the futures (ON HOLD/EDITING)

Chapter 3

"Hey Analeigh, you're going to sit with us at lunch, right?" Jennette asked towards the end of class. The lesson was over, and they were supposed to be working on their homework, but no one was. They were all on their phones.

"Yeah, Nolan practically told me I had too. I don't mind though, I don't really know anyone else." Analeigh forced a smile, and Jennette nodded, turning back to face her phone, which lay on her desk.

School was definitely going much different than she expected, well other than the bully, Wade, but he didn't seem as important as she thought about how she already has three friends, and on the first day. It usually takes her months to make friends, but for some reason she felt at peace with everything. She wasn't as anxious as normal around the three of them, and it really shocked her.

The bell rang, pulling her out of her thoughts, and she grabbed her bag, throwing her notebook and pen inside, and walked out the door to meet Nolan with Jennette and Britt.

"Ah, I see you've met Thing 1 and Thing 2." Nolan joked as the three girls walked out of the door. Britt smacked his arm and Jennette just glared. "Alright, I'm just kidding geez, can't you guys take a joke?" He rubbed, his arm, smiling at Analeigh.

"Yes, I can take a joke, doesn't mean I have too." Jennette responded, linking arms with Britt and headed down the hallway.

"You guys seem more like enemies than friends." Analeigh whispered, and Nolan laughed, causing her to stare at him full of confusion. She didn't understand what was so funny.

"Our friendship is interesting to say the least. Just wait until you meet the rest of our friend group." Analeigh cringed, and Nolan laughed again, wrapping an arm around her waist, guiding her to the cafeteria.

The moment the pair walked into the loud crowded room, Analeigh immediately drew back into herself. Nolan noticed and pulled her close to his chest, very protectively. He knew why she was like this, he used to be that way too, until he met the others. He wasn't just going to leave her to fend for herself. She needed him and the others just as much as they needed her.

"Hey, Nolan. What's up?" Analeigh heard someone ask, and she looked up to find six other kids, staring at her and Nolan, Britt and Jennette among them.

"Just helping Analeigh to the table, shes new here." Analeigh eyed each of the new faces, noticing how between all eight of them, they were equal between boys and girls, which was weird to her. At her old school, boys hung out with boys, and girls hung out with girls. They didn't interact unless they wanted something from each other.

"Nice to meet you Analeigh, I'm Jackson, and this is my boyfriend, Garrett." The first guy got up to shake her hand, and pointed to his boyfriend. Something else that was new to her. There were barely any gay people at her old school, not that she would have minded. She doesn't care, but its just foreign. "The next two are Emma and Jones, they've been together since the beginning of high school." The pair looked up from their hands, and smiled at the new girl. "Next you have Britt and Jennette, these two are fucking inseparable. " The two girls stuck their tongues out, before turning back to their food. "Glad to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about you all day from this one here." Jackson said placing his hand of Nolan's shoulder, and Analeigh blushed. Nolan pushed her closer to the table, ignoring Jackson's remark, and motioning for her to sit. She did, and quickly found herself included.

Everyone at the table kept asking her questions about her, and she happily answered, and eventually the questions died down, and the pairs found themselves and she just started to observe everyone.

"So, Analeigh is who we were looking for?" she heard someone say. She looked around the table to find it came from Garrett, who seemed to be whispering with Jackson who was nodding his head. She didn't understand how she heard him, he was talking very quietly and the question was clear as day. She also didn't understand why they were talking about her, much less why was she what 'they were looking for'?

"What about me?" she asked and Garrett stopped mid sentence, and eyed her confusingly, and then looked at Jackson. Who smiled at him before turning to Analeigh.

"Nolan will show you after school." Analeigh turned to Nolan who looked scared. She was confused, what did she need to be shown after school, none of this made sense to her.

"Are you sure shes ready for that, I don't want to scare her." Jackson laughed, causing the others to all turn their attention to the confrontation.

"She's going to have to be, Nolan. We're going to run out of time if she's not." Jackson turned his attention to Analeigh, "Just please have an open mind about everything." Analeigh nodded, and then it was like none of that ever happened. Everyone was back in the little cliques within the friend group, and she was alone with Nolan.

"You're okay, right?" She heard Nolan whisper in her ear, and she nodded. She pulled out her bag of chips, and starting snacking on them. Lunch didn't last much longer, however their table didn't leave right away, and she looked at them weirdly, Nolan just ushered her out, and to her next class which was art. Just as she was about to walk in, he stopped her. She turned to look at him, and he smiled awkwardly before leaning towards her ear to whisper.

"Please don't freak out this afternoon. You just need to trust me. That's all." and then he kissed her cheek, and took off down the hallway. Analeigh found her hand, holding her cheek as she walked into the classroom, only seeing 5 other students in there.

"Mrs. Beard, we have a new student." One of the girls shouted towards the backroom, a second later, a woman appeared, covered in paint. She happily walked over to Analeigh.

"Hi, nice to meet you. It's always a pleasure to know someone is interested in Art. You can sit wherever. I'll give you a rubric on the upcoming project." The lady rushed off to her desk, searching through the various piles of paper on her desk. Analeigh took a seat at an empty table, placing her bag in the chair beside her. After a few minutes of waiting, the teacher handed her a sheet of paper.

"It's a piece on who we are. It can be in any style of art. I just want to see where your creativity takes you." Analeigh nodded, and thought about who she was.

She was a short, blonde girl who just moved from a small town in Illinois who had a passion in the arts. Nothing super exciting there.

Of course, this afternoon could change all of that, and maybe then she realized this was all for a reason. The move, the friends, the school. Everything was all for a very specific reason.