My Last Halloween

Chapter 3: Gather Around

   After leaving the classroom I asked Tatiana if she wanted to join me and my other friends for lunch. She quickly agreed without hesitation. I couldn't help but laugh at how fast she jumped at the opportunity but I couldn't blame her. Nobody wants to feel like an alien their first day in a new school. I could tell she was an outgoing person. She loves to talk but I didn't mind since I never said much anyway.

I made my way towards my locker to put my stuff away. It didn't take long for drama to find me.

"Bitch!" I heard someone call out behind me.

"Yeah whatever, you just mad I gave you the wrong number, with yo ugly ass."

People in the hallway gasped and cheered. I knew that voice all to well.

"Can you believe some of the guys at this school David? Sometimes I can't stand them." she said with a frustrated tone.

I closed my locker, took a breath, and turned around preparing myself for the possible rant I was about to hear. I looked at her and she was running her fingers through the long brown hair she was so proud of. Most guys would get hypnotized by her light brown eyes and nice figure, but to me she was just that feisty short girl; only an inch taller than Tatiana I think.

"Jasmine I swear you say this at least twice a week." I replied, rubbing my forehead together. I could already feel the headache coming.

"That's because these little horny boys just don't know when to quit." she said looking back down the hall, uttering something in Punjabi.

All I could do was shake my head at this point. Jasmine was the type who would flirt with guys to get a free lunch or something; never ended well if she actually didn't even like the guy. She wasn't a bad person or anything, just selective on who she was nice too. I was one of the lucky ones I guess. We met our freshman year, sat next to each other in biology. We were usually partners on the projects we had in class. She was never much of a science wiz but she was great at math, even helped me a few times. I helped her pass bio and she gave me tips in trigonometry. We've been friends ever since.

"Come on we need to go to lunch." She said pulling my arm and dragging me down the hall with her.

We arrived at the cafeteria and got our lunches. We made our way to the usual table. Max and James were already sitting down eating. James didn't even notice we walked up, he was to busy stuffing his face with a turkey sandwich I think. Any time we joked about his appetite he would say it's because he's black, whatever that means.

"Took you two long enough!" Max said looking annoyed.

"Oh calm down Maxwell." Jasmine said replying to his outburst.

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?" Max replied looking more annoyed than before.

"Oh whatever, just hush." Jasmine said as she sat down around the table.

These two always had a love hate relationship. Best friends one minute and then at each other's throats the next.

"What's up David?" James said trying to break the tension.

"Hey how's it going man, I'm alright." I said, taking a seat myself. I noticed James had gotten a haircut. Man liked his hair short and neat. If I didn't know any better I'd think it never grew.

James turned towards Jasmine looking concerned. "I heard you had a debate in the hallway." he said.

"Sounded more like PMS to me." Max added.

"Shut the hell up." Jasmine said snapping back and Max.

"Some guy tried snapping on me for giving him the wrong number, like that's my problem. He just didn't know what uninterested means. "

"I don't why you even bother giving guys you don't like your number in the first place. I swear you enjoy the drama." Max commented.

"Well he was buying me a drink at the vending machine at the time he asked for it, I had to give him something." Jasmine said.

Everyone at the table couldn't help but laugh and Jasmine started laughing herself.

"Hey David."

Everyone paused and looked over to the side to see who was talking. It was Tatiana holding her tray, looking at us with a smile on her face.

"These must be the friends you told me about in class." she said

"Who's this Dave?" Max said raising his eyebrow at me.

"Everyone this is Tatiana, she's a new student. We got to know each other in Mr. Williams class, I told her she could sit with us." I said pulling out a seat for her.

"Well it's about time we had another girl in the group. Hi I'm Jasmine, take a seat."

Jasmine seemed eager to be the first to introduce herself.

"I'm James." James said reaching out to shake her hand.

"And I'm Max, but you can call me Maximillion." Max said jokingly.

"Nice to meet you Maxy." Tatiana said smiling at him.

Max's smirk dropped really quickly and everyone laughed.

"I like her already." Jasmine said poking at Max's arm. Max eventually laughed along with us and welcomed Tatiana to the group.

"How old are you Tatiana?" Jasmine asked.

"I turn eighteen in two weeks. What about you?"

"Sixteen, I skipped a grade." Jasmine answered.

"Yeah Ms. Gale here thinks she some kinda genius." Max teased.

"Defiantly smarter than you." she added.

We continued on talking as we ate our lunches. Tatiana told us about her move and what her old school was like. She lived with her mom while her dad was overseas in the military. She told us some funny stories about her old high school and neighborhood.

We all gathered around completely invested in what she was saying. Everyone liked her instantly; you could tell we were all going to get along just fine. We continued talking until lunch was over. Jasmine dragged Tatiana with her somewhere, Max went to gym class, while James and I had last period together so we made our way to Law class.

Looking back at it now it's hard to believe what would be coming our way just the next day. We were getting along, we were happy, and most of all clueless to what was about to unfold.