Their Secret

Chapter 3

Scarlett
I spent the next couple class periods trying to get the scene from lunch out of my head. It's almost as if I'm hypnotized and forced to keep replaying it.

The bell finally rings for 9th period and I walk into yet another room full of blank faces I don't know. I recognize a few from my other classes, but you couldn't pay me any money to remember their names. I groan when I see there are white strips of paper with student's names on them as a seating chart. I awkwardly scan the double-seating desks with everyone else to find my name. Finally, in the last row, I spot my name and quickly set down my heavy bags.

I peek at the name beside me and almost choke on the gum I've been chewing for about two hours straight.

Andrew Thomas

I take a deep breath and snap my head up when I hear two girls giggling in front of me. They stop as soon as I make eye contact with them, and I roll my eyes in annoyance.

Unsure of what class this even is, I have to scan the board before I see AP CHEMISTRY written in all caps at the top. I pull out an unused folder and notebook and set my pen on the desk. The late bell rings, and I see my brother fly in the room as quickly as possible laughing his head off.

Landon, shut the fuck up, I think in my head, shaking my head at him.

"Hey Scarlett!" He waves, and plops down in the seat with his name.

"Hey Landon." I say more quietly, chuckling at the end.

The young female teacher moves to the front of the class and everyone quiets down immediately. I do have to say, she's gorgeous. Clearly a few boys agree because one of them whistles just low enough that only a few students around him hear and start laughing.

"Welcome seniors to AP Chemistry. Congrats on having the academic abilities to be in this class. With that in mind, we will be fast-paced, and have weekly or biweekly quizzes on the material we are covering. So, the first thing I want you all to do is get a blank piece of paper and-" She starts to say, but is interrupted by the door flying open.

Andrew walks in, and the two girls in front of me start to giggle again like before. Before the teacher can say anything to him, he strolls over to her and pulls her close to him by the arm. He whispers something in her ear that I can't hear, and she blushes and nods at him, smiling. Then, he runs his hand through his hair and walks to the back of the room, keeping his head down. I'm not sure how he even knows he's back here, but he sits down and finally looks over at me for the first time.

The teacher picks up with her speech, seeming a bit more flustered this time, and I question to myself what he could have said to her.

I'm too scared to say anything first to him, so I just smile and then try to make it look like I'm listening to the teacher. In actuality, I'm watching him with my peripheral vision. He's staring at me intently, and he doesn't even seem to care that I know he's watching. I try my absolute hardest not to blush or look back at him, but eventually I give in.

"I'm Scarlett. I'm new here." I say, and mentally cringe realizing how dumb I just sounded.

He grins at me, showing his teeth, and I feel like dying right then and there. Honestly, how can someone be so beautiful?

"Well, hello Scarlett. I'm Andrew Thomas. " He chimes in a heavenly voice. Lillian was right, his accent is killer. Since it'd be weird if I didn't ask, I played dumb.

"You have an accent?" I ask, and can feel my face get hot already.

He nods, and starts tapping his pencil on the desk obnoxiously, "French. My friends and I all moved here together from France last year. I get that question a lot. What about you, new girl? Haven't seen your face around." He says, smirking.

"I'm from Pennsylvania. It's up north a bit." I say, and realize how quiet the room is so I whisper the end.

For the rest of the class, I practically died and resurrected every time he spoke to me. I learned he's 18, and he lives in an apartment on the outside of town with Wesley and Connor.

Class seemed to fly by, and before I knew it the last bell rang.

"Hey, I'm not sure if anyone told you yet, but the annual back to school party is this Friday at the abandoned house on Fir Street. Hopefully I'll see you there." He says, winking and rushing out of the room before anyone else.

I take a deep breath and look up to see the two girls in front of me glaring. I ignore them and pack up, walking up to get Landon.

"Hurry to the car." I tell him, and head into the hall to try to find my way out of the maze of a school.

Friday
The week seemed to drag on, mainly because Andrew, Wesley, and Connor never appeared after the first day. Lillian says they do it all the time, and that she thinks they go back to France sporadically to see their families. As great as that is, why would Andrew invite me to the party if he knew he wouldn't be there?

I gave Lillian, Ariel, and Steph a play by play of everything that happened in Chemistry on Monday and they almost shit their pants as much as I did. They told me I had to make sure I looked super hot for the party, for the off-chance that he shows up.

So here I am, sitting in my bedroom trying to decided what to wear. I own a lot of party outfits, but none of them really scream "look how hot I am, Andrew". I add winged eyeliner and darker eyeshadow to my eyes, and a matte red lipstick. I run a straightener over my hair again and then stand in front of my mirror in just my undergarments debating on my attire. Eventually, I decide on a tight and short rusty pink dress and my all black Adidas. The dress is a thinner material, so you can see my black strappy bra through it. I grab a random bottle of vodka from under my bed, and shove it in an empty bag.

When I get downstairs, my brothers are sitting at our island on their phones. They hand me a few other assortments of alcohol to put in the bag, and I zipper it up, grabbing my keys from off the coaster.

"Let's go party!" I yell, flicking off the lights and following them out the front door.