“I’m sorry if I put you on the spot like that. Sometimes I just put my foot in my mouth,” The girl smiled apologetically.
I covered my face with my hands, groaning. “That’s alright. I don’t think I handled it much better.”
“I don’t know, it was pretty funny,” came a smooth baritone.
Looking up, I saw Jason standing next to us, staring down at me with that cocky smile he’d worn the entire class.
“Only an asshole would think something like that was funny. I was only put on the spot like that because of you and your water bottle,” I snapped.
“Jason does love his water,” The girl laughed nervously, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two of us. “He drinks so much of it, our other friend Davie calls him Fish. It doesn’t help when Jason’s the captain of the swim team and his parents are marine biologists.”
“Geez. Tell her my life story why don’t you, Margo,” Jason growled.
She laughed nervously again. “Sorry.”
Ah, so my hunch was correct. Mr. Perfect was on a sports team. And he was the captain! It was no wonder he supposedly had a fan club.
“Well, we better get to our next classes,” Jason said before looking down at me expectantly.
“What?” I shot at him.
He pointed to the seat I was sitting in. “You’re sitting on my coat.”
I turned and immediately felt horrible that I didn’t even realize that there had been a coat draped over the back of the seat. I had stolen his seat!
I mentally face palmed myself. Of course I had stolen his seat. He had gone to get one for me. I had just gotten so distracted with the bombardment of questions that I sat in the first empty seat I saw, completely forgetting it was his.
I shot up out of the desk like it had bit me. “I am so sorry!”
He chuckled and picked up the coat, draping it over his arm. "It’s fine, you kept it warm for me.”
I felt that damn blush creeping up the back of my neck again. I couldn’t let the blush win. With a swift goodbye, I rushed out of the room and down the hall to where I knew my next class would be, since I had spent lunch mapping out the school.
Like the rest of the town, the school was a bit worse for wear. The only new building I’d noticed so far was the library.
Thoughts about the library brought my mind back to the librarian, Percy. I wondered if he had started reading the book I had given him. A part of me wanted to stop by after school and see, but I tried to squash that part as it wasn’t smart to get attached. Besides, I needed to go by the community center on the way home and see about that job. Though…the community center was right next door to the library.
I groaned. “No, Atalanta. No library for you.”
Walking into the new classroom for math, I talked to the teacher, a rather old man by the name of Mr. Stevens, to confirm I was in the right room and to inform him that I was the new student. Of course, like all the other classes that day, I got the same curious stares and about 102 questions before Mr. Stevens saved me by insisting on actually teaching a lesson.
God, he made imaginary numbers seem so boring. And I liked math!
A few minutes before the bell was supposed to ring, I pulled the schedule sheet out of my hoodie pocket. Folded, refolded, and fiddled with several times, the paper was already worn despite having just received it this morning. But I did confirm that my next and second to last class of the day was gym.
I hadn’t had the chance to check out the gym yet, but hopefully they wouldn’t make us climb some frayed old rope or play basketball with nearly stripped balls which had a tendency to slip out of peoples hands and often hit me in the face.
At the sound of the bell, I waited a few moments for the rest of the students to corral themselves out the door and into the hall before following after them. It wasn’t very packed in the halls like some of the schools I had attended in the past, which really helped my nerves. I only had to deal with the occasional bump of a stranger rather than packed sardines shoving and pushing each other to get to their next lesson.
I spotted Jason standing by one of the open classroom doors, chatting with the girl Margo and another boy. Lanky with tight curly hair and glasses. Judging by how close he stood to Margo, he must have been the boyfriend she mentioned earlier. They looked cute together.
It was interesting to see Mr. Perfect not stereotypically hanging out with the group of jock looking kids that were laughing loudly and pushing each other in the hall up ahead.
Jason laughed at something Margo had said, the sound of it rolling over to where I stood not a few feet away and sending goosebumps up my arms. Suddenly, I had the incredible urge to go over to him, talk to him, be close to him, touch him.
Before I had even taken a step in his direction, I was shoved from the side. Hard. Whoever it was sent me completely off balance and, well, floor meet butt, butt meet pain.
I yelped in surprise and pain as the hard linoleum floor met with my backside and shocked me out of whatever stupor I had been in. I blinked and shook my head.
“Oh shoot, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” came a voice that was seemingly panicked and honey rich.
A tan hand appeared in my line of vision to help me up. Not taking it, I stood on my own, straightened my clothes, and took stock of any missing limbs. Looking at my attacker, I could only gape at the golden god.
“There is something in your freaking water,” I muttered as I stared at the guy, wide eyed, slack jawed.
The first thing that drew me were his eyes. I couldn’t exactly tell what color they were. At first they appeared to be maybe a brownish green, but as I continued to stare, he shifted back and they then looked more blue than brown. His hair was a brilliant golden blond, short at the sides and long and fluffy at the top. I resisted the urge to run my fingers through the soft looking locks.
He smiled, and oh, was it full of mischief. “That’s just the mermaids.”
I shook my head. “What? Did you just say mermaids?”
“You haven’t noticed? It’s the staple of our town. Brings in the tourist.”
“You mean all those statues?” I asked, recalling the amazingly detailed sculptures I had seen all over the town.
“We’d better get to class,” he said, tilting his head down the hall, his smile still in place.
I noticed he hadn’t answered my question but nodded anyway and glanced back towards where Jason had been standing with his friends. He was there watching me as I had watched him. He looked concerned, his brows furrowed, causing his green eyes to darken and his lips were set in a thin line. Not really knowing how to respond to our awkward eye contact, I just broke it and shuffled along down the hall as quickly as possible, my head down.
“Where you headed, new girl?”
Startled, I looked up to see that the blond god had followed me.
“Um, gym,” I replied.
“Well, then allow me to escort you. The least I can do for knocking you over,” He said, offering his arm for me to take.
“No,” I shook my head. “You don't have to do that.”
“It’s fine. Besides, I believe we are heading in the same direction.”
Despite my insistence that I was fine, the guy didn’t really take the hint and followed me all the way to the gymnasium which was on the other side of school. By the time we got there, a second bell had already chimed signaling that we were late. I groaned internally, hoping that I wouldn’t get detention on my first day.
Off to the right of the gym’s big brown double doors were signs leading to the locker rooms. Students were already filing out, dressed in simple gray t-shirts and blue basketballs shorts.