When Worlds Collide

Chapter 10

I stared at the front of the room, watching as the teacher wrote down some of the learning objectives for the day. It was almost mesmerizing to watch the purple marker glide across the board.

"Ivan!" Vera screeched, startling me as she threw herself down into the chair next to mine. With a hand against my rapidly beating heart, I glared at her.

"Jesus Vera! You scared the shit out of me."

"Did you get your suit? Homecoming is this Saturday you know," she rushed. I reassured her that I had it, remembering all too well a couple days ago when Mrs. Clarissa took me to get measured. Benji and Mary were making a mess of the shop, but Mrs. Clarissa had tunnel vision on me, making sure the seamstress was getting everything down properly. I think she was more excited about my first dance than I was.

After my class with Vera, I walked down the hallway to my statistics class, where I usually just kept to myself since there wasn't anyone I knew in that class. That's probably why my grade was so high despite the fact that it was a math class. Well, high as in barely passing, but math wasn't exactly my strong suit. Taking a seat at my usual desk off to the side by the windows, I saw a pair of pristine white sneakers come into my view as I unpacked my bag. Looking up, I saw Chloe standing in front of me, a big smile stretched across her face, glossy lips glistening in the sun light streaming through the window. Oh right, she was in this class.

"Hi Ivan! How was your weekend?" She chirped, leaning her hand on my desk.

"Uh, good. Yours?" I questioned politely, even though I really could not care less.

The bubbly blonde girl perked up, I couldn't even imagine having consistently high energy like she did. "Mine was great, thanks! So the homecoming group is having a meet-up at my house after school today, you should come! And Vera too! We were thinking about working out a plan for this Saturday."

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "That sounds great, I'll be there."

"Cool, here's my address," she said, leaning down to write it on a piece of paper with a sparkly pink pen.

Shooting me one more smile, she strode back to her desk next to another pretty brunette girl. Staring down at my notebook, I remembered all the years I spent thinking Chloe was just a shallow popular girl, when in reality she had been nothing but nice to me. Maybe it's about time I got my head out of my ass.

At lunch, Ethan stopped by Vera and I's table to invite us to the meeting at Chloe's house. I informed him that Chloe had beat him to it, and he laughed, his eyes crinkling around the corners. I was infatuated at how he could look so handsome in the most candid of moments, and I continued to watch him as he walked away, only snapping out of my trance as Vera smacked her palm down onto the table with a sharp slap.

"He's got a nice ass, doesn't he?"She smirked.

With a blush dusting my cheeks, I slid the piece of paper with Chloe's address across the table to her. "What is this?"

"Chloe's address, for the meeting she's holding after school with the homecoming group to make plans for Saturday. I'll probably be catching a ride with Ethan, do you need her address? Or do you have the way to her house memorized?" I teased.

With a roll of her eyes, Vera cracked open the can of her soda, folding the paper over and shoving it in the front pocket of her baggy jeans. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll take it just in case."

"Right," I smirked, shaking my head and digging into my food.

~

As Ethan pulled his car up to the curb, I stared out the window at Chloe's house. It looked nice and well kept, but not any more expensive than the other houses in the high class neighborhood. Opening the door, I slid out of the car and joined Ethan at the end of the driveway, where he waited next to a shiny white Camaro. I looked around for Vera's Volvo, but it looked like she hadn't arrived yet. A charcoal pick up truck was parked on the curb across the street, and I figured that was Chase's car. He still unnerved me a bit. As we stepped up to the porch, Ethan knocked on the door a few times, a high pitched barking coming from the inside. Ethan elbowed me playfully, "careful of the beast in there."