Spring Meadow

Welcome to Hell

First period went by incredibly quickly. Second wasn't much slower and break felt incredibly uncomfortable. Megan spent the entirety of it trying to pry his name out of me. Ruby tried to calm her down, even change the subject, but of course, Megan wouldn't have any of it. Lisa and Christen chatted away about a video they both happened to see the day before. They had been around long enough to know that when it came to situations like this with us, it was best just to let us be. Getting in the middle of it didn't ever do anything to stop it, and it took too much effort.

I was very happy when break ended. Unlike first and second, I didn't have Megan for those classes, just Ruby.

She smiled at me. "I'm sorry about Megan."

I laughed. "I'm the one who's been her friend forever. Besides, we both know I would have told her eventually. This is just more fun."

"Are you sure you are really okay with telling her?" She seemed really worried about it.

I gave her a soft smile. "I've had a crush on him since forever. I should have told her a long time ago."

"You really like him?"

"Yeah, although, he doesn't seem to enjoy my company all that much."

"Oh, that's sad. I hope it gets better," she told me as we walked into the classroom.

I was about to reply, as do I, when a cheerful voice rang out. "Hey, Amber, come sit over here!"

I walked over to Jordan, encouraging Ruby to follow. I took the seat facing him as Ruby took the one next to him. The chemistry classroom was arranged with lab stations for a group of four rather than the usual rows of desks. I was immediately grateful for Jordan's invitation. It seemed most of the other stations were full.

I looked back at him. "None of your basketball friends in this class?"

He looked a bit sheepish, as he answered, "No, they all had Chem. second period."

"So no Michael?"

"Nah, he has this for sixth," he said. I sighed a bit in relief. The car ride was bad enough. One of the only available seats in the class was the one next to mine. I know he was pretty social but I doubt that he would have picked the overly chatty circle of girls or the extremely rowdy group of boys over the table with his best friend, even if I was included in that table.

Jordan so obviously picked up on it and laughed. "Did I miss something? I remember you two in grade school and middle school. You two weren't friends, per say, but you we're still polite to each other."

"So you've all known each other since elementary?" Ruby looked embarrassed after she asked, like she didn't mean to say the question out loud. I was a bit surprised as well; she wasn't normally this open with strangers.

Jordan looked over at her. "Yeah, can you believe it? She's heard my voice when it was about three octaves higher."

I felt a bit of embarrassment at the topic. "It wasn't that bad."

"Oh c'mon. It was bad." He looked over at Ruby. "I'm sorry. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of hearing your name."

Ruby blushed as she managed to answer, "Ruby. It's nice to meet you."

He laughed easily. "The name's Jordan and trust me, the pleasure is all mine."

Suddenly, the teacher came up to the front of the class. Everyone became silent.

"Now, my name is Mr. Lambert." He stopped to get a stack of papers from his desk and hand them to the student closest to him. He motioned him to pass them around the room and then continued. "Now, you will receive the lab will be working on this week. Take out a notebook or paper. We will be discussing the basics, starting with acids and bases."

Needless to say, the rest of that class was painfully boring. Fourth period wasn't too bad. I didn't have Ruby this time or Megan. Instead, I had Lisa and Christen. They talked with me about various things and, thankfully, steered clear of the subject that had caused so much trouble this morning. I was excited when it ended, though. I had been looking forward to my fifth period all day. It was my elective, Business 101, as most kids called it.

I walked in thoroughly happy, that is, until I met someone at the door.

"Of course," he muttered. Then, he sighed and opened the door. "After you."

I looked up at the glowing brown eyes that were slightly clouded with annoyance. I looked back down and walked through the door before I could blush. "Thank you."

I sat down at a seat towards the front and heard him sit down in the front as well, at the other end of the classroom. I looked over at the board and tried to pretend he didn't exist.

Mr. Breakart took control as the bell rang. "All right, everyone up, out of your seats. I know that this usually isn't how I run this class, but this is your last year and I feel like changing it up a bit."

The business preparatory program was a three year program. So, that meant each of us had had Mr. Breakart for the last two years. We all stood up to the front of the room until he designated a seat to us. I sat in the first seat of the end row. Just my luck, guess who sat behind me.

Mr. Breakart clapped his hands. "Alright now, I'd like you to get familiar with the person next to you except you guys." He pointed to my row. "You will pair up with either the person in front or behind you. So, you two and you two," he said gesturing at pairs of us. I could see why. There were five rows. Pairing with the person next to me wasn't exactly an option.

"Now, all assignments will be done with your partner. We will do some review on business roles, tactics, and economics this semester. The entirety next semester will be spent on the final project in which you will have to create a business. Lucky you guys, you will have investors to sit in on your presentations at the end of the year. Now takeout your notebooks, time is money, people!"

Yeah, I still just pretended he didn't exist.

I practically ran out of the room when the period was over. I headed straight for Etiquette, my last class of the day. I felt relief as I walked into the door until I heard, "Oh, hey, Amber! If it isn't my favorite best friend!"

I looked to see Megan gesturing me over. As I walked toward the empty seat next to her, she said, "Oh, good thing we both have this period last. It would be a disaster if you somehow escaped from the pleasure of my company before I could find out the identity of your mystery man."

As I sat down, I thought, yup, welcome to hell.