to pair us up. Shana is paired with Carley, whom she can't stand. Dani is paired with Ben, her polar opposite in terms of personality. There's no way these groups will work out.

I've almost accepted the fact that I'm going to fail my first senior assignment when my name is called out, followed by Landon's, and we are to study Realism. Laughter almost escapes my lips at the unlikely occurrence as Landon's eyes meet mine.

"Okay, now you all know your partners. I've clearly chosen a different approach to pairing you up for this assignment, in an attempt to break down those anti-social and cliquey walls I know you all have! You will have to cooperate with your partners for this to work, and it will have to work well if you want to pass," Mrs Leroy explains her odd choices and I cringe at her cheesy attempt to bring us together as a class. "This assignment will make up fifteen percent of your grade."