NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Four Students
Anna was walking to school early on Tuesday morning. In truth, it would be more accurate to say she was following Lady who was walking to school. Her sharp brown eyes were trained on Lady like a hawk as she continued walking, keeping to the shadows so as not to be seen by the unsuspecting subject of her admiration.
She was elated that the two of them had been able to play online just like old times over the weekend. She hated going back to school and being unable to interact with Lady. Of course, she could interact with him in person but the weight of her past actions seemed to drag her down every time she thought about talking with him.
She wondered if Lady would forgive her and the two could walk side by side when, or if she apologized. Anna couldn't remember the last time she had genuinely apologized for something. Her parents rarely spoke to her and elected to ignore any mistakes she made instead of waiting for an apology. Maybe that's why I couldn't apologize to Michael, or forgive him, she thought to herself. Wait no, that's all in the past I need to focus on the present. Wait, where is Lady going? An unexpected turn made by the young boy pulled her from her thoughts. He entered a small park and walked down a trail for a few minutes before stopping at a bench.
A Few minutes later, a tall girl with short black hair approached Lady and joined him on the bench. The two began talking to each other amicably as Anna watched from the bushes. She recognized the girl as the track club's ace, Lily. Anna had seen her talk to Lady twice on the way to school although both meetings appeared to be a coincidence. This was most certainly deliberate.
After the two talked, they both stood up and began to jog. Lady's ability to run was evidently abysmal as he was terribly slow and got winded easily. Lily, keeping this in mind, would match his pace and cheer him on or encourage him as he jogged through the park.
Anna's mind raced as she tried to piece together what was happening. Why is the school's track star helping Lady. How did they know to meet up in this park? They only met twice but I never saw them exchange numbers. Did they meet another time? She's in a different grade than us so they wouldn't have had any classes tomorrow. Was it yesterday after school when that freaky teacher of ours was distracting me.
She continued watching the two until they came to a stop at the same bench. They rested for a while and shared a bottle of water while catching their breaths. Lily looked fine and likely hadn't even considered their jog a workout. Lady meanwhile was sweating profusely and looked deathly pale. Lily handed him a rag to wipe away his sweat while fanning him with a folder from her backpack.
The two teens talked for a while while Lady recovered. Despite his exhaustion, there was a big grin on his face the entire time. As Anna continued to watch them, her heart was being torn to shreds. Why couldn't it be her. She was glad that Lady seemed to have befriended this Lily girl but her blood was running cold with jealousy.
Anna didn't know why Lily was trying to grow closer to Lady but she swore to herself that if Lily hurt him, she would die. Luckily for Lily, her ulterior motive for meeting Lady this morning was far from sinister. For the most part, she had him with only pure intentions in mind. The one caveat to this was a sweat soaked rag currently wrapped in a plastic bag and resting in her backpack.
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"What's up sister from another mister, hows my favorite tomboy doing." A voice called out. It was chipper and cute whilst carrying the slightest hint of a Hispanic accent. The girl it had originated from had light brown skin and bright pink hair. She was waving enthusiastically at Lily and Lady as they approached the school's entrance.
Lily waved back before turning to Lady and saying. "This is my friend Maria. She's also a sophomore but she skipped the first week apparently." Maria's eyes light up as soon as she noticed Lady. "You didn't replace me with this cute little thing just cause I bunked the first week did you?" Maria asked as she wrapped Lily in a hug.
"I just met Lily last week but she was very kind to me. She's the first friend I've made in high school so I hope we can get along as well" Lady said as he extended a hand. The pink haired girl ignored his hand and instead elected to wrap Lady in a massive bear hug. "Any friend of Lily's is a friend of mine kid." She responded as she released him from her vice-like grip. "Just tell auntie Maria if this old tomboy’s being mean to you and I'll beat her up for you." Lily smacked Maria on the back of her head as she laughed. "Um thank you" Lady replied as he looked at his feet and blushed. The three students talked for a few more minutes before splitting up to head to their first classes.
As he walked to class, Lady couldn't help but remember the hug he had just received. For some reason, it felt as if there had been very little between the two of them. Lily couldn't help but dwell on the sudden flash of pain she had felt when she saw the two hug. Anna couldn't help but question whether this new girl would become friends with Lady, and if she could accept that. Maria meanwhile couldn't help but wonder why Lady's voice had sounded so familiar, so comforting, and so good. The four students continued to dwell on their thoughts and feelings as they went about their days.
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Emma was sitting at her desk looking at two quizzes marred by red pen marks. Both of the papers sported grades that were well below the class average. She looked up at the two owners of the quizzes, Lady and Anna. It was lunch period and the two of them had been stopped before leaving the class by Emma. They were the only two students who had failed the quiz that had been given on monday.
Lady had failed the quiz because he hadn’t been paying attention in class and hadn’t been studying outside of school. Anna meanwhile had spent all of her class time and afterschool time watching Lady. The room was bathed in awkwardness as the three people silently sat in the room.“I’m assuming you both know why I called you her?” Emma asked, breaking the silence.
“I’m sorry Miss Sierra, I’ll study harder for the next one!” Lady said in a flustered manner. His cheeks growing red in shame. Emma flashed a smile at Lady as she told him “It’s fine sweetie. I know you had a hard first week and besides, didn’t I tell you to just call me Emma." "Yes Miss Emma,” Lady replied. Anna gritted her teeth as she shot a scornful glance at her teacher. “I know both of you can do much better than this so you’ll be meeting me here during lunch every day for the next two weeks” Emma said. She then began going over the quiz and explaining each of the questions they got wrong. “
As Anna worked through her quiz corrections, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of game her teacher was playing. Something was amiss no doubt. To give students two weeks of guided tutoring for failing a quiz during only the second week of school was odd. If her goal was to get Lady alone, then why would she have Anna attend tutoring as well. It didn't make any sense.
Emma of course had a plan in mind. She wanted to help Lady, to protect him at all costs. She knew that Anna didn't have the courage to apologize for what she did so she would force her. She would push the two together until the issue of Anna's former bullying was unavoidable. Once the girl had apologized, her role would be complete. Lady would be healed. Emma would have redeemed herself for her failure to recognize and stop the bullying years ago. And Anna, she would atone for her mistakes, before being discarded.
Emma smiled to herself as she watched the two students copy down what she was writing on the board. To say she was looking forward to these next two weeks would be an understatement. Her former fiancee had finally fully moved out. She had finished repainting Lady's new room and ordered a bed and dresser for it. It was still quite barren but she planned to decorate it with photos of the two of them soon enough. Just a little while longer until we can be together Lady she thought to herself while smiling.
