A Ledger Smile

0.5 - School

"I think this must be your locker" Oliver says holding my information paper and stopping in front of a beige locker. "You just need to program your lock combination"
I picked an easy to remember code, my birth year.
"Thank you Oliver" I said opening my locker for the first time, still looking at him.
"No problem"
"No really, you have made this move so much easier for me, so thank you" I gave him a warm smile and he replied with one too, looking right into my eyes.
I broke the eye contact and laughed a small laugh as I stuffed the locker with my jacket.
"Wait this can't be right? It says you are supposed to have 12th grade math?" Oliver says reading my paper. I slowly take it back and answer "no that's right".
"But you're in junior year.. oh you're like really smart" he says leaning against the lockers, hands in his jack pockets and smiling at me.
"No, I just have it really easy with numbers" I said a bit scared of him thinking of me as a geek. At my old school I hid my smart side very good, high school is a mean and cruel place. I just wanted to fit in with everyone, and being the smartest person at the school could make me kind of alone.
"And...?" He said still with a funny smile.
"And English, history and PE" I said exhaling, as if I was exhausted from lying in the past.
"Why are so ashamed of being smart?"
"Because high school is hard enough without being marked as a geek"
He looked confused at me "well, you are not in Missouri anymore, almost everyone at this school are seriously like geniuses, everyone aspires for the ivy's".
I could feel a small burden lift, but another grow, what if I'm not smart enough. Hm, this was a new feeling. I saw how Oliver's mood shifts and he wasn't looking at me anymore. I turned around and saw where his attention lay. I saw a group of people, three guys and a few girls. One of the guys was of course Luke. He had his arm around one of the girls. She was really pretty. She had blond, perfectly styled hair and her blue eyes matched the uniform.
"Who is that?" I asked looking at her.
"Viola, and the rest of them are just senior year garbage"
Confused I looked back at Oliver, who was still looking at them. "I may be way of base, but there seem to be some tension between you and your broth.." my sentence got interrupted as I felt an arm on my shoulders. I looked up to the left and saw Luke, I quickly shrugged the arm away.
"Hey, need any help around school?" He asked me, still with Viola under his other arm, who was staring at me, not with a warm glance.
"No, Oliver is helping me"
He looked at Oliver and gave him a smile, but Oliver didn't meet his look.
"Alright, see you at home then RoRo" he says leaving, but not before giving Oliver a brotherly punch on the arm.
"Stop calling me that!" I yelled after him in the corridor, but he didn't even look back. I probably gave him the reaction he wanted.
"He is so annoying" I whispered grabbing my backpack a bit harder.
"Yeah, he is" Oliver answers, just as quietly.
"So Viola, is that like a thing?" I asked.
"Well they are not, not a thing, but definitely not exclusive"
I looked a bit disgusted and then we started walking towards our class, thankfully we have the same English class.