ASSIGNED

Chapter 3

After waking up late, skipping breakfast, almost missing my bus and getting lost, I finally found myself in my Modern History classroom. I didn't see anyone that I immediately recognised as we were filing through the door, and the teacher wouldn't let us choose our own seats.

"To make things easier for me this term, I'm going to be sitting you all in alphabetical order," she told us. A collective groan filled the classroom as people complained that they couldn't sit next to their friends. The teacher started to call out the roll, having each student sit next to each other in order. The desks were partnered together, so only two people could sit side by side. I hoped that whoever I had to sit next to was nice.

"Bailey Lancaster," the teacher called. No response.

"Bailey?" she called again, peering up from the sheet of names to see if the girl was here.

"Here!" a voice called, and a familiar face came running through the doorway.

It was the tattooed girl, and now she had a name. Bailey. Her hair was tousled slightly and she looked out of breath as she walked to her seat.

"You were late almost every lesson last term Bailey, I don't want that to become a habit this time, okay?" the teacher said strictly.

"Yep, got it..." Bailey muttered, flopping down lazily into her seat and swinging her bag onto the table.

"Okay, back to it then!" the teacher said, looking back down at the roll.

"Asha Lawrence," Fuck.

I slowly walked towards the empty seat next to Bailey and sat down, trying not to make it obvious that I was admiring her heavily inked arms and strikingly beautiful features. I pulled out my book and pencil case without a word, hoping that she would be the one to initiate conversation. I hadn't stopped thinking about her last night, and I so desperately wanted to get to know her. Maybe this was my chance? I couldn't help but notice the cologne she was wearing. It was strong and masculine, something you wouldn't expect a female to wear. I gathered from what I could see that she might've been a lesbian.

Halfway through the lesson Bailey spoke to me.

"Uh...hey, it's Asha right?" she said quietly, trying not to draw attention to us.

"Yeah, that's right," I told her. I was in shock that she was talking to me and I tried to stay calm, but my palms were already sweating. She made me nervous and I had no idea why.

"I'm Bailey," she said with a sly smile. "You're new, yeah?"

"Yeah, I moved here from Adelaide last week. I only started yesterday," I explained.

"Yeah, I saw you yesterday," Bailey said simply.

"Oh, okay..." I replied, looking down at my book. So she had seen me yesterday when Amanda had brought me to her group. I felt a pang of hurt in my chest at this news, did she not want to get to know me? Was she annoyed that she was stuck sitting next to me in class? There was an awkward silence between us before Bailey broke it again.

"So, how come you're hanging around with Amanda Wetherell?" she asked me curiously.

"She was the one to show me around the school," I said, "Why? Should I not be hanging around with her?"

"Nah, she's nice, she's just a bit of a goody two shoes. They all are. You don't really strike me as a goody two shoes," Bailey said simply, a dimple forming in her cheek as she smiled.

"Oh, so what do I strike you as then?" I said confidently, my eyebrows raised. Where was this confidence coming from? I felt my face flush hot as soon as I'd said it and I hoped Bailey wasn't offended by my sudden outburst of sass.