Stone Creek Academy: Faith

Chapter Eighteen

Early the next morning, I woke to the persistent trilling of my alarm clock. It was 7 o'clock. Reluctantly I sat up and began to get dressed and ready for the day ahead. This would be my first day back at school.

I grimaced to myself at the realization that this meant back to classes with Sofia, Grace, Vivian, Bella, Quinn, and Taylor. After school today, I had a meeting with Coach Mike. Then, I would have to audit my normal lesson. All in all, my day looked grim. At least I'd have Lily with me all day.

After getting dressed and doing my hair, I applied a light layer of makeup, then met up with Lily, Halle, and Beth in the Engerwood common room. Beth, as it turned out, had gotten up early to make us all pancakes. And, just like her cookies, they were incredible!

Beth's pancakes were thick, fluffy, and perfectly golden brown. Topped with a dab of butter and some organic maple syrup, they were officially the world's best pancakes. We all enjoyed a few of them before it was time to hurry out the door to school.

"How are you not, like, a professional chef?" I asked Beth as we left Engerwood.

"Cooking is just a hobby for me. Riding is my passion, and I don't want those two to interfere with eachother," Beth replied matter-o-factly, shrugging as if it were no big deal. I was incredulous, but kept my mouth shut. She was a gifted chef.

"Well, this is where we split. See you guys later!" Halle grinned. Lily and I went right to English while Halle and Beth went left to history. We walked in silence for a few minutes, eventually reaching the english building.

I led the way inside, barely pausing to catch my breath. Already I was determined not to be deterred by my old friends. All my focus was reserved for school now, since I didn't have riding. I marched straight into Mrs. Hared's classroom and plopped into my seat, leaving a startled Lily in my dust.

Lily scampered in just before Mrs. Harod, who strode in booming, "Good morning students! Please pass forward your completed 4 page essay on Great Expectations and get out your copy of Romeo and Juliet. We will be reading and taking notes in class today."

I smiled at Lily who sat down next to me. Across the room, I could feel Grace and Sofia staring at me. Their gazes seemed to bore holes in my back as I pulled out the necessary supplies for today's class. My teachers were giving me three weeks to make up the work I'd missed. Though it wasn't a lot of time, I'd already finished several things, the four page essay included.

Mrs. Harod seemed surprised to see it there, and nodded at me approvingly. Lily knew I had finished it, so she wasn't shocked like the rest of my classmates. As their startled eyes watched me curiously, I sat still and smiled at my hands.

"Alright, well, class, let's welcome back Miss Regina Rowanson," Mrs. Harod chirped pleasantly, laying the papers on her desk in a neat stack and giving me a welcoming smile as she led the class in a smattering of applause. Or attempted to. My classmates sat like stones around me, clearly uninterested in my reappearance. This surprised me.

What is going on here? Did I do something? I wondered to myself as I took in the cool gazes of these people I'd never really met. Mrs. Harod didn't seem to care much, and went straight into the lesson. A girl in the front row began reading aloud to the class. I opened my book, but looked at Sofia instead of reading along.

My ex-roommate stared at her book for a moment before meeting my gaze. I was, though only a little bit, startled to see a triumphant gleam in her cold green eyes. It was as if... It was as if she'd set this up. Sofia had done something to turn my classmates against me.

I sulked through the rest of English. When it came my turn to read aloud, Mrs. Harod had to tell me to calm down and not read so fast five times. I raced out of class the second the bell rang, once again leaving Lily in my dust.

"Sorry," I apologized to Lily when she caught up with me outside of English. What she said next was impossible to make out between her huffs of breath. She didn't repeat herself though, so it must not have been major.

Next on my schedule was another class I was dreading: math. I'd missed two tests, and a third test was to be taken today in class. As I led the way to the math building, I noticed Lily looked nervous about it. Right outside the huge black doors leading into the huge brick math complex, I stopped and faced her.

"You studied super hard last night. You're going to be great. Stop stressing about it," I commanded firmly with a reassuring smile. Lily looked on the verge of panicking, so I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks Regina, let's do this!" Lily replied enthusiastically, perking up and reverting to her usual peppy self. We flounced through the front doors and practically floated into Mr. Lammet's classroom. I sat down and began pulling out materials for the test.

As Mr. Lammet began passing out tests, someone sat down next to me. When I finally found my pencil sharpener after a few minutes of rummaging, I looked up to see who it was. Oh joy. I had completely forgotten about this person. And facing him might almost be harder than facing Sofia, Grace, Bella, or anyone else.

"Hi Regina," He breathed pleasantly, brushing his warm hand against mine and sending bolts of electricity up my spine. I met his soft gaze, staring into his light brown eyes as I fumbled unsuccessfully for words.

Eventually, I turned sullenly away from him, my eyes blazing as I muttered angrily, "I don't want to talk to you."

Startled, James leaned closer to me and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Mr. Lammet, who said, "James, no talking or hitting on cute girls during the test." This remark made everyone but James and I giggle.

For the next 30 minutes, I focused hard on my math test. I finished, turned in my paper, and returned to my seat. Lily, on my right, had already finished her test and was working on the reading we'd been assigned in English. James was still working, but a few minutes later, he finished too. I copied Lily and started our reading.

Suddenly, a yellow Post-It note slid into my page. It was a note. After checking that Mr. Lammet wasn't looking, I slid my hands under my desk and opened it up. The note was from James. It read:

"Regina-
I'm really sorry about what happened. Can we please talk after school today?
-James"

Sighing in frustration, I crinkled the note between my fingers and went back to reading my book. James had been Desiray's boyfriend, and for that I would never completely trust him. But as much as I tried to put his words out of my mind, I couldn't do it. Eventually, I wrote back:

"Be at the main garden at 7 o'clock precisely.
-R"

Upon receiving my note, James grinned. He too was reading a book. A few minutes later, the bell rang to signal the end of class. I stood up and walked out without another word to James.