The Royal Crush

3

The bell rang annoyingly and George, Dylan and I headed to History. I sat between the boys, laughing at their verbal fight.

"Guys stop! Did you guys buy food for the trip yet?" I asked.

"Nah, I got home late from basketball practice yesterday," Dylan said.

"Alexa and I will go today. We had a house to TP and cars to egg yesterday," George said grinning.

"Do I want to know why?"

George shrugged. "A guy led Alexa on."

I shook my head at him, laughing. A tall frame occupied the seat in front of me.

"Caleb, do we have practice today?" George asked.

The boy turned. "Yea, right after school-" he stopped when he saw me.

"Hey," he said.

I smiled. "Hi,"

He looked like he was about to say something, but just shook his head and turned back to the front.

"See? You should've bought the stuff yesterday, instead of toilet papering peoples houses. Alexa will have to do it alone now."

"Nah, I'm sure practice won't take too long. And anyways, Vivi and Dylan will do it on their own too, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure practice will take time today, especially since it was cancelled yesterday,"

"She's right," Caleb said without turning. I smirked at George who just rolled his eyes at me.

"Shit. Next period is Chemistry, I hope I get paired with Vivi or Cedric," I whispered.

"I hope you get paired with Keith. Oh wow that would be funny," George said, laughing. I hit him on the shoulder.

"Shut up. Keith is not a student here so he can't get paired with me, dumbass," I said and turned to Keith but he was staring at the board, looking distant. Keith never had that faraway, sorrowful look in his eyes, so I tuned in to what the teacher was talking about. It was something about World War 2 and soldiers and all that. As usual, she had slightly deviated from the topic and was talking about the pain of separation between the soldiers and their families and all that.

I frowned at Keith. I knew he had served in the army for a short while. Did his dad die in the World War or something? Should I start digging there? I nodded to myself. Yes. There was something wistful and sad in his eyes and I would find out why.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped to mine, catching me analyzing him. Oops.

For a second his eyes were unguarded, but then he frowned at me.

"Pay attention," he said quietly.

"I am," I said, an eyebrow raised.

He scowled. "To the class."

I shrugged. "Fine. But one day, I will find out, Keith. One day you will spill your beans," I said and tried to pay attention.

◯

"Lyupen and Black," our Chemistry teacher called out. The two of them went to a counter. I waited nervously, hoping I'd get paired with Vivi or Ced. I really didn't want a Chem partner I didn't like for the rest of the year.

"Everett and Markwell," she called out, gesturing to Cedric.

My mouth fell open. Cedric smirked and Vivi gave me an apologetic shrug as they went to a counter. This was so not fair!