A Kiss for Maya

PB Sandwiches and Warnings

The first three periods actually went by fast and I'm glad. I love school but some of my teachers aren't the nicest people.

It's lunch and I'm sitting on our usual bench outside, near the library. It's quite far from the other ones placed around the school lawn and most of the students have lunch in the cafeteria so we don't have to deal with anyone we don't want to interact with.

Shelly and Bianca still haven't arrived and I'm already halfway through my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, thinking about the season finale of The Outpost.

I take out my phone from the small pocket on the front of my bag and just as I'm about to text Bianca, I see her and Shelly running towards me.

"What's wrong?"

"We... we're..." Shelly pants while Bianca stands behind her, exasperation clear on her face.

Shelly grabs the bottle of water next to me and gulps half it's contents down. Bianca sits down on the bench and remains silent.

"We just ran from the office, we're sorry we're late."

The office isn't even that far from here but Shelly, like me, isn't even in the slightest bit fit. Bianca's sister is a personal trainer and if we were ever chased by human flesh eating monsters, she has a better chance of surviving.

"Hey, girl." Bianca speaks for the first time. Her irritation has been replaced by amusement as she watches Shelly throw herself on the ground.

"What's going on?" I ask before taking a bite of my sandwich.

"She flunked history, again. When Ms Kennedy warned her she'll fail again this term if she doesn't improve her grades, she said I'll be helping her study for it."

"What's wrong with that? Won't you help her?"

"There's a test in two days!" Bianca exclaims. "She hasn't studied for History in forever. How am I supposed to help her catch up and understand everything in two days? She's a lost cause, I don't even-"

"Hey, I'm not a lost cause. We can do it." Shelly interjects.

"I can help. I mean I can come to the library and help you study, I'll also get some work done."

"Okay, thanks." Bianca smiles and then grabs the remainder of my sandwich.

"Hey." I attempt to slap her hand away but I'm too late as she takes a bite.

"Thanks, again." She laughs and Shelly joins in.

***

Mason's POV

"See you next period, man." Max says goodbye as he walks out the class.

He's got a lacrosse meeting and I'm waiting for Justin and Nathan in Mrs. Thompson's class. My phone beeps and I take it out and see the yellow envelope on the screen, indicating I have a message.

I become uneasy when I open it and see who it's from- Duncan. I contemplate not even bothering to read it and deleting it but I haven't heard from him in a while so it must be important.

Duncan: Bro, keep your head down and don't get yourself involved with other people. Just stick with Max and the others and we won't have a repeat of last time.

Last time. I feel even more uneasy as I reread the text. If he's contacting me, with a message like this, something must be up. I'm about to type a reply when a group of girls walk past the class and simultaneously call my name and wave.

I look up and give them an unimpressed look. I'm too stressed out to care about anything else.

I grab my backpack on the desk and storm out the classroom, hoping I can find a place outside where I can call him.

"Mason!" Someone calls as soon as I exit the class.

I look up and spot Nathan and Justin, walking towards me. They casually make their way through the crowd of students.

"Where are you going, man?" Justin asks.

No way can you tell them about the message.

They don't know anything about who I was, still am. Only Max really knows me and since they trust him, they let me into their little circle without any questions asked.

"Oh, I was just going outside to get some air."

"And browse some chicks, huh?" Nathan softly elbows me in my ribs, giving me a sly smile.

"Uh," I chuckle, "Yeah?"

"Well let the master help you out." Nathan grins and slides his arm over my shoulder, he's two inches taller and has been doing this since we met.

He drags me down the stairs to the first floor and I bury the message and Duncan at the back of my mind. I'll deal with it later.

We get to the floor and there are a few students in the hallways, some walking to who knows where and others just standing and chatting by their lockers. Nathan points to different girls, telling me things he finds I need to know.

"That one, just had a terrible break up. She's crazy about you, so is her friend."

I nod inattentively, I'm not interested in which girl does what. As a matter of fact, I'd very much like to stay away from these girls.

"Oh, now there..." Nathan doesn't finish his sentence but just looks ahead.

I follow his line of vision to the main door and see three girls walk in. Two are holding books to their chest and the one on the right is eating a packet of chips. She says something and the other two laugh.

"Who?" I find myself curious.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nathan asks and gives me a c'mon look.

"Shelly," Nathan speaks.

"She's super hot, man," Justin refers to the blonde with the packet of chips. "Only girl Nathan's ever hit on who rejected him."

"Wait, what?" I chuckle. I've seen Nathan in action plenty of times and not once was he ever rejected. It's like he goes to school for hitting on girls.

"Girl's been breaking my heart since ninth grade." He puts a hand over his chest in a melodramatic way and looks down.

I look up at the three again. They're now standing by a locker and one of them is taking out her books.

It hits me then that I know the third one. The one with the long brown hair.

Maybe we've got classes together.

No, I don't remember seeing her in class but I've seen her somewhere.

Author's Note

Okay, I forgot to write an author's note in the previous chapter because this is my first book and I was kinda nervous.

Thank you for reading and please vote and share😊 it'll mean a lot to me.