𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖘 ~ 𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖔 𝖇𝖊𝖈𝖐𝖍𝖆𝖒

f o u r

walking into tutor, i was greeted by the bitter face that belonged to amanda. i noticed she was extremely perky this morning. there was a few other people in form, but none of the people i was sat with the previous day were there yet.

"hi, tegan!" she smiled. i smiled back and walked to the middle table. "you can come sit with us, i understand how hard it must be to make friends at a new school. i mean, you've started in year eleven when everyone has already made their group of friends. plus, being new means there's going to be a lot of rumours spread about you, but we don't mind."

"she's actually made friends, but thanks for the offer." i felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. when i turned around, i was disappointed to see they belonged to alex. i'm not sure why; i was just hoping it was someone else. amanda rolled her eyes again, and walked back over to her group. alex sat opposite me and put in one of his airpods. he offered me one, and i accepted. although i didn't recognise the song playing, i appreciated it; alex had good music taste. i scrolled through my phone whilst we enjoyed the song, but to my displeasure, there was nothing interesting for me to pass time with.

after a few songs, romeo walked in with ali and zach. zach and ali sat around alex, and romeo sat next to me. i took out the airpod and handed it to alex.

"you'll have to send me your playlist!" i smiled. he nodded but didn't say anything before putting it in his other ear.

"he completely zones out when listening to music." i was informed by zach. i chuckled and put my phone away. i noticed how everyone else was scrolling through there's. however, there was nothing on mine; not even a game. so i sat, uncomfortably, and watched the clock. exactly 34 seconds passed, but it felt like 34 minutes. then, romeo noticed my discomfort and started to make conversation.

"so, what lessons have you got today?" he asked. i took out my schedule and showed it to him. science, drama, pe, maths, english, history. "we have science together, english and pe." i nodded and took it off him.

"what are you doing this weekend?" i asked.

"woah! it's been two days, you can't ask me out yet!" he said. i laughed and him and shook my head. "nah, i have tennis tonight but then i'm free saturday and sunday."

"oh, so you're a tennis player then?" i asked. i was never good at the sport myself, more of a coach potato.

"yeah, that's my thing. what sport do you play?"

"bold of you to assume i play a sport." i replied. he laughed and rolled his eyes.

"oh, sorry, sorry. do you play a sport?"

"i played netball and water polo in australia, and i used to dance. but i don't do any of that any more."

"why?"

"i wasn't good enough to go on the professional teams."

"oh, well you should try out for the school netball team! i'm sure you'd be good enough. and there's quite a few water polo places around here. oh! and my little sister does dance at this really good place, i'm sure you could try out there." he rambled on. i laughed and smiled at him.

"yeah, but we'd probably be in the same class. i haven't danced in years."

"don't flatter yourself, harper is very good; she'd probably rank above you."

i scoffed at him, although, i wasn't offended. he was probably right. we continued to converse before the bell rang, signalling first period. i got up and started to walk to the door. romeo stopped me by pulling my hand and gesturing for me to sit back down. he explained that there is usually too many people running to their lessons so he usually waited until it calms down before he goes to the lesson. i noticed that throughout him talking, our hands were still clasped. i pulled mine away and he cleared his throat.

eventually, he led me out of the classroom and towards the science class. today we had physics, so we had a different. when we got in, there was a new seating plan. most classes i had been slotted in next to anyone because they stuck with their previous seating plans, but this teacher had made a new one for the new school year. i was sat on a table with no body i knew, but i recognised that one of the girls was in my form.

she had dirty blonde hair, tanned skin, flawless makeup and a uniform that hugged her body perfectly. i didn't know her name, or much about her, but she seemed to know everything about me.

"hi tegan, i'm jessica. i hope you don't think this is cringe but me and a few others found your instagram last night. it was super cute."

i made a mental note to myself to make the account private the second i could. i smiled at her and turned away to listen to the teacher. romeo was across the classroom from me; and didn't look at me once the whole class. that probably seems really clingy, but he definitely saw me, just didn't make eye contact with me.

jessica made conversation with me the whole class, and i respected her for being friendly, but i was more interested in doing my work. when the bell rang, i collected my things and was first out of the door. i had drama next, it was my favourite class so far, but more importantly; it's all the way across the school.

i walked over to the performing arts building and made my way inside. there was the boy that i was partnered up with yesterday waiting outside. his name was louis and he had floppy brunette hair, his style was very e-boy. i greeted him and we walked inside together. throughout the lesson, we stayed together for group projects. at the end, he offered for me to come and sit with his group. i accepted and followed him to his group of friends. i noticed that it was the same group i was introduced to yesterday- by romeo.

i lay my blazer on the grass and sat on top of it, not wanting to get grass on my skirt. romeo saw me arrive but didn't say anything. i also noticed gabby had arrived. she came and sat next to me and for most of break, we talked about our plans for the weekend. she told me that alex was having a party at his house for his birthday.

"oh you should totally come!" she insisted. i declined, saying i hadn't been invited for a reason.

"it's fine, alex!"

alex turned to face us, causing romeo and ali to look too.

"what's up?" he asked.

"can tegan come to your party saturday?"

he looked at me and then back at gabby.

"sure. you text her the address."

gabby squealed and pulled out her phone. she typed something in and then put it away. my phone then pinged, alerting me that i had a new snapchat from gabby.

"oh this is perfect, i was going to have to go with my sister but now we can go together. do you want to get ready at my place or we can do yours?"

"um, your place sounds great." i smiled at her and then stood up. the bell was about to go so i shook the grass of off my blazer and slipped it back on.

i then walked over to romeo and tapped his shoulder. he removed an airpod and looked at me.

"we have pe together now?"

"i know." his reply was blunt and fast, almost cutting me off.

"can you walk me to it?" i asked, feeling awkward because there was a tension between us.

"get one of the girls to take you." ali cleared his throat, they were looking at us now. romeo noticed them and rolled his eyes. "okay, fine."