The Kings of Kentworth

112.

Back at school, Stephanie and Lenny moved away from the counter with their food in their trays and moved to find a seat in the cafeteria.

“God,” Stephanie uttered. “English was such a drag.”

“Why?” Lenny asked as they walked past a number of occupied tables, stretching and searching for empty tables.

“It was way too easy.”

“Of course it was,” Lenny turned to her and snorted.

“Over here,” Stephanie tapped him and pointed to an empty table close to the large window that oversaw the school parking lot.

They both sat down and dropped their books and folders on the two empty chairs, keeping spaces for Keith and Tessa who said to join them later. They went on about how they finished the questions before time and had enough time to spend on their essay. Stephanie laughed when Lenny said he wrote an essay on how he was almost raped by a strange girl in Bruce’s birthday party.

“God,” Stephanie laughed. “You smelt so bad that day.”

Lenny glared at her playfully, before biting into his apple. “I resent that.”

A few minutes later, Lenny caught sight of Keith and Tessa standing with their trays, searching for a place to sit. He raised his hands and waved them over. They saw him and started to walk over.
“Hey Len,” Tessa dropped her food on the table, went over and hugged him, pulled away and gave him a once iver. “How are you?”

“Good,” Lenny nodded with an appreciative smile.

“Welcome back, bro,” Keith dropped to a seat next to Stephanie.

“Thanks,” Lenny replied.

“Hey Steph,” Stephanie looked up when she heard Tessa greet. She was a bit surprised to see Tessa smirking at her mischievously.
 
This was actually the first time Tessa had spoken to her today. When they sat together in the school bus this morning, Tessa gave her a strange look. It was as if something had changed about her, as if Stephanie was wearing clothes she had never seen her wear before.

“What?” Stephanie had asked her and Tessa shook her head in response and said, “Nothing.”

That strange look from Tessa had lingered from then, up until now. And even as she kept giving her suspicious glances, Stephanie started to feel uncomfortable.

“This is new,” Tessa finally said.

Stephanie looked up from her food and found Tessa smirking at her.

Tessa tapped the back of her head. “Your ponytail, What happened to it?”

Keith rolled his eyes at Tessa and shook his head while Lenny looked over at Stephanie; his brows coming together when he realized Tessa was right. For some reason Stephanie was wearing her hair down now

“It’s a really good and-uhm-sexy look on you,” Tessa smiled mischievously at her as she sucked on her juice through a straw.

Stephanie adjusted her glasses, avoiding eye contact with Tessa while chewing on her salad.. “Thank you.”

The table was silent for a moment, the mumbling and the humming of the other students echoed through the hall. Tessa kept her eyes on Stephanie, the smile still on her face still present.

“So, how’s Caleb?” Tessa asked.

“Oh come on, Tessa,” Keith groaned. “Give it a rest, will you?”

Tessa turned to him and shrugged. “What?”

Stephanie darted her eyes between Keith and Tessa as she sucked on her juice.

“Chill out Keith,” Lenny said. “She just asked about Caleb.”