Chapter 3: Three

If there's one thing I've learned from playing tennis, it was never to doubt yourself. Coach constantly reminded me that when I said a call was outside the singles lines, I had to say it confidently. Saying it any other way would cause the opponent to doubt my call. I would seem insecure about the call, and blah blah blah. Coach would have bombarded me with tennis balls until I understood that point.

The only problem with that lesson was that I only knew not to doubt myself in tennis. I needed to learn not to doubt myself with everything else. That everything else being the guy sitting across the room from me during homeroom. Aka: Grant Parker.

As annoyed as I was with him, there still was that feeling of butterflies in my stomach, that same feeling of nervous giddiness that I had when we were ten. I've replayed that incident in the hall about seven times already, and it happened less than fifteen minutes ago. Something was terribly wrong with me. Maybe I had some deadly disease of the mind that caused me not to think clearly. I should probably get a doctor's appointment, just to see, right?

I knew I sounded crazy, so there was no way I was telling anyone about this, not Ryan or Lina(even though she was off with Todd the turd when the accident occured). I scribbled my frustration on a blank piece of paper while Mrs. Smith discussed the same old first-day-of-school routine the homeroom teacher's always discuss. I could probably tell the rest of the class the routine myself I'd heard it so many times.

Mrs. Smith continued on, "And some of you may remember Grant Parker from elementary school. I've assigned Avery Montgomery to show him around campus today." What? For the love of Pete, she has got to be kidding. She's kidding, right? Mrs. Smith looked at me for approval.

"Uh," What was I supposed to say to that? No, I will not show him around because he's the jerk whom I used to love? "Ryan can do it!" I pointed to Ryan, and she looked back at me like I was crazy.

"Miss Montgomery, I've asked you to show him around, so please do so." She continued on to another topic, and I sunk down in my chair. I looked over to see Grant smirking back at me, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Thanks for saying I'd show him around," Ryan whispered to me when Mrs. Smith had turned around to write something on the board.

"Sorry, you were just the first person I thought of."

Homeroom passed too quickly, but I guess that was because I was dreading showing Grant around. As soon as the bell rang, I picked up my purse and bookbag slowly. Everyone made their way out of the room, including Ryan. I'd have to tell her thanks later. Grant stood up and pointed at the door.

"I'd kinda not like to be late." I rolled my eyes and pushed him through the doorway.

"What's your next class?" I said, unenthusiastically. He dug his list of classes out of his bookbag.

"Um, Statistics." Oh, yippy skippy.

"Same as me. Come on."

I led the way through the crowded halls, looking back every so often to make sure I hadn't lost him in the crowd. At one point, I could only see the top of his head because of a crowd of senior boys seperating us. I reached through the throng of people and managed to grab his arm. "Keep up, sparky."

****

The morning dragged on forever, but despite the fact that I seriously considered punching Grant in the gut a few times, I made it through the first half of the day. As I exited the lunchroom with my bag of Sun Chips and glass of water, I saw Ryan sitting at our usual lunch spot on the quad. She was lying back on her elbows, soaking up the warm sun. When I reached her, I sat down beside her and let out a sigh.

"So much for avoiding Grant!" I munched on my Sun Chips as I looked around the quad for Lina. She always ate with us; where was she?

"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't that bad, Avery."

"Not that bad? Ends up, we have every class together," I started and then lowered my voice after getting a few looks of interest from other students around the quad. "AND he was being a complete jerk while I was trying to help him to his classes. And I mean, it's not like I volunteered to help him. I was drafted into it! He could atleast be civil."

Ryan didn't reply to my ranting about Grant, so I decided to take in the warm day. I lied back and looked up at the blue sky, trying to see shapes in the clouds, but when I thought I saw Grant in a cloud, I had to close my eyes.

"Where's Lina?" Ryan asked, looking around for her like I had been a minute before. We heard the loud sound of guys goofing off behind us, and when we looked, the guys were none other than the popular guys. It appeared that one of the guys, who I think was named Matt, had just pushed another guy named Jason in the fountain. There was a round of laughter from students all around the quad, and it was then that I heard it. That distinct little-girl laugh of one of my best friends. Lina.

I looked back over at The Fountain, past where Jason and Matt were goofing off, and saw Lina sitting with Todd. My mouth dropped open, and I hit Ryan's arm. "Found her." Ryan followed my gaze, and her mouth dropped open, too.

Lina was sitting at the table with Todd, Trisha, and all of Trisha's little group (Anna, Macy, and Sarah). I wanted to go over there and ask what was up. Why did she ditch us for people who will never be her true friends, but Ryan stopped me.

"She needs to come to us."

"And what happens if she doesn't?" Ryan looked at me, saying nothing. She just frowned and looked back over her shoulder at Lina. We both lied back down and closed our eyes. We lied there in silence for a moment, just listening to the commotion of students around us, when something created a shadow shading the sun from me. I squinted my eyes to see what happened when I saw Grant looking down at me for the second time today. Of course, this time I hadn't made a fool out of myself in front of half of the school.

"What do you want?" I asked him, not bothering to make small talk before getting to the point. I hated when people did that. Tried to make light conversation before getting to the real point. Why bother?

"Well, Mrs. Smith told me that you would show me around during lunch, too. You know, when I can actually see the school. I hope I didn't interrupt something important." He said the last comment with such a sarcastic tone it took everything I had not to tell him off. I seriously needed to work on my anger issues.

"Actually, yes, you did. She didn't tell ME that, so until she does, you can leave." I closed my eyes again, secretely hoping he would just leave me alone. Everything would be easier if he would just go!

"Excellent." He said, again sarcastically, and sat down beside me anyway.

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

Ryan sat up and introduced herself. "Hey, I'm Ryan, one of Avery's best friends."

"Well, first of all," I began. "You may end up being my on best friend if Lina doesn't come back down to earth." A look of confusion crossed Grant's face, and I continued. "And second, you don't need to introduce yourself to him, he was just leaving."

"Ignore her," Grant said, his full attention on Ryan now. "It's nice to meet you, Ryan, I'm Grant." He smiled a crooked smile at her, and then he turned and smiled at me.

"I'm just going to ignore you now." I lay back down and placed my arm over my eyes, hoping to block Grant out for the rest of lunch. I could already tell he liked to annoy me, and he definitely succeeded, too.

"Is she always this fiesty?" Grant fake whispered to Ryan, and Ryan laughed.

"Something like that," she said. I just sighed loudly but didn't say a word.