Charlie is just a normal high school girl whose biggest concerns are cheerleading and the upcoming dance, but when she is mistakenly enrolled into an all-boys academy, she finds out what it's like to be just one of the guys. Friendship, drama, roman...
The remainder of the weekend zoomed by for Charlie, with surprisingly, minimal confrontations with Pace. He antisocially left the dorm on Sunday morning, and did not return until late that night. It was quite okay by Charlie, though, who spent her last day off planning her upcoming shopping trip and replaying the events of her date with Printz.
"And he really agreed to go?" Rib asked her for the millionth time at breakfast on Monday.
Charlie nodded over the crepes Max had made.
"I can't believe it," Demeter gazed at her in amazement. "He didn't even put up a fight?"
"Well, not about that," said Charlie.
"Wow! You really must be an angel, Charlie. You tamed the evil beast," laughed Apollo.
"Yeah, let's hope he isn't just saving his wrath for when he finds out we're actually going to the rec center first," Demeter looked grim.
"Ooh, right! I wouldn't want to be the person who tricked him when he blows up!" Rib winced at Charlie, giving her pause.
"You think he's gonna be mad?" Charlie gulped. She had not thought of that before.
The rest of the table just glanced around dodgily.
"Oh, no," thought Charlie. "If Pace gets angry, I'll be the first one on his list!"
~~~
The only thing that made Charlie feel any better was the thought of Printz waiting for her in the hall.
"Unless he changed his mind about me since our date yesterday," she suddenly worried as she stepped out of the dorm. However, there he was, leaning against the wall in his usual spot.
"Morning, Charlize," he grinned his handsome grin.
"Hi, Printz," Charlie blushed. He was even more good-looking than she had been recalling him in her daydreams.
"I'm so glad our dorms are next door to each other- and our classes. It's like we were meant to walk together every morning," Printz extended his hand and they started down the hall, but a door opening behind them made them stop to look.
Pace was finally awake and had just joined them in the corridor, although instead of sauntering away in the other direction, he began to follow them. Charlie and Printz resumed their walk, but Pace's presence behind them felt unsettling and Charlie couldn't help but keep glancing back. There was something different about Pace today...
"He's wearing his uniform!" Charlie realized with a small gasp. "Wait... He's coming to class?"
The answer was yes, as Charlie found out when she and Printz stopped to say goodbye and Pace brushed roughly past them into the classroom.
It was strange to see Pace inside of the classroom and not outside of the window. It was even stranger to see him listening attentively and taking notes.
"But I thought he was out of empty notebooks," Charlie watched him curiously, but he glanced up and caught her staring, his eyes narrowing instantly.
Quickly turning back to her own notebook, she decided not to dare look at him again. If such little things aggravated him, what was going to happen when he finally found out about their weekend plan?
Charlie continued to fret as her morning lessons continued. It turned out that she and Pace shared more than one class and she definitely wasn't used to seeing him that much. With the added addition of having to share not only her bedroom with Pace, but now her classrooms, too, Charlie was dreading the thought of him also being there at lunch. She just wanted a break from the vicious glares he had been sending her all day, so it was especially disheartening when he stepped right behind her in the lunch line.
However, with nothing more than another uninviting look, he cut in front of her, filled his tray, and disappeared out of the cafeteria. Charlie stared after him in offended disbelief as he faded away into the distance.
"Well, at least I can finally get a break," she thought, taking a seat at the Athens table next to Max.
"Can you believe Pace actually came to class today?" Rib was saying. "Now who's gonna be the mascot???" he laughed.
"I'm sure we can arrange something," Rib spun around to see Mr. Campbell staring gravely at the food sculpture Rib had been creating on his plate. He had formed a human shape out of a breadstick and stuffed it with overflowing spaghetti to look like guts.
"Man," Rib sighed as the principal stalked away.
"You should not have been playing with your lunch," Max told him.
"What? It's still edible!" Rib raised a string of spaghetti and slurped it into his mouth.
"I still couldn't believe it when Pace came out in his uniform this morning," Demeter returned to the original subject.
"Yeah. First he agrees to go shopping and now he shows up in class?" Apollo looked astonished.
"Hey, no one's complaining, though!" said Rib. "If Pace wants to start acting better, then let him!"
"Unless he's not actually trying to be better and just saving his energy so he can really flip out on Saturday," said Demeter.
"Oh, great," Charlie sighed and tried to empty her mind of the thought.
Glancing out the window, she spotted Printz seated with his Spartan roomies at their table under the tree. Noticing her too, he snuck a quick wink. Charlie's heart jumped happily, but not wanting to cause any tension between their feuding dorms, she returned a tiny smile and looked away. Her eyes floating from her prince to the trees beyond, the undesirable concerns about Pace returned.
"Where does Pace keep going, anyways?" she turned back to her table, still thinking of his frequent trips into the woods.
"He's a vampire and he has to feed," said Rib seriously.
"Come on," Charlie rolled her eyes.
"I'm serious!" promised Rib. "Why do you think he doesn't come home on Friday nights? He has to sleep in his coffin sometimes to recharge!"
"Whatever," said Charlie, but as mean and mysterious as Pace was, she almost believed it.
~~~
---AUTHOR NOTE---
Hey! Thank you for joining me all the way into Chapter 5!!!
Here's another great picture of Pace by J_M_Clure!
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Keep 'em coming! <(^v^)>
And look for something fun at the end of this chapter!
