Two

A week later, and Emmett was still sitting at my table. I guess he hadn't gotten sick of me yet. Would today be different?

Sure enough, after I got my lunch I found him sitting there, reading the book we had for English.

He looked up when I walked up to the table, and this time I sat down next to him. "Hey, what' s up?" he asked, putting his book down. His eyes were always so eager. Like he actually cared about what I had to say. It was disconcerting.

I forced myself to shrug under his gaze. "Nothing, we have a stupid project to do for Spanish."

Emmett made a face. "That sucks."

"Yeah, I guess." I broke off a piece of bread from my sub and popped it in my mouth. "How's class going for you?"

He pinched his mouth. "My English teacher is a douche."

"What's new?" I asked, although I actually liked my English teacher this year. "Who do you have?"

He rolled his eyes to me in exasperation. "Who do you think?"

I gave him a smile, pitying him. After saying that, I could easily guess that he had the rumored-to-be worst teacher in the school. "Mrs. K?"

"Yep." He moaned and leaned back, and I started to laugh. Suddenly he leaned forward, flashing me his now-trademark grin. "Hey, you want to work on homework after school?"

"Um," I said. I knew I should say no. But I didn't want to say no. So that's why I found myself saying, "Sure."

His smile widened, if that were possible. "Cool, we can meet outside after class."

I gave him a thumbs up.

-

I was at my locker putting away my books after school when Emmett jogged up to me. "How was the rest of your day?"

"Awful," I said with false cheer, loosening my tie and throwing it in my bag. "Hey, can we meet up to study at four? I forgot that I'm aiding for Mr. Thompson."

Emmett snapped his fingers, his face lighting up. "Oh, I have him for World History," he said. "He's pretty awesome."

Struck with an idea, I couldn't help but grin. "You want to aide with me? I could have him get a form for you." It worried me how much I already relied on him for company. Note to self: make some new friends.

Like that would be happening any time soon.

Emmett frowned. "I can't. I already got roped into aiding for the office."

I made a face. "How'd you get roped into it?"

With a bashful smile, he leaned against the locker next to mine. "There's this really hot girl in the admissions office. Just next door."

I scoffed. "That's not really being 'roped' into it." I held up my fingers as air quotations.

"We have no control over our hormones. Therefore, I have to." He pushed himself off of the locker, just as the sound of someone slamming into a locker filled the hall. We both jerked our heads toward the noise.

"Woah," we said in unison, and I quickly shut my locker as we pushed our way into the already-growing crowd.

I saw two guys pressed up against the lockers, but when I got closer I saw that it was William that had Derek shoved up against the wall, and they were talking about something. Derek's eyes flashed just as William smiled, and then Derek punched him.

I covered my mouth with my hand, hoping to conceal my laughter. "Is Sunview always this exciting?" Emmett asked, and when I looked over, I saw that he was laughing openly.

"Pretty much," I said, and after a moment decided to add, "I'm not even going to lie, I'm kind of rooting for Derek." I narrowed my eyes. "That other kid is a douche."

"I actually kind of agree," Emmett said, with resignation in his tone.

The fight was cut short by two teachers pulling them apart. Derek seemed the more angry of the two; William kept a cocky and calm persona despite it all. He had obviously been the instigator. For a nanosecond, I almost wished I was on good terms with Derek so I could ask him what the fight was about.

Almost.

"Break it up." The teacher began to shoo us away, so Emmett turned to me.

"See you at four?"

"Yep," I said, and as he walked away I realized I was smiling. There was something new in this friendship. I couldn't put my finger on it yet, but it put me at ease. I had promised myself that I wouldn't trust anyone at this school again, but damn, Emmett was sure putting that goal to the test.

I didn't bother hiding my grin, and I turned back to William and Derek, who were now mostly likely getting "the talk" before getting sent to the Dean. The crowd was thinning, and Derek's eyes looked away from the teacher, finally finding me among the crowd.

I gave him a sardonic smirk and waved at him, before turning around and walking back to my locker.

When I finally walked into Mr. Thompson's room, I was struck by how casual it was, almost like a place for people to hang out. Mr. T was lounging back in his chair while another girl, a senior, sat on his desk and flirted with the guy standing in front of her. An entire group was in the back of the room in what looked like a study group, while a couple others were actually doing aide work.

"Boo," someone said behind me, and I jumped, spinning around.

Joe grinned at me, giving me an annoying, brotherly hug. "We haven't talked in ages. How's your week been? Met anyone new?"

"I have actually," I said proudly. The entire ride to Sunview, Joe had pestered me about blocking myself off from people. Well here I was, proving that I was going to do no such thing.

"A special someone or a platonic someone?" He nudged me with a knowing smile.

"A platonic someone," I said, hitting his arm. "His name's Emmett."

Knowledge flashed in his eyes. "He's the one sitting with you at meals?"

I nodded. "He's new."

Joe smirked. "That explains it. He's not a legitimate Sunview student yet so of course you like him."

