See you again

Chapter 1

"If you like him so much, why don't you just go talk to him?" Chris suggested. I broke my gaze from Aaron and stared down at my lunch. "I don't like him. I don't even know anything about him except that he's from the city," I said, pushing my food around with my fork. It had been three months since I had seen Aaron and he didn't seem to change at all. He still remained the mysterious boy that I can never get a proper read on."Well, you obviously think he's cute if you stare at him all the time," Liam added.

"The entire school thinks he's cute," I muttered. "You didn't deny it," Jason said in a sing-song voice. I glared at him as I shoved a slide of pizza into my mouth. These were the people I hung out with on a daily basis. There were six of them and they were all boys. Four of them were exchange students from Sao Paulo and the other two were locals. Chris and Thomas stayed with Carlos, while Lucas and Liam stayed with Jason.

I used to only hang out with Jason and Carlos, but during our first year of high school, the exchange students temporarily moved in with them. Instead of finding another crowd to hang out with, they opted to stay in the friend circle of their hosts. They were only supposed to go to our school for a year, but they liked it here, so they decided to stay and finish school here. They would visit home during winter and summer, so during the breaks it would just be Jason, Carlos, and I again until they returned. I didn't mind hanging out with all boys. They weren't as dramatic and they definitely got on my nerves a lot less. The girls at my school didn't hate me, but they weren't exactly fond of me. Their interests seemed to be so different from my own.

Most of the girls wanted to branch out into the entertainment industry thinking that as soon as they graduated, they would be able to be rubbing elbows with the famous. I, on the other hand, had a bit more insight on what life was like outside of our town.

Things here were very simple and easy, while deeper in the cities, things were much more complex and hectic. There's a lot more competition in the cities, considering that the population was so dense.

But the girls at my school assumed that life would be just as easy in the city. I guess you could say that the girls at my school weren't the brightest. The bell rang for lunch and everyone began to disperse to their classes. None of my friends were in my next class, but nonetheless I was still excited. It was chemistry my favorite subject.

But it wasn't just regular chemistry. It was AP Chemistry, meaning that everyone in that class had to have passed regular chemistry with at least a B. The class was relatively small, considering that it wasn't a mandatory class. It was essentially for those that, like me, wanted to major in science. But what was most surprising was that Aaron was in my class.

He had always been in my English classes every year, but it didn't reveal much about him because everyone had to take English. This class, however, was one that people had to place themselves in. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Aaron did know what he was doing with his life.

***

The teacher had us all stand up against the wall as he assigned pairs to each lab station. There was a large chance that I would end up with a boy since there was only one other girl in the class. As I said earlier, most of the girls at my school were planning to major in the entertainment industry, so they really had no means being in a class like this. Anyways, the girl's name was Olivia. She's extremely shy and introverted, but it's mostly because of her low self esteem.

Her older sister was extremely popular and outgoing and Olivia was always overshadowed by her. Even when her sister graduated and moved to the city, she still remained shy. She knew she could never live up to be like her sister, so she sticks to being quiet and unnoticed. Purposely failing was much better than trying and failing in Olivia's eyes. I felt bad for her, but she didn't seem to mind too much. She was probably more known to the school than I was, anyways.

My train of thought was interrupted when I heard my name being called. The teacher pointed to a lab station across the room. I glanced across the room and saw Aaron situated at the station he was pointing to. I felt a spark of excitement ignite in the pit of my stomach.

Maybe this was finally my chance to get a better understanding of Aaron. "Hello," I quietly greeted as I sat next to him.. He didn't say anything and just nodded his head, acknowledging my presence. From my peripheral vision, I noticed that he actually had headphones plugged into both of his ears.

Usually when people did that it was because they didn't want to be talked to. My lips formed into a straight line as I realized that getting to know Aaron was going to be quite the challenge. "Aaron," the teacher called out. Aaron didn't respond and the teacher continued to stare at him impatiently.

I slowly shifted my eyes towards him and he was staring down at his desk, completely unaware of the situation."Aaron!" the teacher repeated, with a firmer tone. I inwardly sighed, realizing that I had to step in. I took a deep breath and timidly tapped his shoulder. He turned his head and looked at me with a blank face.

I pointed to the teacher with my eyes as he slowly turned his head towards the front of the class. The teacher pointed to his ears and Aaron's cheeks flushed a deep shade of red as he quickly yanked his ear bunks out of his ears. "Don't let me catch you again. Anyways, sit tight for now while I go make copies of your projects," the teacher said as he grabbed a paper and walked out of the room. As soon as he was out the room, the class began to speak amongst each other. Even Olivia was talking to her lab partner. It seemed like Aaron and I were the only ones with our mouth shut in the entire class. I tapped my fingers against my desk feeling jittery. Starting a simple conversation was a lot harder than it looked..