𝒴𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌 - 𝑀|𝑀

*~𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 2~*

The walk through the doors of Highbury College was one of the most daunting things I'd done in my life. I could just about see my friend Lachlan's head pop up from above the crowd, so I head over, trying not to get under people's feet as I wind my way through the multitude of students.

"Asher!" I hear Lachlan, Rhea and Merci all cry out as I approach. I'm pulled into a tight hug by each one before we take our timetables out of our pockets, which we had been handed when we first walked in.

"PE first!" I exclaim, followed by an even more excited Lachlan, who clearly has PE first period too.

"Maths," Merci says, sounding bored at the prospect of having maths at 9:05 am on a Monday.

"Childcare," Rhea declared, sounding rather excited, though what can possibly be fun about working with children is beyond me.

"Then I have a guided session, break, photography, travel and tourism, lunch and then an early finish," The other share the rest of their timetables with me, Merci and Rhea both in photography with me, but alone in Travel and Tourism. Lachlan only shared one class with us, that being PE with me 4 times a week. The good news was that we all had an early finish so we were headed to one of the eateries on campus at Lunch to study for a while. When the bell rang at 9, we made a beeline for each of our classes.

"When you walk in, please stand at the back of the room," the teacher said as I walked past her. Once everyone had arrived, our professor, Mrs Marsh, talked us through a seating plan and who we would be working with for the rest of the half term. I hoped I'd be paired with Lauchie, him being the only person I knew in the whole class. 

"Jessica Hardy and Jacob Thomas,"

"Ethan Whittemore and Nathan Moores"

"Lachlan Bond and," Come on, say my name, say my name, please, "Rachael Parker,"

"Jackson Carter and Olivia Santos,"

"Mason Mount and Asher Reed," I see a brown-haired boy move to our appointed seats, backpack slung over his shoulder. I take the seat next to him, removing my laptop from my bag and placing it carefully on the desk. And now that everyone is sat in their seats, my first ever lesson begins.

"Can anyone name the 4 main valves in the heart?" Mrs Marsh asks about 15 minutes into the lesson. About a dozen hands slowly rise into the air, mine included.

"Miss Reed?"

"There's the Tricuspid valve, the Bicuspid valve and then there are two Semi-lunar valves," I say confidently.

"Can you tell where each valve is located?"

"The Tricuspid valve is located between the right atrium and right ventricle. The Bicuspid valve is located between the left atrium and left ventricle. And then the Semi-lunar valves are found between the right and left ventricles and the pulmonary artery and aorta,"

"Very good, Miss Reed," Mrs Marsh pulls the first task up onto the board. 'What is the role of the heart?' and an unlabelled diagram is placed in front of you.

"You may talk to the person next to you for this task," I hear Mason turn to face me in his chair and when I do the same, he flashes a small smile at me.

"Assuming you already know the answer?" I nod slightly, "Can you help me structure my answer?" I nod again. 

"The heart circulates blood through two pathways: the pulmonary circuit and the systemic circuit," I begin and Mason types as I talk. Once finished with both tasks, Mason turns to me.

"So, if we're gonna be working together for the rest of this half term, would you wanna study after your last lesson?" He asks, flashing a charming smile at me. I raise my eyebrows.

"I'm actually studying with my friends after lunch," I reply, pointing at Lachlan, who is sat at the other side of the room. He looks up and waves before putting his head back down to finish his worksheet. 

"Oh okay, another time then?" 

"Or, you could join us? I'm sure the girls wouldn't mind?" I suggest.

"Sure, why not?" I nod and smile slightly and a few minutes later, we are dismissed by the bell. Next class, a guided session and now break. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, who was that guy you were talking to?" Lachlan asked, teasing.

"Oh, shut up, he's coming to study with us at lunch by the way," Rhea and Merci start talking excitedly, teasing me too. I roll my eyes, completely unphased at this point. 

"Asher!" I hear someone call out my name. I turn to see Mason pushing through the crowd towards me. I turn and smile as my friends all shut up.

"We didn't talk about where we're meeting?" 

"Oh, right, yeah! Just at Amigos," I say. I turn to my friends and figure I should probably introduce them.

"Mason, this is Lachlan, Rhea and Merci, guys, this is Mason, I sit next to him in PE," He waves at the three of them.

"Hi," Rhea says politely, Lachlan shakes his hand and Merci waves. 

"Oi! Mase!" 

"I've got to go, I'll see you at lunch," He smiles widely at me and walks back to his friend. Rhea and Merci start giggling amongst themselves.

"What?" I ask.

"He's cute," I roll my eyes, pulling a face at them to show my disgust and sit down to read through the notes I'd made in PE.