My mouth opened in fake astonishment. "Shut up, he's nice."

A new voice intruded. "Bridget, my God!"

Someone else tackled me and I knew this was Zoey from her frizzy brown hair. "Damn you girl, I've been trying to talk to you all week!" she exclaimed.

I couldn't stop my stomach from dropping. I had hoped this would be a time for me to bond with Joe. But that wouldn't happen if Zoey was going to be here taking up all of Joe's attention.

"Zoey," I replied weakly. "You aiding too?"

She scoffed. "Hell no, I aided last year. I'm taking a break from all that." She punched her fist in the air. "It's my senior year! I have to party!"

"Oh Lord," muttered a dry voice, and I turned around to see Mr. Thompson walking up to us. "Zoey, are you stealing away the attention of my aides?"

"I'm leaving," Zoey said with annoyance. She gave Joe a quick kiss and I inwardly gagged. "Bye, J. Don't get into trouble."

She walked away, perky as ever. Joe wrapped his arm around me. "Solomons at your service," he said with his brilliant smile.

"I repeat: Oh Lord." But Mr. Thompson smiled as he waved us off. "It's still the beginning of the year, I have nothing for you to do. You can get started on homework. Or play Uno like those tools."

When I looked over at the group, I noticed with amusement that they had ditched their school books for the game of Uno. As much as I wanted to play, I'd prefer not to have to deal with upperclassmen.

Joe and I sat on the opposite side of the room, and just then Micael walked in. I exhaled quickly in shock and Joe looked at me in alarm. "Are you okay?"

"Is he aiding?" I murmured, clutching my pencil.

"Oh, fuck, yeah, Bridge," Joe said, his eyes going wide. "You didn't know? He was Thompson's favorite student last year. Besides me," he added, to lighten the mood. He nudged her, but it didn't work. "I thought it'd be obvious."

"I have English homework to do," I said, completely ignoring him as I took out my vocabulary book. Writing down definitions. There was a way to waste time.

Except for a quick glance, Micael sat down with the group of kids on the side of the room and instantly became engrossed in their game. When I looked back at Joe, I noticed he was looking at the group somewhat longingly. Great, now I was feeling guilty for monopolizing his time.

I was frowning when Joe turned back to me, the smile back on his face. "How's your English teacher?"

I sat up, my mouth quirking. "I'm just really glad I don't have Mrs. K," I teased, and Joe scowled.

"Don't remind me of Satan in my presence, thank you very much," he said.

I laughed, a little too loudly I soon realized when a couple kids in the group looked over. Was I trying to draw attention? "How are you liking the uniforms?" I asked, deciding to change the subject.

"I don't know about you, but it makes me feel like all of a sudden we're going to a posh rich kids school." Joe shivered. "Everything's so much more uptight now."

"I kind of like it," I said with a shrug. "Not the uniforms, but they let things get a lot less crazy. Ash was in the middle of changing when our Houseparent ran in asking if we had any boys in our room."

"Bet you wouldn't like it if you were the one changing." Joe's mouth curved and I rolled my eyes.

"I'd just prefer to do without the drama. Rules help with that."

"People always find a way around the rules," he reminded. "There's actually already going to be a party at the beach house on Saturday."

"Exciting," I said dryly. After last year, I was pretty sure I'd never go to another party at the sacred beach house ever again. I'd prefer not to have sex with someone I don't even remember again, thank you very much. "Did you get invited?"

Joe nodded. "Zoey wants to go, but I'd rather not get busted. And that party is going to get caught, I guarantee it," he said, turning the pages in his US history book even though he wasn't really reading them.

"Joseph Solomon, a good boy?" I asked with mock astonishment, putting a hand over my heart. "Color me shocked."

"Yeah, keep mocking me. See what happens," he said, turning up his nose.

"Nothing's going to happen," I teased, and he hit me lightly on the arm.

We talked for a little while longer as we did our homework, and it was a good distraction from the loud game going on next to us. Finally, the clock hit four and we walked into the hall. With a quick shift of the eyes, I noticed that Micael was walking with a guy and girl I didn't know. His mouth was quirked, but he wasn't smiling.

As soon as we reached the door leading outside, I saw that it was raining. "Oh," I said blankly, immediately thinking of Emmett.

There was an overhang outside, so we opened the door. I braced myself, ready to run to my dorm when Emmett ran up, a sweatshirt on top of his head. I couldn't help but laugh. "So much for studying in the fresh air," he said when he reached me.

I shrugged and asked, "Want to study in my dorm?"

"Good idea," he said, putting his sweatshirt on my head.

I touched the sweatshirt tentatively. "I think I can survive getting wet," I objected weakly.

He rolled his eyes. "Come on."

"Bye, Joe," I yelled back to my brother as we ran into the rain and to my dorm on the other end of the circle.

Emmett ran like lightning, and I tried to catch up, and somehow it turned into a race. Still laughing, I sped up until I was at his side, but he pulled ahead and reached the door first.

