Hello

Nine

"Miss Dashwood! I see you're looking alive and well". 

Miss Stickleson stood at the front of the classroom, her frizzy black hair tied back in a tight bun, held together by a pencil. It's never a good sign when your maths teacher sounds strongly sarcastic about your sudden arrival to school. Which is why Zoe thought she better be on her best behaviour, particularly for today. 

Mumbling quietly to herself, Zoe managed a quick "Er-yes...", before walking down the classroom to find her seat, right near the window at the front. Xavier wasn't in her class for maths, he was incredibly smart and was one level higher then Zoe. Thankfully Zoe wasn't a complete failure at maths.

Xavier-I'm such an idiot! Zoe's thoughts drifted off as she smacked her forehead in frustration. She completely forgot about Xavier, he might not even know she was at school!

Miss Stickleson interrupted her thoughts when she towered over Zoe's desk and smacked her ruler on the maths book in front of Zoe. Startled by the crack of the ruler, Zoe's eyes widened to the size of saucepans as she anticipated the horrible outcome of Miss Stickleson's rage.

"I will not repeat myself, Zoe. Please turn to page three-hundred and ninety five, in your textbook". Miss Stickleson's shrill voice restrained from yelling at Zoe as she gave a distressed nod and then walked away. For the first time in a while, everyone's eyes were on zoe today. Was it that she got in trouble, for the first time? Trust all of her classmates to eaves drop while she was being lectured by Miss Stickleson. But another one of the reasons was because of her dress, her hair and overall everthing about her today. Normally her classmates were used to the plain hoodies and jeans that Zoe wore, they didn't notice her. But now, as she sat in class with her hair done all nice and wearing a beautiful dress, boy, did they notice her. 

The day dragged on and on, nothing really exciting happened in Geography and religion was still as boring as ever. Zoe discovered that even though her school had rules when it was mufti day, the majority of the girls settled for short skirts (you could nearly see their knickers!) and incredibly revealing tops. Not all the girls, but surprisingly quite a few. Thankfully, it was already lunch.

As the bell rung and the stampede of teenagers marched to their lockers, squashing juniors and freshmen on the way. Zoe walked behind the pack quietly and opened her locker, and collected her small lunch bag that her sister had made this morning. Thinking back to the morning, Tori had to explain to Zoe were Reagan was, after Zoe nagged on and on about the whereabouts of her sister's girlfriend. reagan, uto Zoe's utter dismay, had moved out until further notice. Tori said it was because Dad still didn't know, or something like that. Zoe lacked the trait of paying attention.

As Zoe walked around the school, finding her and Xavier's spot where they had lunch, she ran into Aaron. Literally, as she was rounding the corner.

"Long time no see". Aaron jokingly said, as he steadied Zoe before she fell face first onto the floor.

"Sorry, my mistake". It came to Zoe's attnetion that Aaron was still holding onto Zoe's shoulders. "Should be watching where I'm going".

"Well, maybe if you didn't keep your beautiful eyes trained on the ground, you wouldn't have the unfortuante pleasure of running inot people". Aaron laughed and smiled, not at all fazed that he had just casually complimented Zoe.

Zoe, on the other hand, was blushing. She wasn't good at flirting like other girls, nor taking compliments, so she resulted in just standing there, trying not to be incredibly awkward. 

"I guess I'll see you on Saturday then, unless of course you've forgotten". Aaron raised his eyebrows, trying to make the conversation light hearted. Somehow that boosted Zoe's flirty-meter, if that was a thing.