Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 17

KATE 

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I caught sight of my friends before they did.

"Hey, guys," I said, coming up behind them.

"Hey, blondie," Kyle responded.

The bell rang, making me sigh. "I gotta get to art, I'll see you guys later," I said, blowing kisses to Corey and Amy and saluting goodbye to Kyle.

"See you next period!" Kyle called after me.

I just waved my hand in response and walked to my art class, finally knowing where everything is.

I entered the classroom and took the seat furthest in the back. The teacher glanced at me and smiled before continuing her lecture on Rembrandt. I took out my phone, opening a snap from Axel.

He'd taken a picture of a desk, so I assumed he was in class, and there was a text box right over it saying, 'What school do u go to?'

I snapped a picture of my own desk, which was really more of a table, and typed, 'Santa Monica High, wbu?' and hit send.

He opened it a minute later and sent another picture of his desk. His response to my question was, 'Olympic High.'

I sent him another picture of my desk with a text saying, 'What grade r u in?'

He started typing instead of snapping another picture, so I quickly swiped left to see what he was saying.

AXEL - I'm a sophomore. Same as u.

I smiled and responded,

KATE - You know, we could make this whole "texting" thing a lot easier if u would give me ur #.

I smiled as he said sure and texted me his number.

I quickly put it into my phone, putting his contact name in as "AXEL" before shooting him a text.

KATE - Hey, it's Kate.

I watched the dots appear before he replied,

AXEL - Kate? Kate who?

I stifled a chuckle and responded,

KATE - Wow, u have forgotten abt me already?

The dots appeared once again and I waited patiently for his response.

AXEL - Hahaha never. What class u in?

I heard the bell ring right as I'd hit send.

KATE - I'm in art and I'm bored as heck. Wbu?

I felt my phone buzz with his response but I was too busy maneuvering my way to my next class to reply.

"Hey, Kate, over here!" Kyle called me over.

"Hey, Kyle," I said, taking my usual seat beside him.

I took out my notebook and my phone, shooting Axel occasional texts but not too often since I actually want to succeed at this school.

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After school, my father took me to a car dealership like he'd told me that he would. On the way, I continued to play my Julia Michaels playlist which my father had began to like.

"I like her voice," he admitted, turning up one of the songs.

I nodded along to the beat of the song as we headed further downtown.