The Missing Link (Book 1: Outcast) [CURRENTLY EDITING]

CHAPTER TWO: INVITATIONS

I left the locker door half-open while I threw my calculus book inside and took what I needed for Chemistry. You could tell that nobody wanted to be here, thanks to the constant complaints and grunts echoing through the hallway. There would always be the typical comments which went somewhere along the lines of, "We had homework?" or even regular confessions like, "Maybe Amy was right; maybe becoming a prostitute is simply better than coming here all day".

Monday Tension was an actual thing.

I hung my coat on the door's hook and closed it. Jared was patiently waiting behind it. He looked lost in his own thoughts. The usual. "I still cannot believe you fell asleep. Like, I still get chills every time I see Yoda training Luke, teaching him all about The Force...and you had the nerve to just stand up and go to your room? Emilia at least had the decency to watch half of it before crying."

"Jared," I began calmly. "I've told you a million times that I do not like Star Wars. I don't understand it, it bores me, and that hairy-looking thing creeps the hell out of me."

Jared opened his mouth to retaliate, but his eyes wandered somewhere else. I followed their direction and my stomach shifted. There, rounding the hallway's corner with a striking smirk on his face, was Hunter. Will followed him close behind.

"Look who's here," I said in an unnecessarily low voice.

"Well, this is embarrassing."

"Why? Scared he'll remember you fell over him and spilled his beer?" I teased.

"Not funny.... That was supposed to be a good party, but I don't even remember seeing Roger and Nancy making out. That's what everybody's talking about."

Jared's words got lost inside my ear when I noticed the direction they were headed in. "Oh, crap," I muttered.  "They're walking this way."

Jared and I were looking at each other now, and I could feel my stomach becoming smaller. There wasn't much to do, though, because, despite Jared's panicked grimace, they reached us in a matter of seconds. Boy, did he look good today.

"What's up, Liv?" Will greeted me, and I gave him a smile. "My, my, but if it isn't the one and only Jared McCall. Glad to see you alive, dude."

"Ha, ha," Jared grumbled. "I just had a few drinks, nothing I couldn't handle."

"I noticed," Hunter added. My heart thumped louder inside my chest at the sound of his voice, and part of me thought he might've noticed since his eyes diverted from Jared's to mine. "Good morning, Olivia."

Polite.

"Morning," I replied, noticing how Will and Jared went on with their own conversation as if we had become background noise. "How are your first day impressions treating you?"

"Still don't feel like running away, so I guess that's good," he said. "And I was just wondering where my new neighbor would be at."

I looked down, immediately feeling like a complete idiot. Of course he would see me, or Will would tell him. Perhaps I could cover it, though. Looking back up, I tried to keep a surprised expression. "Wait, you're the one who moved into Mrs. Norton's house?"