Our Story

4. Nick

"Um, excuse me," a sophomore girl said. She appeared lost.

"You're excused," I replied. She glared at me but then giggled. Every time. "Do you need directions?"

"Yeah," she said. "Do you know where the science labs are in relation to here?"

"Yup. Go up the staircase right over there, continue down the hallway, and turn right," I said.

"Okay, thank you! By the way, I'm new here. My name's Olivia," the girl said.

"Hi. I'm Nick," I replied. She smiled and headed down the hall to class. Another new girl. I wonder if she and Taylor have met yet. They'd be good friends.

The schedule's kind of weird today--classes are shorter, the passing time in between classes is longer, and we're having an assembly right after lunch. On the plus side, us awesome peer mentors are getting a free pass out of class today! But tomorrow's going to be business as usual...

**

The lunch bell rang. The once-quiet and empty hallways instantly filled with chatty students ready for lunch. Kat and I met up and walked down to lunch together.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," I replied. "Give anyone directions?"

"Yeah. I saw Taylor and a few other girls. Did you know there's another new girl here? She and Taylor really hit it off!" Kat exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know!" I said. "I think her name's Olivia. I met her about an hour ago. She was looking for the science wing and I gave her directions."

"Please tell me you didn't give her any sass," she warned.

I hesitated. "Um, no. Wait. Do you count 'excuse me' 'you're excused' as sass?"

Kat laughed. "I don't know, do I?"

"Yeah. But hey, people at this school do have sass and attitudes, even the teachers," I added.

"Especially the teachers," she agreed. We entered the lunchroom and sat down at a table with our fellow peer mentor and cross country friends. Taylor and some of her friends walked by. We exchanged greetings.

"Hi everyone," Taylor said.

"Hey," Kat and I replied.

"I remember you! You're the mildly sassy but really helpful guy who got me to science on time!" Olivia exclaimed.

"I think 'mildly' is an understatement," Kat joked. "I'm Kat, by the way. I'm Nick's girlfriend." Nick's girlfriend. I'll never get tired of that phrase. <3

"Cool, I'm Olivia. I'm new here. I take it you might have met my new friend Taylor," Olivia said.

"Yeah, she's on our bus," Kat said.

"Well, let's go get food! I'm starving!" Taylor exclaimed. We said our goodbyes as she and her friends left.

"They seem nice," I said. "Typical naive underclassmen, but pretty cool."

"I loved Olivia's description of you," Kat said.

"Same," I said. "Of course I'm helpful and mildly sassy. I'm me!" I flicked Kat's braid.

She laughed and jokingly shoved me. "Hey! What is it with you and playing with my hair?" she asked.

I laughed. "I don't know. But it does smell nice." That comment earned me an interesting look. "What? Can't I compliment my own girlfriend?"

"I don't know, can you?" she fired back. Lunch continued like this until the bell rang, ending our crazy banter.

"Ready to help out some more small children?" I asked.

"I am if you are," she said as we walked down to our position in the lobby.