4

5.6K 147 12
                                    

~Ophelia's POV~

After school ended, I found myself waiting patiently for the bus with everyone, noticing that there seemed to be a whole lot more people here now than there were this morning. I leaned against one of the pillars and put my headphones in, listening to music while I waited. Fortunately for me, I didn't end up having to wait much longer, as the bus came rolling up about ten minutes later.

Mr. Walters, the name of our bus driver, looked bored to tears as we all began to get on the bus, most people gravitating towards the middle or back seats. I, on the other hand, decided to sit at the front again like I did this morning. It was better than sitting around a bunch of rowdy people, some of who stunk.

When the bus closed its doors and took off down the road, following the route, I situated myself in my seat to get more comfortable for the ride and looked quietly out the window as the scenery whizzed past. Because my stop was one of the first few on Mr. Walters' route, I was honestly a little surprised that it took so long before we reached my street, but at least we eventually got there. Certainly later is better than never.

I got out of my seat when Mr. Walters' bus rolled to a stop and he opened up the bus doors for me to get off, bidding him a quiet thank you and goodbye as I left. Sighing, I heard the doors shut and then the bus drove off behind me, leaving me to walk down the street towards my house by myself.

As I walked down the street, I glanced over at Saniya's house, knowing she was home when I spotted her little white Volkswagen Beetle parked in the driveway in front of her house. That was most certainly her car, I remembered it rather easily. I hadn't seen anyone with a car like that in this city, not that nobody had one at all. It just wasn't a common car in this city, I guess, but it was a cute car. In a way, it fit her rather well. She was cute as well and something about it was as nice as her.

Right when I went to look away, planning on just heading up my driveway and into my house, something caught my eye. In the driveway of the house just beside Saniya's was a rather familiar looking red convertible, which had the top down and the engine off.

What really surprised me, though, was that Luke was sat in the driver's seat. It looked like he was on his phone or something.

Curious, I looked at the big house in front of his car and wondered to myself if he lived there. More importantly, why had Saniya not bothered to inform me of this? She was the one who had told me that I should avoid him at all costs, and yet he happened to live across the street? What a small world.

I bit my lip and looked at the back of his blonde head for a moment more before I turned and began to walk up the driveway hurriedly, not wanting him to spot me. He didn't seem like a very friendly guy, which I wasn't really surprised by, and I didn't want to risk having to talk to him even though it was highly unlikely that'd happen.

There's nothing beyond him than sex, after all. Why would he feel the need to speak to me?

Shaking my head, I grabbed my phone out of the side of my backpack and quickly texted Saniya, asking her how she failed to mention the identity of her neighbor. Sorry, I forgot, she said. You were kinda bombarding me with questions all at once, in my defense, she added. My cheeks warmed in embarrassment, realizing that she was right. I had definitely done that.

Slipping my phone back into my backpack, I pulled out my house key and let myself inside, quietly shutting and locking the door behind myself. I greeted my granny as I saw her sitting on the couch, knitting a pair of gloves, probably for my mom since it was going to begin to get cold. She did this every year and had since my mom was a child, I was told.

Knowing that she was fine, I headed down the hall and into my bedroom, slinging off my backpack and putting it on my mattress. I kicked off my sneakers and sat down on top of my bed, sighing to myself as I unzipped my bag. Opening up the folder I had used for many classes today, I cringed upon seeing how organized I had managed to become and it had only been the first day.

"Guess we'd better get to work." I muttered to myself, looking at the mess of papers I had to complete and then organize.

**

"Phe!" Saniya cheered as I walked through the school doors on Wednesday, rushing up to me and throwing her arms around me in a hug. I blinked in surprise and turned my head, getting my face out of her shoulder so I could speak. "Is there a special occasion I don't know about?" I asked her, confused.

She laughed and pulled away, a smile on her lips as she shook her head playfully. "You know how I said I'd introduce you to my friends?" She asked, sounding just as chipper as she always did. I nodded my head, as that had only been two days ago now that she told me she would. "Well, I got them all to agree. I know you said you didn't want to just show up to the group table without asking, so I asked them like you wanted. And like I thought, they're totally cool with it." She grinned, giving me a teasing look that made me feel embarrassed for being so cautious about intruding.

"Thanks, Iya." I sighed gratefully, still quite in awe over how good of a friend she was to me despite us being friends for only a couple days. During lunch, she had even sat with me when I ate instead of sitting with her group of friends, saying she didn't want to leave me alone. She was really thoughtful like that.

The two of us split up for the time being, as I had to head to my locker to grab my books. I opened my locker after entering my combination and zipped open my backpack, putting my few textbooks in the locker into the bag before I zipped it shut and slung it over one shoulder. Slamming my locker, I jiggled the dial so nobody could open my locker and then turned around, hearing the bell ring to dismiss everyone to first period.

When I got to health, I sat down in my seat, glad that we weren't forced to sit with assigned seats as I took out a pencil and then looped my bag around the back of my chair. I didn't sit with people I spoke to or knew. In fact, I sat with the shy group of people in this class, knowing they'd never make the move to talk to me unless they had to. Personally, I was fine with that, so I didn't mind. If I was going to sit in a desk cluster with others, I'd prefer it not be people who are only going to pester me, so it worked out perfectly.

I heard Ms. Chen begin to call out names as she took attendance, since everyone was supposed to be here by now. "Ophelia Greene?" She called and scanned her eyes over the room, landing on me as I silently raised my hand at her in acknowledgment. She smiled and went back to reading off the list, but her smile fell a moment later as she looked at the paper. "Luke Hemmings?" She called, frowning. No answer or movement from anyone in class, so she marked something down on the paper.

Once she'd finished taking attendance, she went to say something but the classroom door gently swung open before she could. In walked Luke, making me frown as I looked at his face closely and wondered why he was late. He hadn't come to class on Monday or Tuesday, at all. "Sorry." He muttered to Ms. Chen. "I got caught up having breakfast in the cafeteria." He excused, sauntering over to a seat on the other side of the room and he yanked it out to sit. The girl across from him perked up and seemed to squeeze her breasts closer together with her arms, smiling at him. He ignored her and instead spoke to the guy next to him, which seemed to deflate the girl's ego a bit.

Looking away, I shook my head to myself and focused on writing the vocabulary we were supposed to do every day, writing them down in my journal.

Secrets In The Garden / l.h ✔️Where stories live. Discover now