We went inside the dorm house, still giggling, and I gave him his soaked sweatshirt back. My room was right by the stairs, which I had been upset about when I was first assigned to it. The second floor had a magic about it that could never be seen in the ground floor. Not to mention these dorms were gender-specified. I was stuck living with a bunch of girls.

A Houseparent walked out almost as soon as Emmett stepped in, and eyed him warily. "Dinner's at six, and then you're not allowed in this dorm." She looked him up and down, and then walked back into her room.

Emmett gave me an alarmed look. "Jesus, they were never so uptight before," I said, opening the door and walking inside. Ash had left a note on her bed saying that she was at cheer practice. I picked it up before throwing my backpack down.

"Wow," he said, admiring all of the magazine cutouts I had on my wall. I beamed.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what my summer consisted of. Lots of reading." I said this somewhat bitterly, which I regretted. I'd rather have no life than hang out with the people in my new neighborhood anyway.

Emmett didn't answer and sat on the floor. "What homework do you have?"

"I just have some English and Trig homework," I replied. "You?"

"Pretty much everything." Visibly annoyed, he took out his Geometry book.

"Oh, I took Geometry last year," I said with excitement, forgetting the cool demeanor I had planned to put on. "I can help you."

"Alright, I'll ask you if I have a problem." He started and I decided I might as well get started with homework, so I took out my book and began to work.

It was silent for a while, but my mind wouldn't stop racing. What would Emmett do next? Where would we be in six months? What was he thinking right now?

I hated this, always questioning his motives and wondering. I hated not knowing things, especially how people felt, and I hated having to guess, because from previous experience, it's obvious that I tend to guess wrong. So when he asked me to help him with a problem, I obviously considered this the perfect opportunity to blurt out, "Do you want to be friends with me to eventually get something more?"

Startled, Emmett looked at me. "What?"

"Like, are you looking for romance?" I shifted awkwardly, setting my book aside.

"Listen, Bridget," Emmett said, looking at me hard enough that I had to look up from my feet. "I like you." He made sure we had eye contact before emphasizing, "As a friend. I know we've only known each other a week, but I don't feel anything for you like that. I'm sorry, I don't know why you're asking but-"

I grinned, resisting the urge to hug him. "No, that's great!" I said, clapping my hands. Emmett raised his eyebrows.

"Are you saying I'm not attractive?" he asked defensively.

I swatted at his arm. "No, you are. But I definitely just want to be friends." There was a pause, and I couldn't help adding, "I really need a friend these days."

"Good." He gave me a lopsided smile then, adding, "Plus, you're not my type."

"You're not my type either," I retorted, sticking my tongue out at him.

Just then Ash stormed in, slamming the door behind her. "Your stepbrother is such a douche!" she exclaimed, anger practically emanating off of her.

"Finally someone agrees!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up. "What'd he do?"

Ash took a deep breath. "Our cheer practice was next to whatever the fuck he was doing conditioning for-"

"Soccer," I interrupted, even though I knew it didn't add anything to the story.

"Yeah, okay," Ash said, waving her hand at me. "Afterward he just made some-" She paused, as if deciding what she was going to say, "-snide comment about me rooming with you."

I could easily guess what the comment was, and I ground my teeth. "I really hate him."

"Good, because I do too." She threw her bag on her bed, and then finally noticed Emmett. "Oh, hi," she said, putting on a friendly smile. "I'm Ash."

"Emmett," he replied with a nod, and then looked at me. "Actually, I better go. See you, Bridget." He gave me one last smile before getting up and walking toward the door. Once he left, Ash turned to me with a grin.

"He's hot, are you two...?" She trailed off suggestively.

"No," I said happily.

She raised her eyebrows. "See, I'd be sad about that," she said.

"But that's the great thing." I stood up, unable to keep my mouth from curving. "No complications. I can build a trust with him."

"Yeah, okay, whatever," Ash said, opening her backpack. "I have a crapload of homework."

"Am I the only one who doesn't have homework?" I asked with exasperation, throwing my hands into the air. Ash glared at me.

"I'm really jealous right now," she said. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Ash gave me one last look before skipping over to open it, her face lighting up.

Her face immediately dimmed when she saw who was there. "Oh," she said with disappointment, and I walked over to find out who it was. As soon as I saw him, my mouth dropped open.

"Oliver?"

"Hey, Bridget," he said, his hands nervously shoved in his back pockets. His eyes gave me a pleading look that I'd seen many times last year. "I need your help."

That's new.

AUTHOR NOTE: ...I don't like this. I know, I know, excuse me while I wallow in self-pity. Anyway, this story'll probably go on for around thirty chapters. I've only made a loose outline; basically, it's all the events that are going to happen and I'm hoping as I write them, they'll divide themselves into chapters. Also, there's a lot that's going to happen so things will definitely start getting juicy in the next chapter. ;)