Laney
“Ugh! I hate this weather.”Trina’s nose wrinkled as she sidestepped a puddle on the path to Royal Hall.
I smiled and held my palms out to catch a droplet of rain. “Really? I love rainy days!”
It was true. I liked the smell of the world after a downpour, that wonderful earthy petrichor, and I liked the squish of damp leaves beneath my feet too.
It was also true that I was in an extra-good mood today, so that may have influenced my opinion of this morning’s dreary weather.
“You’re very perky today,” Adam said, grinning as he nudged my side. “What’s your secret?”
My cheeks flushed hot. I wanted to tell my friends what happened yesterday when I skipped homeroom—and again multiple times after school was over for the day—but I didn’t want to do it right here.
Also, when Hunter and I were snuggling and talking last night after having pizza and hot chocolate together in my dorm, we’d decided to meet up outside Royal Hall this morning and strut into school holding hands in order to announce our brand new relationship.
Usually I wasn’t one for theatrics—I’d rather just take my close friends aside and excitedly whisper the news to them—but Hunter insisted on showing me off. He said he wanted everyone to know how proud he was to be with someone like me.
I had to admit I was a little excited to see Talia Bartlett’s jaw drop when she realized that Hunter had chosen me over every other girl who vied for his attention, including her, so I agreed to it in the end. Schadenfreude could be nice sometimes.
Before I could reply to Adam, Trina elbowed him. “Duh, of course she’s happy! Hunter took her off the blacklist, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” Adam nudged me again. “How are you doing with that? I feel like I barely even saw you yesterday.”
I smiled. “It’s great. A lot of people have come up to me and apologized for everything they said and did while I was blacklisted.” I paused to eye Talia and her group of friends standing by a bench. “A few haven’t, but I’m not expecting much from them.”
Trina snorted. “Yeah, good luck ever getting anything out of those assholes.”
As we passed Talia, one of her male friends leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She smirked and nodded before sticking a middle finger up at me.
Classy.
“I wish Hunter saw that,” Trina muttered. “I heard he basically threatened to murder anyone who still treats you like shit.”
“Man, I wish I was there when he made the big announcement,” Adam said with a groan. “How did we miss that, anyway?”
“We were in the library, remember?”
As my friends continued their conversation, I checked my phone, wondering where Hunter was. He was supposed to meet me five minutes ago, but he was nowhere to be seen.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that I had a message from him.
Hunter:My car was being a bitch earlier. Wouldn’t start, and I couldn’t catch a ride with Adam because he already left by the time I noticed. Driving one of Dad’s instead, but it took me forever to find the keys, so I’ll probably be a bit late. Sorry.
I slowed my pace and tapped out a quick response: That’s ok. Did you still want to walk in together?
Hunter: I might not get there in time. Still a few minutes away. Just go into the assembly with A and T, and I’ll meet you guys in there.
PS: I’ll make up my lateness to you during our free period today ;)
I smiled and slipped my phone back in my pocket. Adam and Trina were a couple of feet ahead of me now, so I hurried to catch up with them and made my way into Royal Hall.
Headmaster Sanders had sent out an announcement yesterday about an assembly to be held in one of the auditoriums this morning, but none of us had any idea what it was about. Knowing Sanders, it was probably a big, boring lecture for all of us about plagiarism after just one freshman student got caught trying to pass off a Wikipedia article as their own work.
I stepped into the auditorium behind Adam and Trina. It was already packed with students and buzzing with chatter and laughter. We scoured the room for a few minutes, trying to find enough empty seats so that we could sit together.
“Look, there’s some down there,” Adam said, pointing to five empty seats near the front of the cavernous room.
We slowly headed down the steps, past rows and rows of navy blue chairs with golden trim. Just as we sat down in the spot Adam had pointed out, some other students slipped into the two remaining chairs beside us.