teardrops || nathan prescott

senior year, pt. 1

wednesday, september 4th, 2013

after a relaxing summer, you were back at blackwell. it felt odd being restricted again, not having the freedom to go wherever or do whatever you wanted, but you knew you'd have to get used to it.

you'd had your first kiss with nathan, after four months of dating, and it felt like things were looking up. he'd gotten slightly more comfortable with holding your hand in public over those months, but this was a big step. things were really good between the two of you.

it was the second day of the new school year, and you were sitting at one of the tables in the science classroom, next to brooke. you found her a little pretentious and a kind of annoying, but she'd sat down beside you when she saw that warren hadn't arrived yet.

"chill," you said, doodling in your notebook. "he'll be here soon. he's never late to science class."

brooke huffed, and even without looking, you knew she was rolling her eyes. "i don't know what you're talking about."

"sure, you don't."

a girl you'd never seen before stepped into the classroom, looking around nervously. she had short brown hair and a bag slung across her body. she took a seat at the table in front of you and slowly unpacked.

"hey," you called out, "are you new?"

she turned around and pointed to herself. "are you talking to me?" you nodded. "oh. yeah, i am. my name's max."

you introduced yourself with a smile. "it's nice to meet you. i hope you can find something to like about blackwell." you hadn't meant to sound so cynical, but you'd found more negatives than positives in your time attending.

"i'll let you know if i find something."

"warren!" brooke's voice cut off any further conversation. she waved him over towards you. "you can sit next to me."

"hello? i'm literally right here," you said. you sent her a glare, but she just ignored you.

"that's all right," he replied. "i'll just sit here." he took the spot next to max and they started talking. brooke grumbled quietly but didn't say anything else to him.

after forcing yourself to pay attention to miss grant enthuse about potassium for an hour—how she managed to do that, you didn't know—class ended and you couldn't be more excited to get out of there. as nice as miss grant was, she sure knew how to talk. in fact, most of the teachers were like that.

"hey, do you want to trade numbers?" warren asked max as you were shoving papers into your bag. "we could study or hang out sometime."

"sure." they typed their numbers into each other's phones. "we can trade, too, if you'd like." it took a moment to realise she was addressing you.

"oh, yeah, sure." you saved your name and number before handing her phone back to her. "what class do you have next?"

"life drawing, i think." she pulled out her schedule to confirm. "yep. i have no clue where it is, though."

"so do i! we can go together." you bid warren and brooke farewell before heading to the life drawing classroom. you got to know each other a little bit more as you walked.