brendon. W W B D ? [ three ]

After walking with Scarlett for a while, we learned that we would all be attending Bishop Gorman High School come Monday, along with her best friend, whose house she had been on her way to when I had so unceremoniously smashed her to the ground. She offered to take us to meet him, and Jaden was about to agree, when I cut in, saying that 'Dad will probably want us home by now, but we'll see you at school.'

"Ava-Lynne Ross!" I winced at my full name, "What was that for? You know Dad doesn't give a rat's ass when we're home!" Jaden exclaimed once we were out of earshot, throwing his arms into the air in exasperation.

"Whatever," I mumbled guiltily, "you can go ahead, I'm just gonna go home now. Sorry."

I felt bad for always doing this to him. Meeting people has never been my strong point. I stared at my feet and waited for him to reply, when he didn't, I turned back in the direction of our house and began walking, examining the ever-so-interesting pavement under my feet.

"Av, look, it's alright," said Jaden, catching up to me. He stood in front of me and sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I don't know, sorry I freaked out on you, I just really want to get to know some people here."

"Nah, it's all good, just habit I guess," I said with a half-smile as he gave me a side-hug as I spoke, so as to retain his manliness while hugging his sister at the same time.

--

I plonked myself down in one of the seats behind an unoccupied lab table. I took in my surroundings in one quick glance:

To my left, a girl and a guy having an apparently intelligent conversation;

To my right, two boys talking animatedly about something generally on the subject of guitars and music and such;

Behind me, a couple of girls who managed to find room for 'like, seriously' after every other word... I'm sure you know the type.

And, directly in front of me, a guy who looked like the last thing he'd want was somebody beside him. This impression was only heightened by the fact that the other chair was occupied by his large, duct-taped backpack, with his feet on top.

...fun times.

Not even two seconds later, the unmistakably tiny form of Scarlett came storming into the classroom, followed by a tallish, lanky boy, who was shouting nonsense at her and flailing his arms in obvious exasperation. In response to this, in a bout of immaturity, Jo placed her hands over her ears and proceeded to wail 'lalala! I can't hear you!' in a horrific, screechy drone.

Spotting me, she made her way over, chucking her bag unnecessarily violently to the floor before sitting down, while Tall and Lanky sat with Mr. Anti-social in front of us, greeting him with a 'hey man,' and one of those weird handshakes that all boys seem to do.

Jo glanced from me to Tall and Lanky.

"Ava, this is Evan and his friend James," she said, pointing to each in turn, "dudes, this is Ava."

I received a grunt-like 'hey' from each, no surprise.

"A-hem!" a short woman in a lab coat cleared her throat to get the class's attention. All eyes turned to her as she spoke, "well. I can see already that this seating arrangement shall not do," she looked pointedly at two boys who were tossing an apple back and forth over three lab tables. "I am your chemistry professor, as you should know, Ms. Johnston. This is a no-nonsense class, so I will be expecting exactly that. You had the choice of taking this class, so take it seriously, or you won't be in it anymore," a few students shifted uncomfortably in their seats and the two apple-throwing boys straightened noticeably, "now, everybody gather your materials and get ready to move seats," there was some mumbling and a few whispers to friends, "don't be so indifferent; I'll be seating you alphabetically by last name, and if there are any problems I will not hesitate to move you. The person you are sitting with will be your lab partner for the year. Get used to it," the class groaned.

The two guys who were talking about guitars and such grinned at each other as Ms. Johnston began sharply calling out last names and pointing violently at the designated tables.

"Aldren, Anderson; right here. Ashton, Barkley; in the middle. Barton, Bennett; all the way in the back," I tuned out completely until I heard my own last name called, twice in fact, "Ross, Ross! Table on the far left. Now!"

I grabbed my books and saw the lab table Ms. Johnston was pointing to. I sat down and place my things in a stack on the counter as I heard 'Smith' and 'Rusnock' called out sharply. Shortly after, I was joined by the person who was to be my partner for the year. I quickly recognized him as one of the guys who was talking about music or guitars or whatever earlier. Apparently he and his friend weren't so lucky. He stuck out his hand for me to shake.

"Ryan Ross, you are?"

"Ava. Ava Ross," I said nonchalantly, giving his hand a quick shake, "Looks like we're destined to be lab partners."

He smiled, "looks like it."

"George! Ava-Lynne!" barked the professor, causing both of us to cringe.

"Ryan," he corrected, as did I.

"Just Ava, thanks."

She waved her hand as if to brush our corrections away, "there is a time to get acquainted, but it is most certainly not during my class."

Somebody snorted loudly in laughter. It was probably Jo.