Lost This Fight

Chapter 2: New Friends

The car screeched to a halt. I was thrown forward, but lucky for me, I had my seat belt on. Mom had stopped right behind the school bus. Adam removed his headphones and kissed mom goodbye. After that, he rushed towards his group of friends who were waiting for him under a shady tree. From afar, students ran to their friends and greeted each other with huge smiles on their faces.

"Alright, honey. It's time for you to go." Mom spoke as she gave me a kiss on my head.

"Bye mom. I love you!"

"I love you too!" Mom said, her eyes glistening under the sun.

I got off the front seat and swung my bag onto my shoulder. I was about to slam the door shut when I realise I left my phone in the side compartment for charging. I opened the door and grabbed my phone while I gave my mom a smile she couldn't resist. Following the other kids, heading to the entrance... I turned around.

"Hey mom... who's picking us up today? You or dad?"

"I'll be picking you up today. Dad has some work to do at his office."

"Alright. Bye!"

"Bye."

I ran to Zoey. She had an enormous grin on her face. I looked at her and she looked at me like I was hiding something. I was in total confusion. Right then, I realised what she was trying to indicate. It was about the New Year's party yesterday! She wanted to know what actually transpired between me and Zach. I tried so hard to ignore the topic she was impending as we walked to our lockers.

On the way there, we saw a couple of new hot boys in the corner and girls all drooling over them. There were geeks in another corner looking at girls. I saw my brother and his friends including Zach near my locker. I headed for my locker and plugged in my code. It opened up and I looked through my stack of books and papers. I had History class, and the best part yet, Zach was in my class. I took my History books, closing my locker. Zach saw me and came towards me.

"Hey Ash..." Zach whispered.

"Hey.. "

"Er.. Ashley... I think I'll head to class first.. see you there." Zoey uttered.

Before I could spill, she had gone. I awkwardly stood there with Zach right by my side. My hands were shaking, my head was spinning. I gripped my books tighter.

"... I was thinking... maybe we could walk to class together?" Zach said as he rubbed his hands against his neck.

I nodded nervously. Zach moved in closer and I could feel the fresh minty breath across my face. It was weird for me because Zach had never done this in my life. We walked to class together. Mr John had already taken out his books and got half the class settled. Before we entered, Zach pulled me back with his soft hands. His muscular arms almost strangled me.

"Ash... would you sit in the back with me, please?"

"Yeah, sure."

I entered, walked pass Zoey and went straight to the end. Zach followed along and smiled at Zoey. I placed my bag onto the ground and sat down. Zach came beside me, whispered something under his breath. The only words I captured was "Thank you. I .... you." I tried guessing the word with words that would probably make sense.

Mr John scribbled "The Roman Empire" on the board. He greeted the class. He welcomed the class and gave us all some gifts he had got when he went to Orlando. He is the sweetest and the kindest teacher I have ever met! He loves his students more than ever and treats us as his kids. In the previous years, students hated History and it was known as the most boring subject in school. He made students fall in love with History. Honestly, I don't mean like falling in love with someone but like having interest in a certain subject.