faking it l.r.h

0.2

Adelaide

Do you know how to walk in a hallway? I think to myself as the girls in front of me hug their friends they literally saw the week before at the end of summer bash someone always throws.

I understand why the freshman walk so slow but come on, you know where you're going don't stop until you get there. When I was a freshman I remember getting yelled at by the seniors because I was walking too slow and from that day on I've watched upperclassmen yell at the under classmen and take away their voice. I promised myself that I would never yell at underclassmen for trying to find their way through the large halls of the public school. That was me once and I hated feeling so lost.

"There's my favorite resting bitch face." The familiar voice says and I let a smile break out on my face.

"Hey, Riley," I say and she wraps her arm around me.

"See any new cute guys?" She asks and searches through the crowd of mostly underclassmen.

"I just got here. " I say, clearly uninterested in any new guys. I'm just trying to get through this year in one piece.

"Oh, right, you're mentally and emotionally taken, my bad." She says and raises her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. I roll my eyes and shake her arm off my shoulders.

"Not true, I'm just focusing on my work," I say and place my hands at my sides.

"Sure Addie," She says and elegantly tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder. I don't reply to her sarcastic remark, annoyed with her already and it's barely 8:30 am. I lean against the locker beside me, it's the 21st century, why do we still need these? It takes up too much time anyways.

"Dude, the best thing happened to me this summer—." I tune her out as she continues with the story she already told me over the phone while she was in California. I cross my arms and look at our feet, another pair of beaten up black converse joining the picture. I realize that Riley stopped talking and is staring up since she's a whopping 5'2. I trail my gaze up, following the long legs of the stranger dressed in black. He's adorned in a worn out black shirt, his broad shoulders clean-cut. His hair looks effortlessly perfect. Luke looks god-like like Michaelangelo sculpted him himself.

"Uh-Hi?" I blurt out in nervousness. He stands tall, soft eyes looking at me, his cheeks rosy. Why is he standing there? Does he really wanna talk to me?

"That's my-uh- locker." He says as if he can tell how painfully desperate I am and points to the locker I'm leaning against. Almost immediately, I feel my cheeks burn, my heart beating fast in embarrassment.

"Right, sorry." Of course Addie, why would he want to talk to you? You're just one of the many girls who had a crush on him. I frown, I don't have a crush on him anymore. It was stupid of me to even think of him like that.

"It's fine honestl—." I push past him, grabbing Riley's wrist and dragging her with me.

"That was so embarrassing," I mumble, pushing open the girl's bathroom door. I let go of her wrist and cover my face with my sweaty palms. I hate this. I hate the way he makes me feel. I hate feeling so desperate and vulnerable.

"Not really." Riley shrugs, looking in the mirror, ruffling through her impeccably done hair.

"Easy for you to say," I respond, going through all the times she been the confident one. When Luke and I stopped talking that's when I did too. I stopped talking to Riley in Algebra 2 and actually started to focus on the work.

"What class do you have?" She asks and looks down her shirt, pulling it down a little.

"Anatomy," I answer, trying to suppress everything I'm feeling right now. I feel sick.

"That sucks." She says and turns around to look at me. The loud ringing of the bell startles me, yet sort of relieves me. I adjust the strap of my bag on my shoulder and look at Riley.

"I'll see you in calc." She says and gives me a side hug, walking out of the bathroom and into the busy halls.

I leave the bathroom and find room 7. I step aside and look at the seating chart posted beside the door. It goes in alphabetical order and I dread the class already.

13. Franklin

14. Foster

15. Francis

16. Green

17. Gill

18. Hall

Seat 18, cool. That should be in the back so I won't have to worry about being watched by the whole class.

I walk in and see mostly familiar faces, looking for seat 18. I find it in between rows 3 and 4, right next to seat 19, of course, that's how counting goes.

I sit down and see everyone just sitting and chatting with their friends about how done they are even though the school year has only just begun. I take out a pencil and wait for the teacher to get off her computer. She's probably waiting for everyone. I tiredly close my eyes for a second, hearing the door open and close, shuffling and then the chair beside me screeching against the tile. I open my eyes and look at who planted themselves beside me.

"Hello, my name is Ms. Garner and I will be your Anatomy teacher for your senior year." She writes her name on the board and I uncomfortably shift in my chair.

"The person you're sitting beside will be the person you will sit beside for the entire year unless you have issues then speak to me after school." She says and caps her expo marker, her surname written perfectly on the board.

I glance at him sitting next to me, feeling my palms sweat.

"They will be your partners and your best friend, now, I need someone to pass out the syllabus for me." She says and picks someone from the first row.

I turn to Luke and see he's already looking at me.

Fuck.