The Loner Girl

Part 42

I came to school almost pretty late, since I pulled an "almost" late nighter studying my math homework, and looking over my notes, and my previous sessions with Sequoia, and also, going over those limit terms once more.

And, by "almost" late nighter, I stayed up close to midnight, and I haven't done that, not even on a weekend night.

Everyone sat at their usual seats at the table, except for Ryo; he's standing over Rae, while Shaun and Tristan were studying, and sharing with each other their notes from their classes. Ash, as always, hung out with his friends, unless he finds time to 'bother' Tristan, even for a few minutes.

Even Dylan hung out with his friends as well, at their own table across from the office, and the payphones. Which is a first... He usually hangs out with his friends after school.

Shaun's the one who saw me first, as he looked up from his homework, and held his tablet up. I knew he took a picture of me, and showed it around to my friends. Tristan's eyes lit up, then he looked at the tablet. I flipped my hair back, and joined in on the group.

"What happened to you? Looks like you got into a fight with a cat." Rae says, grabbing me into a hug, followed by Ryo. 

"Late night studying." I tell them, and stretched. Out of nowhere, a stray paper ball bounced off of my head, and landed on my lap. It fell to the floor as I straightened in my seat. 

"Whoa, what's that?" Shaun asked, as I bent over to pick it up. He had thought someone threw it at me on purpose.

"It bounced off of that kid with the long hair." Tristan says, looking up from his tablet. "He had his headphones around his neck, and was carrying around a fancy laptop."

Kazuya?

"What did he look like? The kid I mean." Shaun says.

"I don't know, kind of Asian, looks like a pop singer..." Tristan mumbled.

"You mean Kazuya? Yeah, he's popular with the girls, and guys here. Only the jocks pick on him, since he's a loner most of the time." Rae says. "We talk from time to time, only when he's not studying, of course."

"Luckily, he wasn't in the lunch when that fight broke out." Ryo says, "Lucky guy. He's was in a classroom when that happened. Said he had the whole classroom to himself, and the teacher, who locked the door when the lockdown was announced. He said the whole period went by like nothing."

"He's studying all the time." Rae says.

"Hey, how come you're not studying?" Shaun asked, looking up at him.

"I got it all in here." Rae says, pointing to his head, then tapping, while Ryo gave him a playful shove. Immediately it took me to a meme of a guy pointing to his head, almost the same way Rae did. Tristan is also the same way, but he comes and asks me for my notes, since he hardly does his, and even Shaun comes and asks me for my notes.

It took me a while to realize, but Shaun is also beginning to lag behind in my English class, and he's asking me for my notes, more than Tristan.

The bell rang, and we had to scramble to our classes, since the halls fill up quickly, and even those getting their stuff out of their lockers makes the hall clog worse.

Like I said, this school was meant to accommodate 100 kids, not 200 or more, and the halls are pretty narrow as I fought my way to my class. For some strange reason, I saw Sequoia coming down the hallway in the opposite direction, her hair was wet, and her chest and shoulders gleamed with rainwater, like as if though she was done working out before coming to school. Earlier it had rained a little, and I guess she was the last to get dropped off to school, since her shirt was soaking wet, and this time, she kept both straps up on her shoulders, and her messenger bag over her left shoulder, but she wasn't carrying her large binder as usual. 

And she had on that same necklace that she wore under her black shirt, but I could see both dogtags easily through the wet fabric of her shirt, as it hung over her toned stomach, and the metals very easily reflected the light through the seemingly thick shirt fabric. 

I quickly looked back once more, and she had on a black baseball cap, which she wore backwards, her long hair flowing out of her hat as she disappeared through the crowded hallway to her class. Even some of the boys were clearly drawn to her as they stared in awe.

She clearly is the 'school angel', as both Rae and Ash always called her.

Overall, the school looked a bit darker, even with the History classroom lights being on, as the clouds got thicker outside, with some hanging around the mountain tops. Rain poured even more, and out of nowhere, lighting flashed, followed almost immediately by a sudden loud clap of thunder, that vibrated throughout the entire school building. Some kids yelped and screamed at the sudden noise and bright flash just outside the classroom window, and rain began pouring even more, as the fat rain drops pelted against the glass. I've been used to hearing thunder all my life, so it's no surprise I didn't even flinch at the sudden clap of thunder. Out of nowhere the lights had gone out by now, bathing everything in dark gray and black, and the room farthest away from the window was in almost complete darkness. The teacher stopped everything, hoping the lights would come back on, but an hour had passed, and we were still in total darkness.

Some kids joked in class, like they do in the commercials that only showed during the holidays, as they clapped, hoping to make the lights come on magically. Nope, nothing, as we sat in darkness.

Finally, all the students would be grouped together, and we'd all have this one big lunch in the commons area and the gym, since the lights were still out, and we might get early release, whether or not the lights come back on. The rains had since subsided a little while ago, but there are still no lights throughout the school, and the clouds still hung over the peaks, making the overall school look a little more dark inside. 

I saw Sequoia, eating alone at the table, in the dark, with a paper plate with a hot dog and tater tots, since that's all everyone had in the commons, or most took to the gym to eat. My heart began to hammer in my ears, as I slowly walked to her table, but very quickly, someone sat across from her. She looked up, but continued to eat her meal. She still had on her baseball cap backwards as well, that she never took off. At least I sat one table away from her, while still looking out for Dylan, Rae, Ash or even Tristan. I kept stealing glances at her, her toned body beautifully arched as she ate her lunch, and even where I was sitting I could see one of the dogtag pendants trying to tear itself out of the fabric as it stood up between her stomach and her shirt. She got up from her seat, after she was done eating her food. She placed her bag over her shoulder, and her shirt strap slipped down her shoulder, while the thin pendant still stood between her stomach and shirt, and I caught a quick glimpse of the other dogtag reflecting its light from the front doors and glass as she made her way past my table. Even as she dumped her stuff I could still see her pendant still standing on end as she made her way to the front doors.

The sky finally opened as buses were waiting to take everyone, as the school was still bathed in darkness, and the outside smelled of fresh rain and mud. Someone gave me a tightest hug from behind, almost knocking me down in the process.

"Surprise! What'cha doin?" Tristan says, still leaning close, and his arms were still wrapped around my neck, while his shirt was high once more, showing off those sexy abs he worked on since spring break. 

"Yay! We get to go home. The lightning blew out one of the underground lines and transformers somewhere in the mountains, so they're having to look for the damage. They might take a while." Tristan says, before inhaling the air, then turned to look at me again.

"Want to study at my place again?" He says, now wrapping one arm around my neck, and his shirt rode even higher.

"Sure."