Chamberlain Academy

9/5 - 11:36 am

“Cam, gimme some of your sandwich -”

“Fuck off, Ver -”

“Shut up.” Preston intervened, glaring at them as he looked up from his math homework.

Verity, Camilla, Preston, and West sat in the school’s cafeteria. They all had early lunch, and were fortunate enough to have arrived early on the first day. They had the perfect table - not too central so that they couldn’t hear each other, not too distant so that they seemed antisocia, close enough to the food and far enough from the trash, and close enough to the exit in case some girl tossed up whatever meal her pregnant stomach couldn’t handle. Each had their own bench on the round table, sometimes they had a few other friends sit with them, but they also preferred to be alone. 

“How’s Granson?” Verity asked, a question directed at Pres. Granson taught trig, and was rumored to be one of the hardest teachers in the school.

“She’s a bitch. It’s the first week of school, and I have more math homework than I had in two weeks in winter last year,” Preston responded without missing a beat. 

“And calc, for the nerds?” Cam was smart overall; West was a math genius. 

“Good.” The two replied in unison. Cam took another bite of her sandwich while West turned to Verity.

“And you?” West asked, smiling  at her.

“Me what?”

“Your day. You don’t seem to be working on homework, so school can’t be too bad.”

“It’s not,” Verity smirked, crossing her legs and leaning an arm on the table. 

“Glad to hear that.”

“Lovebirds, I asked a question,” Cam interrupted. The two turned to face her.

“Hm?” Verity asked.

“How’s Chastity?”

The girl had been shot while her and Carter were out the night of the parent student dinner. It had caused a riot of sorts throughout the town. The only crime the town ever really had to deal with was shoplifting- and even that was rare. Turns out the guy wasn’t even from the town; he’d come to Maine with his girlfriend and apparently had some sort of mental illness. Whatever it was, he was locked away in a town three hours over.

“Dunno. I think Carter’s going to visit her.” Verity didn’t like Chastity (did anyone) so she didn’t pay too much attention when Carter informed her.

West swung his legs back under the table, bringing himself back into the conversation. “How long have Carter and Chastity been together?” 

“Too long.” Preston muttered as he continued on his homework.

“I think since we were freshman. So nearly two years,” Ver answered.

“And nobody likes her?” West asked.

“She’s just a brat. Very clingy. Needy. Bitchy.” Verity could go on, but she stopped herself.

“Ver’s just jealous.” Cam teased, smirking at the other girl.

Verity sighed, rolling her eyes. West raised an eyebrow. “Jealous?” He asked.

“Oh yeah, Ver dreams of making out with Carter, she tells -” Camilla was cut off.

“Oh lay off, Cam.” Verity turned to West, twirling a lock of her caramel hair as she opened her mouth to explain to West. “Carter and I met at a party freshman year. We were both really drunk, and we ended up making out. Worst kiss ever, but we’ve been friends ever since.”

“And they dream about -”

“It’s Cam’s favorite joke, if you can’t tell.” Verity grinned. 

West tried to play it off, but it made him slightly uncomfortable that the girl he was pursuing had once made out with her best friend, and they were still inseparable. Bad kiss or not, it was slightly unsettling. “Right,” West spoke, a grin on his face. “I’m gonna start heading back to class, I’ll see you -”

“Wait! I’ll come with you.” Verity jumped up, grabbing a bite of Cam’s sandwich before they started to walk off. The two walked through the crowded cafeteria and out into the nearly silent hallway.

“What class do you have next?” Ver asked as she readjusted on her bag onto her shoulder.

“AP Gov.” West responded. 

“Too smart for me. I have Journalism.”

“That’s fun.” 

“Right.” Verity’s tone said otherwise.

“Are you busy Saturday afternoon?” He questioned, watching her for a reaction. She blinked, and although the rest of her face stayed still, her eyes seemed to dart around, scanning his own expression.

“No, why?” Her normally peppy tone was much more teasing.

“Would you like to go out to dinner with me?”

Verity stopped her walking, spinning around on her foot and stepping in front of West. “Are you asking me out?”

“I’ll repeat, would you like -”

“For sure.” 

The bell for sixth hour rang - time for classes. “I’ll be at your dorm at three,” West stated before walking away, winking at her.

Verity grinned, watching him walk off before starting on to her own class.

Verity kissed a lot of boys - being the party girl she was, hardly a weekend went by without someone else’s lips on hers. But she was a free spirit and didn’t like commitment. Attachment wasn’t for her. So Ver kissed simply for the fun of it. However, this boy was different. She’d never really liked a boy before. West was nice, her mom had seemed to like him at the dinner, maybe this could -

Her train of thought abouth her impending date came to a halt as she walked past the student mailboxes. Verity had one, just like everyone else, but didn’t think she’d ever actually had anything in it. Her mother filled out anything that needed to be, and she couldn’t care less about the various school clubs that stuffed their neon flyers to annoy everyone. But this wasn’t a neon flyer, or a navy school envelope. It was a white envelope, the return address for Manhattan. She didn’t know anyone in Manhattan; her mother did, maybe they’d addressed the wrong Lisbon. For a moment Verity considered bringing it up to her mom. After all, she was probably sitting in her office. But what fun was that?

Snagging the envelope, Ver disregarded the bell to signal the start of her Journalism class. She sat down on the nearest bench, slipping her finger under the flap of the envelope. A single page of folded stationery was revealed. Verity pulled it out, quickly opening it and skimming through.

Dear Verity,

So it was addressed to her. Who the hell was writing?

I’m sure you’re confused as to why you’re receiving a letter. I apologize for the informality, but I figured that this was the best way to get in touch with you. My name is Noah Watson. I myself attended Chamberlain Academy.

While attending school, I met your mother. Nearly eighteen years ago, I started dating her. I’m not sure how much you know about your mother and I, but suffice to say, I am your father.