Of Hotshots and High School

Chapter 4

Rory's POV

It was my second day of school, and that meant four new classes. I hoped that I would have some of the same people in my classes that I knew from yesterday, but I could never be sure. My first class was woodworking. I was really excited about this class, but my mom thought it was weird that a girl would be taking a wood shop class. Apparently so did the rest of the school because as I walked in to my class 2 minutes late, all the boys' jaws dropped at the sight of me. It was as if they'd never seen a girl before. And after I noticed that there were absolutely NO girls in the room I guessed that just maybe, in that classroom, they hadn't.

"You must be Aurora!" The teacher said from the doorway between the classroom and the shop.

"Actually I go by Rory, but yeah, that's me." I shrugged in a way that I hoped conveyed "here I am" and not "ohmygoodnesswhatamigoingtodotheseboysareallgoingtothinkthatiamsoweird" which was a lot closer to how I was actually feeling.

"Well we're certainly glad to have you!" My shop teacher (I later learned his name was Mr. Hansel) grinned a real, genuine smile at me. So maybe this wouldn't be too bad. At least I could talk to the teacher even if all the students avoided me like I had a lethal disease. And I was honestly really excited to build stuff. So really, the whole social aspect of this class shouldn't be such a big deal. I could do this. Deep breath. This was gonna be great.

I scanned the classroom for an empty desk and found one near the front. I hurried to it and threw my backpack under the chair chair, throwing my hair over my shoulder as Mr. Hansel left the shop to come to the front. He started talking about the project the class was currently working on--a trinket box, from what I'd gathered--when my listening was interrupted by someone pulling on my hair. I turned, irritated. Really, some boys were just so immature when it came to having girls in their "manly" classes. But the boy was smiling at me, dark blue eyes twinkling sleepily from under his baseball cap.

"Hey," Chase winked, an effect that was quickly defeated when he yawned. I laughed. He looked so sleepy. It was adorable, like a little kid. He was wearing shorts and a grey hoodie that looked like an over-sized blanket. I was a little jealous of how comfortable he looked. Yesterday when I'd come home from my first day of school in some worn out denim shorts and a "save the turtles" t-shirt, my mother'd had a mini panic attack. "You wore that on your first day of school?!?" She'd been appalled, to say the least. "Rory, remember what I told you about first impressions?" I'd sighed and said yes, though my thoughts might have been more along the lines of how on earth could I have forgotten when you'd only lectured me about them for half an hour?!? So yes, in an attempt to keep the peace, I'd let my mother tell me what to wear today.

I was in some professional-looking khaki shorts and a nice olive green blouse. I'd even let Mom do my hair. It was straightened, with my bangs pulled back from my face in a fancy braid kind of thing. I'd made sure to look a little pouty (fish face and all) with my mom when she was done so she wouldn't think that this would become a regular practice, but secretly I was actually really pleased. I looked good. But when my mom pulled out some dainty brown flats that she liked to call shoes I'd stood my ground. No way was I wearing those around school all day. I'd had to pull the "I'm going to be working with sharp things in a wood shop and those flats are a safety hazard" card to get her to back down though. And so I had a little bit of comfort with me in the form of my dirty white converse. On my second day of school I figured I could use all the comfort I could get.

"Long night?" I questioned Chase with a smile. He grunted. 

"Nah. Early morning. Seriously, who on earth ever thought that having high school start at 8 in the morning was a good idea?" Chase dropped his chin into his folded arms on his desk. I raised an eyebrow at him. My old school in SanFrancisco had started at 7:30, so having school start at 8 here had been a really nice change. But that's not what I said to Chase. I couldn't help but point out the obvious and tease him just a little.

"You look like you woke up at 7:50," I deadpanned. Chase's eyes actually lit up and he grinned from my jesting.

"You wound me," he faked being offended. "I woke up at 7:40!" he paused, then shot me a lopsided smile that showed off his impressively white teeth, "but it does take me 12 minutes to get here, so you can still be impressed with my speediness at getting ready." He winked again. I rolled my eyes. Seriously, he was such a flirt. But I found myself laughing anyway.

"That explains the hat then," I joked, reaching toward it. Chase's head shot back so fast you would've thought I was holding a knife.

"No touchy," Chase pouted as he batted my hands away. I chuckled to myself. I would've thought Chase would think himself too cool to say things like "no touchy," but apparently not. I found that it made me like him more.

"Okay then, I understand." I jested, putting my hands up in mock-surrender. "The hat is off limits. Apparently your hair is just so horrendous that you couldn't bear for it to be seen by anyone." I stated with a note of a challenge in my voice and raised an eyebrow.

Chase took my challenge in stride. "Now hold it right there little missy --" he shook a finger at me.

"Mr. Turnleaf, if you could please leave Miss Landon alone and listen for just one day without distracting anyone it would be most appreciated," Mr. Hansel reprimanded from the front of the classroom where he was going over the construction process for our boxes. Chase's cheeks turned a little pink. He was blushing!

"Sorry Mr. Hansel," Chase actually looked a little bashful. I was impressed. But that didn't stop me from shooting a little smirk at him over my shoulder before turning to face forward. He just rolled his eyes. I was really grateful that Chase was here with me. He'd make being the only girl a lot easier. And he made me laugh. A lot. Which honestly had gotten to be so much harder since my parents' divorce two years ago. Sure, Chase was a huge flirt, and more than a little obnoxious, but I could see us becoming friends. And right now, I could definitely use all the friends I could get.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! I finally got some more Chase and Rory time! Woot woot! The next chapter will be in Chase's POV, so I'm excited about that. I'll try to update as soon as I can, but as of now I think I've had about two readers. Sad day. So please forgive me for not feeling any pressure to update quickly. If you care and want more, just let me know and I'll get it done a million times faster! Seriously, being propelled on by readers helps so much! PLEASE REVIEW AND COMMENT!!! Seriously, it would mean the world to me! If you have any ideas for things or characters you'd like to see in the story just let me know. You readers are the best!

~Cinnamon